If losing your opening round game of the playoffs in the bottom of the seventh inning is heartbreaking, then losing an elimination game in the exact same way, the very next day, must be devastating. Such was the fate of the Upper Perkiomen Braves baseball team as they saw their playoff hopes dashed last Sunday afternoon, falling to Norchester by a score of 8-7.

        The Braves got on the score board first with a pair of second inning runs. Robert Guzman scored on a single to right off the bat of Garrett Perlstein. Bo Duka laid down a perfect squeeze bunt that plated Trey Livingstone, who had singled earlier in the inning.

        Norchester though would climb back into the game with a single run in the home half of the second, and another in the third to tie the score 2-2. When they plated two more in their half of the fourth, the Braves found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-2 game.

        In the top of the fifth Upper Perk appeared to break the game open. Tyler Keyser posted a one-out single. Trevor Stephen and Guzman walked to load the bases. Livingstone lined a double down the right field tying the score at 4. A throwing error would plate yet another pair of runs, and when Charlie Haag singled home Duka, the Braves led 7-4.

        In the top of the sixth, with the score 7-5, the Braves looked to break the game wide open. The visitors loaded the bases with nobody out, but when the runner on third was gunned down at the plate trying to score on a fly ball to left field, the potential for a big inning fizzled. When the next batter flew out to right, Norchester had somehow managed to survive the potential knockout punch the Braves had been poised to deliver.

        Norchester, however, would not suffer the same fate in its half of the inning. With two on and two out, Andre Blum lined a base hit that plated both runners and tied the game at 7-7. It would not, however, be Blum's biggest hit of the game. That would come an inning later as the Norchester shortstop sent a bases-loaded, two-out, 3-2 pitch just over the head of the Braves left fielder ending the Upper Perkiomen Braves season.

        The Braves opened the playoffs Saturday against No. 1 seed, Spring City. Upper Perk jumped out to an early lead scoring three times in the top of the first inning. Perlstein and Duka delivered back-to-back two-out singles to drive in the three Braves runs.

        The Braves took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh before things began to unravel for the locals. A walk, three singles and a pair of errors produced three runs for Spring City, and the Braves fell in their opener by a score of 4-3.

        Haag, Duka, and Nick Schmoyer each had three hits in the two games. Trey Livingstone, Perlstein, and Duka all had two RBI. Guzman reached base in five of his eight plate appearances. Guzman and Livingstone led the team in runs scored with three each.

        The Braves ended the Twin County regular season with a record of 9-9 in league play.