Town and Country Newspaper

Sports Article

Panthers Cruise Past Valley Forge, Come up Short Against the Hill

Written by Dave Teufel, Correspondent
2012-04-19

Perkiomen’s Tetsuharu Hashimoto slides into home plate safely, scoring a run in Friday’s home game against Valley Forge Military Academy.

The sports world is full of superstitions. Maybe it’s eating the same sandwich before every game, the inability to wash an article of clothing while on a winning streak, sitting in the same exact seat on the bus, or donning the rally cap that has propelled many a team to victory.

For the player, coach, or fan who takes their routine seriously, playing a game on Friday the 13^th may not seem like such a good idea. As it turned out for the visitors from Valley Forge Military Academy (VFMA), it wasn’t, as they were soundly defeated by the Perkiomen School Panthers last Friday by a score of 13-0.

Perkiomen took advantage of some shaky first-inning pitching using six walks, a hit batter, one costly error and base hits by Crachad Laing, Remon Grant and Juanki Sierra to jump out to a 6-0 lead.

The six runs would be five more than Panthers’ starter Jose Marce would need as the Perkiomen junior dominated the opponents batters.

Marce pitched a five-inning complete game in which he struck out 12 while walking only one. VFMA got their only hit in the fourth on a two-out double by Juan Cataldo.

Perkiomen’s offense was led by Laing who was 3-for-3. The Panthers posted eight hits to go along with the 10 free passes and two hit batsmen.

Saturday the Panthers hosted the Hill School and the two teams battled it out for seven innings with the Hillers taking home a 6-3 win.

After a scoreless first inning, the visitors drew first blood when catcher Adam Regensburg launched a home run to open the inning.

Perkiomen starter Noah Kauffman, though, responded by striking out the next three batters to end the inning. Kauffman would continue to keep the visitors at bay, allowing just one more base hit over the next two innings.

That hit came off the bat of the Hillers’ starting pitcher Kyle Tipping who was even stingier than Kauffman when it came to allowing base runners.

The game would be decided in the top half of the fifth inning. With a runner on first and one out, Tipping’s ground ball couldn’t be handled, and the unfortunate error would spell trouble for the Panthers.

Seth Regensburg singled to load the bases. Nam Kyushik ripped a shot to third that was knocked down by Perkiomen third baseman Juanki Sierra, and when the Panthers got the lead out at home plate, Sierra had provided an opportunity to escape the inning unscathed.

The Hillers’ number three hitter Joey Mongo, though, would capitalize when his bases-clearing double put the visitors ahead 4-0. The Hillers would tack on two more runs in the inning to go up 6-0.

Perkiomen would respond in the home half of the inning. Esteban Martinez led off with a walk. Tipping, who had been in complete control, hit Joey Pena, and Remon Grant in back-to-back at-bats to load the bases with one out. Joseph DeLosSantos delivered a bases-clearing double that made the score 6-3.

It would be the last hit allowed by Tipping.

Tipping went the distance, allowing just two hits (both by DeLosSantos) while striking out nine. All three Panther runs were earned.

Kauffman, who deserved a better fate, went 6.1 innings in the loss. The Perkiomen senior struck out eight while walking four. He allowed six hits but only one of the Hillers runs were earned.

Perkiomen plays at home today at 4 p.m. against West Mont.

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