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Perkiomen Valley on 10-game softball winning streak

The first win of the streak got the Perkiomen Valley softball team above .500 after a rough start to the season.

The first win of the streak got the Perkiomen Valley softball team above .500 after a rough start to the season.

The second was a more convincing defeat of a conference opponent, and the third righted a loss from earlier in the year.

The fourth, a come-from-behind defeat of Methacton, is the one that really sticks out in Brenna Sermarini's mind. That's the game that really changed everything, Sermarini said.

But the Vikings didn't stop there.

Twenty-five days after the streak started, including two huge wins over Owen J. Roberts and another over Spring-Ford, the Vikings (13-3, 12-3 Pioneer Athletic Conference) have won 10 straight.

"I think it does raise the bar," said Sermarini, a junior rightfielder and captain. "Because we want to keep that level of performance up and we don't want to underestimate any of our opponents. We just have to stay on top of our game."

Just how did Perk Valley go from 3-3 to sitting in second place in the Pioneer Athletic Conference?

It started with hitting.

"What we do well is we hit; the kids are acting like a team and have bought into the team concept," coach Dan McLaughlin said. "Now we have experience - we've been through battles."

But offense wasn't always the Vikings' strong point, according to McLaughlin and Sermarini. It took several weeks and a focus on the fundamentals to get the team on track in the batter's box.

The new approach to hitting has paid off; PV has scored 96 runs over the course of the winning streak. Many of those runs came in come-from-behind situations; the Vikings have excelled late in games.

"If they get in a tight game, now they have the confidence," McLaughlin said.

The Vikings are young - their starting lineup has one senior, one junior, seven sophomores, and a freshman. Youth could hamstring many teams, but Perk Valley has found a way to mesh well. So far, it has been a successful combination.

"I know we have a target on us now because of our streak," Sermarini said. "We really have to keep up what we've been doing."

Perkiomen Valley has three regular-season games remaining, an opportunity to extend the streak, before a chance at the conference playoffs and the squad's second PAC-10 championship since 2012.

For now, the focus is on Monday and Pottsgrove, possible win No. 11 in a row.