Perkiomen Valley nips Hatboro-Horsham in district baseball semifinal
The Vikings punched a ticket to the state tournament
A soft-spoken sophomore, Perkiomen Valley's Tyler Strechay lets his play on the diamond and hardwood speak for itself.
On Friday afternoon, his efficient and poised pitching in a PIAA District 1 Class 6A baseball quarterfinal against Hatboro-Horsham spoke volumes.
Strechay scattered seven hits, allowed an unearned run, and walked none as the visiting Vikings clinched a berth in the state playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the Hatters.
"I trust my teammates. I trust myself, and I trust the work we put in to get to this point," said the 6-foot-2, 175-pounder, who triumphed without whiffing any of the 28 batters he faced.
Pounding the strike zone and hitting his spots, Strechay induced 15 groundouts and five fly-ball outs.
"I just knew Tyler was going to throw strikes," Perkiomen Valley coach Ryan Hinkle said. "His strike percentage is in the mid-70s. He's great at pitching to contact."
The No. 7-seeded Vikings (15-6) will visit No. 6 North Penn in a semifinal at 4 p.m. Tuesday. The Knights topped No. 3 Spring-Ford, 8-4, in a quarterfinal Friday.
Still alive in its bid to gain the district's fifth and final berth in states, No. 2 Hatboro-Horsham (16-6) will host No. 17 Council Rock South in a playback contest at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
"We have a great group of seniors who want to keep things going," Hatters coach Pete Moore said.
In Perkiomen Valley's run to the district semis, Strechay and fellow righthander Brock Helverson, a junior and West Virginia recruit, have been a stellar one-two punch.
"We both try to throw strikes, rely on our defense, and count on our offense to come through with some runs," Strechay said.
The Vikings took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when D.J. Jampo reached first base on a throwing error, moved to second on Mark Ott's sacrifice bunt, and scored on Helverson's single over the shortstop's head.
In what turned out to be the decisive run, Ryan McCourt opened the third with a double to right field, advanced on Matt Szczesny's one-out groundout, and scurried home on a wild pitch.
Hatboro-Horsham cut the gap to 2-1 on Brian Edgington's RBI single in the fourth. His leadoff double to deep left in the seventh threatened to bring extra innings.
But, on a failed bunt attempt, Edgington got caught up in a rundown between second and third and was tagged out. "It happened," Moore said matter-of-factly. "Mistakes happen in this game."
The Hatters' Colin Kennedy, a senior righthander who is bound for La Salle, allowed five hits and one earned run while going the distance.
Perkiomen Valley 011 000 0 - 2 5 1
Hatboro-Horsham 000 100 0 - 1 7 2
WP: Tyler Strechay. LP: Colin Kennedy. 2B: PV-Ryan McCourt; HH-Eric Jester, Ryan O'Donnell, Brian Edgington.
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