Kutztown
The Kutztown American Legion baseball team battled back with two wins Sunday to take their best-of-3 tournament qualifier series with Tamaqua to earn the No. 6 seed in the Schuylkill-Berks League tournament, set for Wednesday.
Kutztown will visit No. 3 Muhlenberg at 7 p.m. in the first round.
The Cougars overcame a 9-4 loss at Tamaqua on July 2 with two dramatic wins at home on July 3.
First, Kyle Hartman and the Blue Sox’ Matt Minchhoff waged a pitcher’s duel, going to extra innings scoreless. In the eighth inning, after Hartman put up another zero, Nathan Ebling reached on an error, advanced on Zachery Schell’s single before Wyatt Fritz’s RBI single to left field plated Ebling for the winning run in a 1-0 eight-inning victory to keep the season alive.
Kutztown carried its momentum into the decisive Game 3 and doubled up Tamaqua 10-5 to take its place in the tournament.
June 26: Beat Pine Grove, 4-3 >> After scoring three times in their first at-bat, the Cougars needed a run in the sixth to secure their Schuylkill-Berks win over the Grovers.
Dan Katella II had two RBI for Kutztown, which got doubles from Wyatt Fritz, Kyle Hartman and Brady Tucker. Matthew Angstadt struck out six in the course of his complete-game pitching stint.
June 28: Beat Valley View, 2-0 >> Kyle Hartman threw a five-hit shutout to lift the Cougars over the West Enders in Schuylkill-Berks play.
Hartman yielded no walks while fanning eight. His run support was a pair in the second, driven in by Owen Fenerty and Zachery Schell.
Post 217
Post 217 locked up first place in the South Division with a 14-2 record to earn the No. 1 seed in the Schuylkill-Berks tournament. The Patriots will host No. 8 Pottsville at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Oley Valley High School.
June 26: Lost to Valley View, 5-2 >> The Patriots were one-hit by the West Enders in their Schuylkill-Berks contest.
Nate Christman helped Post 217 avoid going hitless against Valley View. It scored single runs in the first and second, after the West Enders plated three in their first at-bat.
June 30: Lost to Muhlenberg, 12-6 >> Muhlenberg scored nine runs in its first three at-bats, getting a 4-for-5 day from Joe Rozzi.
Zachery Pellock had a hit and three RBI for the Patriots.
Post 625
Post 625 Wildcats earned the No. 5 seed in the league tournament after a two-game sweep of Valley View in a tournament qualifier series with 8-4 and 10-9 wins.
The Wildcats will visit No. 4 Hamburg on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in their opener.
