Valley East eliminates Towamensing

Towamensing and Valley East were both looking for another lease on tournament life Thursday in the District 18 playoffs.

With the two teams facing a win-or-store-away-the-uniforms-for-the-season scenario, it was the Drums contingent that pulled off a five-inning 15-5 victory to eliminate host Towamensing.

Valley’s offensive attack featured the torrid hitting of John Dougherty, as he went perfect in all three plate appearances.

Dougherty drove in seven runs, slamming a three-run homer in the fourth inning while also delivering a two-run double and a two-run single. Dougherty’s teammate, Dylan Scholl, had a pair of hits, while eight other batters hit safely in the lineup.

“Our pitching was solid, and we got a little rocky in the middle (innings), but we snapped out of it,” said Valley East skipper Roger Bellas. “We had the sticks… I think we have the ability to go through the loser’s bracket and give it a shot.”

Towamensing was hoping that it would be the team that could gather a full head of steam and charge through the bracket, but the Valley East offense ended those thoughts. After watching the Drums kids take a 3-0 lead in the first two at bats, Towamensing uncorked its biggest rally of the contest with a five-spot.

The local club sent nine batters to the plate in the third frame, getting a big run-scoring double off the bat of AJ Borger. Mikayla Pengelly slapped a two-run single, Zack Anthony chipped in with a run-scoring single, and J.J. Jacoby also singled during the uprising.

“We made a nice run there, but we just couldn’t quite hold on to the lead,” said Towamensing manager Matthew George. “Our season ended late and we hurried up and put the (all-star) team together. But it was tough getting them to gel with little practice time.”

Valley East rallied with four runs in the home third to take a 6-5 lead. East poked out five hits in the inning with Dougherty’s home run the big hit. Dave Antolick also doubled in the frame.

In the home fourth, Valley East sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs on six hits. They posted two more runs in the fifth to halt the contest via the 10-run rule.

TOSSING THE PITCHES … Valley East’s Scholl picked up the victory, throwing 78 pitches in five innings. He had a rocky second and third innings with 48 pitches tossed.

EXTRA BASES … Both teams were heady on the base paths and stole three bases apiece.

Towamensing 005 00 - 5 10 2

Valley East 214 62 - 15 13 2

Anthony, Borger (4), George (5) and Rumfield; Scholl and Segedy. W - Scholl. L - Anthony.