‘Nobody expected a throw like that,’ says Saints coach as they hold off Lynx for Berks III title
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Trey Stricker did his best to appear calm on the mound, but inside his heart was beating through his chest as Oley Valley loaded the bases against him with none out in the second inning Wednesday, the Berks League Division III title on the line.
Maxx Mace, stationed some 200 feet away in center field, managed to lower his Berks Catholic teammate’s pulse rate considerably with a play he and the Saints will remember for a long, long time.
Mace gunned down a runner at the plate after catching a fly ball and Stricker retired the next batter on one pitch, the great escape paving the way for Berks Catholic’s 5-3 division-clinching win at Rentschler Field in Oley.
“(We were) hoping to get a double play in that situation,” Saints coach Brandon Shurr said, “but nobody expected a throw from center field to get it.”
The double play allowed the Saints (10-1, 13-3) to get out of the inning tied 1-1. By Stricker retiring the next batter, Gryffin Cappellano, on a groundout, the dangerous Paul Petersen was left in the on-deck circle, unable to help the Lynx (8-3, 10-6) break the game open.
“I was certainly in quite a pickle there,” Stricker said. “It’s really good to know that all these guys have my back.”
Mace’s perfect one-hop throw to the plate to erase Colin Remmel gave Stricker a lift and bought the Saints time against Petersen, an All-Berks pick as a junior and one of the league’s top pitchers. He didn’t allow a hit through three innings and took a one-hitter into the fifth.
Berks Catholic tied it 2-2 in the fifth on Mikey Fidler’s RBI single and took the lead with a pair of runs in the sixth after Stricker and Dennys Rodriguez opened the inning with back-to-back singles.
After Parker Nein sacrificed both runners up a base the Saints caught a break when Cappellano, playing shortstop, couldn’t handle Aiden Curley’s slow roller to the edge of the infield grass. First he bobbled it, then he threw it past first and out of play; both baserunners scored for a 4-2 lead.
“Paul’s really good,” Shurr said of Petersen, who had a 2.07 ERA and 27 strikeouts over 19 innings coming in. “He throws three pitches for strikes, throws them in any count, so he’s a really good pitcher; (it’s), really tough to get a bunch of barrels on (him). Just like any pitcher, third time that you get to see him it gets a little bit easier.”
That two-run cushion was plenty for Stricker, who made it two outs into the seventh before he was removed after reaching the PIAA pitch count limit. Fidler finished it out on four pitches to give the Saints their first division title in six years.
Stricker allowed five hits and walked four. He pitched out of traffic several times, including in the sixth when the Lynx, down two runs, got a runner to third with one out but left him stranded there.
“(I) didn’t have my best stuff today,” the junior right-hander said, “but you’ve gotta battle, and the team battled.”
Stricker got stronger as the game went on; he said Mace’s defensive gem lifted him.
“After that I felt really good,” he said. “I felt I could play with confidence. Knowing that something like that could happen where a teammate like Maxx can shoot someone (down) from all the way out in center field is a great feeling.”
The Saints have a Berks League playoff spot locked up heading into their league finale Friday against Schuylkill Valley. They have four games remaining as they try to improve their positioning for the District 3 Class 4A Tournament.
The Lynx, meanwhile, can earn their way into the league tournament by winning Thursday at Brandywine Heights. That would give them the runner-up spot from Berks III-IV. They can also make the eight-team field as a wild card but entered the day trailing both Exeter and Daniel Boone in power rating, which will determine that second wild card spot.
Oley Valley has two games remaining.
Berks Catholic is the fourth different team to win the Berks III title over the past four seasons, following Oley Valley last year, Hamburg in 2022, and Wyomissing in 2021.
The win over the Lynx was just the second in the last four seasons for the Saints; Oley won the first meeting this season 7-1.
“They’ve been a problem all four years that I’ve been playing,” Mace said. “It’s been tough. And the kid on the mound, Paul, he’s been real tough, too.”
The division title is the first for Shurr, in his fifth season as head coach.
“This is four years in the making,” he said. “We started with this group (three) years ago and we went 5-15 (in 2021). We made an investment in this group of seniors, to go with them as freshmen. We took our lumps. We battled through it and have gotten better each year. I’m just happy for this group of seniors.”
| Berks Catholic | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | – | 5 | 7 | 3 |
| Oley Valley | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | – | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| Saints | AB | R | H | RBI | Lynx | AB | R | H | RBI | |
| Walls, ss/rf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Fries, cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Stricker, p/ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Cappellano, ss/3b | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Rodriguez, 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Petersen, p/ss | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Shrawder, cr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | W. Hoffman, cr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nein, 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | S. Hoffman, 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Curley, 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Firek, dh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Schalk, dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | L. Petersen, 2b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| DiSabatino, c | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | McCluskey, 3b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bradley, lf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | DeBalko, p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mace, cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Palmiotti, lf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Fidler, rf/p | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Auge, c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Totals | 26 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 25 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
E: Stricker, Curley, DiSabatino; Cappellano 2, S. Hoffman. SB: Fidler; McCluskey 2. S: Nein; S. Hoffman. SF: Firek. LOB: Berks Catholic 3, Oley Valley 7.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |||
| Stricker, W (5-0) | 6 1/3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | Petersen, L (4-2) | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| Fidler, S (2) | 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | DeBalko | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
WP: Stricker, Petersen. PB: DiSabatino, Auge.
