Norchester continues Berks Legion dominance with championship win over Boyertown

Norchester continued its domination of the Berks Senior Legion League Sunday, beating Boyertown 10-3 at Owls Field to claim its third straight league championship and fifth in six tournaments.

The game was tied 1-1 before the top-seeded Bulldogs erupted for nine sixth-inning runs.

Shay Geib and two relievers combined on a four-hitter with 12 strikeouts for Norchester. Geib struck out 10 over 5 2/3 innings and did not allow an earned run.

Geib had a three-run double to help break the game open in the bottom of the sixth. Blaine Waltmyer and Thomas Lewman followed with run-scoring triples. Waltimyer and Dylan Donaghy each had two hits in the bat-around inning, which saw the Bulldogs collect nine hits.

Ethan Sabtino and Aaron Kirby each had two hits for the the Bulldogs. Evan Hetrick went 2-for-4 for the second-seeded Bears.

The Bears, who lost to the Bulldogs 5-1 Friday in the winner’s bracket final, needed two wins over Norchester Sunday to claim the title. Boyertown was looking for its first championship since 2012.

Norchester heads to the eight-team Region 2 Tournament Friday at Quakertown as defending champ. The Bulldogs won their first Region 2 title last season. They were the first Berks Legion team to win that tournament since Twin Valley in 2013.

The Berks champ will open against the Bux-Mont champ at 4. Hamburg will represent the Schuylkill-Berks League and opens against Norco No. 1 at 1.

Only West Lawn, in 2018, and COVID-19, in 2020, have stopped Northchester’s Berks championship streak. There was no tournament two years ago when the season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Norchester has won Berks titles in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022.

Norchester won the Region 2 and Pennsylvania championships last year; West Lawn was the state runner-up.

Norchester went 13-1 in regular season play, its lone loss coming to Reading 11-1 on June 23 following a 9-0 start.