West Virginia is “almost heaven,” John Denver famously sang.
From a baseball standpoint, the Quakertown Blue Jays agree.
Quakertown (24-3) had already punched its ticket to Morgantown, W.Va., and the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament. But by virtue of its 14-10 win over Paxton in the Pennsylvania American Legion championship game in Latrobe on Friday, Quakertown goes to the Mountain State as the Keystone State champion.
“It didn’t feel real at first, but on the car ride home, it felt pretty real with the plaque in our hands,” observed pitcher Vinny Pellegrini.
The double elimination Mid-Atlantic tournament between Aug. 2-6 features Quakertown, Paxton, host Morgantown and the state champions of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio and West Virginia. Quakertown played West Virginia champion Berkeley County in Wednesday’s late opener.
Quakertown joined 2010 Doylestown as the only other Bucks County-based Bux-Mont League Legion state champion. The Blue Jays did so in convincing fashion, winning all five of their state tournament games and outscoring opponents 44-19.
Ethan Beil took home the MVP honors. Seven hits in five games is a great tournament. Beil clobbered seven homers in the five games, a feat usually reserved for guys named Ruth or Aaron. He also drove in a baker’s dozen.
“I never, ever have done something like this,” Beil admitted. “We went to the field on Sunday night to check it out. I saw the dimensions of the field and thought if I could get any ball elevated, I could most likely get it out. I went to an approach to hit the ball in the air and that worked well for me.”
“Ethan was a freaking animal,” Pellegrini said simply.
Pellegrini took home the Top Pitcher after he threw a complete game, three-hit shutout against Greater Pittston in Quakertown’s opener.
“What probably worked best was my off-speed stuff,” Pelligrini shared. “It felt nice to establish my curve ball early in counts and then the majority of my strikeouts came from burying a change-up in the dirt. That was working, as well as putting my fielders in position to make easy plays on ground balls.”
That Pellegrini and Peyton Myers both went the distance in Quakertown’s opening games – both shutouts – created an enormous advantage; it gave the Blue Jays fresh arms when they were playing their fifth game in as many days.
Quakertown rallied for six runs in the seventh inning to top Paxton 8-3 last Wednesday in its third game. That win guaranteed the Blue Jays a spot in the regional.
“When we came back in the seventh inning the first time we beat Paxton, that was the biggest moment. I’ve never seen us that locked in,” Beil said. “That was when I knew we could win the state championship. I had a good feeling we would make it to regionals, but I didn’t expect us to win regionals or states after that, even though we were hot. States is a whole different ball game and those teams are extremely talented.”
Quakertown won the Region 2 tournament in Boyertown in order to earn the invite to Latrobe. “I realized we had something going in regionals when we just kept playing, having fun and winning,” Pellegrini added. “We hope we can keep carrying this ‘No one is going to stop us’ mentality into the next tournament.”
Beil, Cole Reich and Brandon Pierce all homered in Quakertown’s 8-6 win over Falls the next night, which propelled them into the championship. Just a sophomore, Reich (.412 average and eight RBIs) might have been an MVP candidate were it not for Beil’s dominance. Pierce hit .316 in Latrobe.
“Our 1 and 2, Danny Qualteria and Cole Reich, have been consistently getting on base and Cole has been slugging,” Beil observed. “The 3-4-5 of Brandon, me and Ty (Everitt) are interchangeable. Whoever has been in those spots have been picking each other up. And people in the bottom of the lineup: Brayden Schuler has had some real good at-bats, fouling a lot of pitches off and Tommy Kozlusky probably has the most power for any 8 or 9 spot of anyone I’ve seen in Legion this year.
“Even the guys who aren’t playing and are on the bench: they are happy and engaged,” Beil concluded. “They never complain about playing time, which shows you the character of the team.”
Many Blue Jays were also on the Quakertown Community High School varsity team, a squad that sat at 1-7 at their nadir and rallied to advance all the way to playbacks in the District One playoffs. They know how to fight.
“We had a couple of young guys on our Legion team who played in the high school season and we had a bunch of guys who played in our last run last summer,” Pellegrini said. “We definitely carried a lot of momentum from the varsity making the playoffs and that may have sparked wanting to go farther in the Legion season.
“It was fun being a Blue Jay. When you watch our games, you’ll be entertained,” Pellegrini added. “When we set foot on that diamond, we’re one big family.”
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