TOWAMENCIN-  Within the past two baseball seasons, both North Penn (No. 6) and Boyertown (No.11) have tasted state championship titles. However, this year, that hunger for yet another title can only be pursued by one team, as the Knights and the Bears faced off in the second round of District One 6A Playoffs. In a game that was decided by early runs from the Knights and solid pitching from Danny Kirwin, North Penn beat Boyertown 6-3 on Wednesday night.

After Danny Kirwin kept Boyertown off of the bases in the first inning, the Knights’ starting line up got to work. Third Baseman Tyler Siddal was the first up at bat with a fastball triple off of Pat Hohlfield; the bases were then loaded with hitting powerhouses, Zach Miles and Corey Stouffer.

“We knew that [Hohlfield] had a tight breaking ball, so we did some practice yesterday off of the machine with tight spin breaking balls. That probably helped us a little bit,” said Siddal.

Working with the bases loaded, Billy Collins recorded an RBI single bringing Siddal home, and the Knights took a 1-0 lead over the Bears. Joe Picozzi then made it to first base which knocked in Miles, and Stouffer scored on an error with the third run of the inning.

“We were all fired up for our first playoff game, for sure,” said Siddal.

Kirwin led the Knights on the mound in the second inning, and despite a double by Jake Dicesare, the Knights’ cleaned up, leaving the Bears off of the scoreboard.

“Sometimes with Danny, he struggles to get into a rhythm, but today he got into a rhythm right from the outset. He really filled the strike zone up and threw both pitches that he throws well for strikes when he needed to,” said Head Coach Kevin Manero.

Trace Colter opened up the bottom of the second with a double deep to center field for North Penn, and Zach Miles hit an RBI single bringing Colter home. Picozzi was up at bat with bases loaded when a balk was called on Pat Hohlfield, forcing a run and giving the Knights a 5-0 lead.

In the third, the Knights’ field earned all three outs at first base with throws to Stouffer. Matt Marino recovered a bunt and threw Mike Raneri out to end the inning.

Kirwin worked mound in the fourth inning, racking up three outs. Boyertown’s Dicesare faced Kirwin with two teammates on base, but he was unable to capitalize and the Bears remained scoreless trailing 0-5.

“My mindset was to keep [Boyertown] off of the board as much as I could. My hitters are always there to put runs on the board, so if I can keep a low count, I know we will be okay,” said Kirwin.

It wasn’t until the top of the fifth inning when things started to get interesting for Boyertown. Mike Hohlfeld made it to second on a throwing error to first base, but then Kirwin struck out the next two batters. However, Hohlfeld advanced to third and then scored on two wild pitches, putting the Bears on the scoreboard 5-1.

Stouffer opened up for the Knights in the bottom on the fifth with a double to center field. Collin’s hit an RBI and Stouffer ran home putting the Knights’ up 6-1. After a pitching change by the Bears to Mike Hohlfeld, he quickly earned three outs to wrap up the fifth.

In the sixth inning, Dicesare faced Kirwin with a man on first and third base. A sacrifice fly allowed the Bears to score, but Kirwin stopped the momentum there by striking out the next batter.

“[Danny] gave us exactly what we needed out of a starting job in a single elimination playoff game,” said Coach Manero.

The Bear’s seventh inning play was their best offensive effort of the game, but it came too late. Two singles and a double earned them one run, but it was not enough to change the 6-3 game in their favor.

Luckily for the Knights, their early momentum carried them through the game. However, as their postseason gets tougher, they are going to need to play seven innings of North Penn baseball.

“I told the guys that in the playoffs, you can’t worry too much about what you did well and what you didn’t do well. You just have to worry about winning. However, that being said, if we want our season to go on for a long time, we need to play baseball the way we did in the first two innings, not the last five,” said Coach Manero.

The Knights will face Springford away this Friday in the third round of District One 6A Playoffs.

“We are going to focus on making good pitches because [Springford] is a good hitting team. They have good pitchers too, so we need to attack and swing early,” said Kirwin.