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July 7, 2004 - 06:00 PM --
By: JASON SHANDLER , Times Herald Staff 07/07/2004
HARRISBURG - Vince Elsier has been taking the Norristown A's to Harrisburg for 15 years now.
Never has he seen a series of pitching performances like the ones he saw last weekend.
The A's, behind five brilliant starting pitching efforts and an MVP performance from Kris Doiron, breezed to a Firecracker Tournament championship last weekend in Harrisburg.
Norristown won all five games that it played in the tourney, including a title-clinching 2-0 victory over Mechanicsburg on Monday. It was the third time that the Perky League giants won the Firecracker Tournament, which is an annual event that brings in the best semi-pro baseball teams from the East Coast.
The A's also won in 1997 and 2000.
"It was without a doubt the best pitching that I've seen since I've been going up there," said Elsier, Norristown's manager. "The pitching, from everyone, was just great. All of our guys have success in metal bat leagues, so when teams are trying to hit us with a wooden bat, it makes it that much harder.
"To go undefeated up there is phenomenal."
Against Mechanicsburg in the finals Norristown received a superb outing from Bill Zalewski, a former King's College star. Zalewski struck out six and allowed only two hits in his complete game effort. He used a tricky curveball to keep most of the Mechanicsburg hitters off stride.
Matt Altieri, who had eight hits in the tourney, and Javier Barreto each had RBI singles, all that the A's would need.
Zalewski almost never had a chance to be the hero, as the A's were two outs away from elimination in Sunday's semifinals. Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the seventh, Norristown scored twice with one out to nip Lawnton, 2-1.
Andy Srebrowski tied it against Lawnton ace Mike Schuman with a run-scoring single and then Doiron ended things in dramatic fashion with an RBI single to right. Doiron, who no longer plays in the Perky League, went 7-for-16 in the tourney and played an outstanding second base to earn Most Valuable Player honors.
Oh-by-the-way, Brian Stumpf hurled a one-hitter in the Norristown win.
"Guys like Kris asked me to go to this tournament," Elsier said. "They just love baseball. I'll never tell a player like him or Mike Zwanch they can't play. They're too good a players."
Zwanch was the catalyst in Norristown's second game, throwing a 3-hitter and striking out 10 in a 2-1 win over Throgs Neck (N.Y.). Zwanch plays for the Plymouth Pirates in the Perky League.
His Pirates teammate, Gregg Mellott, mastered Brunswick (Md.) in the quarters with a 2-hit gem. Mellott used a deceptive knuckleball to blank Brunswick, a nationally-ranked semi-pro team, 4-0.
Game 1 belonged to hurler Tommy Bloom, who allowed only four hits in a 5-2 victory over New Cumberland.
Mark Brockell also played a steady third base and Joe D'Orazio had a couple of timely hits in the weekend games.
"We played great defense and had spectacular pitching. That was the difference," Elsier said.
©The Times Herald 2004
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You must park within the confines of Montgomery County Community College
June 4, 2008 - 09:00 PM --
When playing or attending a game at Ambler's home field - Montgomery County Community College - please remember that you should only park within the boundaries of the school.
If you look at the map of the grounds above the best parking areas adjacent to the field are highlighted in green.
All side streets are out of bounds and should not be parked on.
This is required by the contractual arrangement Ambler has with the Community College and is not open to debate.
Good sportsmanship extends beyond the boundaries of the field and we trust that you will abide by the requirements of use at Ambler's field.
Thanks
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