La Salle’s Moretski shuts down Souderton

SOUDERTON » Hatfield-Towamencin right hander Zack Moretski started off strong and by the end of the second inning was unhittable.

“I felt like I couldn’t miss a spot and my curveball, I could locate,” said Moretski, who retired 10 Souderton batters in a row between the second and fourth innings. “My change-up was a little spotty but I felt I could locate it most of the night also.”

Moretski blanked a strong hitting Souderton squad Wednesday night, throwing six shutout innings to lead Hatfield-Towamencin to a 4-0 victory at Romanoski Field.

“We got smacked last night (in

a 13-2 loss to Quakertown) so it was good to come back and get a solid win against a good Souderton team,” said Moretski, who stayed on top of the strike zone all night, limiting Souderton to just a pair of hits while striking out three and walking three with one hit batter.

With Moretski in control, two towering triples by Billy Collins and clutch hitting by Dan Drop powered the visitors’ offense.

Hatfield-Towamencin pushed ahead 1-0 in the fourth when Collins

belted a triple to deep left and came in to score on a single by Drop.

The visitors broke the game open in the sixth, with a familiar pattern. Again Collins led off with a triple — this one to right — and Drop knocked him in to make it 2-0. An RBI double by Moretski and an error by Post 234 increased the margin to 4-0.

“Now everyone’s getting their legs back under them and I think it’s gonna be a good season,” said Moretski, whose team improved to 2-2 after getting a late start due to North Penn’s playoff run.

Moretski, who just

graduated from La Salle and will play college ball next year at Kutztown, retired Souderton in order in the third, fourth and fifth and then got out of a jam in the sixth. Another Zach, lefty Zach Thomas, finished things off in the seventh.

Post 234 right hander Dan Knechel pitched a nice game, going the distance with five strikeouts.

“Knechel did a nice job. He probably gave up two runs and we gave them two, so you figure when Knechel gives up just two runs, we should win the game,” Souderton coach Paul Meara said. “Moretski’s tough. We battled and

I thought we hit some balls good but we hit them right at them.”

Souderton (6-4), which got a pair of hits from Mitch Amenta, is back on the diamond Thursday night at Warrington for a 7 p.m. start and HatfieldTowamencin is in action again Saturday, at Doylestown at 6 p.m.

Hatfield-Towamencin 4, Souderton 0

Hatfield-Towamencin Souderton

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WP: Zack Moretski (6IP, 0R, 2H, 3K, 3BB, 1HBP). LP: Dan Knechel (7IP, 4R, 3ER, 9H, 5K, 0BB). 3B: H-Billy Collins 2. 2B: H-Moretski, Atlee Hasson; S-Mitch Amenta. Multiple hits: H-Collins 2-for-4, 2R; Dan Drop 2-for-3, R, 2RBI; Moretski 2-for-3, RBI; Hasson 2-for-3, R; S-Amenta 2-for-4.