BOYERTOWN – Cole Reich was sure Quakertown would get a hit eventually.

For five innings in the Pennsylvania American Legion Region 2 tournament opener, Quakertown could not muster a hit off Nazareth right-hander Zakary Novak. Despite that, the Blue Jays had found a way to hold a 1-0 lead thanks to a two-out error on Jackson Gilman fly ball to left field in the bottom of the inning.

But in the top of sixth, Nazareth pulled even when Chase Biederman collected the game’s first hit with an RBI infield single.

“We had confidence,” said Reich, the Blue Jays’ left fielder. “It didn’t really matter what has already happened, you always got to move forward. Confidence in your teammates, coaches, go up there with an approach, hit the ball hard somewhere.”

CJ Peacher finally did for Quakertown in the its half of the sixth, sending a shot down the left field foul line that was ruled fair for a leadoff double. Peacher went to third when Gerry Stanziola made it back-to-back hits with a single to the infield’s left side to bring up Reich with a pair of runners on with no outs.

“I was just trying to be relaxed, hit the ball hard somewhere,” Reich said. “Just do a job. That was the goal. And I knew there was nobody out, so I knew I had guys behind me who, if I even did struggle, had me, could pick me up.”

Reich ended up being the one to come through for the Blue Jays, knocking the ball into center for a sacrifice fly to bring home Peacher. In the top of the seventh, Anthony Pellegrini put Nazareth down in order and the two-time defending regional and state champs held on to claim a 2-1 victory at Bear Stadium.

“We have confidence coming in here,” Reich said. “Like you said we won it the last two years. It’s a place we expect to be. We expect to win these games. So, came in here with confidence, but just getting the job done was the message at the beginning of the game and I guess we did that.”

Quakertown advances to the winner’s bracket semifinals to face South Parkland – which edged West Lawn 3-2 – 4 p.m. Saturday while Nazareth faces West Lawn in an elimination game at 10 a.m. The double-elimination tournament continues through Tuesday with all games at Bear Stadium.

Blue Jays starting pitcher Cooper Natisin did not allow a hit in his five innings despite struggling to find the strike zone early – the left-hander gave up three consecutive one-out walks in the top of the first to load the bases.

“Just didn’t challenge ‘em at all,” Natisin said. “I knew I could’ve done it, I just wasn’t. I was trying.”

But Natisin found a way out of the jam without conceding a run when right fielder Rick DePiero threw out a runner trying to score on a sac fly to end the top half of the inning.

“He saved me,” said Natisin of DePiero. “It’s nice, they got my back so it’s nice knowing I have that.”

Natisin retired the next four Nazareth batters – the latter three by strikeout – before allowing a walk to Chase Brown with one out in the third. Brown went to second on a groundout then third on a wild pitch but was left there after a pop out to first.

Natisin proceeded to retire Nazareth in order in the fourth and fifth. He finished with four walks and four strikes as he threw 80 pitches.

“Slider was there when I had it,” Natisin said. “And it just keeps them off balanced and they couldn’t really hit it so I just kept throwing it.”

Novak took the loss in a complete-game effort, allowing two runs – one earned – on two hits.

“I think it was him working really quick,” said Reich of Novak. “Didn’t necessarily have timing right. He didn’t have overpowering stuff, he threw a lot of strikes and he worked quick on the mound, kept us off balance.”

The Nazareth righty struck out six with the lone walk he gave up coming to Natisin with one out in the top of the second. Natisin stole second and then after a strikeout Jackson Gilman hit a fly ball out to left that dropped in due to an error, enabling Natisin to score for a 1-0 Quakertown lead.

“Head coach (Bob Helm) was just sitting there just not really doing anything and then he was just saying go,” Natisin said. “And I didn’t expect it, cause I looked at the ball, I thought it was right to him and then I just hear everyone go crazy and I sprinted I guess.”

After Chase Gieser came in for Natisin in the top of the sixth, Brown began the inning with a walk, stole second then reached third on a passed ball. Following a Ryan Lichtenberger walk, Pellegrini took over for Gieser.

Lichtenberger stole second to give Nazareth runners on second and third with no outs. Neither could advance on a groundout to third but on the next at-bat Biederman posted the first hit with an infield single down the third-base line to score Brown.

Pellegrini, however, kept the contest at 1-1 by getting the next Nazareth batter to hit into a double play.

“He’s been like that all year,” said Natisin of Pellegrini, who earned the victory. “He can just come in and throw strikes and he just never really does bad. He’s good at doing his job of just throwing strikes.”

Quakertown then collected its only two hits in the bottom of the sixth with Peacher’s double then Stanziola’s infield single. After Stanziola stole second to put runners on second and third with no outs, Reich’s RBI sac fly to center put the Blue Jays back ahead 2-1.

“I think he was a little afraid to throw an off-speed pitch with a guy on third, the winning run on third,” Reich said. “So came at me with all fastballs and I got ahead in the court for the first on the day, so just went for a pitch to hit.”

Quakertown 2, Nazareth 1

Nazareth 000 001 0 – 1 1 1

Quakertown 010 001 x – 2 2 0

WP: Anthony Pellegrini 2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 SO.

LP: Zakary Novak 6 IP 2 H 2 R 1 ER 1 BB 6 SO.

Originally Published: July 19, 2025 at 9:59 AM EDT