Agents unleash offense

By DENNIS C. WAY
Times Herald Staff

LOWER PROVIDENCE — You think you have troubles?

Climb into the uniforms of the Norristown Agents or the Trooper Trashmen, who met Thursday night at Gaugler Field.

Norristown, which was the Perkiomen Valley Twilight League’s most celebrated powerhouse as recently as two seasons ago, has most of the players from that dynasty and more back this year, yet are wallowing around the .500 mark in the season’s early going.

Trooper, which looked like one of the circuit’s best young up and comers a year ago, lost so many players in the off-season it resembles not even a shell of its former self. And like Norristown, its record reflects those losses.

The Trashmen’s manpower miseries continued Thursday, but the Agents finally found its long-elusive offense, scoring five times in the fifth inning to top Trooper, 8-4, in a contest shortened to five innings due to darkness.

Mark Roth’s two-run homer and Sean Meister’s two-run single keyed the fateful fifth, as the visitors rallied after Trooper had taken a 4-3 lead.

“It’s been a lot different,” said Roth, one of the former Norristonians who have returned to wear the blue. “We have a few guys from the dynasty, but we’re not one-through-nine solid.”

And one of the old A’s trademarks, an offense that could produce crooked numbers, seemingly, at the drop of a hat, has been mysteriously absent.

“We’ve been awful all year, offensively,” Roth said. “Everybody but (Matt) Sperling is struggling right now.

“Once we start hitting, we’ll be OK. But we have to get on a roll.”

Ironically, the Agents’ professed weakness at the start of the year was pitching depth.

“Our pitching has overachieved,” said Sperling, whose evening included a two-run homer, “but our bats are below what most of these guys are used to.

“Tonight was the first game we’ve played this year that one team or the other has scored more than five runs.”

The Agents got busy early against Trooper starter Tom Urban, when Tony DeLude’s singled in two-out, unearned run in the first.

Sperling tacked on two in the third when he followed up Meister’s double with a two-run bomb to right.

Norristown starter Mike Furman began strong, but ran into two-out trouble in the home third, when catcher Joe Conaway followed Greg Moyer’s single with a long home run to center. Mike Boyland then doubled to left and moved to third on Sam Pier’s single.

And when Furman tried his pick-off move to first, Boyland broke from third and scored easily.

Trooper broke the tie and took the lead in the fourth via Rich Gehman’s sacrifice fly.

But the run was costly as the depleted Trashmen lost outfielder Ryan McCracken, who injured his ankle sliding into third base.

The injury forced Trooper to play defense with only eight players. And the ploy of necessity came back to bite them.

Urban got the first out of the fifth, but then walked DeLude on four pitches and was taken deep by Roth, giving the visitors the lead.

After another out, successive singles by D.J. Santoro, Furman and Matt Altieri produced another run. Meister’s two-run single completed the five-run ruckus.

DeLude threw a scoreless bottom of the fifth, and the Agents had a win — and maybe the beginnings of the end to their team-wide slump.

“The guys we have are all top-notch players,” Roth said. “We’ll be a team to be reckoned with once we start swinging.”

Meanwhile, the Trooper troubles continued to mount.

Player/manager Pier did a quick count. And between those players that left the Trashmen to play elsewhere in the league, injuries, job demands, one player moving to another state and yet another studying for his medical exams, the Trashmen are missing no fewer than 14 players from last year’s team.

“It’s definitely been a battle for me,” Pier said. “I’ve been signing guys, but I don’t know if we’ll have enough guys from one night to the next.

“That’s why we’re treating these games as scrimmages, and waiting for the playoffs.”

Date: June 11, 2009     Time: 6:00pm      Venue: Trooper