June 1, 1967: Boyertown Captures Ches-Mont Title

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

June 1, 1967: Against all the odds, the Boyertown Bears baseball team challenged a future Major League pitcher, Jon Matlack, in a championship match and won! Thanks to the brilliant strategy of coach Warren Fry and spectacular pitching of Bob Houck, the vaunted West Chester High School Warriors went down to defeat in the Ches-Mont League title game. The Warriors went into the game with a two-year record of 49-0. The lanky left-hander, 6’4” Senior, Matlack is the top high school baseball player in Pennsylvania this year and had not tasted defeat since he was in 7th grade. In the game played at the Hill School, Fry’s strategy was to break Matlack’s concentration and rhythm and keep him off his stride with “unnerving moves, having his batters calling time and stepping out of the box, to great distraction, just as Matlack was about to hurl the ball. They also used bunts, double steals and other ploys to addle him. West Chester’s coach called Boyertown a worthy successor to the Ches-Mont title. He was impressed with Boyertown’s spirit, discipline, fielding and Houck’s masterful pitching. The final score was Boyertown, 3, West Chester, 1.

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