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Gilbertsville takes Tri-Co
title
By Jack Lapos
Of The Morning Call
It
wasn't easy.
Gilbertsville added the Tri-County League playoff title to its seasonal
championship by outlasting stubborn Coplay last night 11-10 in Balliet
Stadium.
Bill
Sassaman socked the first pitch of the game over the left field fence and
Gilbertsville never trailed after that despite the fact Coplay kept coming
back time after time.
That
first inning saw Gilbertsville score four times as other runs batted in went
to Jeff Evans on a double and John Yergey on a triple. Yergey's blast
brought in two runs.
Gilbertsville then led 4-1 after one, 5-4 after three, 6-4 after four, 8-7
after five and took an 11-7 lead going into the bottom of the last inning,
the seventh.
Coplay then threatened to pull out a victory by collecting three runs but
relief pitcher Kevin Mackey bore down and got Randy Remaly to bounce into a
force-out at second to end the game.
Each
team registered 11 hits. Bill Pugh of Coplay and Gilbertsville's Evans each
had three hits. Coplay's Steve Weidner and Jeff Snyder and Gilbertsville's
John Yergey and Brian Gilbert had four RBI apiece.
Weidner clouted a bases-empty homer in the first inning and Snyder connected
for a three-run homer in the fifth. Weidner's HR went to right field,
Snyder's over the left field fence.
Mackey, who is Gilbertsville's co-manager along with Brian Gilbert, was
credited with the victory after replacing starter Charlie Baer in the third
inning.
"A
game like this tells you that both teams have a lot of guts, a lot of
heart," Mackey said. "I am just glad to get out of here with a win . . .
Coplay kept coming back . . . so did our guys so give both clubs an awful
lot of credit."
Mackey thought a double play in the sixth was the key play of the entire
game. Coplay, threatening to grab the lead, had runners on first and second
with one out when Remaly socked a grounder which looked like it might go
into center field. However, shortstop Jim Bergman made a great lunging
catch, tossed off balance to second baseman Brian Gilbert who threw to first
baseman Scott Gilbert for the final out.
Coplay's manager, Bob Bartholomew, thought his team would have won had it
not been for two controversial calls the umpires made late in the game,
particularly one in the seventh on an infield grounder.
Bartholomew said he was proud of the way Coplay played. "At least we played
them tough and went down fighting," the manager noted.
Gilbertsville's win was its 26th against 6 losses. Coplay closed its
campaign with a 22-12 record.
From The Morning Call --
August 12, 1986
Copyright
© 1986,
The Morning Call
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