BML stars nip Tri-County 8-7

By Ernie Long
Of The Morning Call


Is the Blue Mountain Baseball League better than the Tri-County League?

Well, the BML All Stars won last night's game against the Tri-County League All-Stars 8-7 before 400 fans at Limeport Stadium, but that hardly proves superiority.

Yet, maybe proving which is better was not the most important thing about last night's contest.

"I know we won, but the main thing about tonight is that we had a good crowd and they saw good amateur baseball. And, hopefully they'll pick it up tomorrow by going to a game near them," said Blue Mountain manager Ron 'Punkin' Miller.

He added, "They saw guys who still play the game from their hearts and not their wallets. These guys work all day and have families and they come out here and play nine innings of baseball on a Saturday night without any reimbursement."

Blue Mountain's Andy Donatelli, an outfielder from the Bicentennial Stars who used to play for money in the Phillies farm system, said, "This game, with the rivalry involved, is good for our leagues. It's a good game to win, also."

Donatelli clubbed a two-run homer in the top of the first inning which helped Blue Mountain gain a 3-0 lead it never relinquished.

Banko's second baseman Mike Mihalik kept the winners on top by driving a two-run triple to deep center in a three-run fourth.

"I thought it was about time that our two leagues played each other. It's a natural," said Mihalik, who was driven in by Nazareth catcher Keith DeRenzi in the fourth.

"I've been in the league 15 years and never played Tri-County before. It should happen every year. It's a heck of a game," Mihalik added.

By the fifth inning, Tri-County was behind 8-2.

Bob Graber's bloop single in the fifth brought in one. Then, Tri-County exploded for four runs in the seventh.

Quakertown's Rob Drumbore doubled and Coplay's Scott Morgan drove him in with a towering home run which hit half way up the light pole in left center. Two walks and an RBI from Limeport's Jack Goddess (who also plays for Hellertown of the BML) and one from Limeport's Bill Fatzinger got the hosts within one.

Ninth-inning singles by Quakertown's Scott Davis and Fatzinger and a sacrifice by Gilbertsville's Brian Gilbert put runners at second and third with two out. But Hellertown pitcher Carl Rentzheimer got Greg Gilbert to swing at a high fastball to end the game.

Blue Mountain pitchers struck out eight and walked five while allowing 16 hits. Troy Heffelfinger was the starter and winner.

Tri-County pitchers fanned four and walked four and gave up 11 hits. Randy Baer was the starter and loser. Bob Carr, Ray Ganser and Dave Jones were good in relief, holding Blue Mountain to just two hits and no runs in the final three innings.

Tri-County manager Ish Fatzinger said, "I think we gave them a good ball game and the people got their money's worth. I think it has the making of a classic and should be played every year."

Morgan said, "We talked before the game and wanted to win. Every body says how the Blue Mountain pitching is tougher, but I didn't think it showed that much tonight."

According to Miller, the two leagues faced each other in all-star game many years ago, but for some reason it was discontinued. Then, each league played its own all-star game.

"That got a little boring," Miller said. "So for the last two years we played the twilight league of Perkiomen Valley. This year we wanted to get these teams together again and playing here was just a natural because Limeport has a team in each league and it's a great stadium."



ernie.long@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- July 16, 1989

Copyright © 1989, The Morning Call