Limeport sweeps Stahley's; Tom Cichocki MVP

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call


Somewhere up above, Cliff Koch was probably smiling last night.

Koch, the long-time voice of Fegely Stadium who died Aug. 3, would have been as thrilled as anyone to see his beloved Limeport Dodgers complete their remarkable post-season run with a 6-2 victory over Stahley's Angels before some 500 enthused fans in Limeport.

The victory completed a two-game sweep in the first-ever Lehigh Valley Championship Series and gave the Dodgers another crown to go with their Blue Mountain League championship.

Fittingly, Tom Cichocki, a key man throughout the Dodgers' playoff run, was named the recipient of the first Cliff Koch Award, which salutes the LVCS's Most Valuable Player.

Cichocki, ironically, was one of the Dodger players that Koch admired the most and the Limeport hurler was clearly touched in receiving the Koch Award from Mrs. Jane Koch and other members of Cliff's family.

Cichocki earned the award by unfurling a five-hit performance on the mound last night after he walked three times and scored twice in Wednesday's series opener.

"This was a fun thing," said Cichocki, who also picked up important first-game wins in Limeport's BML series against Bicentennial and Banko's. "I love playoff baseball. I've been pitching better and better through the playoffs and tonight my arm felt better than it has all year. I feel a lot more confident out on the mound. Other than Dave Lutte (who belted two doubles), I don't think they hit me that hard."

Lutte's second double, a deep drive to left-center, erased a 1-0 Limeport lead in the top of the fifth and put the Angels on top at the same time when a high, errant throw produced a crunching collision at the plate between Stahley's Dale Weiss, who scored the Angels' first run, and Dodger catcher Andy Cichocki.

Andy Cichocki, Tom's older brother who was playing in his final game as a Dodger, rolled around in pain for a few minutes after the collision. While the ball rolled to the backstop (it remained there untouched until play resumed several minutes later), Lutte came around to score the go-ahead run.

Andy Cichocki was helped off the field with what is believed to be a hyperextended left knee. Tom Cichocki was shaken by the turn of events and his brother's injury, but quickly regained his composure.

"It was tough to see Andy go down like that, especially because it was his last game," said Tom, who walked just one and struck out two.

"Even though there were some things said in the stands, it wasn't a cheap-shot play at all. It was a good, clean slide that is part of baseball. But after he got hurt, it took my mind off the game a little bit. Then I started to relax and started throwing strikes again."

Trailing by a run, Limeport couldn't relax at the plate. The Angels' Ed Jones, who was a clutch performer in the Tri-County League playoffs, seemed on his way to another big victory as he limited the Dodgers to one run on five hits through five innings.

But then the Dodgers, who have had a knack for one big inning almost every game, came up with a huge sixth. Mike Anderson started it with a walk and alertly hustled to second when the return throw to the mound on a pickoff move got away.

Player-manager Jim Schaffer followed with a game-tying single to center. Schaffer scampered to third on Jeff Haag's hit to right and scored the go-ahead run on John Cole's sacrifice fly. Dan Eckert kept the inning going with an RBI-double to right.

Limeport went on to get two more insurance runs in the seventh. Terry Sandercock tripled off the top of the fence in left and scored on Anderson's swinging-bunt single. The last run scored on the Angels' sixth error of the night and their 11th of the two-game series.

"The bottom line is we can hit with Limeport, but we just can't field with them," said the Angels' Herb Hemerly, who ran the team in the absence of manager Ray Ganser. Ganser had a family commitment.

"They make all the plays and some of our guys didn't come to play and just made some mistakes in this series that shouldn't be made. We fielded a lot better during the year. This wasn't really the Angels tonight. We were competitive with them and one bad inning did us in each night. We proved the Tri-County League can play with the teams in the Blue Mountain. We're all just ballplayers."

Though disappointed by the loss, another Angel wanted to get a point across.

"At least we gave them a better series than Banko's did (in the BML finals) and we were undermanned," said Weiss. "Their manager (Ron "Punkin" Miller) took a shot at us (he said the Tri-County League team wouldn't come close to beating Limeport) and I want to give a shot back."

But the most important shots of all were fired by the Dodgers, who went 9-1 through the BML and LVCS playoffs, all after they lost their good friend -- Koch.

"It's been a remarkable stretch for us," said Schaffer. "It seems like every game we came from behind. We don't hit too many three-run home runs. We just scratch and claw for everything. I'm just proud of the guys for the way they've kept battling back. I almost wish the season wasn't ending and we could stay together to play some more baseball."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 23, 1991

Copyright © 1991, The Morning Call