Limeport hangs on to even tri-co final series 1-1

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call


Limeport's Josh Williams is hopeful of getting drafted by a major league baseball team some day.

Last night in Game 2 of the Tri-County League Championship Series at Limeport Stadium, Williams showed some big-league poise to go along with a professional fastball as he pitched his Bulls to a nail-biting 7-6 win over Gilbertsville.

The best-of-five series, now knotted at a game apiece, resumes at 5:45 tomorrow night at Gilbertsville with a fourth game set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday back at Limeport. Should the series go to the limit, Williams would probably get the ball in Game 5 Monday at Gilbertsville.

Last night, Williams was just content to get the equalizer for the Bulls (30-9), who snapped the Rangers' 14-game winning streak and slowed the momentum they had built up with a 13-3 Game 1 win.

Williams, a 1992 Central Catholic grad who is about to begin his senior year at Allentown College, went the distance with a hard-throwing eight-hitter that included 12 strikeouts.

He was most impressive when backed into a corner by a four-run Ranger rally in the sixth which trimmed the Bull bulge from 7-2 to 7-6. Making matters even more disconcerting was that Gilbertsville had runners at first and second with just one out and cleanup hitter Jeff Evans at the plate.

"I was getting tired in that inning," he said. "I just had to suck it up and go get it. I usually pitch in relief, but I've been starting lately. This was my third start and I've been going six or seven innings each time."

Just when it looked like Gilbertsville was ready to unleash the big blow -- not only in the game, but in the series -- Williams found something extra and punched out Evans. He then got No. 5 hitter Neil Fox on a bouncer to short to quell the Ranger rally.

"That was definitely gut-check time; I think everyone was swallowing hard out there," said Limeport player-manager Billy Fatzinger. "If we lose tonight, I think everybody would have figured we were done. To go down there Friday night, needing to win three in a row, I think we would have been kidding ourselves."

Limeport couldn't breathe easy yet. With one out in the seventh, Ryan Fox ripped a one-hop smash that seemed destined to go to the fence in left for a double. But newly-inserted third baseman Ken Hollingsworth dove to his right, made a back-handed stab near the line and then made a strong throw across the diamond to nab Fox for a key second out.

"Kenny made a heckuva play," Fatzinger said. "It could have been a game-saving play. I'm happy for him. He doesn't get to start all the time, but he came over from Quakertown when they were 1-20 and now he's playing in the championship series for us."

Williams, who also praised Hollingsworth's play, didn't need any help for the final out. He struck out Dave Pence, who hit a grand slam in Game 1, to end it.

"I have been pitching for Scranton in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League and the coach up there has been working with me on my mechanics," Williams said. "I've been feeling a lot better.

"We needed this one. We got some big hits, got some good defensive plays. We hung in there and now it's a best-of-three series. Anything can happen in baseball. You never know."

Indeed, some strange things happened to Gilbertsville early. Uncharacteristically, the Rangers failed to hold an early 2-0 lead they took in the first inning. Limeport, getting a booming RBI double by Fatzinger in the first, knocked Gilbertsville starter Jake Brensinger out of the game with four runs in their first at-bat.

Then two Ranger errors led to three Limeport runs in the bottom of the third. Glenn Bubser had the frame's only hit -- an RBI single to go with his run-scoring hit in the first.

Bubser's single in the third was Limeport's last hit of the game as reliever Ryan Fox worked 5-1/3 innings of solid relief, but the damage was done.

"Ryan did a real good job, but we didn't make the plays early," said Gilbertsville player-manager Mike "Doc" Moyer. "We lost 7-6 and we probably gave them five of those runs. Josh threw a pretty good game and, when we had him in trouble, we let him off the hook.

"It'll be good to get back home. Home field means a lot. This is a nice place, but we don't play under the lights anywhere else and it's a different atmosphere for us."

Meanwhile, Williams still has a shot at the atmosphere of pro baseball. But if it doesn't happen, you get the feeling he'll do just fine.

"If it happens, great, it would be a great opportunity," he said. "Right now, I'm trying to get a good education and finish up school. Getting drafted would be nice, but it's out of my hands and I'm not going to worry about it."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 10, 1995

Copyright © 1995, The Morning Call