Silver Creek and Woody's will try again today

First game of best-of-3 Tri-Co playoff series has to be replayed.


By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call

 

Mother Nature was able to do what no pitcher could last night -- stop either Silver Creek or Woody's Sports Bar from scoring in their Tri-County League playoff opener in Scherersville.

Darkness and fog forced umpires to call a halt to the slugfest after six innings with the score tied at 11.

The game will be replayed in its entirety at 5:30 tonight back in Scherersville. Game 2 in the best-of-3 quarterfinal round series, originally slated for tonight in Springtown, will be played tomorrow at 5:45.

Before the skies darkened, the Raiders and Mariners unloaded 28 hits. Seventh-seeded Silver Creek (19-13) seemed to grab control with three runs in the top of the sixth to go in front 11-8. But Woody's (23-9) came back with three in its half of the sixth -- the last two coming on Tony Galucy's two-run home run down the right-field line.

"Thank goodness we have Tony Galucy, that's all I can say," said Woody's player-manager Dave Lutte. "I also better thank his wife Lori for letting him come back from Ocean City, Maryland, a day early. Right now, Lori's our MVP."

Lori had lots of competition for that honor, including her husband who was 3-for-4.

Raider catcher John Buckwalter went 4-for-4, including a solo home run. He knocked in three runs and scored three. The Creek's Vince Munjone also hit a home run as part of two-hit, two-RBI day. Player-manager Matt Smull also had a pair of hits and RBIs.

For Woody's, Jay Raines was the perfect lead-off man, going 3-for-3 with a walk and scoring four runs. Dale Weiss slugged a big three-run home run and Jim Brezack tripled in three in a big six-run third inning which put the Bar boys on top 7-5. Keith Brader had two hits, two runs and two RBIs.

Only one player on either side -- Lutte -- failed to reach base. No wonder he felt like he was given a Governor's reprieve at night's end.

"We're lucky, I'll admit it," he said. "You gotta be lucky sometimes and we were. We're fortunate to get out of here with a tie.

"But this team has been together for nine years and it's hard to keep us down. We keep coming after you. We never put our heads down. We keep on battling. We knew, somehow, we'd win the game. Unfortunately, Mother Nature won."

Silver Creek, which had 15 hits, is in the unusual position of underdog in these Tri-Co playoffs. The Raiders were playoff finalists in both 1993 and '94, losing to Gilbertsville in heartbreaking fashion after taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 series in '93 and then falling in four to East Texas two years ago. The Raiders exited in the semifinals last August.

"We're a totally revamped team from the one that reached back-to-back finals," Smull said. "This is a whole different bunch. Back in April, I couldn't even hold practice because we only had two guys. We went out and tried to get some guys together and I'm happy as heck just to be in the playoffs. Once we're here, though, we want to make a good showing."

Smull, who figured last night would be a 2-1 affair, said he tipped his cap to Woody's for coming up with a number of clutch hits. With the sun setting, he figured his team only needed to get out of the sixth to get a win. But Galucy had other ideas.

"We get Galucy out, we would have been home free," he said. "I told our pitcher (Mark Nicholas) not to give him anything good to hit, but he laid that 3-2 pitch right in there. The next guy bounced back to the mound and we probably would have turned two and that would have been it. Now, we have to play the next two nights and we're not deep with our pitching. This tie definitely is to their advantage."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 4, 1996

Copyright © 1996, The Morning Call