Limeport earns 1st Tri-County crowns since '88

Tops Woody's 3 games to 1 as Williams and Fatzinger sock homers.


By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call


Woody's Sports Bar has been good at dodging bullets in the Tri-County League playoffs, so last night at Scherersville, Limeport fired off a few cannon shots.

Josh Williams began the game with a home run and Billy Fatzinger added a two-run shot in the third as Limeport built an early 4-0 lead and never looked back in a title-clinching 8-4 victory.

Limeport, winning the best-of-five title series 3-1, earned its first crown since winning the Tri-Co's "playoff" championship in 1988. For the organization that began as the Allentown A.A., it is the sixth overall title since 1976.

"I've won some other championships, but this is the first for a lot of the guys and I'm very happy for them," said player-manager Fatzinger, whose father, Ishky, was the manager on the other Allentown A.A./Limeport title clubs.

"After losing in the finals last year to Gilbertsville, I was determined to get back here and try to do it right. It was a long trip, but it was well worth it."

The trip was completed by a Bulls' charge offensively. Limeport (29-10) scored in six of the seven innings. Besides the long balls by Williams (3-for-4, 2 RBIs) and Fatzinger, the Bulls got an RBI double by Jeff Sabo in the second. After Woody's closed within 4-2, Sabo and Williams added RBI hits in the fourth to make it a four-run gap.

Chuck Frantz's squeeze bunt scored Joe Fatzinger in the sixth and Kevin Kershner added an RBI hit in the seventh. In all, Limeport had 11 hits and every member of the lineup made a contribution.

"We were tired of falling behind and getting behind the eight-ball," Fatzinger said. "This time, we wanted to get out on top and put the pressure on them. We wanted to see how they would respond to being behind. Josh started it with a homer and we were on our way, although Woody's never quits."

Limeport pitcher Jeff LaPorta, pitching with just one day's rest, was hardly dominating. He didn't have a 1-2-3 frame. But LaPorta had the savvy and poise to escape the big inning.

"I thought we were going to see a Game 5 in this series until I saw LaPorta show up," said Limeport left fielder Scott Heppenheimer. "He was only about 50 percent himself. But 50 percent of LaPorta is better than 100 percent from most other guys. We knew it was either going to be Jeff or Mike Anderson getting the ball and Anderson didn't show. LaPorta did. We were happy to see him."

Woody's (28-14) had 10 hits, three by Tony Galucy. After singles by Keith Brader and Galucy and a walk to Dave Toth loaded the bases in the seventh with one out, Fatzinger replaced LaPorta with Dennis Kinney. The rubber-armed vet came in to get the final two outs even though a run did score on a Dale Weiss RBI groundout scoring Brader to close out the scoring.

"It was my third complete game in seven days and I didn't have any zip on the ball," LaPorta said. "It was all finesse. My slider was the one pitch working. If I kept throwing fastballs, they would have ripped me. I probably shouldn't have pitched today after going seven in a Blue Mountain game Thursday, but I never say no. Fortunately, things worked out."

LaPorta was happy to end his summer on a positive note. His other summer team, the Hellertown Royals in the Blue Mountain League, were swept by Martins Creek in the BML semifinals.

"This is a little redemption after Martins Creek ended Hellertown's season," LaPorta said. "It's nice to go out with a win. It feels great to be a champion."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 18, 1996

Copyright © 1996, The Morning Call