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It was one of those
nights for Stahley's
The pitcher quits, a dropped ball goes
for a home run, and Gabelsville wins in a rout.
By Ted Meixell
Of The Morning Call
Gabelsville's Tri-County League showdown with fellow divisional leader
Stahley's Monday night didn't turn out to be the taut struggle most folks
expected. The Owls' 22-5 rout of the Mariners attests to that.
It did,
however, produce two happenings even a frequent baseball watcher might
expect to witness ... once in a lifetime. And veteran Owls' first baseman
Bob Graber, who spent most of his Tri-Co career as an Upper Perkiomen Chief,
figured (directly or indirectly) in both. Both times by swatting a home run.
With the
West-South Division-leading Owls (15-4) already leading 6-0, Graber launched
Mariners' right-hander Bob Castimore's first offering into the trees beyond
the left-field fence. When Castimore walked Brian Reed, player/manager Dave
Lutte paid him a visit, hoping to settle him down.
Apparently it didn't work. When Castimore went 2-0 on Gabelsville
player/manager Mike "Doc" Moyer, he made a gesture to the Owls' bench that
suggested he wasn't pleased with their "ragging."
His next
pitch was ball three. He then caught catcher Joe Teresavage's return toss,
calmly dropped the ball on the mound and walked straight to the bench,
whereupon Reed shrugged, said, "Why not?" and sashayed down to second base.
Without
saying a word, even to his teammates, Castimore removed his shoes and shirt,
packed his bags, walked to the parking lot and departed.
"I have
no idea what that was all about," said an astonished Lutte, who had to take
over the pitching chores for Stahley's (9-8), which has seen a fairly
comfortable lead in the North Division over Jordan Creek and Lehigh Township
all but evaporate. "I didn't say anything to make him mad when I went out
there. I just told him, `OK, you gave up a home run. Don't worry about it.
Just get yourself back together.'"
What did
he say?
"Nothing," Lutte said. "Not a word. I guess the good news is he took his
shirt with him." Two innings later, Graber (4-for-5, four RBIs) victimized
Lutte for his second homer. But that was after Dave Pence, who also hit a
pair of sacrifice flies, swatted a two-run shot of his own for his third and
fourth RBIs.
With
Jeff Evans on first, Graber drove a ball to deep right, but it appeared
right fielder Todd Balliet had both a bead on the ball and enough room to
catch it. And he did. Well, almost. Balliet actually had the ball in his
glove, but at that very instant he crashed into the fence and lost the ball.
It fell -- on the other side of the fence.
Home
run.
"We've
got 15 games left," Lutte said, "so it's too early to push panic buttons.
We're missing a lot of players. Other than tonight, we've actually pitched
pretty well. And, when we have our full team, we're as good as anyone."
ted.meixell@mcall.com
From The Morning Call --
June 29, 1999
Copyright
© 1999,
The Morning Call
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