Fleetwings' slugfest victory cuts ICC's lead to one game

Tri-City twice blows leads before chalking up 20th win with 3-run 4th.


By Ted Meixell
Of The Morning Call

 

The Tri-County League ICC Pirates didn't win 21 of their first 24 games (best in any local adult amateur league) by quitting when they fell behind by five runs. Monday night was no exception.

The Tri-City Fleetwings didn't win 19 of their first 24 by packing it in after letting a big lead slip away, either. Monday night was no exception.

Of course, neither of the TCL's East-Central Division frontrunners got to be frontrunners with their pitching staffs serving up generous helpings of line drives. But that's another story for another time -- although Monday night's game at Lehigh's Goodman Campus was an exception.

Offensive carnage was the order of the evening as the Fleetwings bludgeoned their way to leads of 5-0 and 8-6, but ICC hitters erased them in two blinks of the eye -- and numerous lusty clouts of their own.

But the 'Wings pushed across three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to grab yet another lead -- and they didn't let that one get away. Their 11-9 win, halted after 5-1/2 innings because of darkness, lifted them to 20-5 -- and to within one game of the first- place Pirates (21-4), with seven to play.

Both teams expected a close game. But nobody in either dugout anticipated a slugfest.

"No. I thought it'd be close, but not a shootout," said the Fleetwings' Justin Godusky, who drove in three runs with a first inning triple, a second inning single and a fourth inning sacrifice fly.

"Especially with these two pitching staffs. They're both good, and they're both deep."

Godusky, an Emmaus product who started 28 of 55 games as a St. Joseph's freshman this spring, admitted the win was a big one for Tri-City. "But," he said, "we play them here again next Tuesday. That'll be an even bigger game. A lot can still happen the next two weeks."

"I was thinking more along the lines of 2-1 or 3-2, not 11-9," admitted ICC skipper Mike Brosious. "But Eric (starting pitcher Eric Baran, the TCL's pitching award winner in 1998) had his first bad start of the season. Hey ... these things happen every once in a while. I was just happy to see us bounce back the way we did. We didn't mail it in when they got the big early lead."

Tri-City tallied five times in its first at bat. Besides Godusky's RBI-triple, it got a two-run single from Dave Toth and a two-run double by Casey Paras. But ICC responded with six in the second with seven singles. Dan Lopez and Nick Remaly each plated two runs, Corey Schneck one.

Godusky (single), Matt Marcks (double) and Toth (infield out) each picked up RBIs as the 'Wings retook the lead, 8-6, in their half of the second. But the lead seesawed back to the Pirates in the third on a majestic two-run home run by Steve Unger and a wild pitch.

But Tri-City had the last trump card -- and played it to score three times in the bottom of the fourth and win the game. A solo homer to dead center by Brendan Witkowski (3-for-4, three runs scored) knotted the game at 9, Godusky's sac fly scored the winner and a wild pitch ushered in an insurance tally.

Marcks went 3-for-3 for the 'Wings, with two doubles, and scored three times. Toth was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

Remaly, Unger, Chris Medei, and Garen Danyi each had three hits for ICC.



ted.meixell@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- July 13, 1999

Copyright © 1999, The Morning Call