Unlikely heroes Kershner and Schaffer lift Limeport

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call

 

The news that Limeport beat Tri-City 5-4 Monday night at Lehigh to clinch the first-round Tri-County League series may be a mild surprise to league followers.

How the Bulls won the game -- on a Jim Schaffer home run off Dennis Kinney and Kevin Kershner's complete-game pitching performance -- is downright shocking to those who follow the local amateur baseball league closely.

That's because the 40-year-old Schaffer is not known as a longball threat, especially against his buddy Kinney, one of the league's toughest pitchers. And, Kershner, who admits "I'm not a pitcher," worked in just two other games all season.

Yet, Limeport is going on to the Tri-Co semifinals. The Bulls, league champs in 1996 and '97, begin a best-of-5 series against ICC Wednesday at Bethlehem Township Park. Game 2 is Thursday at Limeport Stadium.

"I never expected this," said player-manager Billy Fatzinger. "I'm especially proud of Kershner. I didn't know who to pitch. Chad Arnold normally would have pitched, but he was away at a funeral. Our options were limited. I was undecided, but my heart said all day to go with Kershner. We struggle with guys like him, so I thought maybe they would, too."

Kershner believes in getting the ball and throwing it. He wasted no time nibbling corners. He didn't walk or strike out a batter. He kept the ball down and let his defense go to work. The Bulls backed him by turning two double plays.

Of Tri-City's 21 outs, 17 came on the ground, including the last 13.

"I threw fastballs and knuckleballs, that's it," said the 30-year- old Kershner, a Quakertown High graduate. "I'm not a pitcher, I'm an infielder. I didn't know until 10 minutes before the game that I was pitching. The defense was great."

Schaffer was a key cog at second base for Limeport and was proud of the fact that he was in the middle of one of the double plays.

His biggest moment, however, came in the seventh inning when the first pitch thrown by ace reliever Kinney was sent over the wall in left. It gave Limeport a 5-3 lead and proved to be the deciding run since Tri-City got a run back in the bottom of the seventh.

"Dennis Kinney is a good friend of mine and he's the best pitcher I've ever played with and the best pitcher I've ever faced," Schaffer said. "I just got lucky with a fastball that was up. Usually with him, it's slider, slider, slider."

Schaffer, the manager of the Limeport Dodgers in the Blue Mountain League, now has two teams in the playoffs.

"I just love it," he said. "It's a lot of fun. This is what I wait for all year. I just hope we can keep it going and keep playing."

For the Bulls to keep going, they will need the balanced offense they got Monday when four different players had two or more hits. Pete Remaly drove in runs with a double in the first and a single in the third. Glenn Kushma had three hits and scored two runs. Fatzinger and Schaffer had two hits each.

Dave Toth had three hits for Tri-City, which finished 24-11.

"That's a good team over there that had a real nice season," Fatzinger said of his uncle Bob's team. "This was a real tough series."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 3, 1999

Copyright © 1999, The Morning Call