Tri-County title will be determined in best-of-6 series

Tri-City loses a 3-0 lead in the sixth inning and Game 5 ends in a knot.


By Geoff Dodd
Of The Morning Call

 

The parents missed a good one Thursday.

Smack down Route 73 in Boyertown, right at Lee Mecherly Field, home of the Gabelsville Owls, they missed a chance to teach the kids those sagacious words: It doesn't matter who wins or loses, it's how you play that counts.

Because in Tri-County adult-league baseball, featuring Gabelsville against Tri-City in, of all things, the first game of the five-game league championship series, everyone won.

And everyone lost.

Tri-City carried a 3-0 lead into the sixth inning behind Josh Gunkle's then-two-hit masterpiece. But Gabelsville responded in the bottom frame, tying it on a two-out, two-run double by designated hitter Ed Reilley and another RBI single by third baseman Dave Pence.

Tri-City couldn't respond in the seventh against Owls starter Shawn Betz, and neither could Gabelsville, despite two hits. Again in the eighth, Tri-City fell short, spoiling a double by leadoff man Brendan Witkowski.

And thus, because Mecherly field has no lights, the game ended, 3-3, at the end of that inning because of darkness.

"We were hitting some balls hard, but they weren't finding any holes," said Owls manager Mike "Doc" Moyer, who became the last out of the game in a pinch-hit performance, striking out on a high fastball from Gunkle.

But hey, who needs a winner anyway?

Apparently not Owls centerfielder A.J. Bohn, who said Thursday as dusk settled in behind him, "It's all fun. I'm just here to have fun."

Baloney. And he knew it, too. This, coming from a guy whose parents once told him "any summer you don't bring home hardware isn't a good summer."

The game went into the books as a wash. Eight full innings, and it counts for bupkus.

"It's disheartening," Bohn said. "But remember, we were down 3-0."

More importantly, the five-game series now becomes a six-game series, and Tri-City, which almost never wins at Gabelsville's field, blew a chance to come away with a shutout. Instead, they will face off again at 5:45 p.m. today at the same field before heading to Tri-City's Scherersville field on Sunday.

"I didn't think it'd be a 3-0 game in the sixth," Tri-City manager Bob Fatzinger said. "I was surprised we shut them out for that long."

Or, perhaps, Gabelsville ruined its shot at a stunning late-game rally.

"They're the team to beat, and until someone does, I've gotta tip my hat to them."

Tri-City nearly pulled it out. In the top of the first, Justin Godusky knocked a triple over Bohn's head, scoring Matty Marcks, who singled previously. Dan Dillon hit a two-out single in the top of the fourth, and Tri-City right fielder Scott Garger took a high Betz pitch over the left field wall for the three-run lead.

Meanwhile, Gunkle was crusing, allowing only two meager singles to Bohn in the bottom of the first and Owls No. 2 hitter Jared Trout in the fourth.

"I just wanted to get ahead of all the guys and keep it inside," Gunkle said. "If you go outside, they'll slap it around on that (all- dirt) field. It's fundamental to that team."

"He always gives us trouble," Moyer said of Gunkle. "He's a good pitcher. But I thought Shawn pitched a whale of a game also. He made a couple of mistakes, and they made him pay, but hey.

"We gave them a couple runs," he added. "The first run in the first inning, that should have been caught."

Tri-City didn't care. It wasn't a loss at Mecherly Field. The parents of Tri-City catcher Jeremy Arner, in fact, couldn't remember the last time their son had won on the field.

So, Fatzinger and his staff did the best they could to savor it, by breaking out the store-fresh stogies.

"It's just a cigar," Gunkle said, "but it should have been a victory cigar."



geoff.dodd@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 10, 2001

Copyright © 2001, The Morning Call