Limeport clips Northern Yankees to reach semis

Pat Toner starts quickly on the mound, but needs help to finish.


By Tim Shoemaker
Special to The Morning Call

 

Pat Toner admitted it. He ran out of gas.

Toner retired his first 10 batters, took a no-hitter into the fourth inning, had seven strikeouts and twice had five-run leads, but needed relief help to earn the win in Limeport's 6-4 win over the Northern Yankees on Monday night in the Tri-County League playoffs.

Limeport (23-12) clinched the quarterfinal series and will face Gabelsville in the best-of-five semifinal round, which starts Wednesday in Gabelsville.

The Yankees (19-16) didn't get a hit until George Hutson reached on an infield single in the fourth, but rallied with a run in the fifth, three in the sixth and even had the potential tying run at the plate in Brandon Weiss.

Toner got Weiss to ground out to end the sixth. Side-armer Matt Schultz pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to earn the save.

"I haven't thrown in a month," Toner said. "I didn't anticipate playing today at work all day. I wasn't geared up for the game. I thought it was going to be a rainout."

Glenn Kushma singled in Pat Lane to put the Bulls up 1-0 in the first, then Joe Pochron's three-run home run in the second made it 4-0. Limeport stretched the lead to 5-0 when Kushma scored an unearned run in the third.

Weiss doubled in Jeremy Smith, the Yankees' manager and center fielder, with a long double to left center in the fifth, but a potential big inning was cut short when Kushma, Limeport's shortstop, threw out Weiss at third on a bull's-eye relay.

The weather was a factor. Not only did Sunday rain push the game to Monday and allow the Yankees to bring back starting pitcher Andrew Dottery from the first game, but it allowed Limeport manager Chris Parsell to use a bigger roster.

"We have two Blue Mountain (League) guys on our roster, and they got rained out earlier," Parsell said. "Pat Lane (who stole two bases and scored two runs) wouldn't have been here if Blue Mountain had played. So that helped out a little bit. We're a veteran team. (Kevin) Kershner and Kushma, they keep guys up. They've been in the league a while, and that helps a lot."

Kershner singled in Lane in the fourth to give the Bulls a 6-1 lead, but reliever Rob Castimore shut down Limeport the rest of the way to give the Yankees a chance to come back.

Smith walked with the bases loaded and Mike Santay had a two-run single in the sixth to bring the Yankees close at 6-4, but Schultz shut the door in the seventh.

"That's our team all year long," Smith said. "We've battled from behind and haven't given up. They're a great bunch of guys to play with. The season went entirely too quick for me."

Northern Yankees  000 013 0 - 4 5 4

Limeport                 131 100 x - 6 5 1


Dottery, Castimore (3) and Bentz, Metzger (6). Toner, Schultz (7) and Krauss. W -- Toner. L -- Dottery. SV -- Schultz. HR -- Pochron (L, 2nd, 2 on).

Tim Shoemaker is a freelance writer.

From The Morning Call -- August 5, 2003

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