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Coplay clips the Fleetwings
Reds even championship series at
1-1 with 8-3 win.
By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call
You can call Shawn Andrews ''Mr. Small Ball.''
The Coplay Reds' manager loves to have his team bunt, steal, hit-and-run and
take chances that put pressure on an opposing defense.
On Sunday, Andrews' brand of ''small ball'' paid big dividends as Coplay evened
up the Tri-County League Championship Series with an 8-3 win over the host
Woodland Fleetwings.
The best-of-five set, knotted at one apiece, now says sayonara to Scherersville
and heads for Limeport's lights for 7 p.m. games on Tuesday and Wednesday and —
if necessary — Friday.
Tri-Co officials made the move to Limeport to ensure that darkness is not an
issue over the rest of the series.
Reds' pitcher Paul Giovannoli made sure Sunday's game ended well before sunset
with a six-hitter that gave the Stroudsburg grad his third win in as many
playoff series.
The Reds' ''small ball'' attack sent Giovannoli to the mound in the bottom of
the first with a 3-0 lead and then struck for four runs in the top of seventh to
turn a 4-3 nail-biter into a five-run breather.
Four of the first five hitters in the Coplay lineup — Kyle Rhoades, Brandon
Leslie, Kevin Thompson, and Caleb Calarco — combined for six runs, eight hits
and six RBIs.
The Reds (31-13-1) never looked back after Leslie's RBI double and Thompson's
run-scoring triple in the first.
But the Fleetwings also aided the Reds' cause with four errors, leading to three
unearned runs.
''That's what the 'small ball' does to a defense,'' Andrews said. ''You get the
pitcher moving and out of his rhythm; you get the corners moving and not knowing
what's coming. Everybody in our lineup can bunt, and when they're looking for
that, the routine ground ball isn't routine anymore. So you gain an edge. That's
how we've played it all year. And most of the time it has been successful.''
Andrews said he didn't use a few of the big boppers on his roster, most notably
Eric Schmitt and Jesse Borden, in an effort to stay with the ''small ball''
attack.
''It wasn't easy not to use those guys, because they have quality sticks,''
Andrews said. ''I was worried that I'd wind up second-guessing myself. But I
wanted to play the way we've played all year.''
Giovannoli made the offense work, fanning five and working through five walks on
a mound that he dislikes.
''I usually struggle here and this wasn't my best performance,'' said the
soon-to-be King's College senior. ''I wasn't making the pitches I wanted to
make. I depend on throwing middle in and low and out, so they push it somewhere,
but I didn't have the accuracy. I just had to battle through it.''
Ben Swatsky had two hits and two runs as the Fleetwings (30-15) scrambled back
from the early 3-0 deficit to get within one, but wasted too many chances.
''[Giovannoli] did a nice job, but we left too many [eight] on base,''
Fleetwings player-manager Jeremy Arner said. ''We're not real happy now, but
we're not going to get down. We'll be ready Tuesday.''
Coplay
300 100 4 — 8 10
0
Woodlawn 010 101 0 — 3 6 4
Giovannoli and Calarco; Hemberger and Arner.
keith.groller@mcall.com
610-820-6740
From The Morning Call --
August 14, 2006
Copyright
© 2006,
The Morning Call
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