Coplay eliminates Limeport, 15-1

Caleb Calarco and Dan Fassl lead the Game 5 romp as the Reds win 3 straight to advance.

By Steve Smull

    LIMEPORT -- Total domination.

    From start to finish, the decisive Game 5 was all Coplay, all the time. The Reds got four in the first and came right back to score five more runs in the second to take an early 9-0 lead. The Reds coasted from there, easily clinching the Best-of-5 Semifinals over the Bulls in the most shattering fashion imaginable, by the score of 15-1.

    This was a defeat the dimensions of which Limeport has not experienced in quite some time. A rout, from which no honor could be salvaged.

    Coplay becomes the third team in Trico history to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a playoff series.

    The Reds were down 2-0 in this series and still reeling a bit from an exhausting 11-10 extra-innings loss in Game 1. Kevin Reese gave them life in Game 3 at Limeport. The Reds could only manage one unearned run in that game off Scott Stewart, so Reese would have to pitch a shutout to get Coplay in the win column. He did just that with a brilliant four-hit gem this past Sunday. And Coplay has never looked back.

    Leadoff hitter Kyle Rhoades got the hit parade in Game 5 off and running on a 2-2 pitch with a single up the middle. Kirk Mueller laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Limeport tried for the force at second and Rhoades was safe on a bang-bang play as the ball skipped away for good measure. Perennial MVP candidate Brandon Leslie continued with the small-ball mentality and laid down another sacrifice bunt, advancing both runners 90 feet. Kevin Thompson whacked a curveball to center for a two-run single and it was 2-0 Coplay. Caleb Calarco then lined another single to center. His King's College teammate, J.R. Graver then stepped up and smashed a double over the right-fielder's head to score Thompson and Calarco to make it 4-0 Reds. A strikeout and a ground-out ended the inning, but there was more to come.

    Much, much more.

    Dan Fassl, who just finished his senior year at Arcadia College and even more recently, finished throwing a 1-2-3 inning for Coplay in the bottom of the first, decided to help his own cause some more by lofting a leadoff single down the right-field line which was misplayed, allowing Fassl to take an extra base to start the second inning.

    Exit Stewart. Enter Ryan Walter, who had a perfect game for Limeport for 5 2/3 innings in a Game 2 win this past Saturday.

    Rhoades was the first to face him and promptly laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Fassl to third base. Mueller singled him home one pitch later to make it 5-0 Coplay. Leslie then walked on four pitches and Thompson singled to left to load the bases. Calarco then singled to right to score a pair of runs and it was 7-0 Reds. On the throw home, Calarco took second while Thompson coasted into third. Graver knocked both of them home two pitches later with a single to left-center and as the Limeport crowd on one side of the stadium watched in stunned silence, the Coplay faithful on the other side were living large and loud as Coplay took a commanding 9-0 lead with just one out in the second. Walter would get a fly-out and a ground-out to end the frame, but the damage was certainly done and it was severe.

    Limeport could only muster an infield single by Joe Pochron in their half of the second. But Walter settled down in the third, allowing a blooping single to right by Rhoades, and that was it.

    But the Bulls could only manage a single by Jeff Pochron in the third, and the eulogies for Limeport's season were now starting to be written.

    The Reds would officially end the competitive phase of this game in the top of the fourth.

    Thompson singled down the third-base line to start the inning and Calarco, feeling that no lead is safe enough against a potent Limeport lineup who scored 11 runs in Game 1, laid down a sacrifice bunt and got a bonus when he beat the throw to first for a base hit. Walter seemed to take issue with the sacrifice bunt up nine runs, because he promptly threw the next pitch behind Graver for a wild pitch that advanced both runners 90 feet. After the count went to 3-0, Graver had to duck out of the way of Ball 4 and that wild pitch scored Thompson to make it 10-0 Coplay and put runners on the corners with nobody out. After assistant coach Dylan Dando came to the mound to read Walter the riot act for those four pitches, Walter got Mike Bortz to fly out to center, but it was deep enough to score Calarco to make it 11-0 Reds. John Curreri followed with a one-out single to center.

    Exit Walter. Enter Chad Arnold.

    Fassl lined the first pitch he saw from the third southpaw he saw in as many at-bats to first for the second out. After a walk loaded the bases again, Arnold got a ground-out to end the inning.

    After Fassl had a seven-pitch, 1-2-3 fourth inning, Coplay went right back to work in what now seemed to be a glorified scrimmage.

    Leslie singled, Thompson walked and Calarco singled to load the bases with nobody out to start the fifth inning. After a strikeout, Bortz singled down the left-field line to score two more runs and make it 13-0 Coplay. A nifty 5-5-3 double-play started by veteran third baseman Kevin Kershner ended the frame.

    Shawn Brown led off the home half of the fifth with a double to right-center, but he would eventually get stranded at third at inning's end.

    Fassl did not need any more runs, but he singled to right nonetheless to start the sixth. Arnold inadvertently hit Rhoades on the next pitch and strained his forearm on the pitch and had to leave the game.

    Exit Arnold. Enter Pitcher/Manager Chris Parsell.

    Mueller walked to load the bases and a Leslie sac-fly scored Fassl to make it 14-0 Reds. A 10-pitch walk to Thompson reloaded the bases for Calarco, who hit a 5-3 ground-out to score Rhoades and make it 15-0 Coplay. A fly-out ended the inning.

    The only question left was whether Fassl, who took a three-hitter into the sixth, would get a shutout.

    Matt Geiger got a one-out single to center. After a Glenn Kushma walk and a pop-up, Joe Pochron hit a long single to center to score Geiger and the Bulls put a run on the board at least, making it 15-1 Coplay.

    Jeff Krauss, Limeport's fifth pitcher of the game, threw a scoreless seventh for the Bulls, working around Fassl's third hit of the game. Fassl then finished what he started, working around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh to Mike Krauss, to complete his stellar, five-hit outing.

    With the series-clinching win, the Reds advance to the Best-of-5 Finals this Saturday at 4:30 at Scherersville #5, where they will host the Fleetwings in what will undoubtedly be called "The Scherersville Series" as both teams' home fields reside at the Scherersville complex.

    The Coplay franchise, which began in 1984 as the Coplay Serpents, are in their 23rd season, although they have moved around a bit since starting at Sam Balliet Stadium in the mid 1980s. They moved to the Cedar Brook complex in 1992 and became the South Whitehall Serpents, before moving to Scherersville #5 in 2000. They kept the same name until 2004, when they became the Coplay Reds, although they still play at Scherersville #5.

    The franchise is making their first appearance in the Finals since 1998, when they defeated Cetronia 3-games-to-1 in "The Cedar Brook Series". Their only other championship came in 1988 as the Coplay Serpents.

    The Woodlawn Fleetwings (formerly the Tri-City Fleetwings the last seven seasons) have been in the league for eight years (founded in 1999) and are making their third trip to the Finals, losing their previous two trips (including last season) to Gabelsville.

    To put a wrap on Game 5 Thursday at Limeport, Caleb Calarco went 4-for-5 with 3 RBI, Kevin Thompson was 3-for-3, Dan Fassl was 3-for-5 to help his own cause, J.R. Graver was 2-for-4 with 4 RBI and Kyle Rhoades was 2-for-3. Limeport's only multiple-hit batter was Joe Pochron, who went 2-for-3.