Township slips by Mounts
- 17 April 2008
Manheim Township's vaunted baseball program has re-invented itself to a degree, and the Blue Streaks haven't missed a beat in the process.The reigning L-L League Section One champs still dig the long ball, as Ty Stoltz proved when he powered a sixth-inning home run into the left-center field bleachers Wednesday at sun-washed War Memorial Field in Ephrata.
They still produce bulldog-tough pitchers, as right-hander Keith Bires demonstrated by going the distance in a 4-1 win over the Section Two-leading Mountaineers.
And they still play air-tight defense, as evidenced by Wednesday's error-free exhibition, which was highlighted by Stoltz's startling over-the-shoulder catch of Brandon Strenko's humpbacked liner over first base.
But the big difference between these Streaks, who own the league's best record at 8-0 in the L-L and 11-0 overall, and the Township teams that went 29-3 in league play and 45-6 overall the past two years is their aggressiveness on the bases.
Opportunistic offense is Township's identity these days. They used two Ephrata errors and two more misplays afield to score three unearned runs that proved to be the difference in an otherwise crisply-played game that took just 1:55 to complete.
"I don't want to say I didn't coach that (2007) team, but I was making sure I didn't screw it up," Streaks coach Bill Sassaman said. "This year, we're much more aggressive (on the bases) and our kids have bought into that. That puts a lot more pressure on opposing teams."
Township wasted little time putting the pressure on Wednesday. Gene Gross roped a one-out double to left-center and Kyle Karpinski followed with a Texas League single behind second base.
Matt Turman's neatly-executed sacrifice bunt up the third base line resulted in a throwing error for the Streaks' first run, and Township made it 2-0 when Karpinski scored on Cameron Gallagher's RBI groundout to pitcher Curt Kolp.
"You can't hand anything over to them and expect it to be reciprocated," said Mounts coach Adrian Shelley. "We certainly made some costly mistakes."
Bires, who threw 89 pitches while raising his record to 4-0, kept Ephrata (6-2, 7-2) scoreless until the fourth. Strenko stroked a leadoff triple to center, then scored on Chris Adams' sacrifice fly.
Stoltz's solo shot leading off the sixth made it 3-1, and Township took advantage of another Mounts miscue when Gross singled off reliever Aaron Kujawski and courtesy runner Darren Yoder steamed home on a throwing error.
"I was looking for a pitch I could drive," Stoltz said of his first homer of the season. "I didn't know it was a home run until the ump told me when I was rounding second."
Bires struck out five, walked two and lowered his earned run average to 1.70. He has 35 strikeouts in 33 innings, due to both his collection of off-speed stuff -- split-fingered fastballs and sliders -- and big-game mentality.
"He bears down at the right time," Stoltz said. "He's our bulldog ace."
Said Bires, "This was a pretty big win. We lost a lot of experience (to graduation) and I think people underestimated us."
No one's underestimating the Streaks any more. Four of Township's victories have come in its final at-bat, a hallmark of a team that knows how to win. But one that also knows it will have to manufacture more ways to do so than its immediate predecessor.
"16-0? 19-0? I think that's very unrealistic," Sassaman said. "We know there are teams that are going to make a late charge at us. We're keeping our eyes on the rearview mirror."
And a firm grip on first place.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.