Aug 14, 2009 9 min read

Game 3 REPUBLIC – As perhaps the most anticipated two-out pitch was thrown in the top of the seventh inning in a resumed Game 3 at Redstone Park Tuesday evening, Blue Mountain manager Richard Krause and Mario’s field boss Lou Pasquale waited for the bottom half of the inning in the Fayette County Baseball Championship Series battle. Krause sent out George Taylor to pitch in the bottom of the inning with his team ahead 6-4, but ended up pulling him after he loaded the bases with two walks and a fielder’s choice.

“He was really hyped up out there as all the guys were,” Krause said. “He walked their pinch hitter with pitches that weren’t really close, so I decided to let him throw one more pitch to see where he was at. Also, Cy Mozingo is our best reliever so we weren’t going to lose with him on the mound.”

Mozingo took the mound with a 1-0 count on Bill Rouse and sent a 3-0 pitch into the batters’ backside that resulted in Jeff Lapkowicz scoring to cut the lead to 6-5.

He then struck out leadoff batter Chad Rice to preserve the win for the Copperheads. Mario’s still leads in the series 2-1.

Mario’s ended the top of the seventh inning as pitcher Dave Novotny walked Gene Franks, 4-0, to before striking out Charlie Humes who had doubled to score the first run for the Copperheads on Monday.

The game was resumed Tuesday after being called for darkness on Monday, but only after an 88-minute rain delay.

However, both coaches felt the game needed to be finished last night.

“I would have felt relieved had we won,” Pasquale said. “But, under the conditions, it was better to get the game over with.”

Krause said he was happy the game was completed Tuesday as both teams had players who had traveled to get to the park.

“Both teams have players from outside the area who traveled significantly to get here,” Krause said

“We were going to make every effort to get this game completed.”

“Someone had to be up 2-1 after three games,” Krause said.

“We wish it would have been us, but we needed to get the win to stop the bleeding. Had we lost tonight, it would have been over. Now we still have a pulse.”

“It’s amnesia time for us,” Pasquale said. “We need to forget and move on.”

Game 2

By Bobby Fox, for the Greene County Messenger

CARMICHAELS – Top-seeded Mario’s continued its unbeaten run through the Fayette County Baseball League playoffs with a 7-5 win over second-seeded Blue Mountain Sunday in Game 2 of the championship series at Carmichaels Area High School field.

Despite getting out to a 2-0 lead in the championship series, Mario’s head coach Lou Pasquale isn’t about to let his team get comfortable and complacent.

“Every playoff win is big, however, I hope my team has convenient amnesia,” Pasquale said. “These guys stay up.”

Mario’s showed the type of determination and perseverance that got them to the top spot in the FCBL. The No. 1 seed took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to a two-out, two-run single by designated hitter Jeff Lapkowicz that plated second baseman Chad Rice and third baseman Jason Greene.

The Copperheads managed to tie the game in the bottom of the third inning when third baseman Gene Franks came up with a clutch two-out hit of his own. Franks drove a Marty Fagler pitch over the right-center field fence that scored both himself and left fielder George Taylor, tying the game at 2-2.

Blue Mountain took its only lead of the game in the next inning.

After centerfielder J.W. Kayla slapped a one-out single, he moved up to third on a Dan Novak single. Kayla came around to score on a wild pitch to put his team up 3-2. After the second out of the inning was posted, catcher Adam Lewton came up with a two-out RBI double that made the score 4-2.

Blue Mountain looked poised for a big inning after the Copperheads loaded the bases, but Fagler shook off back-to-back walks and came up with a huge strikeout of Franks to end the threat.

After neither team scored in the fifth inning, Mario’s exploded for five runs in the top of the sixth that effectively sealed the deal.

Designated hitter Jeff Lapkowicz led off the frame with a single and his twin brother Jared, who played first base, followed by drawing a walk. After right fielder Jeremy Thomas hustled out a bunt single to load the bases, Blue Mountain starting pitcher Perry Cunningham got a big strikeout to record the first out of the inning.

However, the youngest of the Lapkowicz brothers, Joby, tied the game with a two-run single that brought both his brothers home and chased Cunningham from the game.

“It’s awesome having them on this team,” Pasquale said about having all three Lapkowiczes on his roster. “Jared and Jeff have been with me for about five years and this is Joby’s second. They’re really good guys and it’s nice having them to put in the lineup.”

Mario’s retook the lead at 5-4 when Thomas scored on a wild pitch, and with two outs, Greene came through with a run-scoring single. Two batters later, Greene crossed home plate after catcher Stephan Hermann blasted a ground rule double over the exceptionally deep left field fence at Carmichaels field.

Blue Mountain manager Dickie Krause made his second pitching change of the inning after the double, bringing in George Taylor, who picked up the third out of the sixth.

Trailing 7-4, the Copperheads tried to mount a comeback in the bottom of the sixth with Taylor singling in Rick Smykla, making the score 7-5. Smykla was pinch running for Lewton, who was hit by a pitch.

However, Fagler stopped the comeback try in the sixth and faced just four batters in the seventh to pick up the complete game victory.

Despite some struggles in the third and fourth innings, Fagler kept things together, allowing eight hits while walking six and striking out six.

Cunningham suffered the loss for the Copperheads after working 5.1 innings in which he gave up six earned runs on seven hits and four walks. He added seven strikeouts to his day.

“Perry gave us a great start on just three days rest and he gave us a chance to win,” Krause said of his starting hurler. “We couldn’t get it done. We swung the bats pretty well, but we just couldn’t get that hit in a critical situation. It was a tough one to lose.”

The three Lapkowicz brothers were crucial to the Mario’s win. They combined to go 5-for-8 with four RBIs, three runs scored and three walks. Jeff and Joby each went 2-for-3 with a run scored and two more driven in.

Greene added a 2-for-4 day with an RBI and two runs scored.

Taylor and Kayla each had two hits to pace the Blue Mountain attack.

Game 1

By Zach Shoaf, for the Greene County Messenger

REDSTONE – Mario’s manager Lou Pasquale knew the importance of winning the first game of the Fayette County Baseball League championship series against Blue Mountain, so Friday’s 7-3 victory gave him all the reasons he needed to smile.

Still, Pasquale alluded that he and his team would not look too far past the opening-game win.

“Every playoff win is important,” said Pasquale. “We just hope to keep it going but don’t look too far ahead. As Yogi Berra said, ‘It’s ain’t over till it’s over.'”

The game was close through the bottom of the sixth inning with Mario’s holding a slim 4-3 lead.

Bill Rouse walked to start the sixth for Mario’s and then scored on Chad Rice’s triple. Rice later scored on Stephan Hermann’s single to make the score 6-3.

Mario’s tacked on its final run when Copperheads pitcher Derek Fritz threw a wild pitch that allowed Shane Busti, who had earlier walked, to score.

“We played well against them,” said Copperheads manager Richard Krause. “We played a gutty game against them. They were the heavy favorites coming in and they have a team really comprised of all-stars.”

Fitting the final score came from Busti because his power hitting, along with Hermann’s power, against Copperheads starting pitcher Cy Mozingo got things going for Mario’s in the bottom of the first inning.

Busti found a pitch to his liking with two outs and sent the ball sailing over the center field fence, while Hermann smacked a 0-2 pitch into left field for a home run that gave Mario’s an early 2-0 lead.

Mario’s jumped on Mozingo again in the bottom of the second inning as Corey Sawka hit a single to start the inning and scored on Copperheads catcher Aaron Thompson’s error.

However, Thompson made up for the error in that same inning by tagging out Mario’s Jeremy Thomas at the plate.

Thompson further helped the Copperheads’ cause by giving the visitors their first hit against red-hot pitcher Chris Squeglia, who had a perfect game up to that point.

J.W. Kayla brought Mitch Monas home after Monas entered the game as a pinchrunner for Thompson.

Kayla then scored on a throwing error by Mario’s catcher Hermann to cut the lead to 3-2.

Mario’s gained a little distance briefly in the bottom of the fourth inning with Josh Greene scoring on Hermann’s sacrifice fly to center field in Mozingo’s final inning of work that increased Mario’s lead to 4-2.

The Copperheads rallied once more in the top of the fifth inning with Kayla hitting a single and then scoring on Rick Smykla’s single to cut the lead to 4-3.

“Hitting was the difference tonight,” said Krause. “They hit well at the end and put the game out of reach. I felt we had chances at the end, but this is really good ball game. We made some errors that hurt us early but I’m happy with how we played well against this very tough team.”

Squeglia picked up the win with a complete game performance, allowing seven hits with six strikeouts and a pair of walks.