Carmichaels ‘Zap-ped’ into County League finals
CARMICHAELS – Great Scott! Carmichaels is “Zap”-ped into the County League’s Playoff championship finals. Scott Swinchock pitched a masterful three-hitter and Vince Zapotosky socked a two-run game-clinching homer as Carmichaels came from behind to nip Mill Run, 4-2, and advance to the championship finals of the Fayette County Baseball League playoffs.
Carmichaels will meet Bud Murphy’s in a best-of-seven championship set, starting at 6 p.m. Friday at the Breakneck Field. Game 2 will tentatively be at 1 p.m. Sunday at Carmichaels. Play will then alternate from there until somebody wins four games.
Other than the third inning when he ceded two hits and both Mill Run scores, Swinchock was in complete control. He gave up a single and double to leadoff batter Dennis Show and a single to No. 2 hitter Kris Firestone, and that was all. The next seven batters accounted for seven of his eight strikeouts and put only four balls out of the infield, two flies to Duane Dupont in center and one each to Lee Fritz in right and J.W. Kayla in left.
Swinchock walked just one batter – losing pitcher Mike Doppelheuer in the sixth – while going to the full count only twice.
Carmichaels manager Dickie Krause said, “Scott is a gamer. It was nice to be in the position where we had him available for game five. He knows about big games; he pitched at Allegheny College and has been to his division’s championship. Vince is our leader. When the big games come, he gets up for them.”
Swinchock allowed that Mill Run “is really tough. I had some trouble in the third inning. When we batted in the second, we were retired on just four pitches. I didn’t get much of a break between innings, and they got to me in the third.
“My fastball and cut fastball worked best for me today, and we went to the cutter to get ahead of the hitters. That pitch breaks to the left, almost like a slider, and it worked well. I let Jeff (catcher Thompson) call the game. I may have shaken him off a couple of times, but I let him call the pitches, give me the target and I threw to him.”
Mill Run (23-11-1, 4-4) did its scoring in the third. With one out, Brandon Bryner was safe on an error, went to third as Show bounced a ground-rule double over the left field fence and both scored on Firestone’s single.
The only other threat was in the sixth. With one out, John Warrick was safe on an error, Doppelheuer walked and they moved ahead on a wild pitch. But Swinchock got two strikeouts to end that threat, then set the side down in order in the seventh.
Mill Run manager Bugs Orndorff said, “The sixth was our big chance, but it was a big move for them to get the two outs, and that home run really hurt us. This was Doppelheuer’s first game pitching, and he did great. I wish we could have got him a couple more runs, but that’s baseball. Swinchock is a fine pitcher, plus he can play third; he can do it all.”
Carmichaels had nine hits, including Zapotosky’s homer, Thompson’s and J.W Kayla’s double and single and Charlie Humes’ double.
The Copperheads (25-10, 5-3) led 1-0 in the first when Fritz got aboard on a force play and Humes doubled him in. Mill Run took the lead in the third, and then Carmichaels rebounded to go ahead again in the fifth. Fritz got to first on a fielder’s choice, and Zapotosky hit one into the right field trees for a 3-2 edge.
An insurance run counted in the sixth on Kayla’s double and Ron Nopwasky’s single.
Krause added, “We knew going in that this would be a tough series, and it was with five games played and no more than a three-run difference in scoring, plus some good hitting. Local fans who like good baseball won’t get any better than we gave them this series.”
Despite the loss, Orndorff noted, “I’m happy with the way the season went. I’m not happy that we lost, but I am pleased overall with what we accomplished.”