Fayette County Baseball League championship series
Bud Murphy’s, Carmichaels begin play at Breakneck Since this has been a summer of TV reruns, why not also have a baseball “rerun.”
The Fayette County Baseball League’s championship series starts today, and there is going to be the feeling of “haven’t I seen this all before.”
They will have. The championship finals are going to be a “rerun” from last year, when defending champion Bud Murphy’s takes on Carmichaels in a best-of-seven games series to determine this year’s playoff champion.
Game 1 will be played at 6 p.m. today at the Breakneck Field, and Game 2 is at Carmichaels on Sunday, with a tentative 1 p.m. starting time. The definite starting time is still to be finalized. Game 3 will go back to Breakneck on Monday, and play will alternate from there until somebody wins four games.
Last year, Bud’s defeated Carmichaels in six games for its second championship in a row, and now it is bidding to go three-for-three.
Both teams earned their way back into the playoffs by winning their respective divisions, then taking the first two rounds of their playoffs.
Bud’s finished regular season play with a 23-4 record in first place in the Eastern Division, then swept Connellsville (2-0) and Masontown (3-0) in their first round best-of-three and semifinals (best-of-five) sets.
Carmichaels finished 20-7 atop the West Division, then swept Brownsville in the first round and went to the full fathom five against Mill Run before clinching, three games to two, on Wednesday.
Carmichaels manager Dickie Krause said after Wednesday’s finale, “This has been a real tough series with Mill Run. I just hope we have something left in the tank for Bud’s.”
Mill Run manager Buds Orndorff agreed with the “tough series” observation, then added, “I think the finals are going to be a real good and close series. Both sides have hitting and good speed, and I think we are going to see some fine games.”
The two long-standing rivals met three times this season, with Bud’s owning a 2-1 edge.
In their first meeting, Bud’s won 6-2 with a five-run fifth inning. They were tied 1-1 going into the fifth, and then Jeff Lander socked a bases-loaded double to highlight the outburst.
Nick Damico pitched all the way for Bud’s, working a five-hitter, to get the edge over Pete Stofcheck (6 innings) and Lee Fritz (1 inning).
Carmichaels won the next outing, 6-5. The Copperheads had a 6-0 lead before Bud’s came back with three runs in the sixth and two in the seventh. Ryan Shetterly (6 innings) and Fritz (1 inning) combined to work the win with Marty Fagler taking the loss.
Seven of the game’s 11 runs came on homers, Vince Zapotosky had a 3-run shot and Jeff Thompson a two-runner for the Copperheads, and Brian Shipley homered with one aboard for the Cokers.
Bud’s won the rubber game, 5-2, on July 25, scoring five runs in the second. The game was also a pitchers’ battle. Winner Matt Basinger allowed only six singles. Chris Antonini started for the Copperheads with Scott Swinchock coming on during the big inning and working a two-hit shutout the rest of the way.
Bud’s enters the finals with a 28-4 record (23-4 regular season, 5-0 playoffs), while Carmichaels is 25-10 (20-7 season, 5-3 playoffs).