Jul 29, 2025 By Rob Burchianti 6 min read

Carmichaels’ 7-2 victory over Potomac Valley at Garrett College Friday ended a five-year drought for the Copperheads who claimed their 15th Fayette County Baseball League championship.

The win also extended an amazing streak by one of Carmichaels’ key players.

Santino Marra has played for the last five FCBL champions.

Marra was a member of Masontown’s title team in 2021 and then helped spark M&R Transit to three straight championships from 2022 to 2024 under his dad Buddy Marra. Ironically, M&R Transit defeated the Copperheads in the previous two finals in four and five games. Marra actually hit a grand slam to spark his team to victory in Game 5 of last year’s final.

When M&R Transit opted not to field a team this year, Marra sought out Carmichaels manager Dickie Krause to see if he could play for the Copperheads. Marra wound up playing an important role for Carmichaels and was 2 for 2 with two doubles and two RBIs in Friday’s clinching win.

“I coached against him, admired his skill and he’s a great player,” Krause said. “But as great as he is as a player, he’s even a better young man and that’s saying a lot as talented as he is.

“He’s so humble, so friendly, such a gracious kid. I loved him immediately. Same thing with Andino (Vecchiolla, also a former M&R Transit player who joined Carmichaels’ team). Just another super guy. They’re old-school kids. It’s about baseball, and if they see something they offer suggestions and they just love playing baseball. They fit in seamlessly and were well-liked on the team.”

It’s been quite a year for Marra.

The Laurel Highlands graduate was a star at Penn West California and earlier this year broke the Vulcans’ all-time hits record with a single against Millersville in an NCAA playoff game. He finished his college career with 226 hits.

It’s been a memorable year for Krause also who is Carmichaels’ high school baseball coach and guided the Mikes to the WPIAL final and into the PIAA tournament before winning the County League title.

“I was blessed this year between the high school season and this one,” Krause said.

KEY PRE-FINAL MOMENT

Carmichaels incredibly used only three pitchers in its 3-0 finals sweep of the Mudcats with complete-game shutouts by Gavin Pratt and Matt Bamford followed by a masterpiece by Gianni Cantini who was two outs away from a perfect game before allowing three hits and two runs in the final inning of the series.

Krause felt one of the keys to the way his pitching rotation set up came during his team’s first playoff game.

“A very important inning for us was the seventh against Mill Run in Game 1 (a 6-5 Carmichaels win),” Krause said. “We made the decision that if we won Game 1 we were holding Pratt back to see how Game 2 went. But if we had lost that game we would’ve used Pratt in Game 2 against Mill Run.

“Hanging on to win that game and then winning Game 2 set everything up for the final. Then we knew we had Pratt for Games 1 and 5 in the final and that Matt Bamford was going to go Game 2 and Cantini was going in Game 3.”

IN THE FLOW

The Copperheads seemed to be playing almost everyday during the end of the regular season, but Krause thought that hectic schedule actually had a positive effect on his team.

“I think what favored us a little bit was we ended up playing our last eight games of the regular season in 10 games. When you start playing like that you can get into a real groove and that’s what happened with our guys,” Krause said. “Roles started to crystallize and fall into place. And this team bought in and never complained about any lineup change or move we made.”

COMMUNITY BACKING

Krause commended the Carmichaels community after the series.

“We were the beneficiary of some tremendous support,” Krause said. “We have families that supported the team in so many ways. We had people in the community who’d come out and help us with the field and helped us with all kinds of stuff. The school district was really good about the use of the field.

“Fans would show up and they were vocal. We had good crowds this year. We had better attendance at games than we’ve had in the past. The last couple years I’ve had more help than I ever did in the County League. For years it was my dad and I and that was about it.”

PRAISE FOR ENCAPERA

Krause also lauded Ryan Encapera for helping to keep the league up and running.

“Very much credit to Ryan Encapera,” Krause said. “He’s been an extraordinarily good league president.

“He cares immensely about the history of the league and teams in it. The league is really in a good place. He helps recruit teams. He works with the Maryland teams and we want to see that continue because they offer good programs and bring good players into our league.”

GETTING YOUNGER

Krause saw age creeping into his team a few years ago and decided to go with a more youthful approach and he knew the transition might cause a slight drop in on-field performance.

“We got knocked out in 2022 against Oakland and that was when then turnover began,” Krause said. “I had no starting player older than 19 on that field. Now you go around our team and we have a bunch of kids who are college players.”

NO END IN SIGHT

Krause has no plans of wrapping up his County League career any time soon.

“Baseball is in my blood, and my wife has been so understanding and supportive of that,” Krause said. “I love the game. If you’re out there and it’s not special, if you’re thinking it’s just another win or loss, you need to get out of the game.

“Baseball has blessed me in so many ways. I’ve met so many great people and I’ve made so many friends through this. I told our players I calculated that I’ve played or coached in more than 1,200 County League games, and I still can’t wait to get to the park, I still can’t wait to get to the game.”

INAUGURAL SEASON

Krause took a moment to look back to the beginning of the Copperheads.

“Chris Dugan (current sports editor of the Observer-Reporter) called me in February of 1984 and he said we wanted to get a County League team together,” Krause recalled. “He had the idea and we were the two who started it and we ran the team together. He eventually couldn’t do it anymore because of his job and I’ve been here ever since.”