In Control

	Democrat Photo by Frank Rizzo DIVING BACK: Ryan O’Mara of Jeff-Youngsville dives back to first base in Thursday’s game against Delaware Valley. O’Mara beat the pickoff attempt from pitcher Terrance Fink to first baseman Cody Bojo.

J-Y Keeps Eagles at Bay

By Frank Rizzo
JEFFERSONVILLE — May 16, 2000 -- The ball came off Terrance Fink’s bat with authority, headed for the opposite field, into the gap.
“I thought it would drop, but we have a good left fielder,” said the deliver of the pitch, Jeff-Youngsville’s Maynard Schmidt.
Left fielder Justin Pinkel flagged the ball down, saving a potential tying run from scoring and preserving the Trojans’ 6-5 win over their Western Sullivan League (WSL) rivals in Jeff-ersonville.
“I was waiting for [Pinkel] to catch the ball so my heart could beat again,” said Dan Hart, coach of the top-ranked Class D team in the state, which remained on top of the WSL standings and kept its record spotless.
The Eagles entered the top of the seventh down 6-5 and Schmidt struck out the first two batters, Billy Reichmann and Gary Hubert. But then James Sykes lined a double to right and the J-Y coaching staff decided to intentionally walk Rory Carrier.
That brought up Fink, Schmidt’s counterpart, who nearly tied the contest.
The hosts jumped out in front in the first. With one out Jon Fanning singled and Ryan O’Mara walked. After Fink whiffed Adam Hauser for the second out, Schmidt smashed a ground-rule double to score Fanning. O’Mara, on third, then scored on a passed ball.
In the third Hauser reached on an error and Schmidt walked. They executed a double steal, and Hauser scored when Kyle Bright grounded to short.
James Christiansen then singled to score Schmidt and put the Trojans up 4-0.
Sykes led off the Eagle fifth, reaching on an error. Carrier then crushed a Schmidt offering, sending a major-league shot over the fence in left center and halving the J-Y lead.
Later in the inning, DH Norman Bauer scored Cody Bojo with a double before Schmidt fanned Jeremiah Johnson looking to end the DV rally.
The Trojans struck back in their half of the fourth. Jim Kautz led off with a single, then advanced on a passed ball and Fanning’s grounder. O’Mara then tripled, and went on to score when the relay throw went astray, putting J-Y back up 6-3.
Carrier followed up on his home run by whistling a ball to center field for a single. Fink bounced back to Schmidt, but his throw to second drew O’Mara off the bag and Carrier was safe. Both runners moved up when Ian Detch grounded to short, and Carrier then scored on Bojo’s single.
Bojo broke for second, and catcher Jim Kautz’s throw got past Fanning at second, allowing Fink to score DV’s final run.
Schmidt improved to 4–0 on the season, yielding seven hits and striking out nine.
“I approach every game the same,” Schmidt noted, downplaying the rivalry. “I don’t play teams, I play games. I have a lot of friends at DV and I respect them. They play hard and never give up.”
“We knew it would be tight,” said Hart, noting that this was the third attempt to play this game; the first had been snowed out, the second cancelled because it was too cold to play.
Hart noted that his main pitcher helped himself in the off season by playing on the county’s Connie Mack League team.
“It helped his confidence, facing some really good hitters,” Hart said.
Tom Connell assumed the head coaching duties on Thursday after Bill Kirk had to tend to some family matters.
“They’re a good team, they showed why they’re number one in the state,” Connell said, praising the efforts of both staring pitchers.
“Maybe missing the head coach made us a little bit unprepared,” Connell confessed. “I’m not used to coaching third. Maybe some things could have been done differently.”
“This [win] was a total team effort,” Hart commented. “We have a good group of kids who battle, and they’re handling [the number one ranking] well.”