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Monday, August 4, 2008
Shillington Dodgers Keep it Rolling
Greater Reading, PA
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By: Dave Conard
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Photo(s) By: Dave Conard
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One win away from Title game
Dodgers keep it rolling, one win away from title game
By Dave Conard
To win a championship in any sport you need to have either very talented players or great team chemistry, fortunately for Shillington they have both.
The Dodgers, (39-4) who battled back through the loser’s bracket last week in the regional tournament to earn their berth in the state championships have played like a team on a mission thus far and are one win away from punching their ticket to the championship game on Wednesday. On Sunday night, Shillington used an 11 hit assault to post a 14-2 over cross town rival West Lawn to advance to Monday night’s winner’s bracket final. The Dodgers will face Spring City, who squeaked out a 9-8 win over Shillington last week to win the Spring City regional. On Saturday, the Dodgers turned the tables on last week’s marathon schedule buy making short work of their opening round opponent Shaler, winning 12-1 in a mercy rule shortened 4½ inning game.
“This was a big win for us,” said Coach Tim Gombar. “Joe pitched great and we got to save some innings from him, which will help later in the tournament. I wasn’t even aware of the ten run rule here; we were getting ready to send some other kids into the game. This saves us huge, and after last week we’ll take the break.”
Pittsburgh regional champ Shaler (28-4), got on the board in the first when leadoff man Matt Ciesinki reached on a single then stole second before being driven in by Ben Mulig with a two-out single. Shillington responded immediately by posting three runs in the first inning and scoring in each of the first four frames while 16 year old starter Joe Plange settled in allowing just two hits while fanning seven and walking one.
“I was a little nervous in the first inning,” said Palange the Governor Mifflin sophomore, “We scored three quick and I was able to just relax and throw strikes. As a pitcher it’s so much nicer to have a lead, you can just play your game and you know one mistake won’t hurt you.”
The Dodgers didn’t make many mistakes and made the most of a 3-for-3 performance from Brandon Snyder, who also drove in three runs while scoring three. Kyle Hartman continued to swing a hot bat as he drove in three runs and Dustin Dunkleberger scored three times while driving in two, to pace Shillington’s hit parade.
“We’re happy with the way we played overall,” said Gombar. “We had a great BP session last night, the bats are really coming alive at the right time. We had a couple of base running miscues today that cost us some extra bases, but we will work on that going forward.”
Shillington, who won this years Berks county league playoffs is now one win away from a goal the coaches saw as obtainable earlier in the season; a berth in the State title game. “We knew as a coaching staff that they had this potential earlier in the year,” said Gombar. “We didn’t say anything to the kids because we didn’t want them getting over confident. One of my mentor’s coach Ludy, came down and watched us and mentioned it to us and from that point forward we really set that as one of our goals to make the state tournament.”
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