Cardinals fly through semis
Mechanicsburg will meet with rival Enola on Thursday
Print
Share
Email to a friend
Add This
Feeds
Local Sports
Article RatingImages
Matthew Harris/Special to The Sentinel
Mechanicsburg's Jason Altieri slides into home for the game-winning run against Fayetteville. As a result, Mechanicsburg moves on to the West Shore Twilight championship.
In the days leading up to Mechanicsburg’s game against Fayetteville on Tuesday, the Cardinals were tight-lipped on the prospect of facing rival Enola in the West Shore Twilight Baseball League finals.
That, however, changed following the outcome of their Game 3, semifinals affair with the AA’s.
A 2-1, series-clinching victory at home quickly loosened the Cardinals’ tongues — Enola defeated Dauphin 6-5 to complete a three-game series sweep of its own, setting the stage for a rematch of last year’s league title series.
“I am excited for Enola,” Mechanicsburg’s Ryan Mellick said. “There will probably be some heads butting. I love playing them.”
The Cardinals will be defending their Twilight league title following their five-game victory over Enola last year. The series will begin Thursday, with Bucky Kosyk projected as the Cardinals’ starting pitcher for Game 1 at East Pennsboro High School.
Tuesday, the Mechanicsburg pitching staff continued its team’s strong defensive performance this postseason. Zach Whitman turned in one of his best outings this year, striking out 13 AA’s while surrendering just one run.
However, Fayetteville gave a strong effort from the mound as well. AA’s starter Andy Stottlemyer worked out of jams, limiting Cardinals power hitters Arturo Figueroa and Ryan Murray to a combined 0-for-6 effort.
In fact, Stottlemyer worked out of a one-out, mini-jam in the first inning. Mechanicsburg’s Jason Altieri reached third base on a sacrifice from Teed Wertz, but Stottlemyer forced Cardinals Jamie Haas and Murray to pop up for outs No. 2 and 3.
“Stottlemyer really threw well tonight,” said Haas. “He was busting me in and blew it my first time up.”
Both pitchers cruised through the first few innings, and Stottlemyer averted yet another jam in the fourth when Haas was thrown out at home plate on a two-out double steal attempt.
Fayetteville struck first, pulling ahead on a Brian Massimilla RBI triple in the top of the fifth inning.
“I was really trying to keep the ball down tonight,” said Whitman. “The triple was on a hanging curve.”
However, it didn’t take long for Mechanicsburg to respond, evening the score on a Greg Bretz squeeze play that brought Mellick in from third.
From there, the Cardinals kept rolling. Haas capped off a four-hit inning for Mechanicsburg with an RBI base hit that drove in Altieri for the eventual game winner.
“We put up some timely hits tonight,” said Haas. “We need to be ready for Enola because they have great pitching.”
Whitman took control of the remainder of the contest, retiring the last six Fayetteville batters through the sixth and seventh innings, four via the strikeout.
“Whitman was quick all night and his control wasn’t bad,” said Mechanicsburg manager Bill Rickenbach. “Haas and Mellick came through for us tonight.
“If we keep getting good pitching, we’ll be alright (against Enola). We have beat them three out of four times and they really have not hit against us yet.”
