1961
VARSITY BASEBALL
1st
row: J. Skillen, D.
Lehmer, D. Rife, M.McCaleb, R.Hall, D. Hess, A. O’Donovan;
2nd
row: R.Gipson, D.
O’Donovan, B. Houser, L. Snyder, P. Wentz, S. Sauve, R. Koch;
3rd
row: T. Reed, J.
Kline, M. Faust, H. Wimberly, J. Kennedy, G. Miller, Coach Freed
RAIN
DAMPENS BASEBALL
POSTPONES
SOME GAMES
RAIN, RAIN, AND MORE RAIN has plagued baseball season this
spring, causing the postponement of several games.
Playing or practicing on a muddy field has not been unusual
either.
Competing in the West Shore League, the Wildcat squad had
compiled a three win and four loss record as of Monday, May 15.
Overall, Coach Freed’s team is four and four, with one
tie game not yet played-off.
The Wildcats opened their 1961 baseball season with a
victory at Dover, 12-2, but their second contest, the first game
with another West Shore League Team, Cumberland Valley, ended in a
loss for M-burg. That
game was played at the Carlisle Pike School.
The first league victory came when the Wildcats defeated
Cedar Cliff, 5-4 at Highland Park.
Jim Skillen and Barry Houser pitched.
The ‘Cats second loss came in an away bout with Carlisle
which ended in a score of 4-0.
Rodney Koch was on the mound for M-burg.
Camp Hill tied Coach Freed’s team in the fifth game of
the season, 3-3. The
pitcher for MHS was Jim Skillen.
This contest will be played again later in the league
standings.
We avenged our first game with the C.V. Eagles with a
victory of 3-2. Skillen
pitched this contest held at Memorial Park.
A second game with the Cedar Cliff nine proved another win.
The score was 1-0. On
the mound for this game was Barry Houser.
Season
Highlights
Coming back to avenge our loss to the Thundering Herd, we
tied Carlisle 1-1 after a 16-inning contest.
Jim Skillen pitched one of his finest games, surely the
most thrilling and probably the longest contest ever to be played
on the Memorial Park diamond.
A second game with Camp Hill proved a loss as the Lions
won, 3-0, on their home field.
May 8 was the date for the play off of the tie between the
Wildcats and the Thundering Herd.
Although getting five hits, M-burg could score only once
and lost to Carlisle, 2-1.
When The Torch went to press, games were still
remaining to be played with Cumberland Valley, Cedar Cliff,
Carlisle, and Camp Hill. The
Carlisle game is scheduled for this evening at the county seat.
On May 23, M-burg will meet Camp Hill at home.
West
Shore League
Carlisle has dominated play in the five-team West Shore
League this season and will probably capture the title.
The Wildcats, last year’s co-champs, have played some
fine baseball, losing several heart-breakers.
Coach Freed’s Squad would like nothing better than to
beat the Carlisle Herd this evening.
(The
Torch, May
19, 1961)
Herd,
Wildcats Play 1-1 Tie In 16 Frames;
Debolt,
Skillen Pitch Route in Marathon
Carlisle’s
Barry Debolt and Jim Skillen of Mechanicsburg staged a memorable
pitching duel yesterday at Mechanicsburg’s Memorial Park, in
what is believed to be the longest game in the history of West
Shore League, a 16-inning, 1-1 tie.
At
stake for the Thundering Herd was undisputed possession of first
place. A Wildcat win
would have tied the two clubs in the loss column, but the
stalemate left the Herd in command by 1 ½ games.
Scoreless
for eight
Debolt
and Skillen, both right-handers, matched zeros into the ninth
inning, when Carlisle came up with an unearned run for a 1-0 edge.
The Wildcats clawed back in the bottom of the frame to tie
it after two outs on an unearned tally, Don Rife’s long single
scoring Dale Lehmer from third.
Rife’s
hit was only the Wildcats’ second off Debolt, who allowed a
single to Flip Houser in the fourth frame for Mechanicsburg’s
lone safety in the regulation seven innings.
An infield single by Rife in the 12th and a
blooper to right by Marlin McCaleb in the 14th were the
only hits off the lanky Carlisle chucker in the “second game.”
Skillen
gave up six safeties, four of them in the first five innings.
From the ninth through the 15th, he retired 20
hitters in a row.
Mechanicsburg
came the closest to a regulation win.
Pinch-hitter Robbie Gipson walked to open the sixth and
Steve Sauve sacrificed him to second.
Debolt then coaxed Paul Wentz to top the ball in front of
the plate, and Herd catcher Dick Evelhoch alertly fired to Jim
Boomershine at third, nailing pinch runner Len Snyder.
Errors
costly
The
Thundering Herd finally broke the ice off Skillen in the ninth.
After Boomershine reached first on an error to lead off,
the Mechanicsburg mound ace walked his only batter of the game,
Charlie Fitzpatrick. Skillen
got Fred Jackson to hit back to the mound for a force at third,
but Evelhoch was safe on another Wildcat bobble, and Doug
Bommershine’s infield ground out tallied Bob Larsen, who ran for
Fitzpatrick.
Debolt
was also the victim of an infield miscue as the Wildcats knotted
the count in their half of the inning.
After Houser grounded out, Lehmer dashed to first on an
error. Lehmer stole
second and Dick Hess bounced out to short, moving Lehmer to third.
Rife coolly laced a liner to right-center for a single,
Lehmer scoring easily to send the game into marathon length.
Lonesome
runners
Neither
club had more than one runner on base in an inning thereafter.
Debolt, who struck out 16 while walking eight, stranded
Wildcat base runners at second in the 11th and 12th
stanzas. Both
catchers, Steve Sauve and Dick Evelhoch, caught the entire 16
innings.
Skillen
struck out eight against a lone base on balls, and allowed no Herd
runner to reach second after the ninth inning.
The
contest consumed nearly 3 ½ hours, and may have gone on until
dark had not plate umpire Tony Kinn after consulting with base ump
Brandt Cook, called a halt after Debolt retired the Wildcats in
order in the last of the 16th.
From the Evening Sentinel , Wednesday, May 3, 1961
Carlisle
vs. MASH Box score
Carlisle
|
AB
|
R
|
H
|
MASH
|
AB
|
R
|
H
|
|
Thorson,
2b
|
7
|
0
|
2
|
Reed,
lf
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
|
Snyder,
1b
|
7
|
0
|
1
|
McCaleb,
rf, lf
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
|
J.
Boomershine, 3b
|
7
|
0
|
1
|
Gibson
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Fitzpatrick,
lf
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
Snyder
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Larsen
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
O’Donovan,
rf
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
|
Brenneman,
lf
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Hall
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Lambert
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
Sauve,
c
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
|
Lane,
lf
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
Wentz,
3b
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
|
Jackson,
rf
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
Houser,
1b
|
5
|
0
|
1
|
|
Evelhock,
c
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
Lehmer,
ss
|
6
|
1
|
0
|
|
D.
Boomershine, ss
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
Hess,
2b
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
|
Padjen,
cf
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
Rife,
cf
|
7
|
0
|
2
|
|
Debolt,
p
|
6
|
0
|
2
|
Skillen
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
1961
SCORES
|
|
MASH
|
OPPONENT
|
|
Dover
|
12
|
2
|
|
Cumberland
Valley
|
5
|
6
|
|
Cedar
Cliff
|
5
|
4
|
|
Carlisle
|
0
|
4
|
|
Camp
Hill
|
3
|
3
|
|
Cumberland
Valley
|
3
|
2
|
|
Cedar
Cliff
|
1
|
0
|
|
Carlisle
|
1
(16 innings)
|
1
|
|
Camp
Hill
|
0
|
3
|
|
Cumberland
Valley
|
4
|
6
|
|
Cedar
Cliff
|
7
|
3
|
|
Carlisle
|
6
|
1
|
|
Camp
Hill
|
3
|
4
|
|
Camp
Hill
|
6
|
1
|
|
Carlisle
|
1
|
2
|
Final
Record: 7 – 6
– 2
|
Statistical
leaders (according
to 1961 Artisan):
Barry
Houser –51 at bats, 14 hits, 6 RBIs; Paul Wentz was high with a
.293 batting average.
|
