Salisbury captures title; no SCBL hoops
Justin Aungst missed out on his first season as the Salisbury High baseball coach due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He also missed out on pitching for the Northampton Giants in the Blue Mountain League, which like the high school baseball season, had its 75th season of amateur baseball canceled due to C OVID19.
But Aungst didn’t miss out entirely. He got to pitch for the first-year Salisbury Falcon steam in the Premier Division of the LehighValley Baseball League, and he made his presence felt.
Aungst, who was The Morning Call’s Player of the Year in 2013, tossed afive-hit complete-game for Salisbury on Saturday in an 8-1 win over Alpha, New Jersey, in the first game of the best-of-three LVBL championship series. He struck out 15.
Ga be Moss er, a Parkland grad who was selected by the San Diego Padres in the 27th round of the Major League Baseball draft, finished out the title series Sunday. He struck out 10 and shook off a rough first inning to pitch a six-hitter and lead Salisbury to a 9-2 win and the championship.
Quinn Warmkessel, a Salisbury High senior, sparked the offense with five hits at the top of the order, and Nic Ampietro, Tyler To cc ian dAung st combined to score five runs in the Game 2 win. Aung st delivered the decisive blow with a three-run home run.
It all added up to a unique celebration in a summer largely muted by the coronavirus.
“This was our first year and we had a lot of fun,” Salisbury player-managerBrad Vangeli said. “We wanted mainly Salisbury guys, and of the 15 guys, 11 of them are Salisbury grads.
“A bunch of played together in high school and then a bunch of them hadn’t played in five to 10 years. We had a great mix of guys.”
The 24-year-old Mosser won seven games while pitching in the Midwest and California minor leagues last summer and would have spent this year in either Texas or California had the minorleague seasons not been canceled due to the coronavirus. He attended a wedding Saturday, but he didn’ t want to miss out on the season’s last game.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome,” Mosser said. “It was awesome pitching in this league. I am thankful of the opportunity to pitch here. It was a good group of guys.”
Aungst also wasgrateful for the opportunity to pitch somewhere.
“Considering the circumstances this year, I was just happy to be able to play,” Aungst said. “We competed all year long and had fun doing it. They said it’s a Sunday league, but when you come out here you still want to compete.”
Salisbury finished 17-1 and Alpha went 13-5 in the league that started and ended later than usual. Sunday’s final game was played in cool, crisp conditions that made it feel like baseball should in the postseason.
The overall quality of the LVBL, in its second season, was excellent because many players were left looking for a place to play when the BML and the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League, among others, decided not to play due to health-related restrictions.
Ampietro, Vangeli and Aungst were members of Salisbury’ s league and district title team in 2013 and its Colonial League championship squad in 2012. They were also members of Northampton’s Blue Mountain League title team in 2014.
“With all of the other leagues shut down, Ron Cahill [the league president] did a great job of getting this together, and even though it was a shortened-season and we had ended a month later than normal, we are very grateful to have the opportunity to play,” Vangeli said. “It was probably the most fun I’ve had playing baseball since 2013. Obviously, winning makes it fun, but it was also the great group of guys we had.”
The LVBL had 21 teams, seven in the Premier Division. Cahill said the league will add a 25-and-older division next season.
“This championship series culminated agreat seasonfor the league,” hesaid. “We worked hard to get a season going, and when you look back on where we were and where we’re at, you don’t know if you should have started playing either, or not at all. I don’t know, but wehadagreat season. We had a big crowd here for the last game, beautiful weather and a lot of excitement.”
SCBL canceled
The Selection Competition Basketball League, the popular fall basketball league for boys players in middle school and high school who are not playing fall sports, has been canceled for this year due to the coronavirus.
League founder and director Ed Jennings, a former high school and college assistant coach, waited as long as he could before making the decision. Over the previous decade, games were played Sundays at the Swain School in Salisbury Township throughout September and October.
“After taking a wait-and-see approach since August, I decided to follow the medical recommendations and postpone our 11th SCBL season until 2021,” Jennings said. “The coaches, players and parents were on board. This was a difficult decision to make, but wefeel its the safest and best decision at this time.”
Jennings said not having the SCBLthis fall is especially disappointing, considering the times.
“There were plans for some high-profile, life-skill guest speakers with the racial divide in this country and violence in our own community,” Jennings said. “Plus, our community service outreach was going to partner with the Lehigh County Humane Society to do a fundraiser. I am still working on something online because they are are doing some wonderful things.”
Jennings said the SCBL will be back with many of the same features next year.