Limeport rolls to win in Game 1
No one has used small ball better than the Limeport Bulls in the Blue Mountain League.
The Bulls have won three championships over the last four seasons by bunting, moving runners over, stealing bases and doing the little things.
Limeport used that style of play to engineer a nine-run fifth inning en route to a 14-5 victory over the host Northampton Giants at Mike Lisetski Field Saturday night in Game 1 of the BML’s championship series.
Game 2 in the best-of-five is set for 7 p.m. Sunday at Limeport Stadium with a third game scheduled for 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at Northampton.
“They did some bunting and we didn’t do any fielding,” Giants manager Ed Wandler said in summing up the fifth inning. “We started off the inning with an error and it just exploded. It was probably the worst game of the year for us defensively.”
Limeport was held to one run and one-hit by Northampton’s Noah Durnin through four innings but sent 13 to the plate in the fifth.
“Durnin was pitching a really good game for them and then he ran into some hard luck and we were able to break it open,” Limeport player-manager Mike Cudwadie said. “We did what we do best. We did some bunting, we stole some bases and put balls in play. We didn’t hit anything over a fence, but we put the ball in play and they found holes.”
Cudwadie said he hears it from opposition fans that the Bulls can’t hit, so they bunt.
“Honestly, it’s effective and it works,” he said. “It puts pressure on a defense. It’s not going to be a clean game with no errors in this league. So you try to take advantage of mistakes.”
Limeport used four hits to tack on two more runs in the sixth and an error led the way to two more runs in the seventh.
Ryan Seiz had three hits and scored three runs. Jorge Montes added three hits and Gianni Sinatore and Pat Rhoads had two hits apiece. None of Limeport’s 13 hits went for extra bases.
Emmaus High graduate Cooper Michael got the win, pitching a complete game, giving up 9 hits.
Four of the BML postseason series were sweeps this year, but that’s not expected in the championship round. The Bulls and Giants went five games last August in the finals.
“We’ll probably face [Justin] Aungst in Game 2 and he’s always competitive,” Michael said. “It’s fun playing these guys. They’re good guys. They don’t argue too much with us. We like that.”
Despite its success, Limeport remains hungry.
“Winning is fun and we’re all good friends,” Michael said. “We hang out after games and do stuff in the offseason. It’s a good group of guys.”
“We can’t put any extra pressure on ourselves in Game 2; we just have to play,” Wandler said. “We just have to keep battling. I’m not real concerned about it. I think we’ll come back [Sunday] and play the way we’re supposed to play.”