CENTRE COUNTY LEAGUE BASEBALL

Kings of the hill

National League pitching prevails in All-Star victory

Pat Rothdeutsch

UNIVERSITY PARK — Thanks to stellar pitching and sizzling defensive play, there wasn't any continuation of July Fourth fireworks shows on Sunday afternoon when the Centre County Baseball League held its annual all-star game for the first time at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

Craig Houtz

American's Cody Young, of the Bellefonte Governors, right, breaks up the double play on National's Tyler James, of the Bellefonte Brewers, in the 3rd inning during the Centre County League All-Star game on Sunday, July 5, 2009.

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Playing on a beautiful afternoon and in front of an enthusiastic crowd of more than 500 people, the league’s National and American all-star teams showed off their pitchers and gloves, limiting each other to a total of only five runs and 13 hits in what was a very closely played and entertaining game.

Neither team was able to push across a run — or even get a runner past second base — until the sixth inning. Fittingly, with the Nationals holding a slim lead, it was a pitcher who turned in the game-winning performance.

Lemont’s Aaron Tressler, a former Penn State standout, took the mound for the Nationals in the bottom of the eighth inning with his team holding on to a one-run lead. He closed out the Americans, pitching two solid innings to give the National team a hard-earned 3-2 victory.

Tressler’s performance was the last of seven very strong outings by the National pitchers, but with the American team scratching back with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to make it a one-run game, it began to look like the momentum was beginning to change in the American’s favor.

Tressler, however, faced only seven batters in the two innings, striking out two in the eighth and getting an unusual game-ending double play in the ninth to nail down the National’s win.

“It was a close game, and they started coming back and made it a one-run game,” Tressler said. “When I got out there I was just trying to make sure I got ahead of guys and get the first guy out. That’s my main goal— get the leadoff guy out and go from there.

“I really didn’t feel too much pressure there. I have been playing baseball my whole life, and I got to play in some pretty nice places, and that’s where I want to be. I feel relaxed in a tight game. I like it like that, and I’d rather be in a close game than a blowout.”

The American pitchers were equally as impressive, especially early in the game. Centre Hall’s Rich Auman started for the Americans and pitched two perfect innings, striking out two and not allowing a base runner. He was followed by Spring Mills’ Matt Smith, who also threw two scoreless innings. It wasn’t until the sixth inning, against Bellefonte’s Matt Allegretto, that the Nationals were able to put anything together.

That inning began with a single to right by Port Matilda’s Hunter Millward and a walk to Bellefonte’s Greg Reeder. With two on and no outs, Clarence’s Corey Guenot hit a sharp single to right, but a strong throw by Brian Randolph kept Millward from scoring. Clarence’s Kyle Gavlock was then hit by a pitch, forcing in Millward with the first run of the game and setting up Ryan Mostyn’s RBI fielder’s choice that gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead.

A double by designated hitter Matt McCamley and an RBI single by Unionville’s Mike Lutz made it a 3-0 game going into the bottom of the seventh.

The Americans, however, showed some life in the bottom of the seventh with two runs on an RBI double from Blanchard’s Josh Bechdel and an RBI single by Jay Hartman from Fox- Pro before National pitcher Branden Pifer got Tony Rider and Shane Marion to fly out to end the threat.

“I actually thought there would be a little more scoring in this game,” Auman said. “Traditionally, the County League is a hitting league, but there were some quality pitchers out there and they were able to slow down the hitters a little bit.

“I thought we might pull it out there after the seventh, but Tressler was a minor league pitcher, and he is pretty tough and we couldn’t quite do it.”

The Americans put the tying run on base in the ninth when Bechdel singled with one out. Hartman followed with a sinking line drive to right field which was caught and turned into a game-ending double play when Bechdel was caught too far off the bag at first.

“It was great here (at Medlar Field),” Tressler said. “I never played here, and I went to Penn State, and today I finally got to play on this field. This is an awesome venue.”

“It was great to be out here on a great field,” Auman added. “All the guys were excited about playing here, and we really appreciate that they allowed us to play on this field. It is a premier baseball field.”