Flashy outing by Smith

by Don Stewart, Reading Eagle

Posted on June 30, 2006

Josh Smith strikes out 10 in eight innings as West Lawn defeats Shillington for its 12th straight league win.

There's no game clock in baseball, but the darkness creeping into Shillington from the south sparked Josh Smith into a two-minute drill of sorts.

He retired the final 10 batters he faced, but the lightning began to flash a bit too close to Rulon L. Griffifth Field in the top of the ninth. Smith didn't beat the weather, but his West Lawn team beat the Red Sox 5-1 in a Berks Legion League Red Division matchup.

“I didn't want to pitch in the rain, really,” Smith said. “So I was just trying to pick the pace up a little bit, hit my spots so I could get it over with quicker.”

Smith, who transferred from Gov. Mifflin in 2003, always seems to pitch his best against his former teammates. He was typically sharp Thursday night, allowing an unearned run on four hits while striking out 10.

The senior-to-be got through eight innings on 114 pitches to improve to 4-0 in league play. The win puts West Lawn (12-3, 14-7) on the verge of a playoff berth.

“I can't wait to pitch against Mifflin,” Smith said. “I always get fired up. It's my rival. I used to go there. All those kids, I've played with them since I was in Diamond League. I get pumped.”

Shillington also got strong pitching from starter Mike Bucklin and Sam Eagleson, but errors put them in a hole they couldn't crawl out of against Smith.

In the third, Smith reached on an error, stole second, then reached third on a Bucklin wild pitch. He scored with two outs when John Schultz hit a fly ball that sailed over the head of center fielder Brad Rhoads.

Schultz, who reached third on the play, scored on a Craig O'Deair single.

The Red Sox (8-5, 12-6) cut it to 2-1 in the bottom of the inning when Bucklin scored Mark Yost on a sacrifice fly to left. But two errors in the fourth allowed West Lawn's Ryan Ebner to score on a Smith groundout.

Ebner then drove in a pair of runs with the bases loaded in the fifth. His grounder up the middle resulted in a run and a force at second, but Shillington's failed attempt to complete the double play enabled the second run to score.

The Red Sox are missing catcher Matt Palange, who was hitting at a near .500 clip before leaving for West Point last weekend. They finished with four errors.

“Where we cost ourselves was not backing up our pitchers,” Shillington coach Chris Hole said. “I'm real proud of Bucklin and Eagleson. They threw extremely well, we just didn't make plays when we had to.”

With five league games remaining, Shillington is left battling for the final Red Division playoff spot with Exeter (8-4, 16-5). Meanwhile, the Owls won their 12th straight league game after an 0-3 start.

The key has been the improved health of a few key players, including Smith, who missed the first 15 days of the Legion season due to a tired arm.

“Starting 0-3 really put us in a dire situation,” Owls coach Tony Matz III said. “We couldn't have any slip-ups. We got healthy and the kids have responded.”

Contact Don Stewart at 610-371-5065 or dstewart@readingeagle.com

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