Mounts League Champs!
- 21 May 2010
He was carrying the championship trophy from the floor of Clipper Magazine Stadium Thursday night when a visitor approached.At that moment, Ephrata left fielder Tim Murray handed the hardware to a teammate.
A symbolic moment, to be sure.
Earlier in the evening, Murray had helped carry the Mountaineers to a 9-7 win in their L-L League title matchup with Manheim Central, had done so by igniting a six-run first inning with a lead-off walk, a run scored, and when Ephrata batted around, a two-run single.
He rapped another run-scoring single in the third before leaving the game when the hip flexor he suffered in Wednesday's semifinal win over Cedar Crest flared.
It was then that Murray, having gone as far as he could physically, handed the game to his mates.
"It started bothering me so they took me out," he said.
Asked if there was any consideration given to not starting, he shook his head.
"I was definitely going to play," he stated with emphasis.
"His effort kind of personifies who we are," Ephrata coach Adrian Shelley said. "He's banged up but he had enough focus and resolve to keep battling."
En route to earning its first league title since 2003, Ephrata (17-7) needed every bit of its focus and resolve to beat a Baron squad that battled to within a run in the sixth inning.
"The good thing is, I know my guys didn't quit," Central coach Jason Thompson said. "I know they came back and made a game of it."
And did so despite committing six fielding errors, three in the first inning.
"To get to this point and not play our best, that's disappointing," Thompson said. "I can't say what happened in the first inning."
Ephrata took advantage of Central's miscues to score six runs on just two hits against ace Ryan Wilson (7-2). Murray's two-run single and Madison Zimmerman's RBI single were the only hits Wilson surrendered in the first inning, though he did walk four in the course of throwing 40 pitches. He wound up with a pitch count of 130 over six innings.
"He battled," Thompson said. "We had to make some plays behind him. He's not a strikeout guy, so we have to play defense."
The Barons' right-hander yielded a run in the third on Murray's single and an unearned run in both the fourth and the sixth. The latter came on a daring steal of home by Evan Weaver, who had reached on an error.
To some, Weaver's run may have been seen as insurance only. In truth, it altered the game's momentum one final time, shifting it back to Ephrata just moments after Central had cut its deficit to 8-7.
"That was the plan," Shelley said of the intangible value of stealing home.
The Barons (16-7), seeking their first L-L crown since 2000, began their comeback against Jay Frymyer with a run in the second on Collin Dunn's RBI single. They knocked Frymyer from the game with a five-run fourth fueled by Dunn's triple, Josh Good's RBI double and run-scoring singles from Wilson and Jeremie Patrick.
"Jay was rope-a-doping," Shelley said. "It was only a matter of time before (the Barons) found green with their bats."
Central found green 10 times to Ephrata's six, but also committed three more errors. Frymyer (4-1) got the win, and was aided by relievers Kenny Mulvenna and Dusten Rutt, who were called on to cool the Barons' hot bats.
Fittingly perhaps, the final out was recorded in left field, Murray's position.
"He typifies how we got here," Shelley said. "Grit and determination."
"Amazing," Murray said amid the postgame celebration. "Now, we'll have a new banner in right field."
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.