CORONAVIRUS SPIDDLE

CORONAVIRUS LEAGUE WINNERS TOO MUCH FOR SWALLOWS CHAMPIONS…WAS THERE ANY DOUBT?

CHAMPIONS-A RETURN TO NORMALCY CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS TO CHAMPIONVILLE

The Verdict is in….. The Championville Champions got the better part of „THE DEAL‟, as it has become known in CVL circles. As #2 seeded Tamaqua started the Championship series, it appeared that due to timing, they may have gotten the edge on Championville. Jerry Reuss, the 2nd half Championville Ace was forced to sit the first two games after winning game 7 of the playoffs with Lickmyville. While Tamaqua had their entire pitching staff rested by „boiling‟ the Wieners in a 4-2 playoff . However, destiny stepped in. The Ace of the Tamaqua staff, JR Richard, pitched only 2 1/3rd innings before being sidelined with an undisclosed injury (Championville fans are saying his HEART wasn‟t big enough). Instead, it was Andy Rincon, acquired in „THE DEAL‟, who started for the Champions and easily won game 1, putting the Champions ahead 1 game to 0. Championville Champ Harris, then assessed his staff and determined that Bill Gullickson was the right guy to stymie the Swallows in Game 2. And he was right, Gullickson pitched 6 innings and gave up only a single run, while (another player named in THE DEAL) came on and finished up with 3 outstanding innings of 1 baseball. On to game 3, and Jerry Reuss finally got his turn. Again, he pitched the Champions to another win with a solid 8 innings, before Ken Brett came on to relive in the 9th inning for the win….. and before the Swallows could swallow, the Champions were up 3 games to 0. And ALL 3 GAMES were won on the arms of the acquired in THE DEAL from Tamaqua. Game 4 was an inconsequential win for the Swallows as JR Richard decided he could pitch again. But game 5 was all Championville. The Swallows left 17, yes SEVENTEEN, men on base in 9 innings and saw the Champions commit 4 errors, but the Swallow yielded to the Champions in 11 innings with a game winning, walk off, hit by Bill „Wickets‟ Buckner. So, what‟s left to understand? The Champions GM Johnny got the better part of „THE DEAL” and helped his team not only make it to the playoffs, but also defeat both the #1 Big Nuts and the #2 Swallows. Our Bill Buckner - .615 Avg, 2 Doubles, 5 RBI’s vote is GM Johnny, GM of the Year.

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With the win, the Champions, who‟ve had their outspoken detractors this season, proved they can win in any decade, with any players, using any rules. Unlike some other teams who may be „one season wonders‟, or teams that can‟t seem to „finish‟ and make it out of the playoffs (think Institutional Losers here), the Champions overcome and usually always find a way to win. The only thing that prevented the Champions from winning two STRAIGHT season CVL Championships (2020 Summer & 2020 Winter) was a single strike in game #5 of the CVL summer championship series. GM Johnny found the right players at the right time. Manager Champ Harris played the players in the right positions, the right spot in the batting order, and at the right time. The result? Another Championville Championship. Over 45 years of baseball excellence continues at Championville in 2020, and the future remains bright, well into the future.

Championship Series Summary: Game 1 was looking to be an easy win for the Swallows. With their Ace, JR Richard, on the mound and Championville forced to rest their Ace, Jerry Reuss, the Swallows were looking to jump out in front quickly. But then the game was played. The Swallows jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, with the help of 3 infield errors, by three different fielders, and a single. Andy Rincon, the Champion starting , finally took control and struck out 2 batters and forced a third to fly out to sure handed Micky Rivers. The Champions quickly settled down and got the run back in the top of the 2nd when Reggie Jackson drew a walk, and Bill Buckner hit a down the line to score him. Then the unthinkable happened to the Swallows, as Richard pitched to the first batter in the top of the 3rd, he suffered an undisclosed injury, and had to be removed from the game. From there,,,,, it was all but over as the Champions feasted on reliever Marty Bystrom with 5 straight singles in the top of the 4th to plate 3 runs, and the game was effectively over. Rincon (nicknamed The Razor), threw a complete game, 3 hitter and went 2 for 4 at the plate to help himself to the win. Game 2 had Bill Gullickson starting for the Champions, against „Jamie Lee‟ Curtis of the Swallows. Curtis was the proud owner of a 7-1 record, with a 2.84 ERA in the regular season. Gullickson, had just a 4-4 record, and a 3.31 ERA entering the game. Again, the Swallows were heavily favored to win game 2, at home to even the series. But for a second straight night, someone forgot to tell the Champions. The Champions jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd inning off of a solid homerun by Ellis Valentine, who was a last-minute replacement for Reggie Jackson in rightfield. The game stayed that way until the top of the 6th inning when Ricky Lee Henderson coaxed a walk from Curtis. Henderson stole 2nd base on the first pitch to Mickey Rivers, and in the process, caused Carlton Fisk the Swallows catcher to hurry the throw to 2nd and the ball ended up in center field (E2)… while Henderson ended up at 3nd base. Manager Harris immediately signaled Rivers to attempt a squeeze play, and on the 4th pitch to Rivers, he laid down a picture perfect sacrifice bunt which plated Henderson. Champions now led 2-0. In the top of the 7th inning, Dave Stapleton, 2nd baseman who replaced Willie Randolph after „THE DEAL”, hit a towering shot that easily cleared the fence in right field for a homerun. Champions now led 3-0. In the bottom of the 7th, the Swallows coaxed a walk and a double off of Gullickson to score their only run of the game. With no outs, and a Swallow on 2nd base, Champ Harris went to the bullpen to get Ken Brett, another player from Tamaqua in “THE DEAL”. Brett proceeded to get the next three batter to fly out and ground out, and he was out of the inning. Brett threw the next 2 innings as well, giving up only a single, and it was suddenly Championville up 2 games to 0! Worse yet for the Swallows, Jerry Reuss was scheduled to pitch in game 3!! Game 3 went exactly as expected, with Jerry Reuss going 4-0 in the post season, and another Championville win. The Champions got on the board first in the bottom of the 3rd, when with two outs, they strung together 4 straight singles to go up 2-0. Reuss pitched 8 strong innings, giving up 2 runs in the 6th inning which temporarily tied the game at 2-2. However, in the bottom of the 6th, Reggie Jackson smashed a homerun into the upper deck at Champion Stadium. That, and another Ken Brett, 10 pitch in the ninth inning, was all the Champions needed. Championville was up 3 games to 0. Game 4, was the Swallows last „hurrah‟. In what turned out to be the most inconsequential game of the series, Tamaqua finally got the win they were hoping for. With their Ace deciding to return to the mound after some mysterious injury in game 1, they managed to win the game with a 4-run outburst in the 5th inning on 5 hits. Ron Guidry pitched 4 innings and gave up 2 runs and was relieved by Roger Erickson who also allowed 2 runs. Championville scored a run in the 6th inning as Oscar Gamble reached on an error and Bill Buckner plated him with a run scoring double. That was all the scoring for either team as the Swallows took the 4-1 lead to the bank for the victory. Richards, after being spotted the 4-run lead, apparently showed no signs of the “injury” he received in game 1, as he earned a complete game win, giving up only 1 run on 5 hits. Game 5 was extraordinary in may ways, for both teams. It showed the heart of the Champions, and the lack of intestinal fortitude of the Swallows. The Swallows jumped out to a 4-0 lead at the expense of Championville‟s starter Andy Rincon, and a shaky defensive performance. And it looked like that may be all the runs Tamaqua needed to secure win number 2, as „Jamie Lee‟ Curtis was coasting through the first 4 innings with a perfect game. Then the Champions struck. Maybe the pressure of the moment got to Curtis, or the Champions had merely decided that they had seen enough. Leadoff hitter Ellis Valentine, again inserted into the lineup to counter Curtis left-handed pitching, smashed the 5th pitch over ‟s head in center field. Curtis, now with his no-hitter and perfect game lost, proceeded to throw a wild pitch to Robin Yount which moved Valentine to 3rd base. Yount then hit a long fly ball into the gap, but it was only good enough for a sacrifice fly, scoring Valentine from 3rd base…. now, Curtis‟ shutout was gone. With no further scoring in the 5th, the Champions picked up where they left off in the 6th inning by pounding Curtis for 3 more runs. With two outs in the 6th inning, Mickey Rivers doubled to start the rally. Buddy Bell followed with a run scoring single to make the score 4-2 in favor of Tamaqua. Then came the shot that Champ Harris had envisioned when he inserted Valentine into the lineup. Valentine hit a towering fly ball for a 2 run „ballpark effect‟ homerun, which was very nearly caught at the wall, but made it over to tie the score at 4-4. It was apparent that Tamaqua had just received their first „punch in the mouth‟ of the game as the Champions weren‟t going down without a fight. As the game moved into the 8th inning, Tamaqua managed to load the bases with only one out. Champ Harris decided to bring in Tim Stoddard (who was obtained off waivers from Sodasopa late in the year!) to close out the threat. Despite three pinch hitters for Tamaqua, Stoddard ended the threat with of Rusty Staub and Bake McBride. When asked about the performance against McBride, Stroddard commented that “he was trying to show Intercourse how it was supposed to be done” referring to McBride‟s homerun that sent the Weiner‟s to the loser‟s bracket in the playoffs for a 2nd straight year. The game remained tied into the 11th inning when Championville struck for the final time. Mickey Rivers again slapped a double into the gap to start the inning. Tamaqua manager, Captain James Kirk, then elected to give

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Buddy Bell an intentional walk, to set up a potential double play. What Captain Kirk failed to appreciate was that not only did Valentine rarely hit into double plays, but his pitcher Grant Jackson rarely induced players to hit into double plays. The result was a ground ball back to the pitcher, which only succeeded in a force play at 2nd base. So, with runners on the corners and only one out, Champ Harris gave the steal sign to Valentine who cruised into 2nd base standing up. Now with both runners in scoring position, and the game on the line, Manager Kirk then mysteriously elected to pitch to Bill „Wicket‟ Buckner. Buckner, who was batting below .200 on the season before the final 10 games of the year, was batting over .300 during the playoffs, and batting a blistering .583 against the Swallows!! Buckner stepped into the batter‟s box, smiled and winked at Grant Jackson, then stroked the next pitch for a single into centerfield (nearly taking Jackson‟s head off!) for the Championship…and a final .615 batting average against the Swallows in the series. And, so it was, the Champions of Championville, Champions once again.

Below are the stats of the CVL Winter League Post Season

Records Leaders

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Below are the stats of the CVL Winter League Championship Series - Championville

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Below are the stats of the CVL Winter League Championship Series - Tamaqua

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