Bunker Hill going for a high five
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| Mike Patterson and Bunker Hill will be swinging for their fifth straight Princeton Fastpitch Church League crown. (BCR photo/Mike Vaughn) |
Bunker Hill celebrated its 150th anniversary during Sunday’s services. To the rest of the Princeton Fastpitch Church League, it must seem like the Buda church has won nearly as many league tournament championships.
Bunker has captured four straight tournament championships and seeks its fifth at 6 p.m. Saturday night at Westside Park against St. Matthew’s. Bunker, which has won seven tournament tiles overall, will appear in its eight straight championship game and 11th in the past 14 years.
“We kind of would like that five-peat,” said Bunker captain/pitcher Terry Gutshall, whose day job is serving as superintendent of Bureau Valley schools.
“If we could do the five-peat, that would be a great accomplishment as there have been some really tough teams over the years. We have a lot of parity anymore as witnessed by this year’s records.”
Bunker’s march to the title game was unorthodox. It had to forfeit three games over the course of the season due to lack of players and came into the tournament as the sixth seed.
“I like where we are at coming in without any losses to Saturday night, as that is a huge advantage,” Gutshall said.
Regrouped for the postseason, Bunker has defeated St. Louis/Covenant 14-8, No. 7 Bureau Township 12-2 and St. Matthew’s 3-2.
Gutshall has handled the pitching duties throughout the tournament but will get some relief from his son, Adam, who returns from a cruise. It was a year ago the younger Gutshall was off getting married during the tournament.
“Maybe I should just show him I still got a few miles left in this old model,” Gutshall said.
• St. Matthew’s will get another shot at Bunker Hill, coming back through the loser’s bracket to defeat Baptist/Presbyterian, 6-4, in eight innings Thursday. Jon Henegar lined a double down the left field line to drive home Steve Nelson from first base for a 5-4 lead in the eighth. Eric Waca followed with a RBI single to bring home Henegar for a 6-4 lead.
“Our pitching and defense has been solid for the tournament, and that’s what has gotten us this far,” St. Matt’s Eric Waca said. “Ron’s (Elgin) a good pitcher and knows how to play to his strengths which shut down our bats for most of the game. We luckily strung together a few two-out hits in the eighth to score the go ahead runs. We beat a good team.”
Baptist/Pres’ shortstop, known as “Junior,” lined a homer just over the head of centerfielder John Garvin for a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second.
St. Matt’s took a 4-2 lead with three runs in the top of the fifth on RBI hits by John Garvin and Eric Waca and a double by Justin Lamboley. Baptist/Pres tied it in the home half with a lead-off hit by Barry Martel, a fielder’s choice and an error.
• Church Bulletin: St. Matt’s newcomer Lamboley is picking up the fastpitch game for the first time, having last played any kind of fastpitch eight years ago at St. Bede Academy alongside J.A. Happ. Lamboley caught the Phillies’ rookie star for three years at Bede ... St. Matt’s will be without ace pitcher Brad Snethen for the 6 p.m. game, who will be attending the funeral of his brother in Wisconsin. He anticipates making it back for a possible second game. St. Matt’s will turn to Chris Waca, who picked up a 14-10 tourney win over Methodist ... Bunker Hill has won seven tournament crowns in all, including a hat trick from 1996-98. It has also won season titles in 2004 and 2008 and shared titles from ‘96-’98 and again in 2002 ... St. Matt’s is the last team to win the tournament (2004), before Bunker Hill began its four-year run.
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