Nightcap ends in 6-6 deadlock

LIMEPORT - Typically there's no tying in baseball. But if the major league can end an all star game with the score still knotted, so can the all star seniors from the Lehigh Valley Area.

The nightcap of the 27th Annual Howard E. Deppe All Star Classic ended 6-6. The Orange team, which was laden with area players, came back from a 6-1 deficit in the last two innings to earn the draw.

Most of the players were indifferent toward the scoreboard. They spent the evening enjoying the chance to play in a low-pressure atmostphere where the outcome had more to do with raising money for charity than which teams won the games.

Northern Lehigh's Joel Seyler, who had two hits for the Orange, got to play four different position despite the fact that his team had 16 players.

"It was a lot more fun than playing in the regular season," Seyler said. "It was a whole new environment."

Northwestern's Austin Kelly was named Orange team MVP. He went 3 for 3 with a pair of RBIs. His third hit drove in the game-tying run.

Other area players that participated in the game were Northern Lehigh's Kirk bender, Kyle Schomp and Trevor Yashur; Northwestern's Payton Bachman, Mitchell Snyder and Ty Cunnigham; and Palmerton's Aaron Cook, Tanner Gudekunst, Mike Sander and Tyler Svetik.

Svetik, Gutekunsts, Cunningham and Bachman each had one hit apiece in the game.

The Blue team (East Stroudsburg So., Notre Dame GP, Palisades, Salisbury, Saucon Valley and Wilson) took a 5-0 lead in the first inning and added another in the third. The Blue team played the game with just nine players.

The Orange team, which included the area players as well as four Bangor seniors, got one run the first and three in the sixth. Cunningham drove in Bangor's Ryan Pysher with a sixth-inning double to make it 6-2. Kelly followed that with an RBI single. Bachman's two-out double brought home Kelly to cut the lead to 6-4.

Three hits an a pair of walks led to two runs in the seventh, including Kelly's game-tying single.

The first game of the Deppe event was played between the Chocolate team, made up mostly of Lehigh Valley Conference Northampton County teams, and the Red team, made up of mostly LVC Lehigh County teams. The Red won the game, 10-1 as Whitehall Evan Roman went 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs.

Bangor's Pysher won the Frank Yelinko Memorial Home Run Derby, held in between games.

While many players that were invited declined to play in the game, those who participated enjoyed the experience.

"Ending my season at a game that benefits cancer," said Salisbury's Ramon Deeb. "Playing with everyone throughout the league and league's we haven't faced before it's a true honor. "

The event benefits the American Cancer Society.