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http://www.mcall.com/sports/all-patesmenjul06.story
Editor's Note: This is from The Morning Call, link
provided courtesy of Al's Fastball. Congrats to Mike Smith on his
MVP award. We've saved this page as newspaper links usually
don't stay up long. Here is a photo of Mike from last year's NAFA World
Series, alongside Dan Loney and Rob Scheller:
Click here: Mike Smith photo. Click menu button at left for "Windmiller's
Win" for earlier story from Saturday.
Smith generates power that drives Windmillers to win
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By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call
July 6, 2003
Allentown's Mike Smith has done just about everything there is to do in
the game of fastpitch softball.
But Smith accomplished two ''firsts'' Saturday — one leading to the other
— in the championship game of the 38th annual Allentown Patriots' Fourth
of July Classic.
Smith hit his first home run ever off his buddy and sometimes-teammate
Reno Lato.
It was a two-run blast that broke a 1-1 tie in the third inning and sent
Smith and his Can-Am Windmillers on to a 3-2 title-game victory over the
Quaker Riversharks.
The home run also sealed Smith's first-ever selection as the Most Valuable
Player in the annual softball event at Patriots Park.
''I've won two Most Valuable Pitcher awards here before, but never the
'player' award,'' Smith said. ''It was a great weekend for me, our team
and the tournament. Like I said
I usually play well here. Fortunately, I didn't jinx myself when
I said that.''
Smith had three home runs in the tournament to help the Windmillers win
their second tourney title in three years.
He also tossed a no-hitter Friday and pitched a four-hitter in the
Windmillers' 3-1 semifinal win over the Armour Rise early Saturday. In
that one, he also reached base four times on walks.
Craig Gibson, the New Zealander who had 22 strikeouts and allowed just one
run on five hits in his two previous tournament games, was not
overpowering against the Lebanon-based Riversharks.
Still, he was strong enough in the finals to clinch the Most Valuable
Pitcher award without a gripe.
Gibson tossed a two-hitter, didn't issue a walk and struck out seven,
including the last two outs of the game, to punctuate his performance.
The Riversharks got to him for a run in the first when Scott Long led off
with a double and scored on Bob Wengert's single.
Gibson, on loan from a St. Louis-based team this weekend, didn't allow
another hit.
His biggest jam came in the sixth when back-to-back infield errors put the
first two Riversharks on base. He got out of that mess with just one run
scoring, on a sacrifice fly.
''Gibby's a tough pitcher and we just came up a little short,'' said
Riversharks' manager Bob Nydick. ''We had runners on, we had some chances.
That's all you can hope for against him. But it was good game and a good
tournament. This was our best finish here. We'll be back next year and
hopefully, we'll come out on top.''
Nydick's team advanced to the finals via a 2-1, 10-inning semifinal win
over Vanguard Security. Chad Oeschle doubled in the winning run.
In men's fastpitch, today's enemy is often tomorrow's teammate and Nydick
said Smith will play with his team later this summer in the NAFA World
Series.
''Hopefully, he'll hit a big home run for us there,'' Nydick said.
Likewise, Smith hopes Lato will shake off the disappointment since Lato
will join the Windmillers at the ASA Nationals later this week.
''Reno's such a good pitcher and that's why I've never hit a home run off
him before,'' Smith said. ''The count was 1-1 and I just missed the first
good pitch he threw me with a foul tip. I didn't think he'd come back with
the same pitch, but he came back with a rise ball and I was able to drive
it. You seldom get the whole ball against him.''
Smith had a ball all weekend and is looking forward to ASA Nationals and
then the Bob Walsh Tournament back at Pates July 25-27.
''Even though we didn't have our full team here, winning this tournament
gives us a big lift entering nationals and the Walsh tournament,'' he
said. ''This was an excellent tuneup for us.''
Quaker Riversharks 100 001 0 — 2 2 0
Can-Am Windmillers012 000 x — 3 4 2
Lato and Evans; Gibson and Daley. HR: CA, Smith (3rd, 1 on).
keith.groller@mcall.com
610-820-6740
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