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Mount Wolf's Dan Dierdorff scores the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning against Hallam in the second game of the 2014 York County Championship Series. Mount Wolf won the series 2-0 and Dierdorff was later named league MVP. This season, however, Dierdorff won't be available to play for the Wolves until after Memorial Day. (YORK DISPATCH FILE PHOTO)

Things are going to be a little different in the Central League this summer.

When the 2015 season begins in a few days, the eight-team league will grow to nine with the addition of Dillsburg-based club South Mountain.

In addition, the constant rescheduling of unfinished games will no longer be a problem. Instead of suspending games because of darkness or weather, the Central League will go to a hockey-like format for its standings, giving winning teams two points, losing teams none, and, if a game is called with the score tied, each team will receive one point.

"It's a cost-saving initiative," league president Mark Skehan said. "It's a time-saving initiative. We're going to see how it goes, and in my mind, this is not an insignificant change in baseball."

It's certainly a new approach and a major change. The new format is in response to numerous games getting suspended last summer because of darkness and weather, forcing players, umpires and grounds crews to return on a makeup date, costing the league extra money.

Skehan said two teams had to come back on four different days to finish a game, each time costing the league money and, sometimes, it's only for one or two innings.

"That's a lot of money, you know," he said. "People have to go out and prepare the fields and there's only going to be one inning to be played. We're going to try it. Baseball, by necessity, is going to need to make some changes and it's not always comfortable."

Central/Susquehanna Leagues to Take on Revolution

(Excerpts taken from York Revolution web site)

The Susquehanna and Central Baseball Leagues, two York County strongholds for years, have teamed up with the York Revolution for several initiatives to grow the game of baseball locally.

Things will kick-off when a team of All-Stars combined from the Susquehanna and Central League square off against the 2009 York Revolution at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 18 at Sovereign Bank Stadium. Gates for the game that day will open at Noon, as a part of the Revolution’s Fan Fest celebration to officially kick off the 2009 season. The game against the Susquehanna/Central League All-Stars will be one of five exhibitions the Revolution play as a part of moving spring training from Lakeland, Florida to York.

“Not every team in our league stays up north for spring training, and we need the competition to prepare for the season,” said Revolution Director of Baseball Operations Adam Gladstone. “It’s great that these two leagues are combining to play us. I look forward to seeing how competitive this game can be.”

Because the local leagues do not start their season until the beginning of May, the Susquehanna/Central League All-Stars will have use of Sovereign Bank Stadium to workout and practice twice, in anticipation of the showdown against the Revolution. It will be the Revolution’s third exhibition game of the spring.

Admission to the game will be four dollars. Two dollars from every ticket will go to the two leagues’ York County Baseball Scholarship Fund. Tickets may be purchased online at YorkRevolution.com beginning February 2 at 9 a.m. Tickets may also be purchased by visiting the Apple Chevrolet Ticket office at Sovereign Bank Stadium between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday beginning February 2. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the box office the day of the game, but due to a potentially high demand fans are encouraged to buy their tickets in advance. Members of the Founders Club, Heritage Box, and Skybox holders will receive free tickets to this special event.

Central/Susquehanna Leagues to Battle it out at Sovereign Bank Stadium

The two leagues will then battle it out for local supremacy at the home of the Revolution in their annual All-Star Game on July 19, start time TBA. Traditionally, the game is rotated throughout the local Susquehanna and Central League fields.

The two new local partners will also use Sovereign Bank Stadium for the County Championship, where the Susquehanna League Champion will meet the Central League Champion in a best of three series, beginning with game one on Saturday, August 29. Game two will be Sunday, August 30, and game three would also be August 30 if necessary. Start times for the Championship Series’ games are TBA. In the past the series would go back and forth between local home fields, and will now be played at a neutral location for the first time.

“This partnership is a long time coming, and we’re glad it’s in place,” said York Revolution General Manager Matt O’Brien. “It’s great to see so much passion from two local baseball leagues, and we’re passionate about baseball too. It’s only natural we bring everybody together, and use Sovereign Bank Stadium to better the game of baseball in the community.”

“We’re all looking forward to playing the Revolution, all the players are. I hope we can be competitive and have a fun day, to show York County how good these leagues are. We’re proud of all of our players,” said Holtzapple.

For the full story from the York Revolution Website use the link below.
(http://yorkrevolution.com/news.cfm?newsID=1612)

Postseason Awards Presented

The Central League held its annual banquet on Saturday, January 10th. During this banquet the postseason awards were presented.
Glen Rock manager Kim McCullough was awarded the Manager of the Year trophy. In 2008, KMac managed the Rock for the seventh season in a row. It was a season in which the Rock won the regular season, playoff and Tom Kerrigan Colonial tournament titles. This is the first time KMac has been named the league's top manager. The award is voted on by the league's managers. McCullough also accepted trophies for the league and playoff titles on behalf of the team at the banquet.
Also at the banquet, Glen Rock starting pitcher Matt Gonzalez was awarded the trophy for Pitcher of the Year. The award is based on statistical supremacy. According to the league stats, Gonzo posted a 9-2 regular season record with a 1.83 ERA.
Dover's Dustin Kuhn won the league batting title with a .406 average and was also named the league's MVP by the managers.
Dover won the league's Sportsmanship Award for the third straight year. That is voted on the league's umpires.
Pleasurville's Matt Wagner was presented with the President's Award. That award is given by league president Mike Skeehan to a player he deems deserving based on contributions to the league and community.

Central League Wins All-Star Game

A weird thing happened to Glen Rock's Dan Rhodes as he walked toward the plate at Sovereign Bank Stadium in the bottom of the 11th inning of Sunday's Townball All-Star Game.
Frank Skehan, an 11-year-old bat boy, stopped Rhodes shy of the batter's box and told him, "I foresee a game-winning walk-off right there," and he pointed at the right field pavilion area.
Wouldn't you know, whatever foresight Skehan had, worked, as Rhodes drilled Jason Christenberry's (Jacobus) first offering of the frame just inside the foul pole in right. With the blast, the Central League All-Stars scored a dramatic 6-5 victory over the Susquehanna League All-Stars.

"I just reacted and got my hands through somehow," Rhodes said.

But the buzz around the dugout area following the game was that called shot by Skehan.
"He's my favorite player in the Central League," Skehan said of Rhodes. "My first time watching a Central League game, five or six years ago, he hit the first home run I saw."
The dramatic walk-off ended a well-played, back-and-forth contest.
After both teams squandered chances -- the Susquehanna League stranded runners in the ninth and 11th, while the Central Stars wasted opportunities in the ninth and 10th -- it was a boy with a vision that brought the game to an end.
"I was ready to get the game over with," Skehan said. "I thought I could see someone hitting a home run to end it."
The Central Stars rallied for a run to tie the game at five in the eighth on Corey Eisenhart's (Dover, 2-for-3) rocket up the middle that ricocheted off of Christenberry's glove and into centerfield.
"The boys played hard and we were able to come out on top," Central League manager Kim McCullough said. "Both sides played well and there were very few mistakes. They hit early and we hit late."
The Susquehanna Stars wasted no time getting on the board scoring four times in the first.
Two of those runs came courtesy of a homer by Rick Thompson (Conrads), who drilled a Matt Gonzalez (Glen Rock) offering over the centerfield wall roughly 405 feet away.
"That ball was hit on the button," Susquehanna manager Clint Workinger said.
Two innings later, the Central Stars answered with four runs of their own. Run-scoring hits by Joe Jasinski (Jefferson), Matt Meyer (Pleasureville), Tim Hare (Glen Rock) and an RBI groundout by Ryan Poff (Glen Rock) tied the game.
The Susquehanna Stars regained the lead in the fourth on an RBI single by Mark Schauren (Columbia), plating Ferrell with the team's final run.
"York County has some good baseball," Workinger said. "Both leagues are pretty solid."

Glen Rock Wins Second Straight Title

With the victory in a completed game on August 1st the Rock claimed its second straight Central League Regular Season Championship. The Rock finished the regular season with a record of 30-5. The win also earns the Rock a spot in the county championship series vs. the Susquehanna League champion, Red Lion.
This is the 4th regular season title for the Rock since 2004. In that time they have also won 3 Central League Playoff titles, a county championship and TWO Tom Kerrigan Memorial (Colonial) Tournament Championships.

Tigers Claim Playoff Title

By KIMBERLY RUTH
For the Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 08/15/2009 11:34:11 PM EDT

After struggling early in the season, it all came together in the end for Stoverstown as the Tigers strung together strong pitching, great defense and timely hitting to become Central League tournament champions.
Saturday afternoon, they shut the door on Mount Wolf, wrapping up the continuation of Game 1 in the morning, 5-4, before heading back to Stoverstown to top the Wolves, 9-3, in the afternoon in Game 2 to sweep the series.
That earned first-year manager Tim Thoman -- who took over for the legendary Curly Holtzapple -- not one, but two water-cooler showers.
"The first one was OK," Thoman laughed. "The second one wasn't so good."
The playoffs have been a whirlwind for the Tigers, who shut out Manchester in two games before knocking out regular-season champion Glen Rock in three games.
"It's been outstanding," Thoman said. "The momentum we took from the season and then the momentum we built up after playing Manchester and Glen Rock really carried us through these two games."
Stoverstown struggled early against Mount Wolf in the first game that began Thursday night.
Down 3-0, Stoverstown took advantage of walks, a wild pitch and a bloop single in the sixth inning to take a 4-3 lead that eventually turned into a 4-4 tie after the Wolves responded in the bottom of the sixth.
After hearing about the Game 1 tie, Stoverstown's Dusty Heigler -- who had already left for college in Virginia after the Glen Rock series -- decided to come back home for the finals.
A hot bat for the Tigers, Heigler came in as a pitch hitter Saturday morning in the top of the eighth inning after Mount Wolf's Kyle Cook hit Jake Hockensmith with a pitch to put a runner on base with one out.
Heigler laced an RBI double into center field, scoring Hockensmith from first base as the throw went to the right of the plate.
The Wolves had no response in the bottom of the eighth, as all three batters flyed out against Hockensmith.
"It's unfortunate they hit Jake, but it gave me the opportunity to come up with a runner on," said Heigler, who is 11-for-19 at the plate in the postseason. "I got two strikes and it just opened up the field. I wasn't trying to pull it and just shot the ball into left field."
The Wolves came out swinging in Game 2, scoring two runs against Tigers starter Chris Powl in the top of the first on a walk and an error by the typically air-tight Stoverstown defense.
Stoverstown's bats responded in the home half of the inning, getting to Mount Wolf starter Drew Rentzel.
Brandon Wolfe drove home Zach Schuler and Kyle Wildasin on a long single, and Hockensmith smoked an RBI single to right-centerfield to score Heigler.
Wolfe and Heigler both scored on a wild pitch by Rentzel, giving the Tigers a 5-2 lead as the pitcher unsuccessfully guarded the plate against both runners. He dropped the ball and took hard hits from Wolfe and Heigler.
Rentzel left the game after the collisions, and was replaced by K.C. Beshore, who worked the rest of the way for the Wolves.
Mount Wolf added a run in the third inning on a double by Andy Srebroski.
Stoverstown tacked on a sixth run in the fifth when Beshore hit Wolfe with the bases loaded to plate Schuler.
The home team added three more runs in the sixth inning against the Wolves, and Brett Harmon struck out two as he shut down the final four Mount Wolf batters.

League Awards Scholarships

September 7, 2009

Glen Rock’s Travis Lear, Mount Wolf's Kyle Cook and Jefferson's Julian Destephano (pictured left) are 2009's recipients of the League Scholarship Award.
Central League president Mark Skeehan and Kerrigan Tournament Director Beth Senft presented the checks prior to the Championship Game of the Tom Kerrigan Memorial Tournament on Labor Day.
Lear is a junior at Clarion University as a secondary education/English major, while Cook attends York College, where he also plays baseball for the Spartans.
The funds for the scholarships are raised through various fundraising efforts including donations accepted during the tournament and the pre-season exhibition game between York County All-Stars from the Central and Susquehanna League's and the York Revolution.
For a complete list of scholarship winners from throughout the years, click on the link to the left.

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