Old reliable
CRANBERRY TWP — Rob Fester emerged from the dugout at North Boundary Park and smiled.
“I'm not going to have to talk about myself, am I?” said the Mars manager, and on this day, pitcher.
Despite Fester's best effort at modesty, this game was all about him and his surgically repaired right shoulder.
Fester, the 46-year-old who had only pitched one game this season, scattered five singles over seven innings as Mars downed Cranberry Township 2-0 in Game 2 of the Eagle County League championship series Tuesday evening.
Mars now leads the best-of-five series 2-0 and can wrap up a title today when the two teams meet again at Marburger Field at 6 p.m.
Fester didn't plan on taking the hill in Game 2; it just worked out that way.
“Absolutely not,” Fester said. “I had a couple other pitchers in mind, but they weren't quite ready. So my plan was to start the game, go as far as I could and let the young guys finish if they had to.”
They didn't. Instead, Fester wasted few pitches in keeping Cranberry off balance.
“Well, I'm old,” Fester said, laughing. “I have to conserve energy.”
The right-hander changed speeds well. Of the five singles Fester surrendered, two were infield hits after fooling Cranberry batters.
Fester gave a lot of credit to catcher Adam Scheiderer, who called the pitches. Fester rarely shook him off.
“My catcher called a great game,” Fester said. “We were just in sync. I was able to hit spots and tie them up. That's my catcher. A lot of the credit goes to him.”
In January, Fester underwent surgery on his right shoulder to correct a torn biceps tendon.
Fester said he wasn't even supposed to begin throwing until September.
“I miss it,” Fester said. “I really wanted to do it again.”
Mars scored a run in the top of the first inning on an RBI single by Matt Colella that scored Brendan Malone.But Cranberry starter Adam Martin was in command as well — and good at getting out of jams.Mars had 11 hits and left eight runners on base in the game. It also had two runners picked off or caught stealing to end threats.But Mars was able to get an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI single by Mike Devine that plated Don Dell.“That was huge, absolutely huge,” Fester said. “We left a lot of runs out there, and to finally pick up that second run ... made my job a little easier. Not much, but a little.”Things are now very difficult for Cranberry, which is looking at the unenviable task of winning three straight games to capture a long elusive title.“Adam pitched a great game. Rob pitched a better game,” said Cranberry manager Bill Clinefelter. “We just have to regroup, come back tomorrow and try again.”Martin struck out six and walked two for Cranberry.“There were a couple of times when we could have gotten more (runs), but (Martin) buckled down and pitched a pretty dang good game himself,” Fester said. “He gave them a chance. Hats off to him.“Nothing's settled,” Fester added. “They're not going to lie down and roll over. They'll be back tomorrow.”<B>Mars 100 001 0 — 2 11 1Cranberry 000 000 0 — 0 5 0W:</B> Rob Fester 7IP (6K, 0BB). <B>L:</B> Adam Martin 7IP (6K, 2BB).<B>Mars:</B> Brendan Malone 1B R, Mike Devine 1B RBI, Matt Colella 2-1B 2B, Don Dell 2B 2-1B<B>Cranberry:</B> Greg Miller 2-1B<B>Today:</B> Game 3, Cranberry vs. Mars at Marbuger Field, 6 p.m.
