(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Times News will be running a series of stories asking area coaches and athletic directors - past and present - to remember their “Most Memorable” sporting event. Today’s Most Memorable moment comes from former Palmerton baseball coach Ted Plessl)

By TJ ENGLE

tengle@tnonline.com

Before his retirement in 2009, Ted Plessl dealt with plenty of challenging tasks as both a teacher and a coach at Palmerton High School.

Plessl spent 35 years teaching World Cultures and Civil/Criminal Law. He also spent 30 years as the Blue Bombers baseball coach.

Without the responsibility of classroom assignments and pitching changes to consider for the last decade, Plessl has been “decision free” when it comes to high school topics.

That changed recently when he was asked to pick the “Most Memorable Game” during his three decades in charge of the Bomber program.

That’s a 565-game library for Plessl to page through in his mind.

“When I say to you, this was not an easy task, I mean it,” said Plessl, who served as the Bombers varsity baseball coach from 1975 to 2004. “There was a whole lot of games and players that will always be a part of me, and my career at Palmerton.”

After shuffling a handful of games around, Plessl’s final decision turned out to be the last of his four championships with the Bombers - the May 20, 1996 Colonial League title game against Catasauqua.

Before that season, the Bombers also had won three Centennial League titles (1976, 1978, 1983). Plessl’s Palmerton teams also qualified for the District 11 playoffs 14 times during his career.

“I have said this before, and I will say it again, my success comes from the players who played for me,” Plessl said.

Plessl said his late friend Don Hunter always liked to quote legendary New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra when talking about successful teams.

“Yogi said, ‘Good ball players make good coaches, and great players make great coaches,’” Plessl remarked. “I would have to say that Yogi is totally correct.”

It was the talent he had on his Bombers’ roster during that 1996 campaign that led Plessl to select a game from that season.

Paul Kunkle, Jason Hernandez, Ivan George and Jared Saas were the Bombers’ top players - all of them earning roster spots on the Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup team following the high school season.

Meanwhile, Travis Fink, Steve Mertz, Josh Westbrook, Ryan Waibel, Dean Hager, Christian Kleintop, Robbie Young, John Kovacs, Nathan Hunsicker, Greg Bulishak, John Fisher, Mike Serfass, Michael Sosik and Gary Reph were also contributors during that championship season.

One of the reasons that the title was so special for Plessl was that Catasauqua came into the game heavily favored after handily beating Palmerton, 16-4 and 10-2, during the regular season.

But when it mattered most, the Bombers turned the tables and avenged the regular season setbacks with an 8-7 victory.

That win was fueled by some pregame incentive that Catasauqua supplied after Palmerton knocked off Southern Lehigh in the semifinal game.

“Catasauqua had made some inappropriate comments that they felt sorry for the Palmerton players because of how they were going to dominate us - just like they did in the regular season,” said Plessl.

“There was no need for us to put anything up (in the locker room) since all my players already heard about it and were more than ready to play.”

Plessl also had another trick up his sleeve.

The Bomber coach threw a pitching wrinkle at the Rough Riders.

Instead of going with right-handed flame thrower Saas, who was next up in the Bombers’ rotation, Plessl decided to go with lefty Fisher to try and throw them off a bit.

“As a coach, you sometimes make decisions that the average person watching might not agree with,” said Plessl. “I came to the decision that Catasauqua was expecting Jared Saas and fastballs they saw from him earlier in the year.

“But as I explained to my assistant coach Tom Smelas, Catty was a fastball hitting team. John Fisher had a nice change-up that I thought could give them trouble.”

It worked as Fisher caught the Roughies off-guard, and the Bombers’ offense stepped up at the plate, scoring five runs in the second inning and three runs in the third to build an 8-2 lead heading into the fifth inning.

That is where Plessl worked a little more magic, bringing in Saas in relief.

“Our plan was to use Fisher, who was a junk baller, and then follow him up with Jared, who threw hard,” said Plessl. “He threw the ball in the low 80s (mph), but I’m sure he looked like he was throwing in the 90s to Catasauqua after seeing Fisher’s offspeed stuff.”

Fisher and Saas combined to limit the explosive Catasauqua offense to just one big inning, allowing Palmerton to take an 8-6 lead into the final inning.

Plessl then called on dependable closer Waibel to nail down the victory. The Rough Riders made it interesting, however, scoring one run and threatening to tie or even win the game.

That forced Plessl to visit the mound.

The exchange that resulted still makes Plessl laugh to this day.

“I was just about to start walking off the mound, but never got to the bottom of the hill, and I turned around and looked at Waibel and said, ‘Throw the .... ball.’ I may have used an extracurricular word in there too that we can’t print,” Plessl chuckled. “The players had never, ever heard me use that word so I’m sure it caught them by surprise.”

Plessl said when Waibel heard it he burst into laughter, and it helped break the tension and stress surrounding Catasauqua’s rally.

Immediately following that, Waibel recorded the final two outs and the Bombers celebrated the victory.

From his first game through his last game - with many memorable contests in between - Plessl said it was an extremely enjoyable career with plenty of exciting games that still bring a smile to his face.

But of his 269 career victories, it’s the 1996 championship game upset of Catasauqua that puts the biggest smile on his face - one that still turns into laughter when he thinks about his seventh-inning visit to the mound.