Published: May 10, 2009 12:55 am      

MARK MAYNARD: Baseball reunion would have been thrill for catcher of '68 champions

Steve Hemlepp would have loved the Ashland Tomcat 1965-69 baseball reunion that is taking place on Friday.

Hemlepp, who died five years ago after losing a bout with pancreatic cancer, was all about those Tomcat teams. He was the starting catcher on Ashland’s 1968 state champions, the last of three titles in a row.

“Oh my goodness,” said Bob Lynch, one of Ashland’s stars of that era, “he would have had a ball this weekend.”

As pitcher and catcher, Lynch and Hemlepp carried a special bond. They were on the same Babe Ruth team — Gene Hemlepp’s FOP squad — and came up together through the Ashland Little League system.

“He was a great catcher,” Lynch said. “He could block the ball, throw it and hit. But he ran like a catcher.”

However, it was Hemlepp’s aggressive baserunning in the ’68 state semifinals that produced the game’s pivotal play.

Ashland was trailing Newport Catholic 1-0 in the first inning after a passed ball and an error on Hemlepp. The cleanup hitter led off the second inning with a ground-rule double. Johnny Mullins grounded to shortstop with Hemlepp breaking for third. Even though he looked to be out by 10 feet, the husky catcher barrelled into the Newport Catholic third baseman and knocked the ball loose.

After a walk loaded the bases, Fred Leibee’s groundout forced out Hemlepp at the plate. David Staten struck out, bringing up Lynch with two outs and the bases loaded. Mullins scored on a passed ball to tie the game and Lynch tripled to make it 3-1, which would turn out to be the final score.

The Tomcats would defeat Louisville Southern 1-0 in a 10-inning thriller in the finals. After the game, two Lexington area Little Leaguers asked if they could have the Tomcat baseball hats from Hemlepp and Lynch. The ecstatic Tomcats gladly handed them over.

“Then when we got back on the bus we looked at each other and said ‘Why’d we do that?’ It wasn’t even Ashland Little Leaguers,” Lynch said.

Lynch got the win after pitching 4 1/3 innings of two-hit relief of Tim Huff, who threw the first 5 2/3 scoreless innings. It was the third year in a row that Lynch finished the state championship. He won a 2-1 decision in 1966 against Shelby County and earned a save in a 7-2 win over Fort Knox in 1967.

Lynch said he and Hemlepp were always on the same page when it came to baseball. He said the two had such a relationship that Hemlepp called every pitch for most of his games.

“The last two or three years we played together I never shook him off,” Lynch said. “Ever once in a while, I would change it up on him. I’d start my windup and think ‘I’m not going to throw that.’ I guess he came to expect it because he never said anything.”

Hemlepp was one of four players from the 1968 champions to make All-State Tournament. His name will be one of a 11 on an All-State board that will be unveiled on Friday prior to Ashland’s game with Morgan County that starts at 6:30 p.m.

Lynch said he and Hemlepp spoke often about doing something to recognize the special Ashland era from 1965-69 when the Tomcats went 107-11 with three state titles, bookended by a pair of heartbreaking 1-0 losses in the state semifinals in 1965 and the state finals in 1969. That’s how close Ashland was to winning five in a row.

It wasn’t until Pleasure Ridge Park won three in a row from 1994-96 that any other Kentucky team matched Ashland’s feat.

“This is something Steve really wanted to see happen,” Lynch said of the recognition. “I’m glad we were able to get it done.”

The era of athletes at Ashland during that time was extra special. How special? Well, then Tomcat track coach Bill Burch put together an 880 relay team from some baseball players that won the regional title and finished fourth at state.

If not for a slip on the last turn, the Tomcats would have finished second — and it was only the second time the team had run together competitively.

“We were in gym class one day and Burch came in there,” Lynch said. “He said ‘Bob, I want to ask you something.’ The first thing he said was ‘Do you want to get out of class?’ I said ‘One class?’ He said, ‘No, all day.’ I was like, count me in.”

Burch gathered baseball players Lynch, Johnny Mullins, Dave Cox and added Ed Kesling (the only non-baseball player in the quartet) for what turned out to be a dynamite 880 relay team. They practiced baton handoffs for one day and then went out and won the regional title in Morehead.

It was during the State Meet in Lexington when Lynch was approached by Jock Sutherland, then an assistant to C.M. Newton at Alabama, about playiing basketball for the Crimson Tide.

“I was laying in the infield and he came up and asked if I was interested in going to Alabama,” Lynch said. “He set up a visit.”

Lynch signed a scholarship to play basketball and baseball for the Crimson Tide. He stuck with basketball after one season of doing both.

If Lynch hadn’t run on the relay team, he would have probably ended up playing basketball and baseball for Marshall, he said.

“It’s funny how things work out,” he said.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.