George Guido: Players from Freeport’s ’79 baseball title team show support for current team

By: George Guido
Tuesday, May 14, 2019 | 3:43 PM

It was nice to see several players from the Freeport 1979 WPIAL championship baseball team came out to Community Park last Wednesday to cheer on the Yellowjackets.

Coach Bob Isenberg, along with players David and Dennis Montgomery, Jim Solomon and Jeff Markwell were introduced to the crowd just prior to the Yellowjackets scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh to edge Deer Lakes, 3-2, for section honors.

Freeport parlayed that victory into a No. 1 seed in the Class 3A playoffs and will take on the winner of Wednesday’s game between Waynesburg at Freedom. The Yellowjackets are expected to play early next week at a site and time to be determined.

Freeport will be seeking its first WPIAL title since that 1979 run and the fourth in school history, with the other title-winning seasons in 1957 and ‘58.

Freeport has produced so many quality baseball players it’s hard to believe the school stopped sponsoring baseball in 1976.

The sport was brought back in 1979, and Isenberg, who had just returned from a teaching stint in central Florida, was selected as coach. Sixty players came out for the team, but Isenberg had just 19 uniforms.

It was the first year the PIAA went to two baseball classifications.

The undefeated Yellowjackets won the section and went on to the WPIAL playoffs. Freeport beat Springdale and Swissvale in 11 innings to earn a berth in the Class AA championship game.

At Munhall’s West Field, Freeport defeated Chartiers-Houston, 5-3. The Yellowjackets lost the PIAA opener to Central Columbia, 1-0, to finish the season at 19-1.

Family traits

One of the top tennis players around is Fox Chapel’s Robby Shymansky, a five-star recruit headed for Yale.

He won his third straight WPIAL singles title last month and led the Foxes to the WPIAL team title last week. Fox Chapel opened PIAA team play Tuesday morning against State College.

Shymansky also will be playing in the PIAA singles tourney next week. Among his many accomplishments is never losing a home match in his four seasons with the Foxes.

His outstanding career comes on the heels of great play by his sister, Laurel, now a junior at Duquesne.

A story about the Shymanskys’ grandfather told several years ago bears repeating.

Paternal grandfather John Portasik played for Ford City’s 1948 basketball that won the WPIAL title and was PIAA runner-up. He later joined the Air Force and was part of the reconnaissance team on Feb. 20, 1962, that sought after John Glenn when the American space hero splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean after thrice orbiting Earth.

In the days before the space shuttle touched down at Air Force bases, early astronauts splashed down in the oceans and were chased by reconnaissance boats and helicopters.

Portasik got to Glenn’s capsule, opened the hatch and welcomed the lieutenant colonel back to Earth.

Portasik attained the rank of colonel before retiring. He died in 2011 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Apollo-Ridge upgrades

Apollo-Ridge, celebrating its 50th anniversary as a school district, has plans for minor facilities improvements once the 2019-20 budget is passed.

The district will install a sidewalk and scorekeeper stand at the softball field. A new fence around the track will be completed. Half of the fence was replaced during the current fiscal year.

Recent work also included new softball dugouts, backstop and fencing at the softball field and renovation of the track.