Playoffs: 5/23/2023

[blouderback]

Game 1: 5th place Beers vs 4th place Dingers
Beers start off getting the 1st 3 on base and scoring, including Connor McFalane tripling in a run and Scott Runzer's 2-run homer. Dingers answer back by scoring 3 of their own, with Pete Autering tripling. In the 2nd, Tim Coleman draws a leadoff walk and scores on a fielder's choice. Dingers tie it up again at 4 when John Carroll singles and scores on a fielder's choice. Neither team scores in the 3rd, but Beers takes a 2 run lead in the 4th when McFarlane singles in 2 with 2 outs. Dingers are quiet in the bottom of the 4th. Beers add another run to their lead in the 5th on a string of singles. Dingers make it a 1 run game by scoring 2 in the 6th. Beers adds 2 insurance runs in the top of the 6th, and 2 more in the 7th. McFaralne triples and both Scott Gerhart and Tim Coleman double. Facing elimination in the bottom of the 7th and down 5 runs, Dingers get a couple batters on board but can't get them home. Beers upset Dingers by a score of 11-6 and move on to the 9PM semi-final game vs. King's Corner.

Game 2: 6th place TBD vs. 3rd place Wire2Wire Sports Podcast
TBD score 4 in the 1st 4 innings and take a 3 run lead into the 5th. Ari Silverstein homers. For Wire2Wire, Greg Guarino doubles and scores the only run in the 1st 4 innings. In the top of the 5th, TBD gets 2 solo shots from Collin Sheehan and Ari Silverstein, while Wire2Wire scores 5 and takes the lead in the bottom of the 5th. Gene Walczak doubles. Neither team scores in the 6th inning. In the top of the 7th, TBD pours it on and takes a 4-run lead. Jimmy Weigers and Tyler Stone both double. Facing elimination in the bottom of the 7th and down 4 runs, Guarino leads off with a double, Jake McDevitt walks, and Jared Fagnano plates them both with a 2-run double. Bill Brancato reaches on an error, and then with 2 outs, Bill Walker ties the game with an RBI double. With a hush coming over the field, big Jim Chapman steps to the plate and calmly smacks the game winning walk off RBI single. Wire2Wire wins this one and moves to the 10:15PM semi-final game vs. Philly Junk.

Game 3: 5th place Beers vs. 1st place King's Corner
Beers get 2 runs in the 1st and Kings Corner plate 2 as well. Beers bat around in the 3rd, scoring 8. Kings Corner get 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd. Beers add 3 more in the 4th, while Kings Corner go down nearly in order. Beers adds another in the 5th on Josh Goldberg's sac fly. Score is 14-4 going into the bottom of the 5th, but Kings Corner tightens it up. They get 5 runs on a slew of singles and CJ Snyder's sac fly. Beers go down in order in the 6th, and then add 4 insurance runs in the top of the 7th. Kings Corner needs 9 to tie and 10 to win in the bottom of the 7th. They put on a good effort and score score 4, but that's not enough. Beers upset the number 1 seed, 18-13, and move onto the chip next week.

Game 4: 3rd place Wire2Wire Sports Podcast vs. 2nd place Philly Junk
Might we see another upset tonight? Read on to find out! Wire2Wire start off scoring 10 in the 1st 2 innings. Brandon Bozek doubles. Philly Junk says, "We can do that too!" and plate 10 of their own in the 1st 2 innings. Pat Kelley homers twice and collects 7 of those 10 RBIs. Tom Ivers and Jeremy Villano double, while Jason Ashworth triples. Wire2Wire breaks the tie in the top of the 3rd and holds onto it until the bottom of the 5th, when Mike Bitterlich and Villano both double for Philly Junk. Score is now 13-11, favor of Philly Junk. Wire2Wire retake the lead in the top of the 6th, scoring 5. Brett Anker triples, Guarino doubles and Bozek homers. Despite Shane Hanna's double, Philly Junk can't score in the 6th. In the bottom of the 7th, needing 3 to tie and 4 to win, Philly Junk gets a leadoff tripe from Ashworth. He scores on Mike Bitterlich's RBI double, who then goes on to score on Villano's triple. Ryan Habel's sac fly ties it up, and we're going to extra innings! In the top of the 8th, Wire2Wire gets 5 across and takes a comfortable lead. Jake McDevitt triples in 2 of those runs. With a seemingly insurmountable deficit, Philly Junk gets 2 on and Hanna blasts a 3 run shot over the fence. Down to their last out, Pat Kelley doubles, Ashworth walks, and Bitterlich singles in a run to tie it at 21. Evan Porter steps up to the plate and rips a game winning single, scoring Bitterlich. Philly Junk holds off Wire2Wire and wins in dramatic fashion, 22-21. They'll go to the championship series next week to face the Beers.