B North Finals 11/19/23

[bbozek13]

It all came down to #1 seed Purple Cobras against #4 seed Dark Dogs to determine who will be the champion of B North. The teams played each other one time during the regular season with Purple Cobras claiming the victory. They hoped they could continue the win streak and claim two more to become champions while Dark Dogs was looking for revenge after their regular season loss and pull off the upset.

Game 1: Purple Cobras vs Dark Dogs

In the top of the 1st, Dark Dogs got an early scoring chance after a walk to Paul Ferruzzi Jr. and a single by Mike Suda but left them stranded after a groundball to end the inning. Purple Cobras got runners on early as well after a leadoff single by Dan Roman and another single by Bill Brancato but just like Dark Dogs, they left them stranded after a fielder's choice to end the inning and keeping the score knotted at 0 after the 1st. In the top of the 2nd, Jim Walker singled followed by a Jordan Moffett walk set the Dark Dogs up to pull out in front first. Paul Harding delivered an RBI single followed by an RBI sac fly by Paul Ferruzzi Sr. to give Dark Dogs a 2-0 lead. Purple Cobras could not get anything going in the bottom of the 2nd after a single by Josh Reed. Dark Dogs leads 2-0 after the 2nd. Dark Dogs went down in order in the top of the 3rd which opened the door for Purple Cobras to have a big inning. Corey Lawra, Tom Friedman and Dan Roman all singled to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 3rd. Brandon Roman brought one in on an RBI single. Then Ty Allen was able to bring two runs in on his deep sacrifice fly. Mike Corrigan brought one more run across on his RBI single to give the Purple Cobras a 4-2 lead after the 3rd. Bill Jones had a leadoff walk for Dark Dogs in the top of the 4th, but they would go down in order after that scoring no runs. Purple Cobras would extend their lead in the bottom of the 4th after a leadoff double by CJ Brancato and an RBI single by Dan Roman to start another big inning. After a couple walks, the bases were loaded for Allen and he hit another RBI sac fly but this time it cleared the bases. Corrigan hit another RBI single to push the 5th run of the inning across and give Purple Cobras a 9-2 lead after 4. Dark Dogs looked to get back in the game but started the top of the 5th off with two quick outs. Dave Ketterlinus walked followed by a single by Paul Ferruzzi Jr. set up the Dark Dogs for a two out rally. Ryan Schock hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 9-3 after the top of the 5th. Purple Cobras had a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the 5th after singles by CJ Brancato and Corey Lawra with two outs but a flyout ended the threat leaving the score at 9-3 after the 5th. Peter Burns singled for Dark Dogs in the top of the 6th but was left stranded and Dark Dogs was down to their last three outs and needed to keep the deficit at six runs while Purple Cobras wanted to add some insurance runs. Dan Roman reached base on an error to start the inning and Brandon Roman singled to move him into scoring position. Ty Allen hit a third RBI sac fly to score Roman and Bill Brancato hit into a fielder's choice to score Brandon Roman. Purple Cobras leads Dark Dogs 11-3 going into the 7th. Paul Harding singled in the top of the 7th to try and ignite a rally for Dark Dogs, but a double play the next batter left them down to their final out. Ketterlinus kept the game going with a single and Ferruzzi Jr singled to score Ketterlinus to make it 11-4. Ryan Schock then walked to put some traffic on the bases with two outs. A flyout the next batter ended the potential comeback and sealed game 1 for the Purple Cobras. Purple Cobras defeats Dark Dogs 11-4 in game 1 of the championship.

Game 2: Dark Dogs vs Purple Cobras

Dark Dogs had their backs against the wall going into game 2 knowing this was a must win game to keep their championship hopes alive. Purple Cobras was hoping to jump out early and give no second chances to Dark Dogs. In the top of the 1st, Dark Dogs held the Purple Cobras offense in check as they went down 1-2-3. Dave Ketterlinus and Paul Ferruzzi Jr. both had leadoff singles for Dark Dogs in the bottom of the 1st to put a runner in scoring position. A couple flyouts and heads up defense by the Purple Cobras caught the runner at 2nd to end the inning and leave the score tied at zero after one. Bill Brancato and Mike Corrigan singled to lead off the top of the 2nd inning for the Purple Cobras as they would score three runs in the inning after a Jordan Roman RBI single, Josh Reed RBI fielder's choice and an RBI double by CJ Brancato to put the score at 3-0 Purple Cobras. Purple Cobras kept Dark Dogs off the scoreboard in the bottom of the 2nd putting them down 1-2-3. Dark Dogs defense answered and got a quick 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 3rd to keep the deficit at three. In the bottom of the 3rd, Dark Dogs would get back into the game after a leadoff single by Jordan Moffett followed by a walk to Paul Harding and an RBI single by Paul Ferruzzi JR to score both of them and put the score at 3-2 Purple Cobras after three. In the top of the 4th, Purple Cobras would extend their lead after RBI singles by Mike Corrigan and Josh Reed along with a two-run RBI triple from CJ Brancato to give the Purple Cobras a five-run inning and a six-run lead. Dark Dogs got down quickly with two outs in the bottom of the 4th but then loaded the bases after Peter Burns and Jim Walker both singled and Jordan Moffett walked to give themselves a chance to cut into the Purple Cobras lead. The threat was ended after a fielder's choice as the score sat at 8-2 Purple Cobras after the 4th. In the top of the 5th, Tom Friedman and Dan Roman both singled to get the Purple Cobras offense going again. Brandon Roman delivered an RBI single followed by a two-run RBI sac fly by Ty Allen to give the Purple Cobras a commanding 11-2 lead. Paul Ferruzzi Jr. hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 5th for Dark Dogs to cut the lead to 11-3 after the 5th. After a leadoff double by Mike Corrigan in the top of the 6th, Purple Cobras went down in order and stranded him. Time was running out for Dark Dogs and they needed some runs in the bottom of the 6th. Bill Jones led off the inning with a single and then Jim Walker would move him into scoring position on his double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Jordan Moffett hit an RBI sac fly to score Jones but that was all the Dark Dogs could score as their deficit sat at seven runs going into the last inning. The Purple Cobras offense exploded in the top of the 7th as they scored ten runs on RBI singles from Brandon Roman, Ty Allen, Bill Brancato, Mike Corrigan, Steve Gardner, Jordan Roman, CJ Brancato and Robby Villa to seal the championship as Dark Dogs was not able to get the bats going in the 7th. Purple Cobras with an impressive offensive performance takes game 2 21-4 and claims the B North Championship!

Great job by both teams, see you next year!