Summer Men's B North Final 8/25-24

[bbozek13]

Summer B North Men’s Final

Dark Horse vs Wire 2 Wire

Game 1:

The Summer Men’s B North Championship is here, and we have the #1 seed Dark Horse taking on the #2 defending Spring Champs Wire 2 Wire. In the top of the 1st, Wire 2 Wire had first at bats and got three runs on an RBI sac fly by Gene Walczak and RBI singles by Ben Vitelli and Sean Butrica to take an early lead. Dark Horse came up in the bottom of the 1st and they came out ready to play as they put up 14 runs on RBI singles by Paul Ferruzzi, Ryan Schock, Rob Gisondi, Jimmy Cooker, Jason Hudachek, Dave Ketterlinus, Bill Jones and Dan Cripps and an RBI triple by Andy Springer to take a 14-3 lead over Wire 2 Wire after the 1st. In the top of the 2nd, the pressure of the huge deficit might have got to Wire 2 Wire and they could not put a run across. In the bottom of the 2nd, Dark Horse continued to add on by putting up another five runs on RBI singles by Paul Harding and Ketterlinus and an RBI triple by Jack Stepnowski as they led 19-3 after two. Wire 2 Wire got a few back in the top of the 3rd and 4th as they scored four runs on RBI singles by Butrica and Derrick Acker and a homerun by Acker. In the bottom of the 3rd and 4th, Wire 2 Wire were able to hold Dark Horse scoreless to put the score at 19-7 after four with a big hill to climb. In the top of the 5th Wire 2 Wire went down in order with three straight flyouts and put themselves in danger of losing the game by run rule if they could not hold the Dark Horse offense. In the bottom of the 5th, Dark Horse looked to end the game via run rule and scored three more runs on an RBI triple by Ketterlinus and an RBI single by Jones to end the game by run rule. Dark Horse defeats the defending champs, Wire 2 Wire in game 1 22-7.

Game 2:

Dark Horse came into game 2 only needing to win one more to clinch the championship while Wire 2 Wire needed this one to force a game 3. In the top of the 1st, Dark Horse got out in front again early as they scored two runs on RBI singles by Dan Cripps and Bill Groff. Wire 2 Wire knew they needed to get the offense going early and hoped they can hold off the Dark Horse power offense from game 1. In the bottom of the 1st, the struggles continued for Wire 2 Wire as they could not get anything going and put up a goose egg to start the game. In the top of the 2nd, Dark Horse could not score. Wire 2 Wire followed suit and did not score in the 2nd either as we remained at 2-0 Dark Horse after two. Dark Horse got the offense going again in the top of the 3rd and scored one run on an RBI triple by Bill Jones. In the bottom of the 3rd, Wire 2 Wire still could not figure out the offense and remained scoreless as Dark Horse held a 3-0 lead after three. In the top of the 4th, Dark Horse extended their lead after an Andy Springer RBI sac fly. In the bottom of the 4th, Wire 2 Wire finally found an answer on offense and scored three runs on RBI singles by Gene Walczak and Jason Falcone and an RBI sac fly by Sean Butrica to pull to within one 4-3 after four. Dark Horse would add a run in the top of the 5th on an RBI single by Jason Hudachek. In the bottom of the 5th, Wire 2 Wire kept the momentum going and scored four more runs on RBI singles by Butrica and Jacob McDevitt and an RBI double by Derrick Acker to take a 7-5 lead over Dark Horse after five. In the top of the 6th, Dark Horse got a couple of runners on, but the Wire 2 Wire defense came up big and kept Dark Horse off the board. In the bottom of the 6th, Wire 2 Wire got a couple runners on as well, but Dark Horse ended the threat on a nice double play turn as Wire 2 Wire held a 7-5 lead heading into the 7th. Dark Horse came up to the plate in the top of the 7th needing two runs to extend the game. Andy Springer and Jimmy Cooker led off the inning with two singles. After a flyout and another single by Jason Hudacheck, the bases were loaded, and Jack Stepnowski delivered an RBI single to pull Dark Horse within one run and the bases still loaded with only one out. One hit could either tie or take the lead for Dark Horse and it came down to the Wire 2 Wire defense to make a play. A hard ground ball was hit, and the Wire 2 Wire defense turned a spectacular 6-3 double play to secure the victory and force a game 3 as they won a thriller 7-6 over Dark Horse.

Game 3:

It all comes down to this. After a big offensive performance in game 1 by Dark Horse, the Wire 2 Wire defense came up huge in game 2 to set the stage for an exciting finish to this championship. In the top of the 1st, Wire 2 Wire after a leadoff walk, went down in order Dark Horse would be the home team for this final game, and they started this game off with a bang as Jesse Grasso hit a leadoff homer to take a 1-0 lead after one. In the top of the 2nd, Wire 2 Wire could still not get the offense going. Dark Horse loaded the bases in the bottom of the 2nd, but the Wire 2 Wire defense came up big again and turned a 1-3 play to get out of the inning with 0 runs given up and score remaining 1-0 Dark Horse. Wire 2 Wire knew they had to get the offense going if they wanted a shot to win this game, but after getting one runner on in the top of the 3rd, they could not push him across. In the bottom of the 3rd, Dark Horse went down in order as we still stood at 1-0 Dark Horse after three. In the top of the 4th, Wire 2 Wire finally got on the scoreboard and scored two runs after an RBI single by Gene Walczak to take a one run lead. In the bottom of the 4th, Dark Horse would regain the lead as they got the offense going and scored two runs after an error and a two-run RBI single by Paul Ferruzzi to take a 3-2 after four. In the top of the 5th, Wire 2 Wire struggled on offense as they went down in order. In the bottom of the 5th, Dark Horse got a runner on with one out and again the Wire 2 Wire defense turned a 5-4-3 double play to get out of the inning giving up 0 runs and keeping the score at 3-2 Dark Horse after five. Entering the top of the 6th, Wire 2 Wire still trailed Dark Horse by one run when Jacob McDevitt delivered an RBI single to tie the game up at 3-3. In the bottom of the 6th, Dark Horse’s Jason Hudachek and Jack Stepnowski both singled to start the inning off with 0 outs, but again the Wire 2 Wire defense caught a flyout and turned a 1-4-3 double play to get out of the jam and gave up 0 runs to Dark Horse and setting up a thrilling ending like the last game as we entered the 7th inning tied 3-3. Wire 2 Wire had a chance to take the lead in the top of the 7th. After a quick out, Ben Vitelli hit a double to put himself into scoring position. Sean Butrica then singled to put runners at the corners and one out. Alex Metz came to the plate and delivered an RBI sac fly to give Wire 2 Wire the lead with 2 outs. They were not done yet as the next batter Jason Falcone hit an RBI single to put Wire 2 Wire up two runs and three outs away from another championship. In the bottom of the 7th inning, Dark Horse was down two runs with one out, Dan Cripps hit a single to put the tying run at the plate for Dark Horse, but as we have seen all day long, the defense of Wire 2 Wire did not panic and were able to get the next two batters out to get out of the inning and secure another championship. Wire 2 Wire wins another low scoring game thriller as they were able to come back from one game down to become Summer Champs! Great effort by Dark Horse as they just came up short. Wire 2 Wire will play for the hoodie in the Fall.