A Come from Behind Win in the 9th Pushes Team 5 to 6-0
Team 5 had already reached it's goal of coming back to tie the game at 8 a piece. When the ninth had begun, Team 5 found themselves down 8-4. Then, with the bases loaded, two out, and a full count on Angie Simon, everyone was silent as the final pitch of the game was thrown. CRACK! Angie crushed a line drive down the thrid base line that scored Heath Keller from third with the game winning run!
It was a pretty uneventful game from the standpoint of Team 5 through the first three innings of play. Team 2 had jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, and it wasn't looking good. Not to mention that for the second straight week, Team 5 failed to get a hit within the first three innings of the game.
Team 5's fourth and fifth innings saw them squeek out three runs on hits from Steve Bennett, Dennis Sanfilippo and Mike Hughey. It seemed that Team 5 would climb back into the game and get their party started! Well, nobody came to the party because Team 2 added a few more runs to make the score 8-4 in their favor.
After the sixth, Team 2 would no longer score. They had their chances. Loading the bases against Keller in the seventh, and getting a couple of runners on in the eighth. But a fairly quick ninth would setup Team 5 for it's greatest come from behind victory in it's short 2 year history.
Doug Rusch, playing in only his second game since returning from the DL, began the inning with a beautiful bunt single. After a goundout, resulting in Rusch moving to second, John Riley walked. A base hit by Mike Hughey loaded the bases for Team 5 and gave them hope that this game may in fact turn out how they wished.
Michael Simon, the teams leading hitter, was now looking to make the score a little bit closer. His base hit to right field scored a run and kept the bases loaded with only one out. Keller came to the plate looking to do one thing. End the game with one swing of the bat. Well two swing throughs and three balls later, Keller found himself looking at a 3-2 count. Ball four on a very close call and another run in for Team 5. Now the winning run was on first base. The score was 8-6.
Steve Bennett strolled to the plate and lined a singe just off the first basemans glove to make it an 8-7 ballgame. The tying run was only 90 feet away.
Dennis Sanfilippo, who had a single and an RBI earlier in the game, lined a ball that was heading to left, but a great diving play by the thrid baseman stopped the ball from going to the outfield and possibly ending the game. A wild throw to the plate meant that Team 5 had battled all the way back to tie the game.
Now a flyball to the outfield could win the game!
After a popout by Weber, Team 5 was either going to win the game or be satisfied with the tie. But that's where Angie Simon did her thing to send Team 2 home with a loss.
What a game!!!
Final Score:
Team 5 -9 Team 2- 8
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