A valiant effort fell short with the winning run at the plate as Teal defeated White 24-21 in a very competitive game at HF4.
White took an early 5-2 lead with five in the first. Not a curse exactly but still. For the next two innings we couldn't keep Teal off the bases and away from home as they took a 12-5 lead in the top of the third. From then on, it was catchup the rest of the game, but we kept coming back time and time again. We narrowed it to 19-17 through eight, but some sloppy defense and timely hitting by the Teal left us looking uphill at seven runs going into the bottom of the ninth. We had two outs and no one on in our half, but then hit eight straight singles to get the tying run on base and the winning run to the plate. Alas, there were no more heroics to be had, as our last batter grounded out to second.
As it was, Mike Guerrero singlehandedly kept it from being more out of hand than that as he made the best defensive plays of the game for two of the ninth inning outs. He leaped high to snag one line drive ticketed to center field for one out, and dove into the 5-6 hole to grab a grounder to get a force out at third on another. Other fielding gems included two double plays - Partridge (3B) to Helen Kostoff at the plate to Bruce Spencer at first, and Guerrero (SS) to Partridge (R) to Kravin. In the fourth inning, Tom Meyer in left, Paul Lisi in left center and Spencer in right all made good running catches. And Barry Gronenberg made one of his classic spearheaded grabs at the mound for an out in the fifth.
Rich Brown had himself a day. In his first two at bats, he hit hard liners just inside the left field line, and when they skipped into the dirt track on the side of the field, it was off to the races for two homers. The second one was with 2 1/2 strikes too - pretty gutsy trying to pull the ball hard with two and a half on him. He added a run scoring triple in the seventh and played his usual flawless defense in right center.
Lisi and Partridge were each 5-5 in the three and four spots in the lineup. The former had a home run and a double to tie Brown with team high four RBIs, and scored every time he reached base. Lisi cleaned everyone off the bases, so Partridge didn't get an RBI, but behind him Dave Rose drove in three on his three hits. Guerrero also had a perfect day: 4-4 plus a walk. Spenser and Gronenberg each had a double among three hits, and Meyer's three included a triple.
Teal is pretty loaded, but this year's league seems to be pretty balanced, and we'll get them next time!
White took an early 5-2 lead with five in the first. Not a curse exactly but still. For the next two innings we couldn't keep Teal off the bases and away from home as they took a 12-5 lead in the top of the third. From then on, it was catchup the rest of the game, but we kept coming back time and time again. We narrowed it to 19-17 through eight, but some sloppy defense and timely hitting by the Teal left us looking uphill at seven runs going into the bottom of the ninth. We had two outs and no one on in our half, but then hit eight straight singles to get the tying run on base and the winning run to the plate. Alas, there were no more heroics to be had, as our last batter grounded out to second.
As it was, Mike Guerrero singlehandedly kept it from being more out of hand than that as he made the best defensive plays of the game for two of the ninth inning outs. He leaped high to snag one line drive ticketed to center field for one out, and dove into the 5-6 hole to grab a grounder to get a force out at third on another. Other fielding gems included two double plays - Partridge (3B) to Helen Kostoff at the plate to Bruce Spencer at first, and Guerrero (SS) to Partridge (R) to Kravin. In the fourth inning, Tom Meyer in left, Paul Lisi in left center and Spencer in right all made good running catches. And Barry Gronenberg made one of his classic spearheaded grabs at the mound for an out in the fifth.
Rich Brown had himself a day. In his first two at bats, he hit hard liners just inside the left field line, and when they skipped into the dirt track on the side of the field, it was off to the races for two homers. The second one was with 2 1/2 strikes too - pretty gutsy trying to pull the ball hard with two and a half on him. He added a run scoring triple in the seventh and played his usual flawless defense in right center.
Lisi and Partridge were each 5-5 in the three and four spots in the lineup. The former had a home run and a double to tie Brown with team high four RBIs, and scored every time he reached base. Lisi cleaned everyone off the bases, so Partridge didn't get an RBI, but behind him Dave Rose drove in three on his three hits. Guerrero also had a perfect day: 4-4 plus a walk. Spenser and Gronenberg each had a double among three hits, and Meyer's three included a triple.
Teal is pretty loaded, but this year's league seems to be pretty balanced, and we'll get them next time!
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