Raider Walk-off, 32-31!

Once in a great while, with your back to the wall, something great happens. That sums up what happened on field three today as the Raiders walked off the Wolfpack 32-31 in a thriller.

The Raiders scored early and often but the Wolfpack kept answering. We were cruising along with leads of 12-7, 14-11, and 17-14 through five innings. But when the Pack scored five in the sixth and we didn't answer, we suddenly felt the pressure. We gave up eleven runs in the eighth and ninth, and were faced with an eight run deficit at 31-23 going into the bottom of the last inning.

I'd like to make this about me (even though it's not). After all, I was playing probably my worst game ever defensively, and nominally was singularly responsible for giving up about ten runs. I couldn't do anything right at second base. Both teams were playing with ten players, so there were no rovers, but the middle was not the only hole in our infield; the right side was a sieve. My legs were hurting and I failed to cover second twice at crucial times. And so we came to the bottom of the ninth down the eight runs, and had two outs before we scored a single run. But a spate of singles, an intentional walk to Chris Hernandez, and a triple by Don Ott (that completed the cycle for him), and suddenly I found myself up with the winning run on third and I deftly sliced a single to left center to win it. It was total retribution and redemption.

Yes I would like to make it about me, but it was about much more than that - our hitting was just a complete onslaught all morning. A total team effort. Ott had a perfect 7-7 day including the cycle and drove in NINE runs. Jay Sankey, Barry Walter, Steve Brown, and yours truly were all 6-7. I can't remember a game when five players had at least six hits. Ott and Mike Mooney hit home runs, and Walter had five RBIs and Hernandez and Mooney drove in four. Everyone in the lineup had at least two hits, and drove in at least one run.

And in the ninth inning rally, Jim Dietrich, Sankey, Walter, Ott, Brown, and Mooney all got two out knocks when they could have made an out to end it. It was a special feeling to end it that way, but it was a testament to the whole team that we had no quit in us.

Most importantly, we padded our lead in first place over the idle Do Over Rovers.