In the end it was the unsung heroes, the Smith Brothers (no cough drops), Mike and Gordon, that did in the Rovers for the fourth time, and earned the League Championship for the Raiders.
The Raiders led all the way though 7 1/2 innings, up by as many as ten runs, but a few defensive gaffs and many runners left on base allowed the Rovers to finally tie it at 19 in the eighth, and they had the hammer. In the top of the ninth after a leadoff walk, Big Mike strode up to the plate. Mike hits the ball hard, but too many times he has the bad luck to hit it right at someone. This time, though, he slammed it down the left field line fair by about a foot, and then it was gone, by the left fielder. Mike galloped all the way around the bases chasing the runner in front of him with the game winner. That left it up to the bottom of the order to add on. After a single by Gino Ilacqua, Gordon Smith blasted a run scoring double (although as you can't stop Gordon, and he was thrown out trying to stretch it to third). All Gordon did in the game was go 4-4 tying the team lead with 3 RBIs, including a triple and a double. And as the catcher he made a great play on a dribbler in front of home plate - the kind of play that almost always results in a man on first.
All that remained was pitcher Chris (Chili) Hernandez to get through the bottom half of the Rovers' order with a three run lead. Todd Evans made a tough catch roving to shallow left center for out number one. After a couple of hits, Chili induced a hard grounder to Evans, and he got the sure out at second, but the throw was late to get a speedy runner at first. Two down. The tough top of the Rover order waited on deck with the tying run at the plate. But then, as often happened during the season, the opponent tested Mike Mooney in left field and he ended the game with a running backhanded catch as the ball was trying to get over his head.
Champions!
There were others that made major contributions. Manager Jay Sankey joined G Smith with four hits, 4-5. Don Ott was only kept from a four hit game because he was walked once. His 3-3 continued an assault on the record books. Since July 30th, he has been 21-21, plus a walk and a sac fly. And he had two hits in his last two ABs on July 23rd. I don't know what the record is for consecutive hits and whether the sac fly counts against you, but 23 is a pretty good number!
Evans, Hernandez, Mooney, Ilacqua, and Don Devencenzi were all 3-4. Ott, Evans and Hernandez joined G Smith with three RBIs.
Jim Dietrich hit the ball hard and contributed to the bottom of the order starting the only five run innings in the third and fifth with a walk and a hit. Jeff Kravin was the only o-fer, but drew the leadoff walk in the ninth that ultimately became the winning run.
Barry Walter contributed a great shoe top catch in the fifth inning. M Smith made a couple of nice grabs in RF in the first two innings. Steve Brown made a nice catch in his belly on the other end of G Smith's play in front of the plate in the eighth when the throw was a high one-hopper.
Did I say Champions?
On to the playoffs.
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