In a game that was full of heroic moments, it came down to this: Bases loaded, two outs, bottom of the ninth, score of 19-19, winning run on third. Clutch Gordon Smith up. He smashed a hard shot off the third baseman's glove, it squibbed into left field, the winning run scored, and it's off to the Championship Game next week.
Yes there were moments. The first was in the first, when the top of the Wolfpack lineup got a three run homer over the fence and five runs altogether. In Walnut Creek, we call that the Curse of the First, and in fact it proved to be true today, but this was Hayward, and the Raiders were not happy about that start. Alas, we went at them with one on the first, three in the second, and one in the third to tie it. In the mean time, Gino Ilacqua shut down the Pack without another run until the sixth.
In the second it was Don Devencenzi, aka the Vacuum who sucked up two grounders at 2B, followed by Gino stabbing a ball at the mound that seemed targeted for center field. In the fourth, it was Rover Todd Evans and SS Don Ott making tough plays and then Evans catching a blooper falling on his behind into shallow center field. In the fifth it was Barry Walter firing a strike to a stretching Ott to nail a runner trying to stretch a single into a double. In the sixth, it was Ilacqua to Evans to first for a double play. Finally in the seventh, the Pack was on the comeback trail, and they had one in with two outs and the bases loaded. Devencenzi ranged far to his right to snag a knuckling line drive to shut down the rally.
All this set the stage for an almost great comeback in the last two innings by the Wolfpack. They scored five in the eighth to close to 18-14, and the Raiders answered with just one as we hit into our third double play of the game. But it was ok, because they had the bottom of the order coming up in the ninth. Right?
Well all those characters did was score one, load the bases, and get the tying run to second with no outs. Then Evans made a call I will never forget. He brought Ray Oducayen in to face the top of the Wolfpack lineup. I was screaming on the inside - they hadn't hit the ball hard off Ilacqua to get those runs in, they just found holes. Now Oducayen was coming in cold - we couldn't afford a walk, not to mention that the top four hitters had at least one homer and two triples and much more combined.
So, first pitch, Oducayen induces a hard grounder to second, where Ilacqua had moved, and being a lefty, he could fire to second in rhythm, and just like that we had two outs on a double play. Genius, I tell you! They managed to tie it, but they could not even force another run across and it stood 19-19.
Mike Mooney, who was the actual hitting star of the game (4-4, HR, triple, five RBIs), led off with a single and Devencenzi moved him to third with a sharp hit. Then something happened that I don't think has ever happened before in my forty plus years of softball - they walked me intentionally. I am not sure of the strategy - load the bases to set up a triple play? Or as I prefer to think of it they were afraid of me getting the game winning hit, or at least a fly ball. Respect, I finally earned it!!! All we needed was that fly ball, next man up, but the drama was not over. We got the fly ball, but it was not deep enough to get the run home. And then - a strikeout! How much more drama could we take? We couldn't survive another inning, and so luckily Clutch Gordon won the game.
In the end, it was as I said - If Jeff Kravin and Gino Ilacqua both get doubles in the same game, the Raiders have to come out on top.
Mooney, as I said, was the hitting star, He had company though, Kravin was 3-3 with a double plus the intentional walk. Manager Jay Sankey, Evans (triple) and Walter were 3-4. Ott had a rough day for him, only two hits, but he had our other home run, a two run shot. Everyone else had at least one hit, and six players had two RBIs.
So it comes down to one more Tuesday to try to sweep the season accolades. Good Luck to the Do Over Rovers, but MORE TO THE RAIDERS!
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