By DJ Dave
With Killington Resort already punching their ticket to the softball championship, that left four teams in the loser’s bracket to battle it out over three games to see who joins them. There was one common factor in those three games, and that was the McGrath’s Sushi team.
First up, they faced the OmyaRamas who started the scoring when Matt Lorman scored off an RBI double from Captain Bailey “Sir Walks A Lot” Peters in the top of the first. Peters subbed in at pitcher and put two on with walks but held M.S. scoreless with three fly-outs. M.S. turned on their Prior in the second with pitcher Jeremy Prior delivering back-to-back “Cold Milk K’s” to Braden Arnold and Aiden Reilly to make it a 1-2-3 inning. Once again M.S. put runners on first and second but left them stranded there. Lorman put O.R. up 2-0 with a home run in the third but Prior was able to deliver another “CMK,” this time to John Gatto. M.S. could not take advantage of the walks their way. Peters issued two more in the bottom of the third and M.S. put those runners on the corners but could not get them home and remained scoreless. The J’s would have it for O.R. in the fourth with Joe Torres driving in both Jordy Allard and Jaxon Smith to make it a 4-0 lead. Peters started the bottom of the fourth with a “Cold Beer K” to Cliff Melendy but then loaded the bases with back-to-back-to-back walks. Peters could not find the plate and drove in a run with yet another walk, for his fourth in a row. Jamie Rameau knocked in the other two to cut the lead 4-3. They had a chance to tie it or take the lead with two on but Joe Montemurro suffered a “CBK” and Jack Boymer flew out to end the inning. O.R. answered right back with three runs in the top of the fifth to stretch their lead 7-3. M.S. hit and walked through their order in the bottom, scoring seven runs to take their first lead of the game, 10-7. Smith scored to cut the deficit to two, but with runners on first and second, Gatto suffered his second “CMK” of the game and this one ended the inning. Once those bats were turned on for M.S., it was hard to turn them off and in the bottom of the sixth they scored three to stretch the lead 13-8. O.R. put on their rally caps and scored two in the seventh, but Torres ended the rally and the game with a “CMK.” It was a great effort by the OmyaRamas since this is their first year in the league but Peters set a record he doesn’t want, with 14 walks in a playoff game.
McGrath’s Sushi had to immediately face Max Team in another elimination game. Just like in the previous game, it was the other team who started the scoring and the run was driven in by the team founder, this one by Max Rowe. But unlike the other game, M.S. started out hot with four runs in the first and never looked back. The game stayed 4-1 until the third. Max Team cut the lead to 4-3 but in the bottom, M.S. unleashed the fury. They blasted their way through the order, scoring 13 runs to take a commanding 17-3 lead. That would be all she wrote for Max Team as they were only able to get one more guy on base over the next two innings to suffer the mercy defeat.
The semi-finals saw McGrath’s Sushi face their arch nemesis, Clearly Moguls. Both were trying to earn a return trip to the finals. C.M. defeated M.S. 2-1 in last year’s Best of Three Championship. These teams had met four times prior this season, with C.M. holding a 3-1 lead. Except for the playoff mercy that C.M. won, the other three games were very close and both of C.M’s victories were come from behind. Boymer started the scoring for M.S and they took a 1-0 lead after one because C.M. started out going down 1-2-3. Brett “The Hitman” Regimbald tied it in the second with a big bomb to right. Neither team could get much going and it remained 1-1 after three innings. Melendy scored in the fourth and so did “Brando” Remick to make it 2-2. Both teams went scoreless in the fifth to keep the score the same. M.S. put together a mini hit parade, scoring three runs to take a 5-2 lead but Remick scored again to make it 5-3. On to the seventh we go, but M.S. had nothing going so they took a 5-3 lead into the bottom and were three outs away from the Championship. Not one of those outs ever came, but a lot of singles did. C.M. loaded the bases with back-to-back-to-back singles from Tucker Zink, Jackie “Blue” Livesey and Hunter Pike. Jared “F’d Up is More Fun” Hall’s single cut the deficit to one. “Ronzoni” Hacker’s single tied the game and “DJ” Dave Hoffenberg’s single won the game and gave him his first game-winner in 14 years. Clearly Moguls is going back to the championship and trying for their fourth title in a row, but they have a very tough opponent in the undefeated Killington Resort.
Runs were at a premium in game one of the championship. Both teams remained scoreless after one inning. Just like last game, Regimbald started the scoring with a Sharapova-grunting home run to give C.M. a 1-0 lead after two innings of play. “Ronzoni” delivered his first “CBK” of the game, sending Phil Dwyer back to the bench after he watched strike three land on the plate to start the bottom of the third. Unfortunately for C.M., “Ronzoni” also delivered a meatball to Evan Anderson who blasted it over the fence for a three-run shot and a 3-1 lead. “Ronzoni” kept delivering those “CBKs” with two to Corey Stearns and one to the “King of Spring” himself — Chandler Burgess — but his team could not deliver any hits. Greg McClallen scored in the fifth to stretch the lead 4-1 and Anderson had a chance for another three-run shot, but was robbed of it by Zink who made a leaping grab over the fence to end the inning. Pitcher Matt Kinsman was en fuego only giving up three hits. Two of those were in the seventh with back-to-back singles by Hacker and Hoffenberg but Remick hit into a double-play and Will “The Retiring Thrill” Burdick popped up to first to end the game and give Killington Resort a 1-0 series lead. To be continued …
Schedule:
Wednesday, Aug. 9
All Star Game and season ending party at Killington Field 5:30 p.m.
