Semi-finals: First Stop vs. Chasin Tail
By Dave Hoffenberg
The Semi-final matchup between First Stop (FS) and Chasin Tail (CT) was a battle from start to finish. One of these teams would be going to their first championship. Would it be league veterans First Stop or league newcomers, Chasin Tail?
Collin “Hungry Like The” Wolf started the scoring for FS with a two-run homer in the first. Back-to-back homers by Russell Gallo and Duane Laughlin put CT on top 3-2. FS went up 5-3 after two.
FS was cruising along and stretched their lead 7-4 after three innings. Their bats went cold in the fourth as they went down 1-2-3 but CT got one back to only be down 7-5. This time it was FS with back-to-back home runs. Justin Aker hit a three-run shot and Jake “From State Farm” Clark-Trapana hit a solo to give FS an 11-5 fifth inning lead.
CT would not go away and in the bottom they practically batted through their order while scoring five runs to cut the deficit to one (11-10). The hitting went away from FS as they went down 1-2-3 in the sixth. CT wasn’t much better as they could only get a man on first.
The seventh was another 1-2-3 inning for FS. They hoped they could do the same to CT to punch their championship ticket but CT had other plans. Luis Shannon and Dakota Booska hit back-to-back doubles and Gallo drove them both in for another big comeback win. It was unfortunate for FS since they not only blew a late lead but some bad throws advanced those runners.
Championship, game 1
The championship game immediately followed with CT facing Rock Warriors (Rock). Every game between these two this season has been decided by a few runs or less. This would be no different.
CT started off going down 1-2-3 but Rock’s captain Josh Stevens smacked a two-run blast for the early lead. Gallo cut that lead in half with a solo shot in the second. CT had a two-out rally in the third, scoring three runs, to take their first lead 4-2. Mikey Davis sent one flying in the bottom to tie the game 4-4. Both stranded a runner in the fourth and went scoreless. CT continued the scoreless trend by going down 1-2-3 in the fifth. Rock’s Warren “The Bomb” Bombardier blasted a solo shot to break the tie. They had a chance for more with runners on the corners but Craig Brothers flew out to end the inning.
This game was a home run fest. Gallo’s two-run shot in the sixth let CT regain the lead 6-5. They too had runners on the corners but Chris “Poppa” Booska grounded out to end the inning. The game was tied again after Todd Popovich’s home run. Dylan “Mini Patrick Mahomes” Gaboriault led off the seventh with a single but the next two batters flew out to keep him from breaking the tie. Dakota changed that with a deep shot to give his team an 8-6 lead.
Rock’s Craig Brothers sent the game to extra innings with his first ever home run which tied the game 8-8.
Both team went scoreless in the eighth so this would be the league’s first game that went to the ninth inning all season and the first-ever in playoff history. Mother Nature called a halt to this game for darkness. All of Rock’s runs were via home runs, a league first, and 80% of the total runs scored were via home runs, also a league first.
Wednesday these teams resumed game one, in the ninth inning. Both teams got a runner on but failed to score. Rock had a better chance for the win after Davis got a lead-off single but Bombardier followed that with a “Cold Beer K.” Stevens blasted one over the fence for the apparent win but you’re only allowed five home runs per game per team and this was Rock’s sixth. On to a record tenth inning. Dakota hit a double and Laughlin knocked him in to break the tie, 9-8. Brothers led off the bottom with a single to continue his hot streak but got caught off first in a blunder of a double play. Greg Duprey grounded out to end the game and give CT a 1-0 lead in a best-of-three series.
Championship, game 2
These teams immediately played game two. Rock with a new set of home runs used two in the first with Collin “Diz” Clark and Davis hitting ones back-to-back and Bombardier scored for a 3-0 lead. Ricky Robair cut the lead to one after his two-run jack. Laughlin suffered a rare “CBK” looking to end the inning. Rock scored five in the second with three coming off a long ball hit by Bombardier. CT had no answer, including a “CBK” by Jojo Holland. Brothers and Duprey both hit two-out rally RBI singles to stretch Rock’s lead 10-2. Kevin “Kev 2.0” Fleury suffered an inning-ending “CBK.” Diz went down looking in the fourth but Dakota hit a shot to get one run back. CT had a chance for more but both Laughlin and Patrick Bowen suffered “CBK’s.”
Rock went scoreless in the fifth and sixth and saw Duprey go down looking.
CT put together a string of hits in those innings, scoring nine runs, to take their first lead of the game (12-10). That was without any home runs and they hit through their order in the sixth. Bowen did record his second “CBK” of the game.
Rock regained the lead in the seventh after Buddy “Not the Dog” Bartlett got an error filled inside-the-park home run that scored three for a 13-12 lead. This series featured home runs and “CBK’s” and now Popovich got the latter. Rafael “Raf” Robles got a lead-off controversial single after a Rock player knocked it foul. Bowen then suffered his third “CBK” of the game but Poppa drove in Raf for the tying run.
The game needed a substitute umpire so Ronzoni Hacker got called in from the bullpen. Twenty minutes later the game resumed. CT lost all their momentum so once again, the game went to extras. With the skies darkening, Rock saved the best for last as they exploded for seven runs.
CT got two runs back but fell 20-15. The game ended on a diving web-gem catch by Diz.
Rock tied the series to send it to a winner-take-all game three.
Upcoming Games
Aug. 24 Library Field on River Road
- 5:50 p.m. Championship Game Three: Rock Warriors vs Chasin Tail
- 7 p.m. All Star Game
