Fall Ball Week 6: Playoff Seedings Set

With a chilly start to the day, the colorful autumn foliage against clear blue skies setting a spectacular backdrop to the final regular season weekend,

there were two games with very different stakes in play.

The first game at Anniversay, The 5-0 Batmen visting the 1-4 Holyoke Millers, The Batmen having clinched the #1 seed and home field for the championship game, while the Millers were looking to end The Batmen's undefeated season.

The second game featured two 2-3 teams, the Spears vs the Diamond Dawgs, both vying for a shot in the Championship game against The Batmen next week.

The results were the Millers in a convincing 8-0 win over The Batmen, and the Spears punching their ticket to the championship game with a 5-3 win over the Diamond Dawgs. Writeups to follow:

Spears 5 - Diamond Dawgs 3

The Spears and Diamond Dawgs faced off on a frigid morning at Mitchell Field, with the winner assured a place in the Final next week. It was a tense, nerve-wracking game, featuring outstanding defense, fine pitching, and a few clutch hits, with the Spears 4-run 4th proving to be sufficient to propel them to the Final with a 5-3 win.

The Spears sent ace Bill Evans to the mound, and he pitched a scoreless 1st, punctuated by a sliding grab in RF by Mike Martindell off the bat of dangerous sub Shawn O’Grady. Dawgs’ starter John “JW” Wills set the Spears down quickly with an easy 1-2-3 inning, ending it with a K.

The Dawgs could only manage a single by Scott Dunaisky in the 2nd, which SS Gilberto Ramos leaped to catch, only to have it nip the top of his glove. Wills allowed a walk to Eli Pacheco and some hard contact in the 2nd, but 2B Emilio Chavarri grabbed a scorching liner from Bill Evans, and CF O’Grady made a nice grab on a long bomb from John “Ski” Malikowski to end the inning.

The Dawgs threatened in the 3rd, putting the first 2 runners on via a walk to JW and a bunt single by Tom Sebastyn, but Evans induced Ron “Tater” Totten to hit a grounder to SS Ramos for a 6-4-3 DP and then punched out the last batter. JW pitched his 3rd no-hit inning, walking Shawn McMillan to lead off the inning, but getting a nice 5-4 force out from 3B Russ Dupere and a great sliding catch from RF Sebastyn off the bat of Mitch Gaslin to end the inning.

Manager John “Sully” Sullivan led off the 4th with a bunt single, but was erased on an unassisted DP by 1B Tom Salvini, who snagged Ed Cauley’s line drive and tagged Sully in the helmet as he slid back into 1B. The Spears, who had scored 16 last game against the Dawgs, finally broke through with a big 4-run 4th. Mike Martindell broke up JW’s no-no with an infield hit, and then Micah Winston laid down a bunt single that JW tried to get the out at 2B on, but the throw was too late. Ramos then singled to left-center and Stevie LaCroix followed with a big 2-run double to almost the same place. Bill Evans lined an RBI single to RF and then Pacheco hit into a 6-4-3 DP, scoring LaCroix.

The Dawgs finally broke through against the dominant Evans in the 5th. O’Grady lined a double down the RF line, Dupere was plunked and after a K, Marin Goldstein lined an RBI single to RF. Mike “Deet” Dietlin then walked, but Evans got JW to hit into a sweet 1-2-3 DP to end the threat, with 3rd-string catcher McMillan making a great throw to 1B. JW set the Spears down in order on 3 infield groundouts, with 3B Dupere making a great play on a hot shot by Nolan Anaya for the 2nd out.

Tom Salvini came on to pitch the 6th and allowed lead-off singles to Sebastyn and Totten, but nimbly fielded Jack Wileden’s attempted sacrifice bunt and barely gunned down Sebastyn at 3B and then retired the next 2 batters, with RF Martindell making another great catch off Cauley’s line drive to end the inning. Scott Dunaisky strode to the mound for the Dawgs and pitched a scoreless 6th, allowing only a single to Winston. O’Grady made another nice catch in CF on a long shot by Ramos to end the inning.

Salvini pitched out of another jam in the 7th. With 1 out, O’Grady was hit by a pitch and Dupere walked. After a foul fly out by Dunaisky to LF LaCroix, who covered a lot of ground, Goldstein walked, but Salvini forced Deet to ground out to SS Evans to end the threat. Dunaisky got three easy outs in the 7th, with only him and 1B Totten touching the ball.

After 7 clean defensive innings, errors bit both teams in the 8th. SS Evans made a great play in the hole on a ball hit by JW, but his throw was dropped at 1B, and JW went to 2B. Sebastyn then singled, and Totten hit a sac fly to RF. After a K, lead-off hitter Sully fouled off several pitches before depositing a 3-2 pitch into shallow CF for an RBI single. Cauley singled too, but Salvini got Chaverri to pop out to 2B Anaya to preserve the lead at 4-3. Ski led off the Spears’ half of the 8th by reaching on an error when the SS’s throw went awry. McMillan walked and then Anaya appeared to load the bases with a single but LF Sully was playing shallow and came up firing, easily beating Ski to 3B for the first out. Salvini then lined a single over 1B and manager Sully decided to bring in Totten to pitch. However, Gaslin worked a walk on a full count for a 5-3 lead. Totten bore down and got Martindell to pop out to LF Dunaisky who battled the sun to make a nice running catch, and then 2B JW ranged far to his left to grab a grounder by Winston that seemed destined for RF and threw out Gaslin at 2B to end the inning.

Down to their last 3 outs, the Dawgs had the heart of their order coming up with O’Grady leading off. Salvini battled to a 3-2 count and then got O’Grady to ground weakly to 1B Pacheco who did well to lunge and tag him out. Dupere then walked and Dunaisky skied an identical ball in foul territory that LF LaCroix grabbed for the 2nd out. Down to their last out, Goldstein kept the Dawgs’ hopes alive by reaching on an infield single, but Salvini earned the save and the ticket to the Final by punching out the last batter on a nasty slider.

Top Hitters

Diamond Dawgs: John Sullivan (2-4, RBI), Marin Goldstein (2-3, BB), Tom Sebastyn (3-3, R)

Spears: Micah Winston (2-4, R), Stevie LaCroix (1-3, 2B, R, 2RBI)

Pitching

Dawgs - John Wills (L): 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K; Scott Dunaisky: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, Ron Totten: ⅔ IP, 0 ER, 1BB)

Spears - Bill Evans (W): 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; Tom Salvini (S): 4 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K