MONDAY, June 30---The game between McSwiggans Pub and Louise & Jerry’s is always circled on the schedule. Time and time again, these two teams continuously raise the bar and bring out the best performances in each other. ABL was lucky enough to get a high intensity game in the 1st round of the playoffs in which 9 innings just wasn’t enough game time. These two teams grinded it out in 11 hard innings played.
Heading into the bottom of the 9th inning, Swigz had a 9 to 6 lead on L& J due to Swigz Bob Szuhany’s 2 homeruns, including a grand slam. Good teams can hit homeruns; great teams know when to hit them. Both teams did an excellent job utilizing when to hit them. L & J Angel Romano and Jude Bracken’s back to back homeruns tied the game 9 to 9. Angel’s 2 run jack made the game 9 to 8, and Jude’s solo shot tied it at 9 apiece.
It could have been a story book ending with former Swigz player Ted Serro stepping up to the plate with 1 out and runners on 2nd and 3rd base. The dream was cut short due to Swigz shortstop Dan Clark. Dan momentarily saved the season with an insane leap to grab a hard hit line drive. McSwiggans did an excellent job getting out of the inning and keeping their cool under pressure.
The game went into the bottom of the 11th inning with the tension rising. Team captain Anthony Romano hit a leadoff double. McSwiggans got the next two batters out and looked like they were going to get out of another jam. Louise & Jerry’s must have an Angel Romano looking over them because he hit the game winning RBI single. Louise & Jerry’s defeated McSwiggans Pub 10 to 9.
During the course of an 11 inning playoff game there were countless defensive highlights. Here is a list of a few of the game’s web gems that really stood out.
· Swigz shortstop Dan Clark had a huge diving catch off a hard hit ground ball up the middle to get the out at 2nd base
· Swigz right centerfielder Justin Fitzgerald had a great sliding catch off a shallow pop up
· L & J 2nd baseman Jaime Cheeka ran into shallow right field to make an unbelievable catch
· Swigz leftfielder Corey Brown made a tremendous diving catch off Kristine Cheeka going opposite field
· Swigz 3rd baseman Allison Twarowski made a sick diving catch off a low line drive ball on the 3rd base line
Louise & Jerry’s will be facing with winner between the #2 seed Insects vs. #3 seed Pourhouse Sliders. This message goes out to all the new people logging into the ABL website: On several different occasions, the Pourhouse Sliders have been in the discussions for being one of the hardest teams to defend against because of their offensive power. ABL has spent countless dollars replacing the softballs from the Sliders’ brute strength. This trend would continue into their playoff match up. As usual, the Pourhouse Sliders exhausted their 5 homerun limit. Matt Tobia really took advantage going 5 for 5 at the plate with 2 homeruns.
The hard part about playing against the Sliders is that they aren’t one dimensional. Their defensive play really complimented the offense. The Pourhouse Sliders had two really impressive double plays between Brandon Marucci, Matt Tobia, and Jo Tsai, that got them out of two jams. In addition to the glove play in the infield, outfielder Jaime Hornberger made a great throw to 3rd base to get the tagging runner out.
Everyone knows how important pitching is in the playoffs. One of the main reasons to the Pourhouse Sliders’ success is their pitcher Marissa Capuano. Marissa has pin point accuracy when throwing the ball over the plate and doesn’t make a defensive nightmare of walking a batter. She has pitched the most innings in the league and has one of the best WHIP of 1.62. All these factors led to the Pourhouse Sliders defeating the Insects 14 to 9.
Tag(s): Home '15 Coed Spring League
