Scores

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Pizza Port Brewery jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but CBI answered back in the 3rd with 7 runs. PPB added 10 more runs in the next 3 innings to CBI’s 3 runs.

Both teams defenses were very good. CBI was down a player the entire game so give the regular season champions CBI team’s outfield credit for chasing down so many balls with only 4 players out there.
Leading hitters for PPB were Roney Lewis 5/5 w/a home run & scored 10 runs & Joe Dimambro 5/5 w/4 RBIs. Andy Balas has 4 hits & 3 RBIs. Larry Wadalavage, Joel Kudren and Ron Silverman each had 3 hits as did David Erwin, who had 4 RBIs & a homerun. Pat Steele had 2 hits, a triple & 2 RBIs. Ken Thompson had a game lead off homerun & pitched a great game.

Leading hitters for CBI were Steve Sexton 5/5 with 2 homeruns, Goertzen was 4/5 w/a homer & Kevin Lynch added 4 hits.

Both teams thank home plate umpire Leaigh Petersen and base umpire Dan Miserany for their calls, time and efforts.

Well well well…this scribe lived to write another day.

Just when the league had counted the Nucci’s Num-nuts down and out, MIA, old news, over the hill. Nucci’s came into Tuesday’s playoff matchup having lost 5 of 6 and were facing a Draft team that had run the table for the last four to five weeks as they raced up the standings. In the words of the great Italian philosopher, Nucci’s slogan “non abbiamo niente” (“we got nothing”) had come to capture their desperation. The Vegas bookies stopped taking bets as the odds grew so much in favor of The Draft that they were worried they couldn’t cover the action. We had them right where we wanted them.

A battered and bruised Nucci’s squad took to the diamond missing the rabbit of a RC fielder Robert Tahimic who decided to donate his jaw to science in the final game of the regular season. This necessitated significant late night strategy sessions for the Nucci’s brain trust of Lil Keehan and Al Cabacungan. As the burgundy elders prepared to take the field in their ritual ‘circle up’, Al attempted to fire up his squad by reciting John Belushi’s famous line from Animal House “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!” And that did the trick.

Nucci’s rolled out in the top of 1st putting up a five spot, nearly matching their full game scoring output in too many recent games. Magic was in the air. They followed that up with another five spot in the 3rd to take a commanding 10-2 lead. The Draft woke up to make things interesting, adding five in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to 13-9. What would Nucci’s do? Well I’ll tell you. They added three in the 7th and one in the 8th before seemingly putting the game out of reach with six in the top of the 9th. But they say you have to get 27 outs to win the game. Turns out that 27th out had a mind of its own. The Draft were on life- support when a two-out, 2-strike swinging bunt netted a single, followed by a grounder to third and bobbled relay at 2nd that had the Dodgers seeing red. A line drive glanced off the CF’er glove and runners were tripping over themselves to score. Six runs in and the score now was 23-17. Thankfully, order was restored, and the final out secured. On to Thursday and a date with Pizza Port Brewery for the championship.

Russ Roopenian was stealthy on the bump and even contributed two nice running catches of pop flies to aid his cause. The hitting for Nucci’s was extremely well balanced, led by Tom Carney’s 4/4, 2HR, 9 RBI day. Kevin Davidge chipped in 5/5 with 6 RBI’s (when Tom wasn’t clearing the bases). Carlos Cevallos added 4 hits, and Al Cabacungan, Dave Suhr and Mike Weinrich each had 3 hits for the winning squad.

For the Draft, they were led by Jeff Schneider’s HR and 3 hits each from Steve Doan, Jeff Payton, Kirsten Mildbrandt and Margo Jacobo.

Both teams thank Danato Damaguin and Mike Brower for umping the contest.

In conclusion, I would like to add that it has been a privilege to play for Nucci’s this season. The old adage “the sum of the parts is > the whole has never been truer!