Fleetwings beat heat, Yanks 9-5

Woodlawn bangs out 13 hits to even series at 1-1 with Northern Yankees.

By Steve Smull

    SCHERERSVILLE -- For a second consecutive day, the Fleetwings bats were as hot as the weather, as they collected 13 more hits and put up another 9-spot en route to a 9-5 win in Game 2, part two, to tie the best-of-3 First Round series at 1-1.

    The oppressive heat is taking its toll on some of the players in this series. Pitchers throwing complete games in this series has been out of the question the last two days. Josh Ziegler was totally spent on Tuesday in the fifth inning for the Yankees and on Wednesday, Scott Garger had severe leg cramps and had to be helped off the field in the seventh inning.

    Gabelsville, who awaits the winner of this series,  must be licking their chops as they sit back on their recliners in the air conditioning, sipping some lemonade while watching re-runs of The Dukes of Hazzard on TV.

    Woodlawn came out of the gate fast again. Garger smashed the sixth pitch of the game to left for a leadoff single. Justin Godusky followed with a ground-rule double to right. Matt Godusky followed with a rocket to center, but Chris Watts came in and timed his catch perfectly with his crow-hop to make a strong throw home and Garger did not even attempt to score out of respect for the strong arm Watts showed on Tuesday. Big Ben Swatsky grounded out to short, but it was enough to score Garger and give the Fleetwings a 1-0 lead.

    Yankees' starter Mike Costello settled down in the second, working around a one-out double by Player-Manager Jeremy Arner while striking out the side.

    The Fleetwings kept the pressure on.

    Garger led off the third with a walk, and after a strikeout and a fly-out, stole second and advanced to third when the throw hit him on the helmet and ricocheted into shallow center. Swatsky then stepped up and hit a rocket into left-center for a RBI double and 2-0 lead for Woodlawn.

    Meanwhile, Adam Maini was more or less cruising through two innings before hitting a rough patch in the third. Dave Sandt lined a one-out single to left and then one out later, Brian Farrell got an infield hit and Darren Lenhart walked to load the bases, but Maini got a pop-up to end the threat.

    There was no letting up for the Fleetwings.

    Brian Martin walked to start the fourth and Arner reached on an infield error. Tom Williams laid down a nice sacrifice bunt and got a bonus when he got an infield hit after Costello slipped on the infield grass while trying to make the play.

    Sacks loaded and nobody out.

    Costello bared down and induced a 1-2-3 double-play to get himself on the verge of seeing himself completely out of the jam. However, Garger ruined that plan with a line-drive into the left-center gap for a double, scoring two runs and giving the Fleetwings a 4-0 lead.

    The Yankees would answer in their half of the fourth when with two outs, George Hutson went down and got a curve ball and muscled it right on out of the park for a solo home run, cutting the Fleetwings lead to 4-1.

    After Costello got a 4-6-3 double-play with two on to end the top of the fifth, Maini retired the side in order in the bottom half of the fifth (the only 1-2-3 inning of the contest).

    Then Woodlawn took control of the game in the sixth.

    Arner singled down the left-field line to start the frame, then went to third on Williams' ground-rule double to right-center. Matt Nuhfer blooped a single down the line to extremely shallow right-field, so shallow in fact, that Arner had no choice but to hold his ground at third, so the bases were loaded with nobody out. Garger grounded to short and Farrell threw home for a force, but Garger beat the throw to first, staying out of the double-play. Justin Godusky worked the count full, then walked to score a run, which set the stage for his brother Matt, who launched a towering drive to deep left-center, clearing the fence by plenty for a Grand Slam, to seemingly put this game out of reach at 9-1.

    Exit Costello. Enter Matt Goldman.

    Swatsky greeted Goldman rudely with a blast of his own that short-hopped the fence in dead center-field for a double. But Goldman got out of the inning without any more damage.

    The Yankees would not go down quietly.

    Lenhart lined a single to right-center to start the bottom of the sixth. George Kressley ripped a single to center and Pete McCaulley reached base on an error to load the bases with nobody out. Steve Benavage got a RBI on a fielder's choice ground-out, putting runners on the corners with one out. Hutson then launched another rocket to left-center, this one staying in the ballpark, going for a two-run double and suddenly it was 9-4 Fleetwings.

    Exit Maini. Enter Matt Hlay.

    After a strikeout, Sandt singled up the middle, putting runners on the corners again, this time with two outs. Watts followed with a single to center, plating Hutson to make it 9-5 Fleetwings. Farrell then smoked a line-drive down the left-field line that seemed destined to be one-hopping the fence, scoring two more runs, but Matt Godusky made a nice running catch to rob Farrell of extra bases and end the inning.

    Goldman worked around a leadoff single to Arner in the seventh for a relatively easy seventh inning.

    So the Yankees had three outs left to mount a rally, and a Lenhart single, a pop-up and an error put runners on the corners with one out, but an odd 3-3-2 double-play ended the contest, setting the stage for a Game 3 showdown.

    Game Three will be played at 5:45 on Thursday at Scherersville #1.

    The winner will move on to the best-of-5 Semifinals, which will start Saturday at Gabelsville.

    In Game 2, Swatsky finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, Garger was 2-for-4, Arner was 3-for-4, Williams was 2-for-4 and Matt Godusky had the big Grand Slam, which ended up being the difference in the game. For the Northern Yankees, Hutson was 2-for-3 with a double, homer and three RBI, while Lenhart and Sandt both went 2-for-3.