Woodlawn eliminates Yankees

Matt Wiltrout and Scott Bolasky hold down the Yankees for a 5-3 series-clinching win.

By Steve Smull

    SCHERERSVILLE -- Area storms cooled the weather quite a bit just minutes before game time, making the temperature feel almost autumn-like for the first pitch, but there would be no cooling off the red-hot Fleetwings' bats as they collected another dozen hits to earn a 5-3 win in Game 3 to take the hard-fought First Round series 2-1.

    The Fleetwings move on to face Gabelsville in the Semifinals at 5:00 on Saturday down Boyertown-way.

    Matt Wiltrout took the mound for the Fleetwings and the crafty southpaw was in command early, retiring the side in order the first two innings and he did not allow a hit until the fourth.

    Meanwhile, the Fleetwings were stinging the ball right out of the gate for the third consecutive game.

    Joe Grazer started for the Yankees on just three days rest after throwing over 100 pitches on Sunday in Game 1, a game where Grazer threw a six-hit shutout, which put the Yankees up 1-0 in the series. But throwing on the shortest amount of rest he had all year would be a daunting task against this Fleetwings' lineup

    With one out in the first, Matt Marcks (who made his first playoff appearance since injuring his hamstring a few weeks back) ripped a single. After a fly-out, Ben Swatsky laced a line-drive so hard that third-baseman George Kressley did not even have time to get the glove up to make the snag, and that frozen rope to left went for a single. Veteran Dave Toth stepped up and ripped a single of his own to right, scoring Marcks from second and the Fleetwings were up 1-0 after an inning.

    Grazer worked around an error to put up a goose-egg in the second and then retired the first two batters in the third, but the Fleetwings would strike again. Swatsky lofted a ball to right that dropped in for a double, Toth walked, and Player-Manager Jeremy Arner lined a single to center, scoring Swatsky to give the Fleetwings a 2-0 lead. Brian Martin followed with another single to center, but Toth was held at third as Chris Watts made a strong throw home. Grazer buckled down to get a strikeout to prevent any more damage.

    The Yankees finally got something going in the fourth.

    Darrin Lenhart singled to center to leadoff the frame and it was the first Yankees hit of the game. But a ground-ball to shortstop Matt Nuhfer killed a possible big inning as he started a nifty 6-4-3 double-play, so when Pete McCaulley singled and George Hutson walked after the twin-killing, the Yankees still only had runners on first and second with two outs. Another ground-ball to Nuhfer ended the inning and it seemed as though the Yankees might not score any runs in this game.

    That would change in the fifth inning.

    After a fly-out, Steve Benavage battlled hard, fouling off a few pitches before lofting a base hit to shallow left. Watts then ripped the next pitch into the left-centerfield gap that rolled all the way to the fence for a RBI double. Just like that, it was 2-1 Fleetwings.

    And then a few breaks came the Yankees way.

    Break #1 occurred when Brian Farrell hit a grounder to short that took a nasty hop off the face (right cheek) of Nuhfer, putting runners on the corners with one out. Lenhart stepped up and singled to left, scoring Watts, and the game was tied at 2-2. Break #2 for the Yankees came two pitches later as Kressley grounded to Wiltrout, who whirled and threw to second for one out, but the relay was in the dirt and went out of play, allowing Farrell to score and the Yankees had their first lead of the game, 3-2. A ground-out to third ended the inning.

    But, like all good teams do, Woodlawn answered that three-spot immediately.

    Toth lined a single to right to start the bottom of the fifth. Three pitches later, Arner smacked a one-hop ground-rule double to left to put runners on second and third.

    Exit Grazer. Enter Josh Ziegler.

    Martin lofted a fly-ball to left which was deep enough to score Toth to tie the game at 3-3. On the play, the relay throw skipped off of Kressley's glove for an error, because it allowed Arner to sneak into third base. This was important because the Yankees had to bring the infield in for Tom Williams, who went opposite field when he hit a ground-ball that got through the drawn-in infield, scoring Arner to make it 4-3 Fleetwings. Had the infield been at normal depth, in all likelihood, second baseman Dave Sandt would have made that play. Ziegler did induce a 6-4-3 double-play three pitches later to end the inning.

    The Yankees would mount a rally in the sixth.

    After a strikeout, Ian McCutcheon looped a single to left-center and Sandt followed by lining the first pitch he saw to left-center for another single.

    Exit Wiltrout. Enter Scott Bolasky.

    The Fleetwings' ace stepped right in and put an end to this rally by getting a fly-out and a ground-out to maintain the Fleetwings' slim 4-3 lead.

    Woodlawn looked for an insurance run in their half of the sixth, and who better to get things going than leadoff man Scott Garger?

    Garger fouled off several pitches before ripping the seventh one toward third and the ball was knocked down nicely by a diving Kressley. Garger beat the throw and got a bonus as the ball skipped out of play, allowing him to trot into second base with nobody out. Marcks did his job, advancing Garger to third with a ground-out to second. Justin Godusky then hit a fly ball to left, just deep enough to score Garger for a big insurance run, giving the Fleetwings a 5-3 lead.

    That was more than enough for Bolasky, who got a 1-2-3 seventh to retire all five batters he faced to end the game, and the Yankees' season.

    The Yankees will have a tough time over the next few days reflecting on blowing leads of 7-2 and 8-3 in Game 2 of the series as they arguably could have swept Woodlawn in two straight. But to the Fleetwings credit, they never gave up and just kept hitting and hitting and hitting some more as they earned a tie in that game and it shifted momentum to their side. But once the sting of a tough series loss wears off, Lee Higgins and Player-Manager Brian Polaha can be proud of the season the Yankees had as Polaha took over an 11-22 team from 2005 and turned the team around immediately in 2006 to make it to the playoffs and give the Fleetwings all they could handle in this series.

    In Game 3, Lenhart was 2-for-4 for the Yankees. For Woodlawn, Garger finished 2-for-4, as did Marcks and Swatsky, while Toth went 2-for-2 and Arner was 2-for-3.