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Maini magnificant in 5-1 win
Adam Maini lifts Woodlawn over
Gabelsville in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead.
GABELSVILLE -- Adam Maini scattered eight hits and put on a performance
beyond his years, allowing no earned runs, to lead the Fleetwings to a 5-1 win
in Game 3 of the best-of-five Semifinals to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
This was the first postseason win for the Fleetwings at Gabelsville since August
11, 2001, a 2-1 win in 10 innings in Game 1 of the Finals. The Owls came back to
win that series in five games, then swept the Fleetwings in the Finals last
year. So the Owls had won five straight postseason home games over Woodlawn
until Tuesday.
Maini may have just graduated high school about two months ago, but he is
certainly not pitching like a teenager. He had three pitches working well for
him on Tuesday, which kept the Owls off balance at the plate. And let's not
forget that Maini played an integral role in the Fleetwings trek to the Trico
Finals last season. Maini got a win and two saves in four relief
appearances and did not allow a run in 5 2/3 innings pitched in last year's
playoffs. But he did not face Gabelsville in the Finals, a series that the Owls
swept in three straight games.
The Fleetwings now have a chance to turn the tables on the Owls, as they are now
one game away from winning their first playoff series against them.
Getting Maini's feet wet in the 2005 playoffs was a great move for the
Fleetwings because he looks even better this postseason. After tonight's gem,
Maini now has a career postseason record of 3-0 with two saves in six Trico
postseason games with a miniscule ERA of 1.17.
Things did not start out well for Woodlawn on Tuesday at Gabelsville. But it is
not how you start that matters, it is how you finish.
The Owls got on the board first in the home half of the second, when
Player/Manager Matt Danner grounded a one-out infield single off the glove of
Maini. Mike Ziemak then followed with an infield single up the middle to put two
runners on with one out. After a ground-out to first advanced both runners 90
feet into scoring position, an infield error scored Danner to make it 1-0 Owls.
And for a while, it looked like one run might be enough for Gabelsville's Seth
Kaas, a six-foot seven Boyertown native. Kaas, a sophomore southpaw at the
University of Mary Washington, took a no-hitter into the fourth inning. And here
is where he hit his first stumbling block.
Justin Godusky, who made a nice defensive play to end the third, led off the
fourth and worked a tough, 7-pitch walk to get things going. His brother Matt
then took a pitch off his foot to put two runners on and nobody out. If the team
in Orange (Gabelsville) were batting, this would be a bunting situation, but the
Fleetwings have always played "Earl Weaver baseball" and generally shun the bunt
in this spot when the meat of their order is up. That philosophy paid off as Big
Ben Swatsky sliced a sinking fly ball to right that fell for a base-hit and then
took a bad hop off the right-fielder's glove for a RBI double to tie the game at
1-1. Veteran Dave Toth then delivered a two-run single up the middle on the
first pitch he saw to make it 3-1 Fleetwings.
Woodlawn was not done yet.
After a ground-out, Tom Williams singled up the middle to put runners on the
corners and there was still just one out. But Kaas got a key 6-4-3 double-play
to end the inning without any more damage.
Maini worked around singles by Danner and Mitch Schueck in the bottom of the
fourth to put up another goose-egg. Then Woodlawn went right back to work in the
top of the fifth.
Scott Garger worked his second walk of the game with one out and after a
fly-out, got busy on the bases. During a 9-pitch at-bat by Matt Godusky, Garger
stole second on the first pitch, went to third on a passed ball on the sixth
pitch and scored on a wild pitch on the seventh pitch to make it 4-1 Fleetwings.
On the ninth pitch, Matt Godusky smashed a double to deep left, taking that
fourth run out of the unearned run column and putting it into the earned run
column. That double also prompted Danner to leave the dugout and remove Kaas
from the game for Justin Konnick, the Game 2 starter.
Swatsky greeted Konnick rather rudely, with a single up the middle that scored
Matt Godusky and make the score 5-1 Woodlawn. Konnick got a ground-out to end
the inning, but the Fleetwings suddenly had taken control of the game.
And Maini would make sure they would not relinquish that lead.
Maini pretty much coasted the rest of the way, scattering three hits over the
last three innings to clinch the 5-1 win for Woodlawn.
All eight hits were singles for the offensively flat Owls, who have just 17 hits
(15 singles and two doubles) and four total runs in the series. Maybe a bye
cooled this team off after finishing the regular season 31-4-1.
The series returns to Scherersville at 5:45 on Wednesday for Game Four where the
scheduled starters are Shawn Betz for Gabelsville and Ryan Palos for the
Fleetwings.
Swatsky was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI and Williams was 2-for-3 with a
double for Woodlawn. Danner was 3-for-3 and Betz was 2-for-3 for Gabelsville.
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