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Gabelsville eliminates Woodlawn
Dan Pierce doubles in a pair with two
outs in the 7th to give the Owls a stunning 6-5 win.
SCHERERSVILLE
-- The Woodlawn Fleetwings and Gabelsville Owls
have led the league in fantastic finishes (i.e. wins in their final at-bat) over
the last nine seasons, ever since the inception of the Fleetwings' franchise in
1999. Many of these fantastic finishes over the years have come against each
other.
In 2007, the Fleetwings have won eight
games in their final at-bat, while the Owls have won six games in their final
at-bat. The sixth occurrence for Gabelsville came Tuesday night in their most
important game to date, as Dan Pierce belted a two-out, two-run double in the
top of the seventh to lift the Owls to a dramatic 6-5 win over the Fleetwings to
win the best-of-5 semifinals series 3-1.
The #2 seeded Owls move on to face
top-seeded Coplay at Limeport Stadium at 7:00 on Friday for Game 1 of the
Finals, a game that will be broadcast on RCN television.
This Game 4 had a similar script early
on to Monday's game, as the Owls jumped out to an early lead, putting up a
3-spot in the second inning for the second consecutive day.
Tuesday's version of the top of the
second inning saw player/manager Matt Danner lead off the frame with a single.
Gary Hessler sacrificed Danner to second and Todd Stapleton then walked on seven
pitches. Mike Ziemak followed with a RBI double to the right-center field gap
and the Owls had a 1-0 lead. Jon Kalejta and A.J. Bohn followed with RBI singles
before Fleetwings' pitcher Jed Hopewell induced a big 6-6-3 double-play to end
the inning and prevent any further damage with runners on the corners and one
out. But the Owls had a 3-0 lead going into the home half of the second inning.
On Monday, the Fleetwings put up a
three-spot to tie the game in the fifth inning. On Tuesday, Woodlawn came out
swinging in the third. Scott Garger singled to start the inning. Matt Marcks
laid down a bunt, but Owls' pitcher Shawn Betz scooped it up quickly and threw
out Garger at second base for the first out. Ben Swatsky singled to left, where
an outfield error allowed Marcks and Swatsky to both advance to scoring
position. Matt Godusky then launched a towering drive that took one hop over the
fence for a ground-rule double to dead center-field, knocking in a pair of runs
to cut the Owls' lead to 3-2.
Scorching-hot Scott Matejicka (batting
.500 in the postseason coming into the game) singled to left to score Godusky
and tie the game at 3-3. Another outfield error allowed Matejicka to take second
base on the play.
This is when "player-of-the-inning" A.J.
Bohn took over.
Justin Godusky stepped up and ripped a
screaming line-drive to center that Bohn got a good jump on and made an all-out
diving, back-handed grab on to save a run for the second out of the inning. After a
four-pitch walk to player/manager Jeremy Arner, Charlie Torres then laced a
screaming liner of his own to center, and Bohn made another diving, back-handed
catch to end the inning. If Bohn does not come up with those two catches, the
Fleetwings have another three runs. Instead, after three innings, the score
remained tied at 3-3.
Bohn then got things going in the fifth
when he got hit by a pitch to start the frame. Betz stepped up, and after
fouling off a hit-and-run attempt on the first pitch, he got another shot at the
hit-and-run on pitch number four of the at-bat and came through with a single to
left, moving Bohn to third with nobody out. After a strikeout, Pierce lifted a
sacrifice fly to right, giving the Owls a 4-3 lead.
The Fleetwings would answer in their
half of the fifth.
The inning looked innocent enough as two
fly-outs started the frame, but Matejicka got his third hit of the game and went
to third on a Justin Godusky double down the right-field line. Arner then came
through four pitches later with a clutch two-out, two-run single to right and
Woodlawn had their first lead since Game 1 of the series, 5-4.
The question was whether Hopewell could
finish the game out as his pitch count was at 93 through five innings. But a
somewhat easy sixth inning (just 11 pitches thrown) put the Fleetwings three
outs away from victory.
Shawn Betz had thrown 102 pitches
himself through five innings, but had an easy seven-pitch sixth inning to give
his team a chance in the seventh.
After falling behind 3-0 to the leadoff
batter, Hopewell came back with three straight strikes and the Fleetwings were
two outs away from victory. Bohn then singled for his third hit of the game and
then Danner played hit-and-run with Betz again, this time on the second pitch,
and Betz delivered another single to left. Matt Godusky charged it hard to keep
Bohn at second, but the Owls were in business with two on and one out. A pop-up to
Torres at second put Woodlawn one out away from victory, but Pierce laced a shot
to deep left that Matt Godusky made a valiant attempt at on the dead run as he
leaped to try and snare a victory for the Fleetwings, but the ball ticked off
the very end of his glove and went for a two-run double to give the Owls a 6-5 lead. A
ground-out ended the inning, but the damage had been done.
Exit Betz. Enter Barry Walsh.
Walsh retired the meat of the stunned
Woodlawn lineup in order, and the Fleetwings' season came to a sudden and
disappointing end.
"I was very happy with the way we came
out tonight," said a smiling Danner after the game. "We came out with a lot of
fire and got the quick lead."
Although Betz struggled on four days
rest, Danner was pleased with the effort his veteran right-hander gave him with
the hot and humid conditions.
"(Betz) gutted his way through this
game," said Danner. "He wasn't on, but spotted his pitches well for a few
innings."
And with some help from Walsh, Pierce
and Bohn, that was enough to earn the win.
Bohn finished 3-for-3 with a double and two game-saving catches, Betz was
2-for-4 and Danner was 2-for-4 for Gabelsville (27-7-2), while Matejicka was
3-for-4 (finishing the postseason with 12 hits and a .542 average) for the
Fleetwings (27-9-2).
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