MCSN: August 22, 2015

Heating Up

First Round Playoffs Recap

By Rob Tong

Thu, Aug 27, 2015

Lee Portokalis takes a swing against the Dugout Donuts Temperatures were warm but the action was hot...and so were the occasional emotions. Yes, welcome to the playoffs.

8am game: #9 Mustard Seeds at #8 Caravan

In the regular season, Caravan handled Mustard Seeds fairly easily, winning 20-13. But this was not your Week 4 Mustard Seeds.

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9am game: #10 Team America at #7 Holy Walkamolies

If you thought the 8am game was an upset, wait 'til you get a load of this game.

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Brad Allen smashed one over the fence for the Seeds (pity the car that it hit) but it was a solo home run and not nearly enough to help the Seeds keep pace with the Rings, who also got six RBI from Angel Ortiz.

Tong, making his first return appearance at pitcher since the two-batter debacle against Caravan, was in control on the hill, scattering ten hits from an offensively strong Mustard Seeds team. For the Rings, Alyssa Martinez reached base four times and sub Steve Portokalis went 6-for-6 despite a pulled hamstring.

The win leaves the Fellowship at 9-1 while the Seeds dropped to 3-6.

10am game: Reapers at FROG

In a battle of top-tier teams, FROG and the Reapers took to the stage but FROG must have gotten stage fright as the Reapers won easily 15-8.

"This was a nice win for the Reapers against a tough FROG team and lock in the 3rd seed for the playoffs," Reapers pitcher Rufo Calimlim said. "We were able to hold off a late rally by FROG in the bottom of the sixth inning with three insurance runs in the top of the seventh."

FROG got a hit from everyone in their lineup and was helped when an error by Reaper first baseman Vince Barbati with two outs kept the FROG's sixth inning alive, allowing four runs to score. But Barbati made a strong play earlier in the game and the Reapers were pretty much in control the entire game anyway.

“I was thankful the FROG linebacker/base runner didn't run me over at the plate.”

- Reapers' Rufo Calimlim on making a play with FROG's Robert Gomez barreling towards him at the plate

Said Calimlim: "The defense was pretty solid most of the game highlighted by Vince Barbati diving to touch first base with his glove to force out a speedy FROG hitter to close out an inning, and an accurate throw home by third baseman Nick Lalos to get a runner out trying to score from third base in the top of the seventh (I was thankful the FROG linebacker/base runner didn't run me over at the plate)."

The Reaper offense was solid as well. Lalos hit a three-run out-of-the-park home run and had four runs and six RBIs for the game. Libbe Hassenfritz and Elvin Velez both scored three runs. Mike Barbati drove in four runs and Merissa Seefried drove in three runs.

Both the Reapers and FROG are now 6-3 but the Reapers hold the tiebreaker edge over FROG due to the win.

11am game: Covenant at Team America

Covenant pitcher Andy Tisler was locked in as he scattered nine Team America hits and held them to just three runs in an 18-3 win.

Tisler was no slouch at the plate either, going 4-for-5 along with teammates Les Carter, Ovi Tisler and Jeremy Huntington, the latter three each driving in four runs.

Team America kept it close at 4-2 after one inning but it was all Covenant after that. Team Brown outscored Team America 14-1 in the remaining five innings. Dan Untch, subbing at pitcher for Janson Roberts, was effective again at leadoff for Team America, going 2-for-3, and Ben Piatt was 3-for-3. Rachel Campbell and Josh Patterson chipped with 2-for-3 performances as well but the Covenant defense was too much overall.

The Americans finished 1-8 while Covenant improved to 8-1.

12pm game: Caravan at In Focus Ospreys

An intriguing matchup lost its suspense early as the Ospreys easily handled Caravan 13-7.

The game was tied 1-1 after the first inning but the Big Birds put a five spot up in the second inning to take a 6-1 lead. Caravan came back with two runs in the top of the third to cut the deficit to 6-3 but the Ospreys responded with three of their own to push the lead to 9-3. The teams traded runs over the next two innings but Caravan never got closer than four runs.

In Focus got a hit from everyone in their batting order, but while both teams collected 21 hits, the Ospreys batted .677 in getting their 21 hits, while Caravan batted .444 in getting theirs. Isac Malmgren, Dan Cameron, Aleris Fraats, rookie Josh Fraats and Bruce Riegel all had perfect days at the plate for the Ospreys. David Needham and Steve Borgstrom did the same for Caravan but it wasn't enough.

In Focus evened their record at 4-4-1 while Caravan dropped to 3-6.

The playoff picture

Since the Fellowship Of The Ring played an extra game compared to everyone else due to a scheduling conflict from Clarendon Fest back on July 25th, one of the Fellowship's wins were not counted. This drops the Rings' record to 8-1, which is the same as Covenant. Since Covenant won their head-to-head matchup, Covenant is the #1 seed. The Fellowship is the #2 seed.

The Reapers, FROG and Dugout Donuts all tied for the next best record at 6-3. Since the Donuts lost to both the Reapers and FROG, they are the #5 seed. The Reapers just beat FROG today so Team Red takes the #3 seed while FROG is the #4 seed.

Holy Walkamolies is the #7 seed.

Caravan and the Mustard Seeds have the same record but Caravan won the head-to-head matchup, so Caravan is the #8 seed and the Seeds are the #9 seed.

Team America is the #10 seed. And the Crossroads/Veritas Flames are the #11 seed.

Next week, the playoffs begin, with the Mustard Seeds taking on Caravan at 8am in a battle of identical-record teams.

At 9am, Team America challenges Holy Walkamolies.

The Caravan-Mustard Seeds winner faces Covenant at 10am.

The Team America-Walkamolies winner challenges the Fellowship Of The Ring at 11am.

And the Flames aim to upset the Ospreys at 12pm.

Now the real fun begins!