Cubs Win Championship;
Beat Brewers 7-4.
Portsmouth, NH- Like a boxer, the resilient Cubs took a few
punches, giving better than they got, and bounced back to defeat the regular season
champion Brewers, 7-4 on a drizzly Leary Field and win their first ever Coastal
New England Baseball League Championship.
It wasn’t pretty. It was more of a club fight
than a prize fight. After 8 frames, the teams were knotted at 4 a piece. Both hurlers had been economical with their
offerings, and both had been betrayed by their defense. The way it
developed, if a team was going to win it in the ninth, it was going to have to
start with the guys at the bottom of the order. The Cubs players answered
the bell.
The pitchers were the major water carriers for their
team’s this season: Chuck White for the Brewers and Eddie Brown for the
Cubs. It started as a pitching duel.
Chuck didn’t give up his first hit until the fourth
inning. The first three batters all hit come backers. Jake Bishop
was robbed by John Tudor’s running catch in right center in the second;
Doug DeGrappo was caught stealing by Jeff Smith to
end the third. The Cubs threatened in the bottom of the fourth with Seth Bowley (2-3, 2R) getting doubled up on a wicked line shot
to third by Mark Annis. Eddie lined out to Terry White in center with two on to
end the fifth.
Eddie pitched one over the minimum (Matt Sweitzer
single) through two. However, trouble was lurking in the third for the
Cubs. Mark Scully hit a routine groundball to Mark that handcuffed the
second sacker. Scully swiped second and advanced to third on John’s
single. He scored on a passed ball. John remained at third as Eddie
got Art Hotchturn swinging and Alan Pimental got gunned down by Pat Bough after the only walk
Eddie gave up all day. The Brewers had landed the first punch.
In the fourth, Steve Hergott’s
beautiful bunt single and CNEBL Batting Champion Tony Bargardo’s
single got Steve to third, but he was thrown out at the dish by Ben Ruggles on the front end of a double steal attempt.
Eddie then got in a rhythm. He set down 10 of the next 12 batters he
faced, at one point punching out 5 out of 7 batters.
Chuck got in the soup in the sixth. He
uncharacteristically walked the lead-off man, Craig Annis. Courtesy
runner Eddie narrowly stole second. Josh Nasrallah
then lifted a towering fly to right and disaster struck the Brewers. The ball
popped out of the Alan’s glove, Eddie scored, and Josh was standing at
second with one out. Doug’s single to right put runners at the
corners. Seth’s fly to right also eluded the right fielder’s
grasp and Josh crossed the plate with the go ahead run. Back-to-back
singles by Scott and Mark plated two more and the Cubs had a 4-1 lead after
6. The Brewers were on the ropes. They needed some room to breathe.
Todd Allen provided that breath when he blasted a double to
the base of the fence to open the eighth for the Brew crew. He scored one
batter later on Tony’s second single of the
day. Terry hit a single of his own and the Brewers had two on with one
out. A fielder’s choice by Jeff plated Tony and the Brewers had the
tying run in scoring position. Matt hit a line drive to left that Seth
almost volleyballed over the fence for a four base
error, as it was, Matt was on second, and the game was tied. Mitch flew out to
right, and the threat was over, but the damage was done. Three body blows
by the Brew men, and the game moved on to the ninth inning.
Games in this league are often decided by two things:
defense and the bottom of the order. While the pitching was very good,
the defense on both teams had been spotty. The difference was the bottom
of the order. The bottom third of the Cubs’ line-up was a combined 6 for
11 with a sacrifice bunt, 4 runs scored, and 3 RBI. They delivered when
their team needed it the most. It happened in the 4-run sixth, and it
happened again in the 3-run ninth.
After being fitted for goat horns, Seth put on his helmet
and led off with a single through the left side. He promptly stole second
and scored on Scott’s single. After a text book sac bunt by Mark
and a fly-out by Darren Lavery, Scott rode home on
Pat’s single. Pat swiped second and advanced on yet another Brewer
error. He scored on Jake Bishop’s single. A tremendous over the
shoulder grab heading down the right field line by Matt prevented the knock out punch by the Cubs. But it was enough.
Three pop-ups in the ninth and the game was
over. The Cubs had won by decision. They resurrected their season over
the last two weeks and rode a three-game unbeaten streak to the League
Championship.
In the consolation game, the Pirates drubbed the undermanned
Orioles 19-8. The game highlight’s were Scott Maclin’s
two run blast over the fence in right field and a teary eyed Scott Donavan
picking up his first ever win in the CNEBL
