Milford, Oh.–Terry Peters’ two-out, rbi single in the bottom of the 9th capped a five-run rally that lifted Express Softball to a dramatic 20-19 victory over Chamberlain/PSI/East End in the championship game of a Worth-Bud Light-USSSA “E” World Qualifier July 24th at Expressway Park.
Express had rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 7th to force extra innings, but stared at a four run deficit after Chamberlain batted in the top of the 9th. Express cut the deficit to one when Shea Hartwig hit into a fielder’s choice with two outs, then got an rbi single from Chad Willhoff and Peters to pull out the win.
The victory completed a 4-0 weekend for the champions, who captured a paid berth to the USSSA “E” World Tournament. An unpaid berth passed down to JB’s/Mouch Chiropractic.
Express reached the finals on the strength of solid team defense and the pitching of Jason Ross, said player-manager Terry Peters, the hero of game seven.
“Jason held the first three teams to a combined fourteen runs and fielded the middle well,” said Peters. “Also Andrew Tucker filled in at short for his brother, and he and Shea Hartwig (2b) turned multiple double plays. Shea is the fastest to turn a double play in ‘E’ ball. When he gets the ball, it’s out of his hands in no time.”
Third baseman Pauley Mullinex was also playing out of position, noted Peters.
“He hasn’t played much 3rd, and he filled in there really well. He’s a real young kid. Whatever you ask him to do, he does. He’s a great kid.”
Josh Davis and Rick Rorick anchored the outfield, said Peters.
“When Josh is in left-center, he makes our entire outfield better. Unfortunately, he’s only been to three or four tournaments this year. Rick played right-center, and he made a lot of great plays. He’s 40-years old, and he was tracking down balls like he was 20.”
Offensively, Donnie Lewis led Express with a sizzling .769 day.
“He’s getting his swing back,” commented Peters. “He hasn’t played as much this year as in the past. We pretty much expect him to bat .600 when he’s on. This weekend things finally clicked for him.”
Peters followed right behind Lewis, hitting at a .750 click. Rick Rorick batted .714, Randy Neville .688, Pauley Mullinex .643 and Andrew Tucker .571.
Express scored in every inning except the 2nd en route to a 10-6 victory over Softball With Attitude/TC Cafe in game one. The winners broke a 1-1 tie with an Andrew Tucker rbi double and Rick Rorick sac fly in the 3rd, then tacked on runs in the 4th, 5th and 6th to build a 9-2 lead, then held on for the win. Donnie Lewis tripled and scored on Shea Hartwig’s sac fly to make it 4-1 in the 4th. Josh Davis’ rbi double was the big blow in a two-run 5th as the lead grew to 6-2. Then Jason Ross and Terry Peters had rbi singles, and Josh Davis a sac fly in a three-run 6th.
Davis and Lewis combined for six hits to pace the offense.
A five-run 3rd helped carry Express past Faded Glory 7-4 in game two. Randy Neville’s rbi single broke a 1-1 tie in the 3rd. Shea Hartwig singled home an insurance run, then back-to-back doubles by Chad Willhoff and Pauley Mullinex helped open up a 6-1 lead. Express answered a 4th inning score with a Donnie Lewis sac fly in th 5th. Faded Glory added single runs in the 6th and 7th to make the final 7-4.
Rick Rorick and Neville were both perfect in three at bats for the winners.
That lifted Express into the winners’ bracket finals, where a seven-run 1st held up in a 7-4 victory over Northern Kentucky Outlaws. Following an Andrew Tucker rbi single that put Express on the board, Randy Neville delivered a three-run, inside-the-park home run to make it 4-0. An rbi double by Pauley Mullinex and rbi singles by Terry Peters and Jason Ross closed out the scoring for Express. Ross, who was also filling in on the mound for Express, limited the Outlaws to a pair of runs in the 2nd and 4th.
The championship game with Chamberlain was nothing short of a classic. Express rallied for two runs with two outs in the bottom of the 7th on rbi singles by Donnie Lewis and Shea Hartwig. Then, after neither team scored in the 8th, Chamberlain grabbed a 19-15 lead in the top of the 9th. Undaunted, Express sent nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the inning to rally for five runs and the title. Consecutive singles by Rick Rorick, Josh Davis, Andrew Tucker and Randy Neville cut the deficit to 19-16. A sac fly by Donnie Lewis and a fielder’s choice off the bat of Shea Hartwig narrowed the margin to one. Chad Willhoff singled in the tying run, then moved to 3rd on a Pauley Mullinex base hit. That set the stage for Terry Peters, who calmly stroked one between 2nd and 3rd to plate Willhoff with the game winner.
Neville collected four rbi’s and pounded out five hits along with Tucker. Rorick and Mullinex added four hits each, and Lewis drove in five runs and went 3-for-4 along with Peters.
Express’ Terry Peters said his team could have easily folded under the pressure twice when Chamberlain put up three runs in the 7th to take a 15-13 lead, and four in the 9th.
“Nobody panicked, even though there were two outs,” said Peters. “We were confident event when we came into the bottom of the 9th down four runs. I told our players that if we went to an ‘if’ game, we’d be down (emotionally), so we’d better pull together and win it.”
The title ended two seasons of frustration for Express.
“It was nice to finally win a paid berth,” said Peters. “We’ve had two or three tournaments where one has been passed down to us, but this is the first tournament where we’ve actually put it altogether and didn’t get double-dipped, like we did a couple of times last year.”
Peters passed out plenty of kudos for the job done by Expressway Park running the tournament.
“We want to thank Bob and Betty (park managers Bob and Betty Owens) for running a great tournament. And in all four games we had great umpires. In the finals the umpires worked great together and were always in position to get the calls.”
To view final tournament standings, please paste the following link into your web browser: http://www.usssa.com/sports/Tournament3.asp?TournamentID=673291.