San Diego Force Baseball

Michael Ryan

The Force were able to complete the two game sweep and eliminate the Pirates with a 6-1 victory at Ameridge park. Starting pitcher Frank Lopez was able to gut out 7 innings of 1 run ball with 11 strikeouts despite not having his best stuff early. He was greatly helped by the Force throwing out two runners at the plate in consecutive innings. That was all the help Lopez needed as he was clearly locked in after that and looked like the pitcher we’ve all grown accustomed to.

            Not to be outdone, the Force’s offense came to play. They were able to generate 6 runs on 11 hits, five of which were extra base hits which was a nice surprise considering the Force’s struggles in getting extra base hits throughout the season. Phil Steering and Ryan Williams went yard with a couple of moonshots over the left field wall. Phil Steering’s shot was the beginning of the end for the Pirates considering it came right after the Force had just thrown out a runner at the plate for the second consecutive inning. The Pirates could never recover nor did they ever really threaten again.

            On the other side of the bracket, The Inland Valley Bucs pulled off an amazing upset of the Power and finished their own 2 game sweep. The championship will now be a 3 game series between the 3 seed (Force) and the 4 seed (Bucs). The first game will be a road game at Ameridge Park again followed by two games at home for the league championship.