TheCrazySquirrel

TALLOWOOD CAPTURES SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP…by David Ray

In a stunning turn of events Tallowood Baptist Church captured the First United Methodist Men’s League Softball Championship at Quillian Field last night. Entering the postseason as the 3 seed, with just a 5-7 regular season record, Tallowood bested The Naturals and The Northsiders on their way to the crown, two teams that had beaten Tallowood had not beaten all season, a combined 6 games in the regular season.

In the first game of the night Tallowood faced an undermanned Naturals team that took the field with only eight players. In spite of their deficit the Naturals were able to put runs on the board, and as the Tallowood offense struggled it appeared that the Naturals might walk away with the victory in spite of playing the whole game with no second baseman. Tallowood jumped out to the early lead, putting three runs on the board in the top of the first inning, highlighted by a run-scoring single from Jeff Stewart. The Naturals struck back in the bottom of the second, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead after a two-run homer by their number 8 batter. Tallowood responded in the top of the third by putting three more runs on the board, but the Naturals eventually extended their lead to 10-6 on a grand slam by “the huge guy that played left field” as the game headed into the fifth and final inning.

The top of the fifth saw the Tallowood offense buckle down and get patient with the game on the line, and as the Naturals’ pitcher piled up walks Tallowood slowly began a dramatic comeback. With the bases loaded, trailing 10-8, Brent Palermo took a 3-2 pitch for a ball, walking in a run. Then on the first pitch David Ray poked a two-run single down the line to give Tallowood the lead heading into the bottom of the inning. In the final frame the Tallowood defense clamped down as Troy Burleigh struck out the number 7 batter for the second time in a row and the number 8 batter flied out to Keith Rodgers in left to end the game, stranding runners on first and second.

After watching the Northsiders (11-1) pummel an undermanned Costello team in the other semifinal Tallowood took the field aiming to execute their patient offensive game plan. The game began well as Brent Palermo drew his first of three walks out of the leadoff position. Key hits from Jeremy Sneed and Keith Rodgers, and a two-run double by Cliff Lusk drove in four runs before Cliff unwittingly forced in the fifth run by running to third on a grounder when Jeff Stewart was still standing on the bag. Forced to run home, Jeff’s deft slide eluded the tag of the pitcher for a 5-0 lead. Said umpire Jack, “Ou-, no, safe!” However, the Northsiders struck back, scoring the maximum 7 runs in the bottom of the first. Tallowood went back to their patient game plan in the top of the second, eventually chasing the frustrated pitcher to a different position and scoring three runs to retake the lead 8-7. The Northsiders unstoppable offense could not be slowed in the bottom of the second as they retook the lead 13-8.

In the top of the third Tallowood continued to grind away, knowing that their only hope was to keep scoring runs in bunches. In their biggest inning of the night, Tallowood put the maximum 7 runs on the board highlighted by two-run doubles from David Ray and Keith Rodgers and a bases-clearing in-the-park homerun (which due to the 7 run limit per inning could only end in a triple) from Cliff Lusk. In the bottom of the third Tallowood managed to hold the Northsiders to only three runs, setting the stage for a dramatic fourth and final inning.

With Tallowood trailing 16-15 and time quickly running down, Mark Zacharias led off the top of the fourth with a sharp single up the middle. He advanced to third on Dan Lewis’ single through the left side and then scored the tying run when the shortstop threw wildly to second base on Paul Brodt’s grounder. After Troy Burleigh made the first out of the inning Brent Palermo drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly to deep left field, plating Dan Lewis from third. After the shortstop speared a hard line drive from David Ray for the final out it was up to the Tallowood defense to keep the Northsiders offense from scoring a single run.

The first batter in the bottom of the fourth stroked a deep fly ball into left center field, attempting to tie the game on one pitch. However, Brent Palermo made an incredible running catch on the warning track to make the first out. The Northsiders responded with two singles, placing runners at first and third with only one out. But Troy Burleigh was able to induce a grounder to the pitcher that held the runner at third and allowed Tallowood to get its second out. The next batter lofted a lazy fly ball to left center field that was caught by Brent Palermo for the final out as Tallowood captured the Men’s League Softball Championship in dramatic fashion.

After the game a distraught Northsiders center fielder was consoled by Brent Palermo as he said, “Don’t get mad, dude. It was a good game.” Another Northsiders player was overheard attributing the victory to the umpire rather than the stellar offensive performance from Tallowood. Said Cliff Lusk afterwards, “This one’s for Rob Luttrull, our recently departed manager!” New manager David Ray announced his sudden retirement in a press conference after the game, saying, “I’m 2-0 with one championship already. I’m at the top of my profession. I’m going out on top!” The enormous trophy will be on display at the Tallowood offices until next season. President Bush has invited the team to spend the day with him at his Crawford Ranch to celebrate the victory.