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2010 PCBL Fall Wood Bat Championship Tues. 11/30 @ 7:00pm / El Cariso Park Hustlers -vs- Giants
Giants Out-Hustle the Hustlers in Wood Bat Final By Scot Sweet / PCBL Staff Writer
It was a typical late November evening in the Sylmar foothills at El Cariso Park. It was cold … real cold. Those of us outside the lines for this years' championship had to resort to multiple layers of clothing and a thermos of hot tea just to survive the 3 hours of exposure (thanks, James). Nonetheless, there was championship baseball to be played; and as we all know, the game must go on! With that being said, let's get right to the action!
The Giants come up in the bottom of the 1st inning with the game still scoreless. They send up their always reliable leadoff hitter, Garrett Behnke. He singles to get things going for the Giants. He advances to 2nd on a balk and then is sacrificed over to 3rd by Josh Miranda. Soon after, JC Collins grounds out to short, but gets the RBI as Behnke scores. They settle for 1 run in the inning to take the early 1-0 lead.
The Hustlers lead off the top of the 2nd with starting pitcher Joey “Rook” Gennaro. He singles to left. The next 2 batters would go down on strikes; sending up shortstop Ernie Johnson hits a 2-out single. With 2 on and 2 out, the next batter is Fred Goetschel. He hits an RBI single to center. The Hustlers get 1 run in the inning; tying the game at 1 apiece.
The Hustlers come up in the top half of the 3rd inning with the game still tied at 1.They lead things off with the bottom of the order; 3rdbaseman Alex Acuna. He doubles to right. Two batters later, 1st baseman Dave Noll doubles to score Acuna. He's followed by Roger Acuna who gets an infield hit. Jeff Whitcomb follows and he is hit by a pitch. The next batter is Joey Gennaro who gets his 2ndconsecutive single. Two batters later, left fielder Jason Swink walked with the bases later to score a run. The Hustlers end up with 3 runs in the inning to take a 4-1 lead through 2 ½ innings of play.
The Giants still trailed 4-1 as they came up in the bottom of the 3rd. Devin Ellis leads off with a single to left. He soon steals 2nd and then reaches 3rd due to an error on the catcher. He then scores on a sac fly by Josh Miranda. The Giants get 1 run in the inning; now trailing 4-2 through 3 complete innings of play.
The Giants come to bat in the bottom of the 5th inning; still trailing 4-2. Devin Ellis singles to left to start things off. He is soon sacrificed over to 2nd; then scores on a Garrett Behnke double. Moments later, Behnke reaches 3rd on an error and then scores on a pass ball. The Giants get 2 big runs in the inning to tie this contest up at 4-4 through 5 innings of play.
But here come the Hustlers in the top of the 6th. Right fielder Jeff Whitcomb reaches base due to a fielding error and then reaches 2ndon a pass ball. Two batters later, manager Paul Pablos singles him home. They settle for the single run in the inning to retake the lead; leading the Giants by a score of 5-4.
The score remained 5-4 Hustlers as the Giants came to bat in the bottom of the 7th. The first 2 batters would be retired; sending up Garrett Behnke who draws a walk. He is followed by Josh Miranda who also walks. The next batter is JC Collins with 2 on and 2 out. He also walks; sending up catcher Kevin Enright who was 0-3 on the night as he stepped to the plate with 2 out and the bags full. He promptly drills a line drive down the line in left to clear the bases. The Giants get 3 huge runs; thanks to the 3 run double by Enright. They get their 1st lead of the contest; up 7-5 through 7 innings.
The Hustlers fail to score in the top half of the 8th; giving the Giants a chance to add to their narrow lead. With 1 out, Robert Cirragoni triples. He is followed by Devin Ellis who draws a walk. Two batters later, Garrett Behnke would drive one to center field. The ball is misplayed by the center fielder and it results in a 2-run error. The Giants get two runs in the inning that proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Hustlers. The Giants prevail in this Wood Bat Championship by a final score of 9-5.
Congratulations to the Hustlers for a great season and for reaching the big game. And also to the SFV Giants for fighting back in this contest to claim the wood bat title!
Box Score Hustlers 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 14 2 SFV Giants 1 0 1 0 2 0 3 2 - 9 7 1
Pitching Stats WP Andy Torres (Giants) 5 1/3 IP; Allowed 1 run on 5 hits; 2BB & 9K's LP Joey Gennaro (Hustlers) CG; Allowed 9 runs on 9 hits; 5BB & 5K's
Giants' Offensive Contributers: Garrett Behnke 3 for 3; single, double, 2 RBI's, 3 runs Devin Ellis 2 for 3; 2 singles, 2 runs Kevin Enright 1 for 4; double, 3 RBI's Game Time: 7:05pm – 10:10pm (3 hrs, 5 mins)
Umpires Plate) Andrew Marquez Base) Dax Villalta
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