A very Happy New Year to one and all as we meet at York Field in Cerritos for the first of three PCBL Orange County Winter Championship contests. The first matchup of the day was in the A-Division; between the 3-2 Halos and the top-seeded 4-1 Travelers.

The Travelers come up in the bottom of the 1^st inning with the game scoreless. And it was definitely a sign of things to come in this championship. The 1^st 2 batters draw walks for the Travelers. Moments later, the leadoff hitter is called out attempting to steal 2^nd. The next 2 batters are hit by pitches; loading the bases. With 1 out in the inning; 1^st baseman Blake Parry steps to the plate. And he contributes in a big way …. with a grand slam! The Travelers get 4 runs in the bottom of the 1^st inning to take an immediate 4-0 lead.

With the Halos retired in order in the top of the 2^nd; the Travelers came up in the bottom of the 2^nd inning to try and put this game out of reach early. And that's exactly what would happen. Before you know it, consecutive walks loaded the bases; followed by a fielding error which scored a run. David Lindberg followed with a 2-run double. A pair of walks followed. Pitcher Kyle Norrbom helped his own cause with an RBI single. And if that wasn't enough, Blake Parry was back to the plate; his bat still smoldering from the 4-run blast in the 1^st. He doubles to score a pair; giving him 6 RBI's on the day and the game is only 30 minutes old! Catcher Mike Buttacavoli followed with an RBI single; but it was simply adding insult to injury. The Travelers rack up 8 runs in the inning to take a 12-0 lead through 2 complete innings of play.

I'm happy to say that the next runs to be scored in this contest were courtesy of the Halos. In the top of the 4^th inning with the score still 12-0; they get on the board. Third baseman Josh Zamarripa hits a 1-out double to right. He's followed by left fielder Joe Syring who hits an RBI single to right. The next batter is hit by a pitch; followed by right fielder Matt Appleton who singles to center; loading the bases. The next batter strikes out; sending up Jordan Siegel who walks to force in a run. The Halos save face with a pair of runs in the inning.

However, that would be the last of the Halo offense. But unfortunately, the Travelers were far from done producing runs. They went on to add another 8 runs in the bottom of the 4^th inning; thus wiping out the Halos by a final score of 20-2 in a mercy-shortened contest.

Congratulations to both teams for making it to this years' championship; but the day, as well as the title, would undoubtedly belong to the PCBL Winter A-Division Travelers.  They dominated from pitch 1 in this championship and they never looked back!

Box Score

       Halos    0 0 0 2 0 0    2   5  3

Travelers    4 8 0 8 0 -    20 12 1

Pitching Stats

WP Kyle Norrbom (Trvlrs) CG; Allowed 2 runs on 5 hits; 3 BB & 8 K's (Co-MVP)

LP Jordan Siegel (Halos) 1/3 IP; Allowed 4 runs on 1 hit; 4 BB & 0 K's

Travelers Offensive Contributers:

Blake Parry 2 for 3; double, grand slam HR, 6 RBI's, 2 runs (Co-MVP)

David Lindberg 2 for 3; single, double, walk, 2 RBI's, 2 runs

Matt Parker 2 for 2; 2 singles, 2 RBI's, 2 runs

Game Time: 10:00am – 12:30pm (2 hrs, 30 min)

Umpires

Plate) Warren Sifre

Bases) Mike Harmeier