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Fleetwings, Owls battle to 3-3 tie
Both teams squander 9th-inning
opportunities, so Game 4 will be replayed on Tuesday.
SCHERERSVILLE
-- It is almost impossible to determine which
team might be the "happier" team after the Woodlawn Fleetwings (27-8-2) tied the Gabelsville Owls (26-7-2) on Monday.
On one hand, Trico Pitcher of the Year
Jeremy Cabot was in cruise control for the Owls through four innings, allowing
just one hit (a fourth-inning single by Matt Godusky) and he held a 3-0 lead
going into the bottom of the fifth. At this juncture of the game, eulogies were
being prepared for the end of the Fleetwings' season.
But on the other hand, once the
Fleetwings erased that 3-0 lead and squashed an Owls' rally in the top of the
ninth, they loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth.
And did not score.
So no matter who may or may not have
some momentum after the 3-3 tie on Monday, things will eventually be determined
on the field on Tuesday, when Game 4 will be replayed in its entirety with the
Owls still holding on to a 2-1 series lead in the Best-of-5 semifinals.
Although Gabelsville player/manager Matt
Danner has an opinion on who might have the momentum going into Tuesday.
"Because of the ending to the game, I
think we have the momentum going into (the replay of) Game 4," said Danner.
More on the ending later.
In the second inning, Gabelsville was in
business right away with a leadoff walk by Steve Burdan. Danner singled to
center and with runners on the corners, Dan Pierce was hit by a pitch to load
the bases with nobody out. Gary Hessler singled to center three pitches later to
plate Burdan and the Owls led 1-0. Mike Ziemak then blooped what appeared to be
a RBI single to right, but Scott Garger threw out Hessler (who had to hold up to
make sure the ball was not caught) at second base for a force out, so Ziemak got
robbed out of a hit but not out of his RBI and it was 2-0 Owls. Jon Kalejta then
singled to center and it was 3-0 Gabelsville. A 4-6-3 double play ended the
inning.
And with staff ace Cabot no-hitting the
Fleetwings for 3 2/3 innings, the outcome to Game 4 already seemed determined.
But the Fleetwings are a team that can
awaken from an offensive slumber at the drop of a hat. And apparently, someone
dropped that hat with two outs in the home half of the fifth inning.
Woodlawn's player/manager Jeremy Arner
had a walk sandwiched between two outs, and then #9 hitter Matt Nuhfer was hit
by a pitch to put two runners on with two outs. Garger came through with another
clutch hit, a RBI double to right, to score Arner and cut the Owls' lead to 3-1.
Then Matt Marcks stepped up and delivered a big, two-out, two-run single to
right-center to tie the game at 3-3.
"Our backs were against the wall," said
Arner, of his ball club getting three two-out runs to tie the game in the fifth.
"We came out flat and I don't know how that can happen being down two games to
one."
"Their one and two hitters had two
clutch at-bats in that inning for them," said Danner. "But the biggest at-bat
was (Nuhfer) getting hit by that pitch."
And that hit by pitch enabled Woodlawn
to turn the batting lineup over and Garger and Marcks came up big.
After that fifth inning, Scott Bolasky
replaced Fleetwings' starter Ryan Palos and then the Owls' Todd Stapleton
replaced Cabot. And both pitchers put up goose-eggs going into the ninth inning.
Hessler and Ziemak singled to start the
top of the ninth for the Owls. Up stepped Kalejta, who entered his at-bat with a
.625 batting average (10-for-16) for the postseason. After a failed bunt and
then failed fake-bunt-and-swing, Kalejta decided to take the Boyertown credo of
"bunting with runners on first-and-second and nobody out in close games" to the
letter of the law as he squared to bunt with two strikes and bunted the ball
foul for the first out of the inning. A.J. Bohn then smashed a line-drive to
left-field, but Matt Godusky hauled it in and doubled up the runner at second
base to end the threat.
And with darkness settling in, it was
obvious that the worst result for the Fleetwings in Game 4 would be a tie.
Although things quickly brightened up
for Woodlawn in the home half of the ninth after Scott Matejicka laced a leadoff
single to center and Justin Godusky followed with a sacrifice bunt that moved
pinch-runner Dan Hemberger up 90 feet. But the Fleetwings would get a bonus when
the throw on the bunt went into right-field, enabling Hemberger to scamper into
third base with nobody out. Godusky stayed at first base. Arner was
intentionally walked to load the bases and the Owls brought everybody up tight,
which paid off as a ground-out to second produced a 4-2 put-out for the first
out. Then, a hump-back liner to shortstop turned into a game-ending double-play
when Kalejta dove into second base ahead of the runner.
Game 4 will be replayed at 5:45 right back at Scherersville #1 on Tuesday. On
Monday, Kalejta was 3-for-5, Burdan was 2-for-3 with a double and Hessler was
2-for-4 for Gabelsville.
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