You wouldn't know it by the relaxed faces above...but last nights games were quite intense, for some, the intensity even started before the game as unreal traffic conditions made it extremely difficult to get to the 6:00 game on time. Amazingly we had everyone arrive just before the first pitch...and we are lucky we did as we needed everyones contributions to get through two brutal games during the first night of playoffs.
Round 1 vs #8 Balco
Balco came into this game with only 2 wins on the year, averaging 7.6 runs per game. By comparison, we had 17 wins and have done it with an average of 15.6 runs per game. We had also played each other 3 times this year, with us out scoring them by a combined 50 to 15. With that being said, Balco came to play last night. They had alot of good hits and scored way more runs than we are accustomed to seeing out of them. We hit well too however, and a few defensive gafs on their part didn't help. It was a long game, but after the first few innings we were able to keep them at arms length, fueled by Tom's 6 rbi's. It was much tougher than we thought it would be, but we just wanted to advance, and that we did.
Final Score: Dirty Grizzlies 18, Balco 13
Round 2 vs #5 Ballz Deep
Balls Deep advanced to the second round by knocking off 4th seeded JJ's. In the process their pitcher apparently got tossed from the game by throwing his bat aggressively after being called out on strikes. It was a sign of things to come... During the regular season, Ballz Deep finished with 8 wins averaging 10.7 runs per game in the process. One of those 8 wins was against us however, a 19-20 debacle way back in Week 3.
Fast forward to the top of the 3rd where we had a small lead... In a fit of rage the very loud and obnoxious Ballz Deep pitcher hit a ball directly at our pitcher in retaliation against a couple balls that were unintentionally hit up the middle earlier. Our player, who doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body, apologized immediately for accidently hitting it close to him and it was clear to all reasonable people that it was unintentional. Regardless, the Ballz Deep guy was pissed and hit the very first pitch directly at our pitcher with intention to harm him. His intent of this was clear because immediatly before his at bat he very loudly threatend that he would hit a ball at our pitcher... a threat that was heard by everyone including the ump. Luckily, our pitcher was able to protect himself and tagged the batter out. The batter then had some very heated words for the ump which lead to the pitcher being tossed for trying to hurt someone and argruing with the ump. (Never mind the fact that he got tossed from the game before as well and shoudln't have been allowed to play in this game) At that point a ruckus ensued as another, even larger player from Ballz Deep ran out of the dugout and got right in the face of the ump. He was dumbfounded at why his guy should get tossed...even after such blatent disrespect for the ump, the other players and not to mention the multiple families there to watch the game. Physical threats were yelled at the ump which obviously lead to this player being tossed from the game eventually as well.
All in all, the entire episode between the two Ballz Deep players and the ump (who kept his cool really well for how aggressivly the other guys were acting towards him) lasted for what seemed like nearly 10 minutes. Eventually the game resumed, with Ballz Deep being left with only 9 guys, although they were much calmer and more level headed than the two who were sent home. The rest of the way we tightened up our defense and added some runs by a interesting single turned double turned 3 run bases clearing liner by Adam, and a long overdue blast over the fence by Dan to seal the win. The ugliness from the middle of the game aside, it was a good game with alot of back and forth action. In the end cooler heads prevailed as we advanced one step closer to the championship game.
Final Score: Dirty Grizzlies 16, Ballz Deep 11
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