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On Monday, starting pitcher Jimmy McNiff outlasted his counterpart Tommy Shiner as Molly Darcy’s advanced to the semi-finals by knocking off the Boston Beer Garden 10-9. Although Molly’s swept the series in two, both games could have gone either way as the two teams were evenly matched. Also on Monday, the much-anticipated semi-final series between the Sidewalk Café and the Seapoint Restaurant got underway. Seapoint Restaurant won all three contests played between the two clubs during the regular season. Game one was no different as Seapoint jumped all over the flat Sidewalk team as they went up 4-0 after the first inning of play. It was Seapoint’s game to win as the Sidewalk Café fielders could not settle down and continued to make errors in the field that led to big innings for Seapoint. Pitcher Paul Alessi was focused and sharp on the mound for Seapoint as he kept opposing batters off balance and talking to themselves throughout the game. The game was one-sided from beginning to end as Seapoint cruised to a 12-4 victory. Game two, which was played on Tuesday, was a mirror image of game one except the teams reversed roles. Sidewalk, who could not make a routine play in game one, made plenty of outstanding plays in game two. Their bats and mouths also came to life as they collected fifteen hits and made plenty of noise around the bench area on their way to a 12-4 series tying win. After a rainout on Wednesday the two teams resumed the series on Thursday. For a few minutes it looked as if the off day was exactly what Seapoint needed as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a half inning of play. But Sidewalk’s hitting attack answered back with four runs in the bottom of the inning and the rout was on. After the shaky first inning, the Sidewalk defense limited Seapoint to just two hits and no runs. Sidewalk’s Dennis Lynch made the defensive play of the game in the sixth inning when he backhanded a ground ball that was hit down the first base line. Lynch, who was left lying on his stomach with the ball in his glove, casually flipped the ball over his head to the pitcher who was covering the bag for the out. What a play! Sidewalk went on to win game three 11-2 which gives them a 2-1 series lead. I would like to thank Jack Rogers and all of the players and coaches who contributed to the gift certificate that was presented to me on Monday. You all have a lot of class. |