| The Sam Moran Club won the M Street Softball championship for the second year in a row when they defeated the Sidewalk Café 5-0 in game six which was played last Thursday. Moran took control of the game early in the first inning when two Sidewalk miscues led to three runs. Those three runs would be all Moran would need as pitcher John Gregorio scattered six hits and earned his second shutout of the series. The league named Gregorio, who earned all four victories, the series (MVP) Most Valuable Player.
The series may have been decided in game three when the Moran Club rallied from a three-run deficit to snatch a victory away from the Café. In the fifth inning the Moran offense exploded as they sent nine batters to the plate and scored six runs. The Sidewalk rallied in the seventh but could only plate one run as they fell 7-5. The series then moved to game four, which was scheduled to play on Tuesday night. But keeping with this season's pattern, a hard night of rain cancelled the game and forced the two teams to play a doubleheader on Wednesday. In game one of the doubleheader, The Sidewalk Café looked to tie the series as they felt it would take a flawless game both on offense and defense to beat the Moran Club. That is just what they got as the Café offense and defense came to life as they went on to an embarrassing 12-0 shutout win in game four. The Moran Club were held to just one hit in the game, a fifth-inning bloop single to left by Ronny Gurley. The series was now tied and a dazed Moran Club tried to regroup for game two of the doubleheader. After a short break the two teams took the field for the pivotal game five. Coming off their big win the Café boys had all of the momentum on their side and was looking to add another win. But the Moran Club made some lineup changes and was also looking to turn the tables. Those changes paid off for Moran as their veteran players provided the spark that was needed to ignite an offense that exploded for seventeen runs which help them cruise to an easy 17-2 victory. For two teams that were so evenly matched and prided themselves in their strength of pitching, one would not know it as they combined to score thirty-one runs in the two games. |