The big inning for the Dawgs was the four run fourth that was aided by a couple of Beer Garden errors. Kevin Ohara started the scoring with a one out single to left. Eric Gibson then reached on an infield error which put runners on the corners. Nick French kept it going and made it 3-0 when he reached on an infield single. Another infield error made it 4-0 and a Toco Soto RBI single to right made it 5-0. Mike Hoadley completed the scoring with a sacrifice fly to left, 6-0.

Hoadley then returned to the mound for the bottom of the fourth where we was shutting down the Beer Garden attack with plenty of rise balls. However, Billy MacDougal would get the Beer Garden on the scoreboard when he doubled home Danny McElaney, 6-1. The Garden nearly scored another run but it was prevented by an outstanding play by second baseman Toco Soto.

The game moved on to the bottom of the sixth inning with Hoadley and the Dawgs still in complete control. But as they have all playoffs long the Beer Garden continued to battle on. With two outs and a runner on first (Matt Brooks), Dennis Toner ripped a Hoadley offering to right center for a 2-run homerun making it 6-3.

Pitcher Keith Zewiey then retired the side in order in the seventh and it was one last call for the Beer Garden. After Hoadley retired the first two batters, Mark Landolfi reached base on a four pitch walk. Next up was Peter Drummey, who spent several minutes before the game taping up his knees just to play. Drummey would put those knees to the test as he lined a ball down the right field line that skidded by the right fielder. He quickly motored around the bases for a 2-run homerun and put his team within a run, 6-5. However, Hoadley and the Dawgs wouldn't be denied though as they got the next batter on a groundout to third to end the game.

French had the changeup working effectively in the early innings as he piled up four strikeouts over the first three innings of play. While French was doing his part the Dawgs offense was firing on all cylinders. Mike Hoadley got the scoring started when he doubled in the first and later scored on Franklin Pimentel's triple to right. Juan Sanchez then chipped in with a sacrifice fly that scored Pimentel making it 2-0 Dawgs.

French helped himself with an RBI in the second to make it 3-0. However, he then ran into trouble in the third when the Beer Garden loaded the bases with just one out. But a key strikeout followed by a ground out silenced the threat and it was on to the bottom of the third.

Playing on a Monday night must have had more of an impact against the Beer Garden than one thought it would as it appeared they were not into this one at all folks. The usual Thursday night crew put themselves in a tough hole with a couple of errors in the third that led to four more runs for the Dawgs. With the bases loaded, Eric Gibson struck the big blow when he ripped a single to right that eluded the fielder and went all the way to the fence, 7-0.

The Beer Garden finally got on the scoreboard in the fourth but the Dawgs answered back when Juan Sanchez stroked a bases clearing single to pick up his 2nd & 3rd RBI's of the game.

With the score 9-1, those lucky fans who were still in attendance got to witness a little bit of league history. The Dawgs had runners on first and second with nobody out when Mark Dion ripped a hard smash to shortstop Danny McElaney, who stepped on the bag and fired to first baseman Eric Keating for the double play. Hey we have all seen that one before right? However, the play wasn't over as Gibson was trying to score from second and was charging towards the plate. Just then Keating threw home to catcher Peter Hourihan who applied the tag for the historic TRIPLE PLAY!! The play would provide a little momentum for the Beer Garden as they would hold the Dawgs attack in check the rest of the way.

More details to follow....

After a scoreless first inning, the Dawgs got things going in the second when Juan Sanchez tripled home Dan Brown who had reached on an error. Eric Gibson then followed with a RBI single to right making it 2-0.

The Beer Garden answered with a run of their own in the third when Pete Hourihan stroked a double to right and later scored on Billy MacDougal's sacrifice fly to to right, 2-1.

However, the Dawgs bit back in the bottom of the third inning with four runs to make it 6-1. Mike Hoadley led the inning off with a homerun to deep left field. The Beer Garden then got two outs but couldn't put away the last one as Franklin Pimentel and Dan Brown both reached base to set the tables for Toco Soto. On a 2-1 count, Soto hit a soft single to center that easily scored Pimentel from second. With the outfield playing deep, Brown took advantage and kept running around the bases and also scored on the play! That's correct folks, he scored from first on a single to center. After a walk to Juan Sanchez, Eric Gibson struck another big blow with a bases clearing double.

That would be all of the scoring until the sixth inning. It was Gibson striking again with another double - this time down the right field line. He would score when Nick French reached on a fielder's choice, 7-1. At this point, French was in his second inning of relief and had picked up where he left off from last night. Throwing a good changeup and mixing in his fastball.

Down to their last three outs of the season, the Beer Garden would make one last run at the Dawgs in the seventh. Brian Sheehan hammered the first pitch he saw to left center for a homerun which made it 7-2. Mark Hindman then followed with a triple to left and suddenly the Beer Garden had some life. But French retired the next two batters and the Garden was down to their last out. With a crowd of five people looking on, Danny McElaney battled French to a full count before finally winning it with a RBI double to right that scored Hindman, 7-3. However, French made quick work of the next batter and fittingly ended the series with a strikeout. The Dawgs are your 2008 M Street Softball Champions!

2008 Champions - first row (left to right): Toco Soto, Juan Sanchez, Tim Morgan, Dan Brown, and Franklin Pimentel. Back row (left to right): Mike Hoadley, Jerry Thomes, Eric Gibson, Mark Dion, Nick French, and Rob Coppola. Missing from photo is Danny Ekasala and Kevin Ohara.

After the game, it was announced that Jerry Thomes (5 playoff victories) was named the MVP of the playoffs, his third claim to the trophy (2004 & 2005). In a class move, the Dawgs decided to donate a considerable amount of their playoff winnings ($1000) to the wife of team founder, Danny Ekasala.

Jerry Thomes - playoff MVP

While the Beer Garden's offense was in stride, pitcher Keith Zewiey was holding the Sidewalk attack to just two runs through five innings of play. Zewiey had good stuff in the early innings as he kept the batters off stride and was getting plenty of fly ball outs.

There wasn't much to write about after that until the sixth when the teams traded a pair of runs to make it 11-4, Beer Garden. In the seventh, Sidewalk made the game interesting by loading the bases. After a few Beer Garden miscues, Sidewalk got back into the game by plating four runs and had the tying runner at the plate with two outs. But it wasn't to be as Zewiey got the batter to ground out to third to end the game and give the Beer Garden the 1-0 series lead.

The Beer Garden's Billy MacDougal (2 hits, 4 RBI) and Dennis Toner (2 hits, 3 RBI) were the hitting stars tonight. While across the diamond it was Sidewalk's Mark Senna (3 hits) and Mark Dillon (2 hits) who led the attack for the blue shirters.

Before McElaney's game winning hit, the Beer Garden built a 8-2 lead through two innings of play. Two key errors in the early frames put Sidewalk in a deep hole but the team showed character and battled back to tie the game only to have it slip away in the seventh.

Danny McElaney drew a walk and then reached third on Matt Keating's single to right field. With runners on the corners, Billy MacDougal followed with another single and the Garden had runners on the corners again in a 8-6 game. Peter Drummey kept the rally going with another RBI single, 8-7. It was now up to pitcher Keith Zewiey, who was hitless in the game. On a two strike pitch, Zewiey ripped a single to center scoring MacDougal with the game tying run, 8-8. Sidewalk's lead was gone and now they were trying to hang on and get out of the inning with the score tied.

However, Brian Sheehan, who struck out twice in the game, made the proper adjustments and hit the Beer Garden's most dramatic homerun in the history of their team. Sheehan drove a 1-1 offering down the left field line for a 3-run homerun and an 11-8 lead. Incredible!

The dejected Sidewalk team tried to rally in the seventh but Zewiey and the Beer Garden's defense made sure the score would remain the same and the series was over - the Beer Garden completed the sweep.

In the end, the games were all close but the Beer Garden outplayed the Sidewalk Cafe in all facets of the game. They peaked at the right time which made them a very tough team to beat and are now headed to the finals to face the defending champions (Dawgs).

Shennanigans wasn't fazed by the champs in the early going as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Former Dawgs player, Al Martin started the scoring with a long triple to center.

The Dawgs answered back with a run in the second and it was, 2-1. The momentum seemed to change in the third inning when Luis Colon hit a laser to short which resulted in a doubleplay. The play prevented Shennanigans from having a big inning.

The Dawgs got two more runs in the third and scored another in the fourth on several defensive miscues and a couple of untimely walks. With the score 5-2 going into the 6th, hot hitting Al Martin led off with his third hit of the game. Colon was not to be denied this time as he hammered a 2-1 pitch to deep center for a run home run, 5-4.

That would be all the scoring as pitcher Jerry Thomes (4 k's) and the Dawgs held on to the game one victory.

Tonight's pitching match-up featured the Dawgs lefty Nick French against Shennanigan's hard throwing righty Jimmy Pinkston. Many oberservers felt this would be a classic pitcher's dual but they would be proven wrong.

The Dawgs got to Pinkston early and took a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the second inning. But Shennanigan's answered back in the home half of the inning with five straight singles and four runs cutting the lead to 6-4.

Shennanigan's would draw closer with a run in the fourth making it 6-5 but the Dawgs got some timely hits and distanced themselves with three runs in the fifth, 9-5.

Again it was Shennaningans who wouldn't go away and fought back with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings making it, 9-7. Luis Colon helped the cause with a big two out RBI hit in the sixth.

The Dawgs added an insurance run in the seventh to take a 10-7 lead and were looking to go up 2-0 in the series. It was the last call for Shennanigans and with one out Danny Nash got things started with a triple down the right field line. Joe Cavaleri and Brian Pacheco followed with singles making it a 10-8 game. With the tying runner on first base, left handed batter Dave Conti stepped into the box looking to keep the rally going. Conti did more than that as he ripped a 2-1 French offering to deep right center field and then scampered around the bases for a 3-run walk off homerun, 11-10 Shennanigans.

Shennanigans looked unstoppable in the early innings as they got clutch RBI hits by Greg Trudeau (double, triple, 2 RBI) and Danny Nash (2 hits, 3 RBI) while pitcher, Steve Mills was keeping the bases clear of Dawgs.

Just as it appeared the Dawgs didn't have any bite left, Thomes began to heat up in the third inning and helped change the momentum. Teammate Juan Sanchez answered the bell with a double to start the fourth and later scored on an infield error, 7-1.

After Thomes retired his eighth batter in a row to end the fifth, Mike Hoadley led off with a triple down the left field line. After a walk to Franklin Pimentel, Dan Brown hit a deep fly ball to center that scored Hoadley, 7-2. Mills then helped himself when he caught a liner back to the box from Juan Sanchez. However, Tim Morgan kept the inning alive with a walk and was followed by back -to-back RBI singles by Nick French and Marc Dion, 7-4.

Thomes set the order down again 1-2-3 in the sixth and then watched his offense score two more runs in the inning to make it, 7-6. Pimentel's 2 RBI double to left center was the big hit in the inning.

Again, it was Thomes retiring the side in order in the top of the seventh (retired 14 straight batters) that kept his team in the game. In a surprise move, Shennanigans made a pitching change to start the bottom of the seventh as they brought in Al Martin, who was looking to preserve the one run lead.

Thomes helped himself when he led the inning off with a single that ricochetted off Martin's foot and landed in the bench area which put Thomes at second base with no outs. For a moment Shennanigans had life as shortstop, Luis Colon, took away a sure hit with a great play to get the first out of the inning. But then Mike Hoadley broke their hearts when he stepped into the batter's box and on a 3-2 count....the game was history.

It should be noted that although the pitching move didn't work out for Shennanigans, one has to tip their cap to Al Martin for taking the ball and accepting the pressure filled assignment.

Mark Dion got the rally started in the fourth with an RBI hit to left field. Dion later scored on Dan Brown's first of two doubles in the game.

The defending champions will now face the Boston Beer Garden in a best of seven series that starts on Thursday, September 11 @ 7:30pm.

In the seventh, it was hot hitting Christian Frattassio who led off with a single (completing the cycle). Frattassio later scored the game tying run on a Billy Robinson (2 doubles, 3 RBI) sacrifice fly to center. With runners on first and second, Il Giardino was looking for more but Sidewalk's pitcher, Mark Senna got the final two outs of the inning and it was on to the bottom of the seventh in a tied game, 9-9.

With two outs and a runner on first, Sidewalk's Adam Ralston walked which brought veteran Don Bolstad up to the plate. On a 1-2 count, Bolstad lined a single to right that scored Marc McGurl from second with the game winning run.

Sidewalk's attack was led by Mike Smith (3 hits, 3 RBI) and Dave Seermon (2 hits, 3 BB's). Il Giardino has played Sidewalk very tough this year as they were the only team to hand Sidewalk a loss and nearly pulled off the upset in game one here tonight. The two teams will play game two on Thursday night with Il Giardino needing a victory to extend the series.

Sidewalk's offense was led by Dave Seermon (4 hits, 5 RBI) and Donald Bolstad (3 hits, 2 runs). On the other side of the diamond it was Marc Cerone stepping up his game and banging out 3 hits and a run scored for Il Giardino.

Sidewalk will play the winner of the Beer Garden vs Shamrock Pub series which is set to conclude on Tuesday.

However, the Beer Garden fought back in the home half of the inning when they loaded the bases with nobody out. Clutch hitting Danny McElaney stepped in and laced a double to right that scored two runs making it a 7-3 game. Another walk would load the bases again for left hitting, Matt Keating. Keating ripped a double down the right field line that scored 2 more runs, 7-5. A couple of scratch hits later and the game was tied (7-7) and was moving onto the sixth inning.

In the sixth, leadoff singles by Tony King and Paul Gurley set the table for Shamrock's Charlie Conners. Conners lined a ball up the middle that scored King from second, 8-7. John Hoadley's groundout would bring another run in making it, 9-7 Shamrock.

In the final two frames, Acevedo wouldn't allow another Beer Garden runner to reach second base as Shamrock held on for the game one victory.

Gregorio later helps himself with a RBI single in the bottom of the second inning to give Shamrock a 1-0 lead. He would score later in the inning making it 2-0 after two innings.

The teams exchanged runs in the third (Peter Drummey HR and Matt Traft RBI single) but it was the defense that was keeping the runs off the scoreboard. Daryle Alexander made a great play at second base to save a run and prevent the Beer Garden from tying the game. On the other side of the diamond, it was a clutch double play that helped pitcher Keith Zewiey and the Beer Garden keep the game within reach. With runners on first and third, Dennis Toner handled a hot smash to third and threw quickly to second baseman Brian Sheehan for the force out. Sheehan then wheeled around and fired a strike to catcher Peter Drummey who applied the tag at home for the rare 5-4-2 twin killing. Those are the kind of plays that win games folks.

In the fourth, Mark "Don't call me gorilla" Landolfi singled home Danny McElaney to make it a 3-2 game and that would be all of the scoring until the sixth inning.

Before getting to the memorable sixth inning the Beer Garden would get out of two jams to preserve the one run deficit. Zewiey helped himself with a "line out throw em out" double play in the fifth inning. In the sixth, it was the Beer Garden's offense that came to life.

Brian Sheehan's single to right scored Mark Hindman all the way from first with the game tying run when right fielder John Hoadley was injured on the play. denis Toner followed with a double that plated Sheehan and Beer Garden was in the lead, 4-3. Matt Keating doubled scoring Toner and was followed by another double by Landolfi, 7-3. Jon Batchelder would later single home Landolfi making it 8-3. Peter Drummey chipped in with a RBI single and Beer Garden was in command with a 9-3 lead.

The two teams would trade runs in the seventh and that would be the game, 10-4. The Beer Garden avoids elimination and forces a game three which is scheduled for Tuesday, September 2 at 8pm.

Shamrock Pub showed some life in the fourth when Paul Gurley doubled home two runs to cut the lead to 6-2. Shamrock would get another lift when pitcher Sammy Acevedo struck out the side in the home half of the inning. Suddenly, the momentum seemed to be turning towards Shamrock.

After a scoreless fifth inning, the Beer Garden got another clutch two out hit - this time by Peter Drummey, who singled to center scoring Zewiey and Billy MacDougal. If Shamrock had any chance at getting back into the game, then Drummey's hit pretty much ended it, 8-2.

In the seventh, Zewiey made sure it would be a quiet inning as he retired the first two batters on ground outs then struck out the third batter to fittingly end the game and series.

Although the final result of the series may come as a bit of a surprise to some, it should be known that the better team won the series. The players and coaches of the Beer Garden made sacrifices, got better pitching, played flawless defense, and got clutch hitting but the big difference may have been that they played the series with much more passion. They also had an added incentive in this series...to prove former player Jimmy McNiff's (JMC8978561 on Talkback ) public prediction of a SHAMROCK vs DAWGS final wrong.

The Beer Garden will now take on the Sidewalk Cafe in the Moran Division final. This series should be a great one folks as the teams met twice in August with Sidewalk winning a close one (9-7) and the other ending in a 6-6 tie.

After that inning, the Stadium players were feeling the victory was within reach as they limited the Dawgs to 0 runs in the bottom of the fourth. Sal Sigleski gave them plenty to cheer about in the fifth when he tripled home the tying run, 11-11. However, that would be all of the scoring for the Stadium as the Dawgs and pitcher Nick French hung on for the win.

The Dawgs will face the winner of the Shenanigans/Cranberry series. However, they will not be resting easy as they are headed to Atlanta, GA this weekend for the A.S.A. Nationals.

On the mound it was Shennanigans' Steve Mills who settled down nicely and didn't allow a hit after the third inning. His counterpart, Jimmy McNiff, was a marked man but didn't let it get the best of him as he pitched well enough to put his team in position to win the game. However, McNiff's bid for a win was undone by several errors committed by the Cranberry defense.

It won't get any easier for Cranberry in game two as the hard throwing Jimmy "Big Country" Pinkston is expected to make the start.

Pinkston would finish the night with nine strikeouts and more than enough runs as Shannanigans won easliy, 10-0 and swept the series.

It should be said that the Cranberry Cafe enjoyed a great season and finished well above expectations. They are the last of the "old school" South Boston teams where every single player was born and raised right here in South Boston. You have nothing to be ashamed of boys.

Dave Conti and his Shennanigans crew have a lot to be proud of too as they have turned their team around and have built a winner. Shennanigans will now face the Dawgs in a best of five semi-finals which is scheduled to begin next week.

This was a classic M Street Softball playoff game that featured seven lead changes, great defense, and clutch hitting by both teams. Playwright's shortstop Brian Dawson was the difference maker in the infield tonight making several outstanding plays. While the outfield play was highlited by a couple of great catches by Il Giardino's left fielder, John Gallagher.

Il Giardino's Pat Gallagher and Robinson were the hitting stars with four hits and 5 RBI's each.

Pitcher Nick Kleimola scattered seven hits to pick up the win for Il Giardino. Kleimola and team Il Giardino will now face the Sidewalk Cafe in a best of three division semi-final.

Steve Mills pitched effectively and was supported by superb infield defense. Steve Stalcup (2B), Luis Colon (SS), and Danny Nash (3B) made several outstanding plays that kept the Clough offense in check.

Shennanigans offense was highlited by homeruns from Pinkston and Luis Colon while Al Martin chipped in with two hits and 3 RBI. Shennanigans will now face the Cranberry Cafe in the division quarter finals.

Kevin O'Regan (2 HR), Steve Ballas (3 Hits, 2 HR), and Jimmy Peters (3 Hits, 2 HR) led the potent Stadium attack while pitcher Dan Roderigues settled down nicely to pick up the win.

On a bright note, the Brewers Chris King made the catch of the year when he laid out for a sinking line drive in left.

The Stadium will now take on the Dawgs and hope their bats stay hot against the league's best pitching.