ON TO THE PLAYOFFS!
The last week of the regular season snuck up on us so quickly that we missed two full weeks of baseball updates! But not to fret, because the post-game recaps are back just in time for the autumnal equinox. With the threat of rain in the forecast, the dreamers wished and hoped for some good fortune that was grateful granted by the cosmos and the dreamers took the field for two key final matchups.
The first game featured the gleaming Gargoyles of House Garrison who sought to punch their ticket to a first round bye in the playoffs, but standing in their way were the resurgent Rainbow Rebellion of House Rouge who were hoping for a second consecutive regular season as the sprinkle on top of the Field of Dreamer cupcake! In the second game, the dungeon dweller Don Don Revolution of House Don were trying to spoil the prom for the crowd-pleaser Cuties of House Credit. Who would emerge as top of the pops? Well….
If you wanna know the results…
READ MORE TO FIND OUT!
Photo Credit: Victoria Barnett
ROUGE RIVER RAINBOW REBELLION @ GARRISON CREEK GARGOYLES
A matchup of two 2021 titans, the first game of the night featured the two teams who have already won the attendance award for the season – those loveable statues of Garrison Creek and those heartthrob hybrids of Rouge River.
From the onset, defence was going to play a big part in this tilt. In the first inning, Rouge sought to break away with a lead off hit by Matthew Koscic only to be stonewalled by the Garrison defence who made three stunning outs to end the threat. But the Rainbow Rebellion would not be held within the prism of Garrison and they too retired the side after a lead off single off the bat of Lucky Visvanathan. The second inning is where both teams did the bulk of their work this game. Leah Silverman laid the seed for the coming rebellion with a lead off single, followed by a bellowing triple off the bat of Terrance Luscombe, a drooping arc off the bat of Joey Bats, a sizzling shot care of Cutie sub Johann Juarez, and a resounding double from the returning Con Herrera. All-in-All the Rainbow Rebellion was blessed with a 5 run 2nd and staked themselves to a 5-0 lead.
The Gargoyles did not, however, stand idly by – though one would presume that is of their nature. Instead, loveable papa Stu started the inning with a double and was followed by a straight laced single off the bat of Siobhan Saravanamuttu, a hard rock double from the mighty Darren Puscas, and RBI single thanks to Nicole Bond, and a series of consecutive run-scoring swats thanks to Phill Morgan, Brittany Beaton, and Kirsten Dick! The score, was now just 5-4.
The third, fourth, and fifth innings meant a big time back and forth for these evenly matched teams with Rouge River pushing the lead to 8-4 and then Garrison Creek squeaking ahead 9-8.
By the 6th inning, Sarah Weinberger, Rhiannon Cobb, and Ryan Hayes helped to sparkle and blast the Rainbow Rebellion to a 12-9 lead and that is how the score stood in Garrison’s final at-bat – with an umpire, Don River’s Craig Fortier, finally arriving to provide some top-notch safe and out calls at the last minute. And true to their form, the Gargoyles did not let up. Molly Fremes, Victoria Barnett, and Kris Belben all plucked away pushing a run across the plate to make the score 12-10 – but there it would end – on an excellent defensive play to stop the rally.
With the win, Rouge River clinched 1st place for the regular season and the bye into the 2nd round of the playoffs on September 26th. Garrison Creek lurched their was into 2nd place and will compete at 9:30pm on September 19th for a bye into the Gold Medal game on October 3rd.
Final Score Rouge River 12 – Don River 10
DON RIVER DON DON REVOLUTION @ CREDIT RIVER CUTIES
In the night cap, the Don Don Revolution had a huge challenge to overcome even before taking the field. With 11 players confirmed to play as late as noon on game day, a slow and steady stream of players dropping off began to happen, 10, 9, 8 … as the call for subs went into the coordinating committee, the weather reports began to look more dire and we saw a greater drop off 7, 6, 5 … with 15 minutes before the start of the 8pm game, Don River was down to just two lowly players, team captains Jenny Chan and Craig Fortier. However, the spirit of the Field of Dreamers was alive and well that evening and members of the Garrison Creek Gargoyles not only filled an entire roster for the “lean” DDR, but also helped to bolster a short-on-players Credit River Cutie squad. In all 10 Garrison Creek players helped to avoid the first ever forfeit for lack of players in FOD history!
But you’re here to hear about the game – and what a game it was!! Perhaps the most defensively close game of the season, the second game this year where neither team scored double digits in runs, this was must see entertainment. In the first inning, the Credit River Cuties made some exceptional defensive plays led by a looker of a play by co-captain Oskar Eliashevsky and the always steady defense of Lainie Basman who snagged a sharp liner. In the bottom half of the first, Rachel Small opened up the hit parade with a stinging single and was promptly brought home thanks to back-to-back base hits by sub Sam Ponting and Fianna Dirks. After the first it was 1-0 Credit.
In the second inning, though, the DDR began dancing around the bases. With the Gargoylution coming to back, Stu Schussler, Lucky Visvanathan, Victoria Barnett, Brianna Greaves, and Molly Fremes all contributed to a two run outburst that would stem the tide and give DDR a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the second inning a lead off hit by Oskar Eliashevsky was quickly erased by a double play by the DDR and then the dancing queens of Don got a double by Darren Puscas and some key swats by Garoylutionaries to increase the score to 4-1.
The bottom of the third saw Darren Puscas sprint left-right-left-right-up-down-jump-and-slide to come up with an incredible catch in left field and those Cuties from Credit were left shut out once again 4-1 after 3.
In the fourth inning, however, Credit River began to light up! Subs Nicole Bond and Brittany Beaton teamed with long-time Creditors Johann Juarez and Lainie Basman to burst open the budget and throw a gala! A 5 run inning flipped the narrative and put Credit up 6-5.
The fifth and sixth innings resulted in some back and forths with a highlight diving defensive catch by Craig Fortier robbing Rachel Small of a chance to build on the lead and then some swift running by Jenny Chan helping credit to push the score to 8-7 by the bottom of the 7th inning with less than 7 minutes left in the game. The Cuties determined not to drop the game, saw Lainie Basman score with two outs on a Brittany Beaton fielder’s choice and then mount a final charge for the win. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, however, the Cuties grounded into an out – and the game ended in a Merle Davis Matthews approved TIE!
With the tie, Credit River clinched 3rd place in the regular season meaning that they will face Garrison Creek on September 19th at 9:30pm in a match that will determine who will get a bye into the GOLD MEDAL GAME on October 3rd. Don River had already locked in 5th place in the regular season and will face off against the Humber River Habeneros at 8pm on September 19th for a chance to enter the milk run to the championship GOLD MEDAL GAME.
Final Score Don River Don Don Revolution 8 – Credit River Cuties 8
See the game box scores here
See player stats here
See league standings here
MILESTONES
Credit River
Rachel Small– see oddities below!
Oskar Eliashevsky – see oddities below!
Johann Juarez – tied for 8th on the all-time list with 128 career singles!
Fianna Dirks – becomes 50th player in league history to reach 55 career hits!
Jo Jefferson – becomes 11th player in league history to reach 250 career at-bats!
Lainie Basman – becomes 11th player in league history to reach 120 career singles!
Don River
Jenny Chan – becomes the 4th player in league history to reach 325 career at-bats!
Craig Fortier – becomes the 3rd player in league history to reach 175 career singles (177)!
Humber River
No Humber River players played this week.
Rouge River
Sarah Weinberger – becomes the 50th player in league history to reach 90 career at-bats!
Con Herrera– see firsts below!
Terrance Luscombe – see oddities below!
Matthew Koscic – with 16 hits in 16 at-bats, becomes the longest player in league history to begin a career without recording an out!
Leah Silverman– becomes the 90th player in league history to reach 20 career hits!
Joseph Bautista – currently ranks 21st on the all-time list with 178 career at-bats!
Ryan Hayes – becomes 2nd player in league history to score 200 career runs (201)!
Rhiannon Cobb– currently tied for 118th on the all-time list with 11 career hits!
Garrison Creek
Victoria Barnett – becomes the 34th player in league history to reach 125 career at-bats (127)!
Phill Morgan – becomes the 26th player in league history to reach 105 career hits!
Darren Puscas – see oddities below!
Samantha Ponting– currently ranks 95th on the all-time list with 32 career at-bats!
Kirsten Dick – currently ranks 86th on the all-time list with 21 career hits!
Nicole Bond– currently tied for 79th on the all-time list with 12 career runs batted in!
Brittany Beaton– becomes the 125th player in league history to reach 10 career hits!
Molly Fremes– becomes the 102nd player in league history to reach 25 career at-bats!
Kris Belben– becomes the 101st player in league history to reach 15 career hits!
Lucky Visvanathan –currently tied for 69th on the all-time list with 16 career runs-batted in!
Brianna Greaves – becomes the 36th player in league history to reach 40 career runs scored!
Siobhan Saravanamuttu– currently tied for 111th place in league history with 11 career singles!
Stuart Schussler – ranks 14th on the all-time list with 9 career triples!
Subs
No subs played this week.
FIRSTS
Con Herrera (Rouge) – first career double, first career run batted in, first career run scored!
ODDITIES
A FULL 180!
Rachel Small (Credit River) and Darren Puscas (Garrison Creek) became the 10th and 11th players, respectively, to reach 180 career hits!
ROUTE 65!
Oskar Eliashevsky (Credit River) becomes the 65th player in league history to reach 65 career at-bats!
10/10
Terrance Luscombe (Rouge River) becomes the 10th player in league history to reach 10 career home runs!