The Full Moon Playoff Round 1
Under the full moon in pisces, the Field of Dreamers assembled for the start of the 4th playoff tournament in league history. With the weather perfect for ball, the Don River Don Don Revolution stepped onto the field hoping to punch their dance card to face the top seeded Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion. Meanwhile, the Humber River Habaneros were looking to catch fire and run their way through the playoffs. In the night cap, the Credit River Cuties were hoping to catwalk their way to the Gold Medal Game, but standing in their way was the Garrison Creek Gargoyles, who have stood tall all season long.
If you wanna know the results…
READ MORE TO FIND OUT!
Photo Credit: Victoria Barnett
DON RIVER DON DON REVOLUTION @ HUMBER RIVER HABANEROS
The DDR and Habaneros may have occupied the fifth and fourth seeds respectively over the regular season, but both teams were coalescing at an opportune time. As the needle hit the record on the playoffs, the DDR came out dancing, with a solid single from TG Wong, but no sooner had the bass dropped, that a sharp shot off the bat of Tamara Daley resulted in a beautiful executed 6-4-3 double plan by the scorching chilis of Alie Hermanutz and Andy Smith!
Meanwhile, in the bottom of the 1st, Humber River skipped right over the jalapenos, tabasco, and cayenne and jolted the Scoville scale to max effort. Annelies Cooper, Yassi Aghazadeh, Karl Gardner, Robyn Letson, and Andy Smith all smoked around the bases to give their team a commanding 5-0 lead. The second inning saw Devin Clancy cork a double that had the arch of a thai green chili and at the end of 2 innings, the score was Humber 6-Don 0.
The third inning got the DDR back on the dance floor like a Whitney Houston song at your cousin’s wedding. Rachele Clemente got things started with a lead off single, then MJ Rwigema doubled to plate Don’s first run. It was then a hit parade with Ruth Wilson, Jenn Ma and Kay Ma getting on base to get blasted in by a double off the bat of Kay McGregor-Bales and a triple off the bat of Tamara Daley. The DDR had evened up the score 6-6. With a return to even, the Habaneros knew it meant that it was time to stop taking the seeds out of the chilis and make some VERY HOT SAUCE. Yasmeen Peer’s clutch ground out moved Andy Smith and Alie Hermanutz into scoring position where Jeffrey Ansloos (who led the team with 6 runs batted in!) doubled in both runners and then was knocked in a subsequent scorcher off the bat of Kevin Nguyen. At the end of 3 innings the score was now 9-6 for Humber.
The fourth inning saw the Humber defence sizzle particularly Yassi Aghazadeh who snagged a blast off the bat of Rachele Clemente at the hot corner. Humber then built on their lead in the bottom of the inning thanks to an almost home-run off the bat of Karl Gardner that forced the umps to make a tough call and a slicing double off the bat of Robyn Letson that forced the DDR to scramble. By the end of the 4th inning, Humber extended their lead 13-6. The fifth inning saw the two teams trade 2 runs each to go into the final frame with a 15-8 score.
In the 6th and final inning, DDR’s co-captain Jenny Chan assembled all those in ear shot and started humming a tune that perhaps, if we prayed on it, Don River’s “miracle playlist” would give them the hits they needed to score 8. Craig Fortier led the inning off with a single and then a fly out off the bat of Rachele Clemente meant one out. But MJ Rwigema, Ruth Wilson, Kay Ma, TG Wong, Tamara Daley, Kaleigh M-B, Kasey Walmsley, Jenn Ma, and Jenny Chan all consecutively had hit singles. This meant it was a tie score with Craig Fortier hitting for the second time in the inning. The Humber outfield backed up a number of paces and the pitch was hit with a mighty swat, only to lightly loop in front of the pitcher and then deaden in the dirt anti-climactically – but a run came in and the DDR got off the dancefloor so fast you would assume that the DJ just announced the next track would be a Jack Harlo “hit”.
With 7 minutes left, DDR needed to get three outs, without giving up a run to beat Humber – or the score would revert back to the previous inning! It didn’t start promisingly for Don as Alie Hermanutz beat out a ground ball to short for a single. Alie was moved to second on a fielder’s choice. Then moved to third again on a fielder’s choice. It was tying run on third with 2 outs, with 2 minutes left in the game. The swing off the bat was a ball of fire to short stop that was dug out of the ground by Craig Fortier and then launched, a little too low, to MJ Rwigema at first who scooped the ball at the last second before the runner hit first….and shockingly DDR won!
Don River will move on to face Rouge River in the 8pm game on September 26th.
Humber River moved to the relegation stream and would face the losing team of Credit vs. Garrison on September 26th at 9:30pm.
Final Score Don River 16 – Humber River 15
CREDIT RIVER CUTIES @ GARRISON CREEK GARGOYLES
In the night cap, the Credit River Cuties date card was filled up with the loveliest of players as they faced the always formidable Gargoyles. The winner of the match would go straight to the Gold Medal Game on October 3rd, while the losing team would meet up with Humber in the relegation stream.
The Cuties took a slim advantage in the first inning thanks to singles by Rachel Small and Jenni Klonteig and an RBI off the beautiful bat of Oskar Eliashevsky. They then retreated to the field where they stopped Garrison Creek from scoring thanks to a strong snag by Sarah Peek and a sweet play by Jo Jefferson. At the end of the first, Credit River led 1-0. The Cuties piled on significantly in the 2nd inning with RBIs from Fianna Dirks that gave Credit River a 6-0 lead going into the bottom of the 2nd. The Gargoyles however, would awaken from their perch and fly around the diamond in search of home. Victoria Barnett had a hustle double, Darren Puscas had a solid single, Nicole Bond swatted a skyhigh single, Glenn Gaviller belted a rock strong liner, and then Phill Morgan orbited the bases and with that swing the score was now 6-5 for Credit.
In the third inning the Cuties re-applied their lip liner and got some pretty defence from Cristina Jaimungal, and some much needed offence from Shannon Dunham, Claudia Calabro, Niloo Golkar, and Noah Adams. The Gargoyles responded with nerves of steel (and concrete) and Stu Schussler, Brittany Beaton, and Samantha Ponting traded singles that lined them up for RBIs off the bats of Kris Belben and Lucky Visvanathan. After 3 innings the score was Credit River 9 – Garrison Creek 7.
The fourth inning saw the teams trade 4 run spots with Molly Fremes crossing the plate for the final time for the gleaming Gargoyles who were stopped by an excellent defensive play by Rachel Small to prevent Garrison from maxxing out their 5 runs. After the fourth inning the score was Credit River 13 – Garrison Creek 11. The Gargoyles stood up those Cuties, however, in the fifth inning with a great defensive grab by Darren Puscas and some heads up throws by Nicole Bond, and then scored another run to narrow the score to Credit 13 – Garrison 12.
However, the Cuties ran away with the ball in the sixth and final inning, scoring 5 runs and leaving Garrison with only 4 minutes to make a miracle happen. But it wasn’t in the stars this evening and the rock hard hitting of the Gargoyles couldn’t find space within the pageantry of Credit River’s defence.
With the win, Credit River becomes the first team to secure their spot in the GOLD MEDAL GAME on October 3rd – meaning they will have a week off next week.
Garrison Creek will face off against Humber River at 9:30pm on September 26th in Round 2 of the playoffs!
Final Score Credit River 18 – Garrison Creek 12
See the game box scores here
See player stats here
See league standings here
MILESTONES
Credit River
Rachel Small– becomes the 7th player in league history to reach 155 career singles!
Oskar Eliashevsky – becomes the 49th player in league history to reach 25 career runs batted in!
Claudia Calabro – see firsts!
Fianna Dirks – ranks 24th on the all-time list with 16 career doubles!
Jo Jefferson – becomes 8th player in league history to reach 130 career singles!
Lainie Basman – becomes 50th player in league history to reach 5 career doubles!
Niloo Golkar – becomes 23rd player in league history to reach 90 career singles!
Shannon Dunham – becomes 134th player in league history to reach 14 career at-bats!
Cristina Jaimungal – becomes 149th player in league history to reach 10 career at-bats!
Sarah Peek – currently tied for 67th on the all-time list with 36 career hits!
Jenni Klonteig – becomes 103rd player in league history to reach 15 career hits!
Noah Adams – becomes 39th player in league history to reach 70 career hits (71)!
Don River
Jenny Chan – becomes the 11th player in league history to reach 90 runs batted in!
Craig Fortier – becomes the 1st player in league history to reach 250 runs scored!
TG Wong – becomes 94th player in league history to reach 10 runs scored!
Tamara Daley – becomes 32nd player in league history to reach 2 career triples!
Kay Ma – becomes 111th player in league history to reach 12 career singles!
Kay McGregor-Bales – see firsts!
Jenn Ma – becomes 132nd player in league history to reach 4 career runs batted in!
Rachele Clemente – ranks 2nd on the all-time Don River list for at-bats with 82!
MJ Rwigema – becomes 87th player in league history to reach 2 career doubles!
Ruth Wilson– becomes 151st player in league history to reach 5 career hits!
Humber River
Devin Clancy – currently tied for 13th on the all-time list with 27 career doubles!
Yassi Aghazadeh – becomes the 94th player in league history to reach 17 career singles!
Annelies Cooper – becomes 4th player in league history to reach 175 career singles (176)!
Karl Gardner – ranks 3rd on the all-time list with 22 career triples!
Robyn Letson – ranks 21st on the all-time list with 119 career hits!
Andy Smith – becomes 10th player in league history to reach 35 career doubles!
Alie Hermanutz – becomes 41st player in league history to reach 35 career runs batted in!
Yasmeen Peer – see firsts!
Jeffrey Ansloos – becomes 51st player in league history to reach 5 career doubles!
Kevin Nguyen – becomes 111th player in league history to reach 22 career at-bats!
Rouge River
No Rouge players played this week.
Garrison Creek
Victoria Barnett – becomes the 30th player in league history to reach 10 career doubles!
Phill Morgan – currently tied for 8th on the all-time list with 12 career home runs!
Darren Puscas – currently ranks 10th on the all-time list with 184 carer hits!
Samantha Ponting– see firsts!
Kirsten Dick – curently tied for 85th on the all-time list with 22 career hits!
Nicole Bond– currently tied for 86th on the all-time list with 37 career at-bats!
Brittany Beaton– becomes the 105th player in league history to reach 24 career at-bats!
Molly Fremes– currently tied for 104th on the all-time list with 14 career hits!
Kris Belben– becomes the 95th player in league history to reach 10 career runs scored!
Lucky Visvanathan –becomes 50th player in league history to reach 5 career doubles!
Glenn Gaviller – becomes the 115th player in league history to reach 20 career at-bats!
Stuart Schussler – becomes 15th player in league history to reach 80 career runs batted in!
Subs
No subs played this week.
FIRSTS
Claudia Calabro (Credit) – first career run batted in!
Kay McGregor-Bales (Don) – first career double!
Yasmeen Peer (Humber) – first career run batted in!
Sam Ponting (Garrison) – first career double!