AFTER A SLOW START TO THE SEASON EN FUEGO REBOUNDS AND DEFEATS STAC PAC TO WIN THE LEAGUE TITLE

November 25, 2008

LADERA RANCH FIELDS – FINAL: En Fuego 18, Stac Pac 10

En Fuego (8-4) finished the season off in a familiar place as League Champions by beating rival Stac Pac 18-10 to take the 2008 Fall SVUSD Tuesday night league title. The way the season went in the beginning was very unfamiliar for En Fuego. After struggling out of the gate En Fuego found themselves at (3-4) and on the outside looking in to the playoff picture. After disappointing losses to the Dirtbags (5-5), Ladera Sluggers (5-5), Phat Cobras (8-3) and Stac Pac (10-2) in the regular season En Fuego was able to turn their season around and win their final three regular season games to finish in 3rd place. After taking two seasons off from the Tuesday night league at Ladera Ranch, En Fuego found that the league had improved. “There is some new competition we had not faced before.” Said En Fuego Manager Craig Watkins “We haven’t been in this position very often.” With their back against the wall En Fuego battled to make the playoffs and would peak at the right time.

In the first round of the playoffs En Fuego would get the opportunity to avenge one of their regular season losses. The second seed Phat Cobras who beat En Fuego 16-14 in their only meeting could have only wondered who this “new” and improved En Fuego team was. En Fuego exploded for seventeen runs in the top half of the first inning. The Cobras answered back with six runs in the bottom of the first inning, but inevitably En Fuego would go on to win the game scoring fourteen more runs in the top of the second inning to lead 31-6. En Fuego would add ten runs in the top of the third to go ahead 41-10 and nine runs in the top of the fourth inning to make it an even 50 runs on the night for a new En Fuego single game record for runs scored. The Cobras slugged their way to twenty-five runs in the four inning 50-25 loss. “How often do you score twenty-five runs and lose the game?” Said Watkins. En Fuego collected eighteen hits in the first inning alone including a Justin Shultz home run. Shultz went 5-for-6 in the game with five RBI and was also the winning pitcher. Other top performers included James Verdi who hit a home run and drove in six runs, Vince Petruzzi who went a perfect 6-for-6 with five RBI and Jon Petke who went 5-for-6 with four doubles to tie the En Fuego single game record along with a game high nine RBI.

In the championship final En Fuego got what they wished for, another shot at long time rival Stac Pac. Stac Pac knocked of Running Men in their first round game. Running Men (6-6) had earlier upset TBS (6-5) to face off with Stac Pac in the semi-final game. In their regular season meeting with Stac Pac, a short handed En Fuego team had led the entire game when Stac Pac erupted for twelve runs in their last at bat en route to a 21-15 comeback victory. In the title game En Fuego jumped out to an early lead again scoring eleven runs in the first two innings to lead 11-1. En Fuego MVP Jerry Langner, who batted .750 on the season to lead the team, belted a three-run home run in the second inning to help extend the En Fuego lead. Stac Pac would close the gap to 11-5 after four innings. With two outs in the top of the fifth inning En Fuego rallied for five runs including three on Ryan Johnson’s bases clearing triple to give En Fuego a 16-5 lead going into the bottom of the fifth. Stac Pac would match that by scoring five runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning, but they could not manage any runs in the sixth and seventh innings. En Fuego held on for an 18-10 victory to win their sixth championship in eight seasons in the SVUSD Tuesday night league and 22nd league championship overall. With timely hitting, solid pitching, and defense En Fuego re-discovered themselves on their way to another championship.

En Fuego Milestones: September 11, 2008 Kevin Lorton collects his 800th career RBI in a 12-10 win over Sofa Kings…October 3, 2008 in Phoenix, AZ. Mike Kerr becomes the 5th player in En Fuego history to get his 1000th hit in a 21-8 win over OhDahorra…October 21, 2008 at Ladera Ranch Vince Petruzzi played in his 700th career game a 21-15 loss to Stac Pac…November 6, 2008 Corrie Willkie at Laguna Hills  becomes the 6th player in En Fuego history to reach 1000 hits in a 17-13 loss to JK Inc… November 11, 2008 Greg Reynolds at Ladera Ranch collected his 1000th career hit with En Fuego during a 21-14 win over the Mutts…November 25, 2008 at Ladera Ranch En Fuego breaks two single game team records in their 50-25 playoff win over the Phat Cobras; 50 runs scored and 47 RBI’s…Also on November 25, 2008 in the 50-25 win over the Phat Cobras Jon Petke doubles four times to tie the single game record held by Petruzzi, Kevin Lorton, Reynolds and Jason Santoro…En Fuego finished the 2008 year sitting at 599 career wins…overall since 1995 they are 599-260-12 .695 with 22 league championships and 13 tournament titles.

EN FUEGO SOFTBALL CLUB

2008 FALL TUESDAY NIGHT LADERA RANCH LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

Top Row (L to R): Corrie Willkie, Vince Petruzzi, Jon Petke, Jason Martnick, Ryan Johnson, Greg Reynolds, Kevin Lorton.
Bottom Row (L to R): Jimmy Bobst, James Verdi, Justin Shultz, Jerry Langner, Craig Watkins.

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