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August
8, 2006
LADERA
RANCH FIELDS – FINAL: En Fuego 23, Free Agents 22
It
seems En Fuego has left their 2006 spring season struggles behind
and has developed a knack for some late inning rallies in tight
playoff and championship competition. As they did in their summer
Thursday league championship game at Laguna Hills two weeks earlier,
En Fuego once again rallied their way to another title. They win
their 15th league championship in team history and second in three
seasons in the Tuesday night SVUSD league at Ladera Ranch Fields,
beating Free Agents 23-22 in an instant classic nine inning battle.
The fourth seeded Free Agents (4-7-1) had earlier upset the number
one seed, Stac Pac (9-2) for the right to play En Fuego for the
championship. En Fuego (10-2) beat Loose Cannons (5-6) 11-3 to reach
the final game.
In
the first inning of the final game, Free Agents scored six times to
jump out to an early lead. En Fuego scored three times in the bottom
half of the first to cut the lead in half. In the bottom of the
second, Corrie Willkie of En Fuego
hit the first of his three home runs in the game and brought En
Fuego within one run of the Free Agents 7-6. After five innings of
play En Fuego remained close yet the Free Agents seemed in control
playing solid defense and getting the timely hits.
En
Fuego trailing the entire game were down 12-11 when Free Agents put
four more runs on the board in the top of the sixth inning to extend
their lead to 16-11. En Fuego would need another late inning rally
to get back into the game. Their recent penchant for deciding games
in the latter innings would continue. In the bottom of the sixth
inning En Fuego scored nine runs on eight hits including three home
runs to take the lead for the first time 20-16. In the game En Fuego
belted five home runs, the three by Willkie and one each by Cesar
Reyes and Jason Hogan.
In
the top of the seventh inning Free Agents had a rally of their own
scoring five times to steal the lead right back. In the bottom of
the seventh, En Fuego, trailing again 21-20, needed another clutch
hit from Willkie. He delivered leading off the inning with a solo
blast to left field to tie the score at 21-21. That was all En Fuego
could get and the game headed into extra innings. In the top of the
eighth Free Agents scored one run to lead by one again 22-21.
Needing to score a run to stay alive, En Fuego would do just that.
Second baseman Mike Kerr who went
4-for-4 in the game and scored four runs led off the inning with a
double and scored on a Jason Hogan single to tie the score again at
22-22. With no outs and runners on first and second En Fuego was
unable to score again in the inning as Free Agents got out of the
jam with some key defensive plays.
In
the ninth and final inning Free Agents were unable to break the tie
as third baseman Jason England had
not one, but two defensive gems. His two diving efforts on
shots down the line and in the hole killed any chance the Free
Agents had to start a rally. The one-two-three inning kept
the score tied and En Fuego needed only one run for the victory. In
the bottom of the ninth with one out En Fuego outfielder Kevin
Lorton singled setting the stage for Willkie once again.
Willkie’s clutch single to leftfield scored the speedy Lorton from
first base to make En Fuego the 2006 Summer SVUSD Tuesday night
league champions.
Including
the game winner, Willkie drove in eight runs in the game. “Willkie
was at his best tonight.” “He clutched up big time.” Said
manager Craig Watkins. “This was a
great team win for En Fuego. No one quit playing hard and we all
believed we could win it.” |
