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CHRONICLE
SPORTS
Marathon Men
Harwich Outlasts Orleans 1-0 In
18-Inning Classic To Capture East Division Championship
Eric Adler
HARWICH — Just in case there was ever
any doubt, the Harwich Mariners proved once and for all they really are
“on the grind, all the time.”
Fighting fatigue and
frustration, the Mariners lived up to their self-professed slogan and
ended a four-hour and 26-minute marathon with a wild 1-0, 18-inning
victory over Orleans to capture the East Division championship at
Whitehouse Field Sunday night.
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| A pumped-up Shaver Hansen reacts to
Harwich’s 1-0 18-inning victory over Orleans in Sunday’s
East Division championship series. The Mariners swept the
Cardinals 2-0 to earn their first trip to the CCBL finals
since 1997. ERIC ADLER PHOTO. |
“I’ve never been part of a game like this
before. I’ve never even watched a game as long as this before,” marveled
Harwich first baseman Brandon Belt. “It was crazy, but it was well worth
it.”
Harwich’s
2-0 series sweep over the Cardinals gave the club their first East
Division title since 1997. The Mariners face West champion Cotuit in a
best-of-three battle for the CCBL title. Game two, today (Thursday), is
at Harwich at 7 p.m
“It feels unbelievable to be East
champs,” said outfielder Brian Kemp. “I’m on cloud nine. I couldn’t be
happier.”
In a game that featured
nearly flawless fielding and a CCBL season-high six double plays, it
was, ironically, an error that decided the outcome.
With his centerfielder and shortstop
converging on him, Orleans left field Angelo Songco dropped a fly ball
hit off Belt’s bat that allowed Brian Kemp (2-for-5) to score from
second.
“I feel bad for Songco, he’s a good
player and he had a great summer,” Harwich Field Manager Steve Englert
said. “You hate to win like that, but a win is a win and you’ll take it
any way you can.”
Only a fraction of the 4,629 fans
remained until the operatic end at 11:27 p.m., but those who stayed all
386 minutes saw a total of 29 strikeouts and a scoreboard so replete
with zeroes it resembled a computer code.
Harwich’ s Billy Bullock and Orleans’
Matt Thompson set the tone with spectacular starting pitching. Thompson
allowed three hits and struck out eight over seven-and-a-third, while
Bullock allowed five hits and issued only one walk over nine fabulous
frames.
“Orleans has seen me a few
times this season, they know my fastball,” said Bullock. “My change-up
saved my life tonight.”
So did the right arm of
Tommy Medica. The Mariners’ left fielder gunned down Songco on a
potential sacrifice fly to keep the game scoreless in the seventh. So
stellar was Medica’s hurl home that Cape League Commissioner Paul Galop
called it the most major league throw he’s ever seen.
Opportunities abounded for
both teams in the ensuing innings, but nothing materialized, as Harwich
stranded a total of 13 runners, while Orleans left nine aboard.
Mike Murphy and Travis
Tartamella hit two-out singles to rally the red birds in the 10th,
but reliever Willie Kempf struck out Shaun Kort to turn Orleans away.
The Cardinals threatened
again in the 11th when Matt Brown was hit by a pitch and Alex
Hassan singled to right. But Steve Kalush, on the first pitch he threw,
got Nate Freiman to hit into a 4-6-3 double-play, one of four
twin-killers the Mariners recorded.
Harwich loaded the bases
in the home half of the inning when Kemp doubled, Medica (2-for-7) was
intentionally walked and Joe Sanders drew a free pass. But Adam Wilk
struck out DH Andrew Giobbi to force another frame.
The Cardinals wasted another chance in
the 12th after Kyle Spraker, who doubled and later advanced
to third, couldn’t come home. Harwich squandered a good shot of its own
in the inning, as Hassan, who started the game in centerfield and
entered in relief, got a strikeout and a ground out to retire the side
with two runners on base.
The war of attrition continued, with
Hassan, who struck out five over six-and-two-thirds, and Kalush, who
allowed only one hit in five-and-a-third, facing the minimum number of
batters in the 14th and 15th innings.
The Cardinals last best
chance to score came in the 17th when Hassan (2-for-6) drew a
leadoff walk and was sacrificed to second by Songco. Harwich righty Sean
Black got Gary Brown to fly out to left, however.
In the 18th, Kemp’s two-out
single to left followed by Medica’s infield single seemed like it was
just another tease, especially after Belt hit a lazy fly ball to left.
Songco appeared to secure the sphere at first, but a second later, it
slipped out of his glove, giving Harwich the lone digit it was looking
for.
Prior to that, Harwich was
held for 25 consecutive innings without a run, dating back to the team’s
four-run first in their 4-3 win over Orleans in game one of the East
championship series Saturday night.
Desperate for a run, the Mariners tried
every ordinary and eccentric off-the-field antic they could imagine.
They wore rally caps and their jerseys backward, they even donned Dixie
Cups on their ears while twirling Twislers.
“We’re nuts, our team is
messed up in the head,” joked Bullock. “We tried it all, but I think
that’s a testament to the will of our guys who never give up.”
The resilience of both clubs resulted
in the longest CCBL post-season game in recent memory, and the two teams
came within two innings of repeating their 20-inning affair in 2003, the
longest game in the modern history of the Cape League, won 3-2 by
Harwich.
“The whole game we didn’t
quit,” said Englert when asked how his team was able to pull through.
“This game is exactly the way our whole season has gone. We’re on the
grind all the time, and we found a way to win.”
Earlier in the night, Falmouth beat
Cotuit to force a third and decisive game of the West championship
series, which gave Harwich a much-needed day off Monday.
“I’m going to sit on the beach all day
and do nothing,” said Englert.
Make that “on the grind” 99 percent of
the time.
Hoover’s
Heroics Leads Harwich To Game One Win Over Orleans
by Eric Adler
ORLEANS — In their first
playoff game in 11 years, the Harwich Mariners wasted no time making up
for lost time.
Joe Sanders hit a three-run home run in
the first inning, starter J.J. Hoover struck out 12 in a performance
that was nothing short of splendid, and Harwich survived a late scare to
top Orleans 4-3 in game one of the CCBL East Division championship
series at Eldredge Park Saturday night.
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Joe Sanders gets a
hand from Tommy Medica after hitting a three-run home run in
the first inning in Harwich’s 4-3 win over Orleans Saturday.
ERIC ADLER PHOTO. |
“Hoover was a horse, and
he’s had a solid outing every time he’s taken the mound this summer,”
Harwich Field Manager Steve Englert said. “And Joe has come up with some
huge hits for us this year. There’s no question he’s one of our MVPs.”
The team’s actual MVP, DJ
LeMahieu (.290, 13 RBIs) was recently diagnosed with mononucleosis and
went home over the weekend. But the Mariners, who finished the regular
season winning five of their last six games, didn’t miss a beat without
their all-star shortstop.
Shaver Hansen doubled to
lead off the game, moved over on an error and scored on Tommy Medica’s
slow-rolling infield hit. Two batters later, Sanders sent Brad Stillings’
2-2 offering over the fence in right centerfield to quickly put the
Mariners in front 4-0.
“He [Stillings] threw fastballs the
entire at-bat, and I was able to connect on one and thankfully it got
out,” said Sanders of his fifth home run of the year and first away from
home.
The early cushion comforted Hoover, who
struck out Angelo Songco and Kyle Spraker to get out of a bases loaded
jam in the first, and the West Virginia righty fanned Songco to stymie
the Cardinals who had runners in scoring position in the third.
“A lead like that just
relaxes you. You can go out and pitch your game and it’s low pressure,”
said Hoover, who held Orleans to six hits and two runs (one earned) in
seven innings. “I felt real good, my stuff was working tonight.
Sometimes you don’t have the stuff, but I had all four pitches working,
my fastball, curve ball, slider and change up.”
Orleans put its first run on the board
in the sixth when Mike Murphy hit a two-out solo homer to right-center.
The Cardinals used that momentum, and a little bit of luck, to score two
more in the eighth.
Alex Hassan (3-for-4) singled down the
first base line, moved up on Nate Freiman’s first-pitch swinging single
off reliever Willie Kempf, and scored when Songco’s shot back up the box
took a bad bounce off Hansen. Spraker followed with a sacrifice fly to
center to make it a 4-3 game, but Steve Kalush closed the door on the
Cardinals with a 1-2-3 ninth.
“It’s so important to get
that first one,” summed up Englert.
In retrospect, it was
equally important that Harwich put up as many runs as they did early, as
the Mariners managed just one hit after their first-inning fireworks.
That was as much a credit to Stillings, who fanned four over six innings
and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third, as it was Orleans right
fielder Tim Wheeler, who robbed Sanders of a second home run in the
eighth with a leaping catch at the wall.
Wheeler’s web gem drew
the most cheers from the Cardinals’ fans, but the Mariners’ faithful had
the last laugh after witnessing Harwich’s first post-season win since
1997.
“The past is the past and
there’s nothing you can do about it,” Englert said. “I’m just happy for
the people of Harwich and glad they didn’t give up on me after we had
such a bad season last year.”
Harwich went 14-28-2 last
summer, but that seems like eons ago with the team red hot and on a
seemingly unstoppable streak.
“Guys come up here to
showcase their talent,” said Hoover, “but I think the special thing
about our team is that we want to win, and we’re here to win it all.”
8/14/08 |
