Spice District Roosters @ Saffron Turtles (Game Three)
Pitching for Spice District: LHP Sylas Lang (13-13, 4.13 ERA)
Pitching for Saffron: RHP Luke Zuidgeest (15-13, 3.90 ERA)
The Drop.
It's the bottom of the 6th and the Turtles are up 2-0. They've finally broken through their scoring drought but they're not expecting anything here.
There's two outs and no one on base. Pitcher Luke Zuidgeest is up to bat and has got it to a full count. He hits it weakly to SS Dex Kruys, goes to run it out but trips, 1B Neil Spurrier gets momentarily distracted and the ball goes into his glove and jumps right out behind him. Zuidgeest realises what's happening and makes the dash to first before Spurrier can recover.
Roosters Pitcher Sylas Lang is steaming. It should have been a routine end to the inning but now he's got a runner to deal with. He then proceeds to give away a single, a walk, and two more singles and the Turtles now have a 5-0 lead. Lang gets pulled, and the Turtles score another run for good measure. 6-0
The Roosters never recover and the Turtles notch up a win to avoid elimination.
Dustland Sharks @ Sugar Factory Elephants (Game Three)
Pitching for Dustland: RHP Nick Pettersen (11-13, 4.33 ERA)
Pitching for Sugar Factory: RHP Gabe Wallman (10-17, 5.03 ERA)
The series shifts to Sugar Factory but the runs are still scarce. The game is decided in two moments: an boomer of a home run from 1B Elias Ballard who sends the ball 431ft to get the Elephants on the board in the 2nd, and the 6th when RF Patrick Wright (him of 22 speed 6'2" and 210 pounds) runs faster than he ever has before for an inside-the-park home run that sends the crowd into a tizzy.
In between these times, the Sharks hit two doubles in succession to score a run but they can't get the hits to flow and lose the advantage in the series. The Elephants now lead 2-1.
Spice District Roosters @ Saffron Turtles (Game Four)
Pitching for Spice District: RHP Jared Way (25-8, 2.49 ERA)
Pitching for Saffron: RHP Adam Brookshire (17-12, 3.09 ERA)
Jared Way and Adam Brookshire put on a show. Unlike the last time Brookshire took the mound the runs don't flow easily from the Rooster bats. The game is devoid of extra base hits, a double from each team is the only exception.
The first run came at the top of the 2nd as SS Dex Kruys hammers a ball hard for a double perfectly in between the Left and Center Fielder. It gives enough time for RF Roman Karabanov to make it home from 1st, beating the throw from Turtles CF Jayden DeNiro.
Run number two comes at the top of the 8th when Tommy Glass smacks a groundball straight past the first baseman. C Jack Bevilacqua makes the run home and has so much time that the Right Fielder doesn't even bother making the throw. 2-0 Roosters.
The Turtles strike back in the bottom of the 8th. Jared Way, well past 100 pitches at this point hits 2B Russ Gawlick with the pitch. CF Jayden DeNiro gets him over to a third with a nicely placed single and Gawlick is able to score on the very next pitch on a sac fly.
Way is still pitching at the bottom of the 9th and visibly tiring. He gets one out, but after 9 pitches in one at-bat ends it with a walk. He strikes out the next on three pitches but gets another hit by pitch to get another runner on base. He finally gets pulled and reliever Hank Reilly makes his post-season debut and the final out of the night. That's it. A 2-1 victory for the Roosters and a trip to the COBRA Cup.
Jared Way is awarded the Series MVP trophy.
Dustland Sharks @ Sugar Factory Elephants (Game Four)
Pitching for Dustland: RHP Jaxon Darnall (24-10, 2.21 ERA)
Pitching for Sugar Factory: RHP Nolan McLeod (16-9, 2.96 ERA)
Jaxon Darnall has been a force of nature all season. A no-hitter, the ERA crown, and two pitcher of the month awards speak for themselves. Unfortunately his main takeaway of the season is probably only going to be the Bottom of the Fourth in this elimination game.
Something snapped in this inning and the unhittable became plain-old hittable. He was suddenly been hit all over the field, as nearly every hitter that came up sent a hit everywhere there wasn't a fielder. They were only singles but a death by a thousand cuts is still a death. Soon. A 1-all game was 6-1 to the Elephants and Darnall still had two outs to get to end the inning. He was pulled.
The Elephants will get one more run in the game to make it 7-1 but the Sharks were stunned. And they were eliminated.
Darnall fought back tears as he tried to explain what happened to the press.
