Monday, October 26, 2093
2093 IPA Pro Cup Series - Game 6
FINALLY - SUMMERLAND IS IPA PRO CUP CHAMP
It took Summerland 92 seasons to finally win a Pro Cup Trophy. The Sunsets prevailed this year in 2093 by defeating the Valka Blackhawks four games to two in the Pro Cup Series. Summerland wrapped it up in game six at home, but they had to come back from a 5-3 deficit by scoring single runs in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings. The Sunsets finally subdued the Blackhawks 6-5 when pinch hitter Dave Dunphy (.500 BA/2 RBI) with two away and no one on base got a base hit in the bottom of the 8th frame and was doubled in by Gerrit Maas with the biggest hit of his career.
Summerland drew first blood in the opening inning when Boogie Bonham singled in Gerrit Maas with the first run of the game. Billy Joe Dwyer tied it up in the Valka 3rd with an RBI single, then Bulldog Byers blasted a 3-run homer boosting them into the lead 4-1. Summerland retaliated in the 3rd on an RBI single by Lucien Legrand and sac fly by Rik De Graaf, narrowing the Blackhawks lead to 4-3. Two scoreless frames followed until the top of the 6th when Jose Vasque made it 5-3 with a run-scoring hit that brought in Raphael Paquet. Not to be outdone the Sunsets came right back and made it 5-4 in the bottom half of the inning. Pinch hitter Billy Trublood plated Aaron Quade on a sacrifice fly ball. Summerland was blessed by good bullpen work from Duke Snijder and Gary Glanville. They blanked the Blackhawks the final 3 frames. Boogie Bonham boomed a big homer in the last of the 7th and deadlocked the score at 5-all, setting the stage for the sensational bottom of the 8th.
Duke Snijder (3-0/1.26 ERA/2 saves/11 RA/14 IP) notched the win with 2 innings of runless ball. Gary Glanville (1-1/1.64 ERA/1 save/8 RA/11 IP) finished off Valka with a perfect 1-2-3 top ot the 9th and logged the save. Eric Schuman (2-1/3.72 ERA/1 save/11 RA/19 IP) suffered the loss. It just wasn't his day. The Sunsets slammed him for 3 hits and the Pro Cup-winning score in the last of the 8th frame.
Summerland's offense stepped it up when they had to. The Sunsets socked 13 hits, led by Boogie Bonham (.353 BA/3 HR/14 RBI) with 3 hits, including his 3rd postseason homer. Four players cracked 2 hits apiece --- Gerrit Maas (.306 BA/2 HR/13RBI), Norris Chance (.273 BA/2 RBI), Lucien Legrand (.263 BA/6 RBI) and Hennie Hendriks (.237 BA/1 HR/8 RBI) with 2 two-baggers. Valka collected 9 hits, sparked by Bulldog Byers' (.227 BA/3 HR/13 RBI) 3-run rap, his 3rd playoff roundtripper. Billy Joe Dwyer (.386 BA/1 HR/6 RBI) and Jose Vasque (.207 BA/1 RBI) helped out with the other 2 ribbies.
Triumphant Summerland manager Jayson Hallstrom was beaming at the press conference, praising everybody in sight. "We won it primarily with our bats. Quade, Bonham, Maas and Van Dalen were our RBI guys. Even our pinch hitters were great, going 9 for 19 in the playoffs with 5 RBIs all coming at critical times. I can't say enough about Trueblood, Dunphy and Getchell. Ditto for the bullpen. Snijder, Glanville and Easterwood really did the job for us. And our starters always kept us in the game. It truly was a team effort. If we had hit like this in the previous years we made the playoffs, we might have 2 or 3 more Pro Cups".
Valka skipper Oleg Kotli echoed Hallstrom. "Their bullpen made the difference in the series. I was also impressed with the hitters, too. All were tough outs". Kotli added, "It's been a great season. But it is really heartbreaking to come this close to a Pro Cup Trophy and not get it." Sadly, the 92-year Pro Cup drought continues in Valka.
Kotli made no mention that he was missing two first stringers. We'll never know how it would have come out with shortstop Kolya Baturin (.286 BA/26 HR/81 RBI/89 R) and left fielder Timon Holmsten (.278 BA/14 HR/70 RBI/69 R) in the Blackhawk batting order. Prior to their season-ending injuries, Baturin was having a sensational postseason, batting a torrid .442 with 5 homers and 16 RBIs in just 10 games. Holmsten stood out with a .348 BA and 9 ribbies in 11 games.
