PLAYOFFS: Week 3
60's DIVISION
Wholesale Outlet Refuses to Go Home
Three games, and by the end of the day one team had punched its ticket to advance twice over, one team stayed perfect, and one team's season came to a close after a brutal doubleheader.
New Dawn Awning 21, Efficient Energy 16
New Dawn jumped out early and never trailed, building a 16-10 cushion through four innings and pushing it to 21-10 after five. Efficient Energy wasn't done, though — the bottom of the order came alive for a 6-run final frame that pulled them within five, but New Dawn had banked too much of a lead to give it back. The win keeps New Dawn unbeaten through two rounds of the postseason.
Wholesale Outlet 24, Hayes Auto Sales 17
This one had more lead changes than a Sunday news show. Hayes came out swinging, up 4-3 after one, but Wholesale answered to lead 7-5. Hayes clawed the game level at 10-10 through three, then surged back in front 14-10 after four — their biggest lead of the day. Wholesale finally seized control for good with a 9-run sixth inning to pull away, 24-17.
Wholesale Outlet 27, Efficient Energy 16
Same day, same result for Wholesale. Efficient actually hung within four (20-16) heading to the sixth, but Wholesale answered with 7 more runs to close it out. The sweep of a doubleheader — first Hayes, then Efficient — caps a remarkable turnaround: Wholesale dropped its playoff opener to New Dawn back on August 18th, and has now reeled off three straight elimination-bracket wins to keep its season alive.
That doubleheader appears to spell the end of the road for Efficient Energy, who went down swinging in both games (16 runs in each) but couldn't find enough outs on the other side of the ball.
The Big Bats
Nobody in either division had a bigger day than Rodney Johnson of Wholesale Outlet, who went a combined 9-for-9 across the doubleheader with 4 doubles, a triple, and 10 RBI — including an 8-RBI outburst in the win over Hayes. His teammate Paul Supat matched him hit-for-hit at 8-for-8 with a home run and 6 RBI, and Bobby Delgado added two home runs of his own, one of them an inside-the-park three-run shot, on his way to 8 RBI on the day. Terry Barrow quietly matched Johnson's RBI total with 10 of his own. It's safe to say Wholesale's lineup carried this team back from the brink.
On the losing side, Efficient Energy's bats were nothing to be ashamed of — Greg Blom (7-for-8), Ricky Ishimuru (6-for-7, 5 RBI) and Jarvis Quenga (5-for-7, 6 RBI) all had strong days at the plate even as the team dropped both games. Over in the winners' bracket, Michael Kendall (Hayes) and Will Myers and Butch Maciel (New Dawn) all went a perfect 4-for-4.
60’s hitting: Just like our weather lately, sometimes it’s hot and sometimes not
Several of these are drawn from small playoff samples (as few as six or seven at-bats), so the extremes should be read as trends worth watching rather than settled fact.
Three weeks into the postseason, the numbers are starting to separate the hitters who've raised their game from the ones still waiting for their bats to catch up. Nobody has come further than Efficient Energy's Tim Webb, who was a modest .605 hitter during the regular season and has turned into an automatic hit machine, hitting .923 across the playoffs. He's not alone on that side of the ledger, either — teammates Greg Blom and Darrell Heim have also seen their numbers jump, which says a lot about how Efficient Energy's lineup has managed to keep every game against them competitive even while the team's record has gone the other way.
On the other end, Hayes Auto Sales has quietly gone cold as a group who had a solid regular-season lineup that fell off significantly in the postseason. This is a bummer for a team who played great ball until late August.
And then there's the group that never needed a second gear to begin with. New Dawn Awning's Butch Maciel and Will Myers were already excellent hitters and have simply kept being excellent — both are hitting 1.000 through the playoffs. Efficient Energy's 3-4-5 hitters, Darrell Heim, Jarvis Quenga, and Ricky Ishimuru, round out the "still dominant" club, proof that a team can lose two playoff games and still get everything it could ask for out of its best bats.
1.000 Club (min. 3 AB)
Rodney Johnson (9-for-9), Paul Supat (8-for-8), Bobby Delgado's teammates aside — also perfect: Michael Kendall, Will Myers, Butch Maciel, Rick Meggers, Steve Grimm, Carlos Rodriguez, Don Outlaw, Tim Webb, Ettore Minor, and Mike Clary.
5+ RBI Club
Rodney Johnson (10), Terry Barrow (10), Bobby Delgado (8), Jarvis Quenga (6), Paul Supat (6), Ricky Ishimuru (5).
50's DIVISION
Hunter's Barber Storms Back From the Brink
Legacy Sports Bar 25, Elite/Onyx 17
Legacy Sports Bar keeps rolling, knocking off the division's top seed to move to 3-0 in the postseason. It was never particularly close — Legacy led 15-6 through three innings and cruised from there, backed by three home runs in the first two innings alone.
Capital Gold Bail Bonds 21, Epic Sports Cards 11
Capital Gold built an 18-4 lead through four innings and coasted home behind Billy Valine's huge day (4-for-4, two doubles, 6 RBI). Epic Sports Cards had some late fight, plating 5 unanswered runs over the final two innings, but the deficit was too much to overcome.
Hunter's Barber 25, BJ's 21 — Game of the Week.
This was the one. BJ's led by as many as six runs (17-11) after four innings and were still up 18-14 heading to the sixth, cruising toward a series-clinching win. Then Hunter's Barber's lineup turned over — Todd Phillips, Christian Cain, Derek Wilson, and Kevin Foster all reached and scored, Jeff Kerns ripped a two-run double, and Josh Kline came up twice in the inning, capping it with an RBI single for the final out of an 11-run frame that flipped a four-run deficit into a 25-21 win. BJ's had the better night at the plate for five innings and still lost the game — that's how big Hunter's sixth inning was.
50’s hitting: Just like our weather lately, sometimes it’s hot and sometimes not
As with the 60's numbers, several of these are drawn from small playoff samples (as few as six or seven at-bats), so the extremes should be read as trends worth watching rather than settled fact.
The headline number in the 50's belongs to Kevin Lockhart of Legacy Sports Bar, who has gone from a league-average .600 hitter to a perfect 1.000 through the playoffs — the single biggest jump in either division. He's got company on a red-hot Capital Gold Bail Bonds group, where Ted Crumbley and Ted Ursino have both turned in playoff averages of 1.000 as well.
The flip side belongs to Hunter's Barber, who show up three times on the "cooled off" list — a couple of critical sticks are performing below their regular season averages. That's a notable wrinkle given Hunter's Barber is also the team that pulled off the biggest comeback win of the playoffs so far — proof that this team's offense has been feast-or-famine rather than steadily declining, with a few hitters carrying the load in the innings that have mattered most.
Derek Wilson, also of Hunter's Barber, is the exception that proves the rule: he was already hitting .806 in the regular season and has been perfect at the plate in the playoffs, driving in 7 runs along the way. Donald Ambrose of Legacy Sports Bar and BJ's Chris Feeney round out a short but talented list of hitters who haven't given back an inch of their regular-season form.
The Big Bats
Derek Wilson was the headliner of Hunter's Barber's comeback, going 3-for-3 with 5 RBI. Jeff Kerns' two-run double in the decisive sixth was the biggest swing of the day for either division. Elsewhere, Billy Valine (Capital Gold) drove in 6, Mike Tobin (Elite/Onyx) went deep and drove in 4 even in a losing effort, and Legacy Sports Bar got 4-RBI games apiece from Mikey Rodriguez (with a home run), Donald Ambrose, and Ron Espinoza in the win over Elite/Onyx.
1.000 Club (min. 3 AB)
Derek Wilson, Billy Valine, Mike Tobin, Mike Martz, Nick Walker, Mike Boe, Ted Crumbley, Byron Lotspiech, Kevin Lockhart, Aaron Tavalero, Jeff Braskamp, Marc Prosser, Kenny Smith, Steve Ballez, Lupe Villareal, Christian Cain, Josh Kline, Jason Smith, Dave Moylan, and Ted Ursino.
5+ RBI Club
Derek Wilson (5), Billy Valine (6).
50's Division: Meet Your Regular-Season Champions
The regular season is in the books, and six hitters can officially call themselves champions. But "champion" doesn't mean the same thing in every category — some of these titles were locked up weeks ago, and some weren't decided until literally the final game of the year.
Batting Average — Dan Berry, Hunter's Barber (.913)
Berry's title is the best story of the bunch, even though the box score won't tell you why. He shared the batting lead in early summer, then watched Elite/Onyx's Dan Arevalos catch fire and take over the top spot in mid-July — and Arevalos held onto it all the way through the last official week of the season. Because Elite/Onyx played one fewer regular-season game than everyone else, their season didn't actually wrap until a makeup game on September 1st. Arevalos went into that final game still holding the batting title — and went a modest 2-for-4, just enough to nudge his average back down below Berry's. The crown changed hands on the literal final at-bat of the year. Berry's .913 holds up as an excellent mark on its own merits, but the way he got to keep it is pure theater.
Hits — Mark Griggs, BJ's (59)
Griggs and Epic Sports Cards' Joe Johnson spent the entire middle third of the season trading the hits lead back and forth almost every week. Griggs grabbed it first in early June, Johnson wrestled it away for about a month (late June into mid-July), and Griggs reclaimed it for good on July 21st, pulling steadily away over the final month to close out the season on top by four.
Doubles — Shant Hagopian, Incredible Pets (13)
Hagopian actually held a share of this lead in the season's second week — and then didn't see the top spot again for two months. Jaime Arellano and then Travis Hale took turns running the doubles race through most of June and July. Hagopian didn't retake first place until July 21st, but once he did, he never gave it back, closing the year on a stretch that outpaced the entire field.
Triples — Kenji Kishimoto, Epic Sports Cards (4)
The longest climb of any champion this season. Kishimoto was buried outside the top 15 in the triples race for most of the summer while Brian Kelly and Chris Fry shared the lead. He didn't even register his first triple of the year until July. He finishes in a three-way tie for the crown with Brian Kelly and Donald Ambrose — proof that in a category this rare, patience (and a handful of well-placed line drives) pays off just as well as an early start.
Home Runs — Matt Widell, Legacy Sports Bar (22)
The most wire-to-wire performance of any category leader. Widell took over the home run lead in early June and, apart from a brief two-week stretch where Mikey Rodriguez and Mike Tobin pulled even, never trailed again. Mike Tobin made things interesting down the stretch — including a home run in Elite/Onyx's September 1st makeup game — but still finished three behind Widell's 22.
RBI — Bill Buck, BJ's (62)
The single best storyline of the season. Buck was mired in the bottom half of the league as late as mid-April — 22nd place at one point — while Matt Widell carried the RBI lead for weeks on end. Buck didn't so much as share the top spot until August 4th, lost it right back to Widell a week later, and then delivered a furious final week to leapfrog him 62-58 heading into the season's last date. Widell's own final numbers actually caught back up to tie it — the two finish the season dead even at 62 RBI each, with Buck getting the nod as this year's champion.
Dan Berry wins a bat from DeMarini, courtesy of Rick Damon and his partnership with DeMarini. Thanks, Rick! All of the other category leaders win their choice between an SPSSC hat or hoodie. Congrats fellas, great work!
