Bad News Bears End Cutthroats' Season
The Colorado Cutthroats played in their first championship game. They took on the hot Bad News Bears. The Bears were the third seed from the National League, defeating both the second and first place teams to advance to the championship. The Cutthroats are on a hot streak of their own, accumulating 59 hits in the last three games.
Mark Link took the mound for the third straight game. With no team scoring in the first inning, the Bears struck first in the top of the second. Parker Mayo hit a solo home run to right field to put the Bears on the board. Boyd Milhorn and Travis Komer followed with hits, but they would be stranded in scoring position.
The Bears struck again in the top of the third. Jack Monark led off with a walk. Tim Norkus would knock him in with a double. Chris Whitaker followed with a single. Parker Mayo then hit a sacrifice fly to right field that Joe Cordo caught up against the wall. This made it 3-0.
Steve Williams started for the Bad News Bears. He was nearly perfect through the first three innings-sitting the Cutthroats down with his nasty change-up.
Michael Ruvolo lead the fourth off with a walk. Jack Monark followed with a gap shot to left center, but Reichelt made a sliding catch to get the out. Norkus would hit his second double of the game-bringing in Ruvolo. The next three batters would get on base by hits or walks to load the bases and increase their lead to 5-0. The Cutthroats went to the bullpen to get out of the inning.
Graham Baughn came into relief with one out and the bases loaded to face Jeff Tarnowski. Tarnowski hit a Baltimore chop over third and shortstop to bring in two runs. The Cutthroats got out of the inning with a 6-4 double play from Reichelt to Bielecki. But they were now down 7-0.
It was high time for the Cutthroats to get back in the game. Wes Sconce led the fourth off with a single. Two batters later, Cordo would knock him in with a double. Andy Daub would follow with an rbi-single to make it 7-2.
Baughn got into his rhythm and cruised through the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.
In the bottom of the sixth, Bielecki hit a ground ball to second that went through the wickets and rolled all the way to the fence. Bielecki would take second on the two-base error. Link and Herold would follow with a walks to load the bases. That would be it for Steve Williamson, he was replaced by Chris Whittaker.
With one out and the bases loaded, Ken Reichelt would hit a single to centerfield to bring in two runs. But the Cutthroats wouldn't be able to score anymore runs, they were now down 7-4.
Graham Baughn led off the bottom of the seventh off with a double to left field. The left fielder bobbled the ball which let Baughn move to third. Cordo would follow with a rbi-single to make it 7-5. Daub moved Cordo over to second with a sacrifice bunt. Bielecki got walked to make it runners on first and second with one out. Link would hit a hot shot to the third baseman, but the third baseman scooped it up and stepped on third for the second out. Jimmy Herold now came up to bat. He batted from the right side, even though Whittaker is a right-hander. Herold would hit a long drive to left center field that cleared the wall for a 3-run homerun! The Cutthroats now led 8-7.
The Bears would not roll over and die. Whittaker answered with a double of his own that went to the warning track. Mayo followed with a walk and then Boyd Millhorn would knock Whittaker in. Baughn would walk the next two batters. Mayo scored on the last walk to make it 9-8. Kyle Hurst then hit a ground ball to Link at second base. Link touched second and then shot from the hip to throw Hurst out at first for the double play. The Bears were retired.
John Hawley led off the bottom of the eighth with a single. Sconce got walked. That would be it for Whittaker, as he would be relieved by Eddie Waldron.
Cordo wasn't going to let Waldron get the best of him. He hit a high fly ball to shallow right field in "no-mans land." The ball dropped and Hawley scored to tie the game back up at 9. The Cutthroats weren't able to get anymore runs in the inning.
Baughn came out to pitch the ninth and retired the first two batters. Steve Williams pinched hit and hit a swinging bunt. Baughn was able to come off the mound to field it, but he threw it over Bielecki's head. Whittaker then got his second hit of the game. Martinez, the pinch runner for Williams, was not able to score on the single because of the fast turf field. Baughn would walk the next batter to load the bases. With an 0-2 count Baughn would bean Millhorn to bring in the go-ahead run. Tarnowski would then get walked to bring in another run and make it 11-9. The Cutthroats made a quick pitching change and brought in Reichelt. Reichelt was able to get Komer to fly out to short to end the inning.
With their backs against the wall, the Cutthroats needed a big inning. Waldron retired Link and Herold to start the inning. WIth a 3-1 count, Reichelt hit a double down the right field line. John Hawley then hit a shot to centerfield; Tarnowski got a good jump on it and caught it at the warning track to end the game.
It was a stunning loss for the Cutthroats It was the first time that they were outhit since July 26th. The Bears came to play and ended the Cutthroats best season in franchise history.