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Soto & Mudcats win Roy Hobbs' AA World Series championship!
We (Murfreesboro Mudcats) spent the first part of the week figuring out some new positions and making some errors. (I was primarily in left field where I haven't played consistently since high school.) We found the right formula and proceeded to go 3-0 from Friday morning on to the win the AA World Series Championship!! The 16-hour road trip WAS worth it...
Soto (2007 World Series MVP) started the scoring in each of the Mudcats' final two games with 2 RBI each and went 3-6 and 4-4 in Friday's games. Just the 2 RBI in the championship game Saturday, but the first got us the lead right away in the 1st inning and the second tied it up midway through the contest. Down 2-3, we scored 3 in the top of the 9th inning and then held on in the botton half to win the championship!
A very short and wet 2007 season with the Meridians only playing on Thursday nights and no fall ball. Soto returns to Cincinnati from a summer of baseball in Tennessee and throughout the south.
(Layoff, Lumber, Loss, Lefty…) The Meridians come off the 3 week rain hiatus to meet 3 good arms of the Colonels (7/12). The combination also claims a few good pieces of Meridians’ wood as we fall 2-4 despite the debut of the new lefty, Ludlow on the hill. An RBI hit from Fread and a bases loaded walk give us our only runs. Speaking of, Rack leaves the game in the 3rd inning because "when you gotta go, you gotta go".
This update sponsored by Taco Bell and White Castle.
(Nailbiter!) The Meridians start with 8 guys (6/21), but give up the Dos Equis team’s only 2 runs right away in the 1st inning before our 9th gets there in the 2nd. Rack starts on the hill with Rendle closing it out with only maybe 2 baserunners in his 3 innings. Combined they give up 3, maybe 4 hits. Tied 2-2 going into bottom of sixth – John Rack led off with a single – Jim Rack then blasted one, but the left fielder caught it going back to the fence. Netherly singled and got to 2nd on the throw in as John made it into third. McClung got the game winner, a solid single to plate them both (4-2 final). Almost every Meridian had a base hit with Parkhurst and Netherly having multi-hit evenings.
(Meridians split, but cause damage all night long!) Hard fought first game with the newly formed Sting (Suds/Patriots mix with a an everchanging list of ingredients), but we fall again by the score of 6-7 (6/14). 6 runs off probably the toughest lefty in CRC bodes well for the Meridians as they get into this 2007 season. We had to settle for a tie last time we saw him 2 years ago. Rendle took the mound, but also took the lefty deep at Roselawn (probably the first lefty hitter to take him yard in a long time) for a 2-run shot. 7 hits overall with 2 from Parkhurst and a triple by Netherly.
Game 2 against a new Dos Equis team gives the Meridians their first win of the year - and in easy fashion, 13-5. Putting up an 8 spot on them in the first inning with a lefty of our own sealed the deal. In typical Meridians’ fashion, once the game was in hand – havoc was wreaked. Guys started playing every and all positions, which found Younger at shortstop and Netherly behind the plate. Pretty much everyone had a hit in the game. Highlight of the game was Netherly hitting another triple with Rack on 1st and catching him at 3rd base, which got Rack tagged out. Coach learned this lesson last year on the one & only game hitting in front of Netherly – keep running!
The Meridians recovered from being shutout on opening day (5/31) by the tough Cincinnati Chiefs’ staff to battle the always tough Cheviot Patriots, but fell just short (6/7) with a score of 6-7. The guys have a hole to dig out of now being 0-2 on the year, but with the regulars trickling back to the ballfield and a lot more baseball to be played – high expectations are still there for the ’07 club. Cutter and Netherly return to action joining regulars Rack, Parkhurst, Fread, McClung and Lewis along with an additional Rack returning from his cameo 2 years ago. Cincinnati Yankees Rendle and Younger becoming mainstays on Thursday nights as well.
2005 Roy Hobbs World Series: Parkhurst returned from the hurricane-shortened Open Division (28+) World Series in Florida after hitting .565 (13 for 23, 8 RBI) and helping the Dayton Braves reach the championship game (10/29).
Coach's Corner: Final Sunday of Fall Ball (10/23) rained out. K.C. Fread is our Silver Slugger this fall (see above in Meridians News) even with a 2-week break in between some at-bats.
CC: Meridians go up 5 runs early (10/16), but find themselves digging out of a hole (literally, in the landing zone of the mound) by giving up 6 runs. Moore steps up for his first pitching stint since high school to earn the win in relief as well as stroking a double to drive in the tying run and scoring the winning run himself. Fread keeps hitting and being a brick wall behind the plate.
2005 NABA World Series: Jack Parkhurst and Ralph Lewis came back from the National Adult Baseball Association World Championship Series in Phoenix with championship rings by going undefeated through their 8 games with the (38+) Bluff City White Sox (Memphis). Parkhurst keeps them perfect in the middle of the week (10/12) to end pool play with 2 RBI in the 9th inning of Game 5. Lewis earns the championship game MVP (10/15) going 3-4 with 3 runs scored and 4 RBI.
Cincinnati Yankees: Casey Hall goes the entire 11 innings (9/28) "in what turned out to be one of the most exciting games of the year (Roy Hobbs National Division championship). The Yankees rallied from an early 6-3 deficit to take leads of 7-6 and 8-7 (but) the Royals (tied) the game in the bottom of the 10th and eventually (won) it in the 11th."
CC: We figured out the knuckleball in Game 1 and then cruised to a 20-5 win in 5 innings. Jon Cremons goes the distance in his Meridians debut. Fread accounts for all of our runs (5 RBI, 1 run scored) in Game 2, but just not enough as we split the doubleheader (9/11).
CC: We take the game (8/28) behind Kamm's 3rd win over the Bombers in as many starts against them. Fread pushes for the clean-up spot as he continues to put up a huge on-base% from the 4 hole (pushes in our 1st run with a bases-loaded BB). Moore stood up there taking walk after walk from the lead-off spot. Singley hits all day with Bush playing an exciting left-handed 3rd base and helping spark our 1st inning runs with a BUNT (team rules are out the door...)
Cincinnati Yankees / Roy Hobbs update: "Casey Hall fired a complete game for the victory 8/28. All Star Mike Soto added three more hits, giving him 44 for the season and the league's batting title at .571."
CC: Meridians eliminated from the 2005 NABF Tournament (8/11). Hall gutted it out on just 3 day's rest (complete game with Cincinnati Yankees on 8/7), but Cutter scored our only run.
CC: We found our bats [4 guys with 2(+) hits], but ran into an ever-hitting Montgomery Inn team (8/10) to drop the first game in the tournament (which we have done each of the last 4 years now). Down 5-0, 5-2, 9-2, 9-6, 9-8 ~ we kept at it and did score that 9th run, but they kept finding holes and hit for awhile in the 7th. Koppenhafer clubbed a 2-run home run and a double, Cutter cracked a double, triple and creased one down the right field line as well; Bush hit all night including a double and a rocket that about left their 1st baseman one-legged. Percy remained "gutsy" in his last appearance for the Meridians before heading to the mountains of Colorado.
CC: Koppenhafer blatantly defies longstanding Meridians concrete bylaws by BUNTING in game 1 of Friday's doubleheader (7/29), but fortunately for him - it was needed and he executed. Kope bunted over Fread (tying run) and Percy (winning run) who started it all with a single each in the top of the 7th to start a 4-run rally. Percy gets the Complete Game win. Kamm won the nightcap to beat the Bombers for the 2nd time in a week with 6 more K's and Bush gets the 2-inning Save. Hall makes an interesting debut at 2nd base and combines with Bush on another SportsCenter moment as Casey makes a good play to knock down a ball to his left and rifles the ball right AT the 1st base bag, which Scott dives to catch and tags the bag simultaneously!
Casey finally makes his Roy Hobbs debut (7/27) after teasing the Cincinnati Yankees since last fall. Game balls go to the two Meridians: "Casey Hall fires a three hit shutout and the Yankees blank the Brew Crew 8-0. Hall faces just 24 batters, three over the minimum! Mike Soto continues his torrid hitting with three more hits."
No-hitter from Casey Hall wrapping it up in 5 innings (12 K's & only 3 balls in play)! 2 squibbers were gobbled up by Parkhurst and 1 back to Casey himself. Only runners allowed were via 2 walks and 1 HBP. Final was exactly 10-0 (7/21) with every Meridian scoring (Cutter twice).
CC: Great performance from Casey Hall going 8 innings (1 extra) with the offense (timely hitting) and defense (late double play) helping just enough to get past the Cheviot Patriots (6/23).
CC: Coach jogged out to 3rd in the bottom of the 7th (6/9) realizing that he hadn't had a ground ball all night. 3 successive followed without an out to show for it. The first was easy enough, but coach's submarine throw defied its title by sailing 3 feet over the 1st baseman's head. The second was scored a hit, but a corner guy/part-time catcher should be able to take a chopper down the line in front of the bag and make a throw across the diamond - but the throw was up the line. The only way to properly end this personal drama is a double play ball (which coach got, but threw up the line & high to 2nd to cap off his performance for the night). So coach's 3 for 4 and HBP night helped, but that everyone else in the lineup either scored or hit one in themselves (or both) allowed the 'cirque de la 7th' to take place. A 10-run lead turned into just a win...
CC: Jared out-pitched a minor league-quality lefty (12-to-6 curveball and good heat) Friday night (5/27). The lefty had 18 K's, 7 hits and 1 earned run to Cutter's 10 K's, 2 hits and 0 earned runs. A tie (1-1, 8 innings) with the best team in the Roy Hobbs league (Cinci Suds) is bittersweet, but it's a good follow-up to Percy's 2-1 victory over the Hilltoppers the weekend before (5/22).
Soto's team-voted NYM bats come in for the 2007 season in Tennessee
Soto heads south this winter and bids farewell for now!
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