The Silver Marlins topped the Shasky's 4-3 in a thriller Monday night at West Albany.
The Silvers plated the first run of the game in the top of the third, when three of the first four Marlins batters in the inning were walked to load the bases, and then Mike Girard lined a one out RBI single. The rally ended prematurely when the Shasky's pitcher got Ron Lochner to line into a double play. The Shasky's answered right back in the bottom of the third. After two were out, The Shasky's leadoff hitter Rodriguez singled and stole second. He was plated on a single by Quinn to tie the game at 1. Lawson then drove a fastball over the left field fence to give the Shasky's a 3-1 lead. Marlins starter, Jim Ansel limmitted the Shasky's to just one baserunner in the 4th and 5th innings to allow the Marlins to stage their dramatic comeback.
The 5th inning rally started with two out and nobody on. The Shasky's starter ran out of gas as he walked the next three Marlins hitters. With the bases loaded and two outs and the Marlins 3 and 4 hitters coming up, Shasky's manager Tony Grocki decided to bring in a hard throwing reliever (Lawson). Lawson walked Girard on four pitches to force in the Marlins second run. With the game on the line Ron Lochner stepped to the plate and drilled a screamer by the third base bag, down the left field line to drive in the tying and go-ahead runs.
Fast forward to the bottom of the sixth: Jim Ansel gives way to Phil Gadomski on the mound. The umpires announce, before the half inning starts, that it will be the last inning, due to impending darkness. The Shasky's have their 2-3-4 hitters coming to the plate. Mash gets the first hitter to hit a routine grounder to third, but Ron Lochner bobbled the ball and the Shasky's got the leadoff runner on. Mash gets the next hitter (HR hitter Lawson) to hit a bouncer to third again, this time Ron makes the play and gets the lead runner at second. The cleanup hitter reaches on another error and the Shaskys have the tying and winning runs aboard with just one out. Mash does it again as he got Rich Cooney to hit a hard grounder right at Ron Lochner at third, who picked it cleanly, stepped on third, and threw accross the diamond in time to get the runner at first. Game over!
It was the best game ever between these two teams. The Shasky's are new and improved. Don't be surprised to see this team finish a lot higher in the standings than they did in 2008.