On a picture perfect Saturday afternoon, The Golden Marlins beat the Senators 6-4 and 16-10 to claim their spot in the 45+ finals.

In game one, the story really was the pitching and defense of the Marlins. John Latorre gave up two runs in the first and two runs in the seventh, but only allowed one base runner over the minimum in innings 2-6 (a single by Alex Marin). John was aided by the spectacular play of Randy Craft at short. Randy was solid on the routine grounders, but was major league on the balls up the middle and the slow rollers that are usually base hits with any other shortstop in this league. John also got great support from Ron Lochner at third and TJ Scorsone at second.
The Senators came out of the chute hot, scoring two runs in the first on RBI singles by Rich Wander and Dave VanWormer. The Golden Marlins didn't let them enjoy that feeling too long as they plated three in the bottom of the first. Tom Maney singled and Randy Craft was hit by a Rich Wander offering. Mike Girard then surprised by bunting for a base hit, to load the bases with no outs. After Wander induced an infield fly, Mike Ferraro worked a walk to force in the first run. TJ Scorsone then hit a grounder to short that forced in the tying run, and Girard was caught in a run down between third and home after rounding the base too hard. The ball was thrown away, and the score was 3-2.
The Fish would push the lead to 5-2 in the third, on a walk and stolen base by Ron Lochner, followed by a RBI single by Chuck Sohl and a RBI double by Curt Coons. Coons was lost for the rest of the day, re-injuring his achilles tendon hustling into second. The pitchers and defense would keep the game at 5-2 until the bottom of the sixth, when Girard led off with a walk. He stole second and went to third on an errant throw from the Senator's catcher. Ron Lochner delivered the important insurance run with a sacrafice fly.
The Senators got a final rally going in the seventh, when Wander, Van Wormer, George Schillinger, and Chuck Hanford had consecutive singles with one out. That made the game 6-4, with runners on first and second and still just one out. John Latorre came up big and induced consecutive infield fly outs to close out the game!

In game two, the story was the Golden Marlins bats. The Fish scored two in the first, four in the second, and three more in the top of the third to take a 9-0 lead, all against Senator's ace Joey Burns. Randy Craft had a double and single; Mike Girard had two singles, and Ron Lochner had a double and single in those three innings to lead the way.
The Senators could have thrown in the towel, but showed some real guts by plating 5 runs in the bottom of the third. Their rally started with two Marlins errors, but was fueled by consecutive singles by Dave Legge, Alex Marin, Joe Burns, and Ed Class.
With the game 9-5 after just 3 innings, the outcome was still in doubt. The Marlins answered with two runs on a walk by Mike Ferraro, and a long two run home run by Chuck Sohl, making it 11-5, and making the Fish feel a little more comfortable.
The Senators would make it 11-6 in the bottom of the fourth on a walk, error, and RBI single by Chris Leahey, but Leahy got too aggressive rounding first, and a perfect relay from Jim McQuade, to Craft, to Girard nailed him for the second out of the inning. The fire was completely extinguished when Marlins catcher, Ferraro, threw behind the Senators runner that was on third and picked him off for the third out. The Marlins then used the momentum to plate 3 more runs in the top of the 5th and effectively put the game out of reach. Girard led off with a double; Lochner followed with a RBI double; and Ferraro followed with a RBI single. With the score now at 14-6 and only six outs left, the starch was taken out of the Senators.
The Senators would plate four more and the Marlins would answer with two of their own to make the final 16-10.
The Marlins pounded out 20 hits, led by Girard's 4-5, Craft and Lochner's 3-5's; and and Sohl's 2-4's.

The Golden Marlins move on to face the winner of the Vets vs. Giants semi-finals in next weekend's Finals.







-- Edited by mgirard11 on Sunday 19th of September 2010 08:58:06 AM