DOWN 8-4, THE CUBBIES STORM BACK IN THE FINAL FRAME TO PREVAIL OVER THE BUCCANEERS AT CHRISTIE PITS TO TAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZE
Beneath a honeyed blanket of warm and genteel mid September skies, the Cubs edged the Pirates 9-8 in a hair-raising six inning battle this evening at Christie Pits Diamond 2 to win the 2018 Toronto Playgrounds House League Baseball Peewee Division Championship Game.
Trailing 8-4, the Cubs put on their rally caps in the bottom of the sixth and staged a miraculous comeback to overtake the Buccaneers. After Ewan (6), Stefano (14) and Matthew (12) got on the duck pond to load the bases, Duncan (1) garnered a RBI walk to bring Ewan home.
With the bases still juiced to the gills, Eli D. (5) and Liam S. (4) followed with respective RBI singles to bring Stefano and Matthew home and trim the gap to one.
Still with the bases loaded, Liam P. (13) stepped into the batter’s box and delivered a RBI single to bring Duncan home with the tying run.
Exercising discipline at the dish, Eli S. (9) followed with a bases loaded RBI walk that brought Eli D. home with the Cubs championship winning run.
The proceeding was an entertaining and well played contest between two talented and well coached teams.
In the top of the first, the Pirates jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. After garnering a leadoff walk, Vincent (10) utilized his Grand Theft bag of tricks to swipe his away the horn to third base. Shael (5) followed with a RBI single to bring Vincent home with the opening run of the game.
After issuing a walk to Aidan (11) to put two swans on the lake, Cubs starter Ben (7) found the groove in the first and proceeded to strikeout the next three batters to squelch the Bucs insurgency.
Pirates starter Vincent (10) tallied a pair of pop outs and a strikeout in the bottom half of the first to keep the Cubs off the scoring ledger and in the den.
Making a charge for the mizzenmast, the Pirates fired off their cannons in the top of the second and plundered the Cubs for four gold doubloons to extend their lead to 5-0. With heave ho fervour, Michael (9), Jibra’il (6), Jeremy (12) and Anthony (7) came homeward to the crow’s nest after climbing Jacob’s Ladder.
Utilizing his cutlass, Buccaneers starter Vincent mowed the landlubbin’ Cubbies down with three scallywag K’s in the top of the third to keep their paws away from the honey jar.
The Pirates added another doubloon to the treasure chest in the top of the third to increase their haul to 6-0. With a matey on base, Lennox (3) stroked a clutch two out RBI single to bring Cooper (1) home with the booty.
Cubs reliever Evan (2) rang up a pair of groundouts and a pop out in the third frame to diffuse the Bucs rebellion.
In the bottom portion of the third, the Cubs offence stirred to life as they scored a run to trim the margin to 6-1. With runner at third, Sasha (11) stroked a RBI single to bring Thomas (15) home with the Cubs first run.
Bucs reliever Shael (5) would tally a pop out and two strikeouts in the third to short circuit the Cubs uprising.
With 1-2-3 efficiency, Cubs reliever Eli D. (5) retired the Bucs in top of the fourth with a strikeout, pop up and groundout to keep the gnarly Pirates in the brig.
The Cubs continued to chip away at the shortfall in the bottom of the fourth as they tallied a run to trail 6-2. With a runner on third, Eli D. delivered a RBI single to bring Duncan home.
Pirates reliever Cooper (1) would ring up two strikeouts in the fourth to douse the Cubs mutiny.
With no outs and a pair of Cubs at second and first, Cooper was the beneficiary of a sweet 2-5 defensive effort from his mates during the inning. As Matthew made a brazen attempt to swipe third, Bucs catcher Michael made a son of a biscuit eater throw to third baseman Jeremy, who tagged out Matthew to thwart his Holystone grand thievery bid.
Cubs pitcher Ben reentered the fray in the top of the fifth to tally a strikeout, groundout and pop out with 1-2-3 proficiency to keep the Pirates off the scoreboard and in the poop deck.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Cubs struck back with a pair to slash the shortfall to 6-4 when Ben and Oliver (8) came home with the honey.
Buccaneers reliever Shael chalked up a pop up and two strikeouts in the fifth to end the Cubs insurrection.
Nonplussed, the Pirates answered back with a pair in the top of the sixth to increase their booty to 8-4. After Shael stroked a leadoff single and swiped his way around the horn to third, Cooper delivered a one out RBI single to bring Shael home with the cackle fruit.
Subsequently, with two outs and a runner at third, Lennox stroked a blow the man down RBI single that allowed Cooper to come homeward to the Captain’s Mess.
Shaken, but not stirred, Cubs reliever Eli D. found the mojo to strikeout three in the sixth to bring the sails down on the Bucs plundering ways.
And it was at this juncture in the proceedings where the Cubs came up to bat in the bottom portion of the sixth and came face to face with their collective rendezvous with destiny.