by K	Loss of the Century The Beat Goes Down to Division Champs 11-6

It was one for the ages. Two teams tied for first place with 4-1 records and three games to play. This head-to-head matched our heroes, the Y2K Beat, against rival Cool Dudes, last summer's City League championship runners-up. The Dudes had dealt the Beat its only loss of the spring in a 12-4 decision.

Shorthanded for the second time against the division champs, The Beat came into this game missing starting right-fielder and leadoff hitter BJ Bateman, starting left-fielder Greg Lukoski who was a one man wrecking crew in the previous loss to the Dudes, shortstop and outfielder Mike "Pizza Man" Weiss, and manager Pete Wenner. The Beat received an extra bandaid for the depleted outfield just 10 minutes before gametime as mid-season walk-on, "Fireman" Dan Romero, finally joined the club to anchor left field.

The Beat took the field to open the game, and interim manager Kevin "Special K" Austin set about pitching the game of his life. The calm wind blowing into the pitcher's face was the perfect match for the new hybrid knuckler "Son of Nasty" and the mighty Dudes went down quickly and quietly in order with three consecutive fly outs to John Palmer in left-center.

The Beat jumped out in the bottom of the inning as the Dude's unflappable starter "Slick Vic" struggled with his control early. Brian Arcuri and Austin opened with back-to-back hits followed by a walk to Mark "cottonmouth king" St.Georges to load the bases. "Big Daddy" D. Moody drilled a liner up the middle to put the Beat up 2-0. Jim "The Thrill" Colletto followed with a sacrifice fly (this would be the first of four sacrifice flies defining the defensive tone of the game) giving the Beat a 3-0 lead with only one out. Then Vic settled down, closing out the inning without allowing another run.

Austin took the mound and set down the side in order again in the second. This time Vic and the Dudes countered allowing only one baserunner on a walk before setting the Beat down to finish the inning.

The Dudes finally struck in the top of the third as the bottom four in the order came away with three hits and one run scored. The third hit got away from Dave "Max" Maxion at short and his throw to second skipped past second baseman Arcuri, putting two runners in scoring position. With just one out, a walk loaded the bases. A sharp comebacker to the mound ricocheted to Max, but there was no chance for a double play. Dave made the sure out at first as the Dudes' second run scored. Another outfield pop-up ended the inning but the Dudes had cut the Beat margin to one run.

The Beat answered back in the bottom of the inning. MSG and Colletto reached on singles; then big John "The Bomber" Palmer sent a towering drive to the base of the fence in right. No one knew at the time, but this may have been a sign of the road ahead as Palmer's ball skipped under the fence for a ground-rule double. The swift of foot Palmer would have easily scored for a 3-run homer, but the Beat wound up with only one run on the hit and runners at second and third. Max sacrificed Colletto in, but Palmer was left stranded on third. Still, the Beat entered the fourth inning up 5-2.

The Dudes went down in order again for the third time in four innings on the strength of some awesome Beat defense. A liner foul down the third baseline was grabbed by Fireman Dan for the first out. The next batter hit a liner foul down the first baseline as Mark Melin made the play of his life ranging over for the second out. A grounder to third sealed the inning. Leaving the field, Austin was greeted by platoon pitching partner Denny O'Brien who confided, "unless you're dying out there, don't come out...I'm having a blast!" Other players responded in kind. This was a golden opportunity and we had the Dudes right where we wanted them.

The bottom of the fourth started strong as Fireman Dan hit a lead-off solo homer to left-center to boost the Beat's lead to 6-2. But this is where the tide turned for Vic, the Dudes, and the Beat. Vic settled into a groove and fly-ball death killed the Beat as the team would hit into 9 pop-ups in the last 4 innings. Austin and Romero would be the only Beat hitters to reach safely for the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, the Dudes bounced back with three consecutive hits to start the fifth. The third hit again caused trouble, this time for Fireman Dan. Dan brought the ball in to MSG who went to G-Man Rosenquist at the plate in an attempt to cut off the run, but the runner beat the ball. The batter advanced to second on the error leaving two in scoring position but he never scored. A sacrifice fly added a second run cutting the score to 6-4 before the Dudes went down on an outfield fly. The heart of the Beat's order went down 1-2-3 to end the inning.

The Dudes came out strong again in the sixth with two singles and a sacrifice fly. The next hit to Palmer scooted through his legs allowing the tying run to score and advancing the hitter to third. A follow-up single scored the runner from third, but MSG caught Jevasquez heading for third in a nice run-down. Brian Arcuri applied the tag for the second out. An infield out stopped the bleeding. But the error had cost the team a couple big runs and the Cool Dudes were now up 7-6. The aforementioned fly-ball death ended the Beat's half of the sixth.

Down by a run, the Beat needed to play tight defense in the final frame and get the bats working again. This, unfortunately, was not the case. The Dudes started the top of the seventh with two infield grounders. The first turned error by third baseman MSG, and the second, a grounder bounced off second baseman Arcuri's chest allowing the runner to beat Brian's throw by a hair. The Dudes #1 thorugh #3 hitters then came up with their first hits of the game to score three. A fielder's choice made it four runs with just one out. Austin then logged two more pop-fly outs (14 total) to end the inning, but the damage had been done. Four unearned runs put the beat down 11-6 heading into their last at bat.

Vic struggled briefly allowing his third walk of the game, but the Beat went down quietly and walked away with heads down.

It was a close, exciting game that changed directions half-way through and left the Beat scratching their heads wondering what had happened. The Beat had it in hand, a golden opportunity, and let it slip away with seven unearned runs. Austin had held the Dudes top 6 hitters to just 5 hits in 23 at bats and gave up only 4 earned runs on 13 hits. But Slick Vic had matched the effort holding the Beat's 3 through 8 spots to 5 hits in 17 at bats and gave up only 10 hits on the game. This was as close to a pitcher's duel as you'll find in softball and the first six innings had the crowd at the edge of their seats. In the end, however, the division champs persevered taking advantage and scoring on the Beat's five errors while also taking every extra base given to them. That's what good teams do.

With a 1-game division lead, the Cool Dudes now walk into a double-header against the winless Cafe Mars. The Beat faces Mad Dog in the Fog who moved half a game over the Beat into second place with their win over the Other Guys. The Beat still has a chance with a two-game sweep of Mad Dog if the hapless Mars can work some magic over the Cool Dudes.

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