by Pete

Beat Win Streak Snapped Nicoya prevails 14-10 to drop The Beat into 1st-place tie with Hammertime.

On a roller coaster day in front of a partisan Latin crowd, The Beat was brought back to earth by a combination of its own shaky defense and a relentless Nicoya offensive attack. Despite the cold slap in the face, however, The Beat could take some comfort in the fact that it didn't quit and kept fighting back before coming up short in the end.

Both Beat pitchers Dennis O'Brien and Kevin Austin had tough days as an opportunistic Nicoya squad took advantage of 4 Beatnik errors with timely hitting and aggressive baserunning. Nevertheless, when it could easily have laid down like dogs, the gray & black came back gamely from deficits of 3-0, 6-3, 12-5 and 14-7 to make the game closer than it might have been. But missed opportunities would haunt The Beat on this breezy April day.

The Beatniks looked flat on offense at the outset, going down in order in the top of the 1st before Nicoya took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the inning. All the runs were unearned as number 5-hitter Rodriguez smoked a 3-run homer over the right-field fence onto 17th street following an infield error. The Beat went down quietly again in the 2nd mustering only a leadoff single by 1st baseman Donnell Moody out of the cleanup spot.

After holding Nicoya scoreless in the bottom of the 2nd, The Beat came back to tie the game in the top of the 3rd on 5 consecutive singles by Jim "The Thrill" Colletto, Pete Wenner, Gunnar-man Rosequist, OB and Kevin, and a sacrifice fly by number 2-hitter Brian Arcuri. A double- play grounder by number-three hitter Mark St. Georges ended the threat.

Nicoya answered with 3 runs off OB in the bottom of the 3rd courtesy of 2 straight singles, an RBI double, an RBI ground-out and sac fly. Obs escaped further damage, however, by inducing the dangerous slugger Rodriguez to fly out to Gunnar in right-center for the third out.

The Beat battled back for two runs in the 4th. Big Daddy led off with his second single of the game and was followed by a BJ Bateman double to put runners at 2nd and 3rd. With one out, Mike Buttafuso doubled in D and BJ to close within a run before Colletto flew out and Wenner grounded out to end the threat.

Nicoya broke it open in the bottom of the 4th. With one out, Guerrero #2 and Ortega singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd. After a Borgos fly-out, the Obster walked the EP Servullen and appeared to tire. Leaving himself open to second-guessing, Wenner gave the Magic Man the quick hook, summoning Kevin from 2nd base to the mound. Pete wagered that the K-man, coming off a brilliant complete-game victory over Mars the previous week would break Nicoya's momentum.

It was not to be. Given only three warmup tosses by the home-plate ump, Kevin had to groove the first pitch to Guerrero #3. The diminutive pitcher immediately threatened Kevin's Crown Jewels with a sharp single up the middle for 2 runs. After a barrage of sharp hits, ugly bloops, and an error, Nicoya blew their lead out to 12-5 before Rodriguez flied to BJ in right to mercifully end the onslaught.

The Beat came back with two to make it 12-7 in the top of the 5th on an OB single and Brian Arcuri triple over the shallow-playing left fielder Hanson. Brian scored on the errant throw to 3rd. With two out, "Cottonmouth King" MSG followed with another double over the clueless Hanson but was stranded on 2nd to end yet another threat.

Nicoya answered again with two in the bottom of the 5th to make it 14-7. Undaunted, The Beat attempted a final comeback with time running out. Greg Lukoski, Butts and Jim plated a run with consecutive singles before Pete and Gunnar went down. The wondrous Dennis O'Brien grounded his third single of the day (1.000 on the season) for the second run of the inning and Kev followed with another single to cut it to 14-10. Brian flew deep to right center for the final out of the game as time ran out on The Beat's heretofore undefeated run of three games.

Despite the disappointing loss, The Beat remained in first place, tied with Hammertime with matching 3-1 records. Next up, HGA, as the world of Open C-6 turns through the second half of the season. Stay tuned, softball fans.

View The BEAT's 1999 Final Batting Statistics

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