QUARTER-FINALS Oxford Angels had little trouble with the Swingers in a 30-14 romp, but their ability to score runs in bunches was a warning of things to come. Ascot Blues toyed with an Oxford Harriers team that had GB Women’s Fastpitch Team player Sophie Froud on Saturday but not on Sunday, and the Blues won by 19-3. The Shafters put youth and speed on the bases to good work, and the Thames Valley Marlins committed a bunch of errors to help the Shafters to their 11-6 upset. But the heavyweight quarter-final was the one between the Brighton Beachcombers, coming off their unbeaten Saturday, and the Avengers, trying to overcome their unexpected fourth-place finish in the pool. The game see-sawed back and forth for the first four innings, with the Avengers gradually pulling ahead until a dramatic two-out, two-run homer by Martin Digon capped a three-run rally and pulled the Beachcombers into a 7-7 tie at the end of five innings. Back came the Avengers with four of their own in the top of the sixth, the last two on a matching two-run home run by Adrian Foo. Could the Beachcombers respond? They tried, but ran themselves out of a potential rally in the sixth, and the Avengers scored three more in the top of the seventh to seal a 14-7 win. A triple by Dan Radley and a double by Silvia Sousa were key blows.
SEMI-FINALS
Next up were the semi-finals: Oxford Angels against the Shafters, and the Ascot Blues taking on the Avengers. Angels v Shafters: Buoyed by their upset of Thames Valley, the Shafters matched a more experienced Oxford Angels team blow for blow over four eventful innings. Emma Puckett was a one-woman wrecking crew for the Shafters, with two hard-hit home runs and a single in three trips to the plate, and five RBIs. In the top of the fourth, the Shafters put together seven runs on eight hits to take a 12-7 lead, and another upset looked distinctly possible. But Oxford bats got going, and after Simon Taylor led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run, the Angels scored five more on seven hits to regain the lead, 13-12. Everything looked set for a tight finish. But the Shafters failed to score in the top of the fifth, and then we had the first roof-falling-in episode of the day. The Angels started the inning with seven straight hits, almost batted around twice, and poured 14 runs across the plate on 13 hits and three Shafters’ errors. Simon Taylor, Jen Edis, Kelly Allers and Dave Warren each had two hits in the inning. Not surprisingly, the demoralised Shafters went down 1-2-3 in the fifth, and the Angels were on their way to the Final after a 27-12 win. Blues v Avengers: Ascot Blues had handled the Avengers easily enough on Saturday in winning 11-6, and the semi-final was a very similar game between two strong teams, with the Blues leading 12-7 as the Avengers came up for their last at-bat. But a hurricane was about to blow the Blues’ roof off and the whole house down - and the storm was named Hurricane Rabbit. It was the bottom of the Avengers’ order that got things started, churning out enough base hits to cut the Blues’ lead to 12-10 with two on and one out. And the next batter, in a nickname-riddled Avengers team, was "Rabbit", more prosaically known as Martin Tyler, a speedy line drive hitter lurking at the top of the Avengers’ order. This time, Rabbit’s line drive bisected the outfield and he flew around the bases for a walk-off three-run homer and a 13-12 Avengers’ win.
THE PLATE FINAL
Before the main course came the hors d’oeuvre of the Plate Final, between the Brighton Beachcombers and the Swingers from Nottingham University. Brighton, who had finished Saturday with hopes of being in a different final, had still lost only one game all weekend - but had had the bad luck to sustain that loss in the quarter-final. The Plate Winners’ trophy, they felt, was their due. But a young, quick and powerful Swingers’ team had other ideas, and speed and power can overcome fielding errors or the occasional tactical naivety. It was 5-5 after two innings, 6-6 after three and 7-6 to the Swingers after four. In the fifth, the teams traded solo home runs by Gareth Browning for the Swingers and John Stordyke for Brighton to make it 8-7 Swingers, and neither scored in the sixth. It was all set up for a tense seventh inning. But another roof fell in here, and more expectations were confounded. The Swingers pounded out three home runs in the top of the seventh - a three-run shot by Duncan Sanders, a solo homer by Gareth Browning and a long two-run blast to left by Phil Kielthy. The result was seven quick runs and a 15-7 Plate triumph for the Swingers.
THE FINAL
Following the pattern of so many earlier games, the Final was a see-saw affair, with the teams trading leads in the early going. And unusually, the game featured a female pitcher - Kelly Allers of the Oxford Angels - against Chris Brown of the Avengers. And Chris Brown and the Avengers had a nervous start. Oxford leadoff hitter Jen Edis reached on an error, and Brown then walked Lee Haycroft to put runners on second and third with no outs. A groundout by Kelly Allers brought in one run and a sacrifice fly by Dave Warren scored the second - but that was all the Angels got. Following that reprieve, the Avengers put together a rally of their own - and again, a walk was the centrepiece. With one out, Martin Tyler singled (the first of three hits that brought him the Final MVP Award) and Kathleen Broekhof (the Female Final MVP) drew a walk. Adrian Foo then drove a hard line drive to right - catchable, but a tough play for Angel right-fielder Katie Jennings. Katie missed the chance, all three runners scored, and a solo homer by Dan Radley completed the inning to give the Avengers a 4-2 lead. Simon Taylor and Greg Dion responded with solo home runs for Oxford in the top of the second, and Greg Dion made a fine play to snag Chris Brown’s line drive in the bottom of the inning as the Avengers failed to score. So it was 4-4 after two, and 5-5 after three, as each team scored once in the third. Oxford might have had more, but Avengers’ first base player Stacy Takaki made a fine throw across the diamond to third to nail Kate Parish trying to take an extra base. Oxford failed to score in the fourth, but an error and four straight hits - by Silvia Sousa, Chris Brown, Melissa Simms and Paul Billingsley - brought in two for the Avengers and gave them a 7-5 lead. Back came Oxford, and took the lead for the last time with four runs in the top of the fifth. Lee Haycroft drew a lead-off walk, Kelly Allers and Dave Warren singled, and after an error prolonged the inning, a double by Greg Dion drove in a fourth run to put the Angels up by 9-7. But the game took a decisive turn towards the Avengers in the bottom of the inning as 11 batters came to the plate and six of them scored on five hits, two walks surrendered by Kelly Allers and two Oxford errors. Key hits were delivered by Stacy Takaki, Silvia Sousa, Paul Billingsley and Martin Tyler and the rally was capped by a triple from Kathleen Broekhof. And that was essentially that. Avengers scored twice more in the bottom of the sixth to take a 15-9 lead into the final inning - and even though the Avengers threw in three errors in the top of the seventh to encourage an Angels’ rally, Oxford could only cash two runs to make the final score 15-11 and send the C Nationals trophy back to London. |
