2004 PMS at Northwest Regional Park

Playoffs Week #1:  August 8, 2004

ROUND 1

Field 1:
Havana Club Cannons(1) 12 (WP-Mark Yokel 13-0)  Northwest Corridor(8) 0 (LP-Howard Goldberg 2-10)  5 Innings
Mark Yokel was dominant in game one, holding of only a few minor chances for the Corridor to continue his undefeated season at 13-0, all while playing with only 3 outfielders. Mike Steller showed up 3 minutes before game time and was the Cannons 9th player. In his first at bat in the bottom of the 1st he hit a smooth line drive over the fence for a 3 run homerun. The Cannons never looked back, beating The Corridor 12-0 after 5 innings. Hitting stars for the Cannons: Steller 2-4 HR, 5 Rbis; Danny Kassel 2-3 3B , 1 BRI and 2 runs scored. Every Cannon batter reached base at least once...

The NWC were held to just 7 hits while the Cannons finished them off easily in just 5 innings.


Field 2:
Eastern Savings Bank(2) 17 (WP-Ted Winner 14-2)  NEK Entertainment(7) 14 (LP-David Pridgen 3-10)
In game one of the playoffs ESB just squeaked by a tough NEK squad 17-14. It was a seesaw game with many lead changes. Every time ESB took the lead NEK would storm back to make it close. NEK played with a lot of class but in the end they were done in by a great play by shortstop Chris Zoeller for a game ending double play. Stars for ESB were Alan Lazerow who was on base six times, Dan Guttman who had three hits and three runs scored. Jim Davis, Gabe Silber, Jason Schwartzman, Sam Luxenberg and Aaron Shifrin anchored a tough middle of the line up for ESB and led them to victory behind Teddy Winner.

Field 3:
Quizno's Owings Mills(3) 18 (WP-Lane Gordon 8-1 )  Jilly's Under Armour(6) 2 (LP-Dave Sandler 1-5)  5 Innings
For the 5th time this season Jilly's/Under Armour squared off against nemisis Quizno's. The result was the same. A blowout win for the "Big Blue" and a disappointment in round one for Jilly's.

In game one of the playoffs, after many Pikesville Softball participants helped remove metal rods from the home-plate area on all four fields, following a night of vandalism, the number three seed got on the board early with two runs. That lead didn't last long as newcomer Andre Burris, following a walk to Reggie Ellis, hit one a mile over the right field fence to even the game at two. Unfortunately, that just woke up the Quizno's bats as they sent batter after batter to the plate against loser Detour Dave crossing the plate 13 times enroute to an easy 20-2 victory, sending Under Armour to the losers bracket vs. #7 NEK.

Quizno's won it's 11th straight post season game by scoring a season high 13 runs in the 2nd inning to cruise to an 18-2 victory over the once powerful Jilly's Under Armour team. The 2nd inning was started by a Bobby Morrow HR, followed by Singles by Jon Koman and Todd Pobletts. With both men on base with one out- the Blue Wave rolled with the next 6 batters all reaching base with hits. After a Sac fly by Andrew Rosenstein- the Blue Wave continued to roll as the next 5 batters all reached base with Mark Rosenstein clearing the bases with an inside-the-park HR. The 3-4-5 combo of Tony Luna (injured ankle), Russ Dlin (mentally screwed up), and Joel Koman (sore back and all) went a combined 6 for 7 with 6 Runs Scored in the game as Quizno's Owings Mills steamrolled into the next round.

Field 4:
Sky & Sky Inc(5) 15 (WP-Larry Newman 13-10)  Kings(4) 3 (LP-Chuck Grant 8-5) 5 Innings
Sky & Sky met The Kings for the middle seeded pairing. Dave Kowitz drew a leadoff walk, and came around to score, but the Kings soon tied things up in the 2nd off Ken Zalis's sac fly. Scott Felton's 3 run job to RF in the 3rd was the impetus to charge up Sky & Sky's bats. The top of the order produced 4 more in the 4th and 6 in the 5th. The Kings managed to add a few in their half of the 5th, but their bats got hot too late. Final of 15-3 as Newman coasted to victory behind stellar defense.

ROUND 2

Field 1:
Havana Club Cannons(1) 1 (WP-Tom Paulshock 9-2)  Sky & Sky Inc(5) 0 (LP-Larry Newman 13-11)
Game 2 matched the 5th seed Sky & Sky vs. The Cannons in an old school, magnificent contest. Both pitchers watched web gem after web gem of defensive prowess back up their solid pitching performance. Sky & Sky loaded the bases in the 7th with none down only to see Tom Paulshock bare down. He induced to IF pop-ups and watched his LCF take away the go-ahead single from Dave Kowitz to end the inning. The Cannons got runners to 2nd and 3rd and then were offered an IBB. Evan Krietzer hit the game-winning SF to deep RF. Final 1-0 Paulshock over Newman.

A game for the ages. Both Larry Newman and Tommy P threw absolute gems. Newman only surrendered 5 hits in the game, and came up the hard luck loser. In the top of the 7th Sky managed the Bases Loaded with no outs. Tommy got a 3-1 Pop out, another pop out, and a Dave Kowitz sinking line drive to LCF where Jeff Kurland made a diving catch to save the inning. In the bottom of the 7th Dan Kassel got an infield hit into the hole at SS where Steve Truit made a phenomenal play and the throw was only a half step late. Mike Ginsberg then hit into a fielders choice. Mike Steller again proved why he was the MVP of the Regular Season hitting a double that put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Lou Falcon was intentionally walked to load the bases, and with two strikes, Evan Kreitzer hit a towering deep sac fly to right field to win the game for the Cannons. This game featured many sensational defensive plays by both teams, and the pitching was just as good!

Field 2:
Eastern Savings Bank(2) 17 (WP-Russ Zappocosta 6-1)  Quizno's Owings Mills(3) 5 (LP-Jeff Harris 7-7)
Russ Zappocosta defeated the defending champions for the 3rd time this season- and ending the defending champions 11 game post-season winning streak by the final of 17-5 (6 innings). Eastern Saving Bank helped Zappocosta by taking a commanding 9-0 lead over the defending champions going into the 3rd inning. Quizno's Owings Mills finally struck as Larry Henderson singled in Mark Rosenstein to get on the board. With 2 outs and the bases loaded in the same inning- Russ Dlin delivered with a 2 RBI Single to score Craig Dlin and Larry Henderson. This cut the lead to 9-3. The Blue Wave had a chance to cut into the lead in the 4th inning- but Jim Davis gunned down Jon Koman (trying to score from 2nd) at home plate to keep the score at 9-3. Quizno's Owings Mills had a chance to cut into the lead in the 6th inning as well. Down 9-3 with 1 Out and Runners on 1st and 2nd- Bobby Morrow popped up into shallow right field- but the ever popular "Infield Fly Rule" was called as the ball dropped in behind second baseman Gabe Silber. This led to an uproar by the Blue Wave- in which the leading voice was none other than Lane Gordon- who was ejected. The interesting part about this scenario was that Lane was not even in the game. He became the first player in league history to be thrown out of a game that he never participated in. The game continued as Eastern Savings Bank poured it on by scoring 6 Runs in the final 2 innings to end the game and put the defending champs into the losers bracket for the 1st time in 3 years.

In game two ESB took on tough nemesis Quizno’s. Russ Zappocosta took the mound (barely) for ESB and led his team to victory behind the clutch hitting of Jason, Sam, Alan, Jim, Gabe, Aaron, Dan, Chris, Dave and Glenn. ESB jumped out to a 9-0 lead after two innings and their opponents couldn’t recover. The game ended after six innings with a big 17-5 win over the two time defending champions.

For his ejection, both Lane Gordon and the Quizno's team draw an automatic $10 fine each. This does need to be paid before Gordon and Quizno's can play their next game.

Notes on Quizno's Owings Mills:
►Quizno's Owings Mills has not had an extra base hit off of Russ Zapacosta in the last 14 innings.
►Game #1: Batting- 18-28 (.643)  Game #2: Batting- 13-29 (.448)
►Mark Rosenstein in 2 Games: 4-5, HR, 4 RBI, 2 Runs Scored.
 

Field 3:
Jilly's Under Armour(6) 12 (WP-Kory Rosenberg 1-7)  NEK Entertainment(7) 8 (LP-Keith Mayle 2-3 )
In game two it appeared the dismal season for Jilly's was ending! In a game that recalled a controversial victory by Jilly's, way back on June 13th, (after a game tying homer by NEK, the batter failed to touch the plate and was called out on appeal to end the contest) NEK was looking fora little revenge....it didn't take long for the athletic team in Red to begin pounding the ball off suprise starter Kory Rosenberg. A long homer to left finished their top of the 1st with a 4-0 lead after one. In the 2nd, Jilly's remained patient and tried to take a few pitches against the wild NEK staff....the strategy started to pay dividends as Sandler (0-1, 3 BB, 2 runs), Burris (1-2, 2 BB, 2 runs, 2 rbi), Ellis (1-2, 2 BB, 2 runs, 2 Rbi) and Rosenberg (0-2, 2 BB) got free passes to climb within two at 4-2. NEK came right back in their top of the third to put two more on the board to make it 6-2. Jilly's could only scratch out a single tally in their half of the third after loading the bases as Nik (2-2, 2 BB, 1 Run, 2 RBI) walked to force in Scott Snyder (3-4, 3 runs, 2B), after three, it was 6-3. After a scoreless 4th, NEK went down one-two-three, and JIlly's went to work to save it's season...A leadoff single by Snyder, a walk to Lee Eidelberg (2 BB, run) and Sandler, a double from Reggie Ellis scored two, and Rosenberg finished the scoring with a bases loaded walk. Jilly's left the bases full again as leadoff hitter, Robby Ressin (2-4) lined a ball to third, which was snared by NEK's hot corner to keep the game tied. Going into the 6th, it was even at six. NEK untied the game quickly after a leadoff walk, by going out of the park with a titanic blast that hit the top of the wall and skipped over for an 8-6 advantage. A key play ended NEK in the inning, as they had runners at 1st and third with one-out...a long fly ball to right-center was hauled in by Detour Dave. With the runner easily tagging from third to score the ninth run...the runner on first must have thought there were two outs, as he circled the bases and was doubled-up easily at first-base to end the inning. Six was a magic number for Under Armour...as they doubled their total in the bottom of the sixth with a six run outburst, with Craig Babst (1-4, 2 rbi's) getting the knock-out blow, a slicing triple to right to finish the scoring.

Kory Rosenberg could taste his first mound victory of the season...ending the game on a tailor-made 5-4-3 double play to advance at least one more round.

Jilly's/Under Armour will have to figure-out Lane Gordon and the mighty Quizno's next week to advance into game four of the post-season next Sunday. So far this year, Jilly's has lost all five against "Henderson" and his crew by a total of 58 runs.
 

Field 4:
Kings(4) 14 (WP-Mike Herr 5-1) Northwest Corridor(8) 12 (LP-Dave Stein 3-9)
Northwest Corridor gave the Kings a scare taking a 6-0 t-1st lead, but the Kings took advantage of wildness from NWC starter Dave Stein and came out on top 14-12. Kings starter Dan Frignito yielded 4 walks and 2 hits prior to being lifted with 0 outs in t-1st. Mike Herr retired 3 out of the 4 batters he faced in relief, but the Kings were down 6-0. Dave Stein walked the bases loaded in Kings b-1st, but he was able to escape with just 1 run against, an Alan Varhaftik SF. The Kings 6 more walks from Stein in b-2nd before Howard Goldberg entered in relief. When the inning was over, the Kings got just 2 hits (Varhaftik 2 RBI 3B, Troy Hendricks RBI 2B), but 9 more runs. Leading 10-4 into b-5th, the Kings extended their lead on 2 out 2 RBI singles by Richard Wong and Mike Herr. Herr had held NWC scoreless thru his first 6 innings of relief, but leading 14-6 entering t-7th, he tired and yielded 5 hits before Chuck Grant relieved Herr and closed out the game for the Kings.

The level of play and intensity looked nothing like a playoff game during the first 2 innings. NWC jumped out to an early 6-0 lead capitalizing on Dan Frignito's wildness. Four NWC players reached base via walk in the top of the 1st. Howard Goldberg and Eric Wingrat both delivered 2run singles to take the early lead. Mike Herr came in to bail out the Kings and end the inning. David Stein had his own control problems in the bottom of the 1st but managed to escape with just 1 run crossing the plate. The 2nd inning was a different story as Stein couldn't find the strike zone and proceeded to walk 6 Kings batters. The rest of the game was relatively uneventful as the kings took a commanding 14-6 lead into the top of the 7th. Refusing to end their season on a down note NWC almost pulled together an outstanding comeback falling just 2 runs short. Five consecutive base hits to start out the inning by Unterman, Landsman, Pollak, Liner and Bell led to a NWC 6 run 7th. It was not enough as the Kings advance to the next round and the NWC looking forward to next year after some progress was made in 2004. Mike Herr and Howard Goldberg both pitched well in relief bailing theirs teams out of some bad jams. Herr allowed just 4 hits between the 2nd and 6th innings and Goldberg allowed 5 hits and 2 walks from the 2nd to the 6th

Hitting stars for the Kings were Dan Frignito (2-3,3 R,W). Mike Herr (1-3,1 R,3 RBI), Alan Varhaftik (1-4,1 R,3 RBI,3B), Kenny Salzman (1-2,2 R,1 RBI,W), and Richard Wong (1-2,1 R,3 RBI,SF). The line score ended with the Kings having just 8 hits, with 11 walks. NWC had 15 hits, with 4 walks.

In their 3rd season, NWC was making their playoffs debut. The Kings have qualified for the playoffs in each of their 16 seasons and have appeared in 5 finals, winning in 1993 and 1996.