Selects vs. Smoke
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
The Selects overcame some defensive miscues Tuesday night, gritting out a 5-4 win over the always-tough Smoke to improve to 7-0 on the season.
The Smoke took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Selects answered with a four-run inning in the bottom of the third. After Kevin Ryrie reached on an error and Brad Cleasby drew a walk, Mike Brown, Brett Pfeifer, and Darren Strickland all notched RBI singles. Mike Welton then beat out an infield single to load the bases, still with nobody out. Smoke hurler Marc Geddes got a double play and a strikeout to escape the jam, but one more run came across, making it 4-1 Selects.
The Smoke pulled even in the top of the fifth, taking advantage of porous Selects defense and forcing Selects' pitcher Scott Clark to hand the ball to Shayne Riepert in relief, with runners at the corners and only one out. Clark then promptly made his impact felt at shortstop with a beautiful backhanded play to initiate an inning-ending 6-3-5 double play.
The score remained knotted until the bottom of the sixth, when Tom Allan notched a one-out single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Clark, and scored on a throwing error when the Smoke's third baseman tried to get Ryrie at first. Riepert set the Smoke down in order in the seventh to preserve the win.
Clark pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing four unearned runs on five hits, while striking out four. Shayne Riepert was perfect in relief, recording eight outs while facing only seven batters.
In light of some unanticipated personnel losses, the Selects would like to officially welcome three new players to the squad: Marcos Osorio, Steven Riepert, and Brody Stevenson. Osorio makes his KFL debut after a four-year hiatus from fastball, having last played in his native Venezuela. Riepert joins the squad fresh from the Kitchener-Waterloo minor system, bringing added youth to the team at only 19. And Stevenson will play for the Selects part-time, when not suiting up for the New Dundee Jrs. squad.
MVP: Mike Brown, CF