Selects vs. Smoke
Monday, August 29, 2011
For the fourth time in five years, the Selects have ended the Smoke's season, ousting them from the playoffs with a 7-3 victory on Monday night. In a league where parity pervades the top half of the league, the Selects have become a paragon of playoff success, advancing to their sixth consecutive KFL semi-final; the winner of this year's Black Sox-Classics quarter-final series will be the only other team to have even done so in each of the last two years.
The Selects opened the scoring in the top of the first when Mike Brown singled and stole second before coming in to score on Glen Hall's RBI single. The Smoke would answer right back in the bottom half of the inning when Jeff Clemens walked and stole second before Travis Murdock cashed him with an RBI single of his own. That, however, was as close as the Smoke would get.
In the top of the third, Brown again notched a leadoff single and Hall drew a walk. Mike Welton then tripled to the gap to score them both and came in to count on a Jamie Hickling sacrifice fly, extending the Selects' lead to 4-1. The boys in green added to their advantage the following inning when Zack Anstett cracked a one-out double and Brad Cleasby, pinch-running for Anstett, came in to count on a ground rule double off the bat of Scott Clark. Brown followed with an RBI single to cash Clark, and eventually scored as well on another Welton triple, giving the Selects a commanding 7-1 lead. The Smoke tacked on two more runs in the fifth and seventh innings, but ultimately fell short.
In his first ever playoff start, Clark picked up the win, allowing two runs over six innings while striking out six. Doug Hoffman got the final three outs, allowing one hit and one unearned run while striking out one.
With the sweep, the Selects are left to await their opponent for the semi-finals, which will kick off next week. When they do, the Selects will have lost just one game in over two months, posting a record of 14-1 (including tournament play) in that span.
MVP: Mike Brown, CF