Season Ends With a Split

The Rez Life Warriors finished up the regular season with a hard-fought split, winning the opener 14-1 over Wooddale and losing a heartbreaker 18-15 in 8 innings against Living Word. The victory against Wooddale marked the fifth in a row for Rez Life and put them in position to tie for second place with a win in the nightcap. However, Living Word came from behind and took its first lead in the top of the 8th and held on for the victory, pushing the Warriors into 3rd place with a final record of 12-6.

Game one wasn't close, as expected, and the Warriors rolled to the 13-run victory via 10-run rule after six innings. The team used two 5-run innings , the second and sixth, to open the game up and finish it off. Eight players had multiple hits with Eric Johnson and Austin Colby ripping out four apiece. Eric earned his first Player of the Game of the season with three runs scored, three RBI, a double and his second homerun of the year.

Things got going with one out in the top of the second inning as Eric singled and moved to second on AJ Larson's single. Chris Burr then deposited his first of two three-run homers on the day deep into the left-field trees to make it 3-0. Matt Hanson followed wtih a single and scooted home after Austin lined his 11th homerun of the season down the right-field line, making it 5-0.

Wooddale scored its only run of the game in the bottom half using two singles and taking advantage of a defensive miscue. The bats were silent again until the fourth when the Warriors added two more on three hits. Matt Hanson singled and went to third on Austin's double. After an out, Jordan Schumack ripped a two-RBI single to push the lead to six, 7-1 Rez.

Jordan worked himself out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the fourth by striking out consecutive batters to end the inning. The offense responded with two more runs. This time, Lee Valle started things with a triple and jogged home on Eric's two-run shot.

In the top of the sixth, the Warriors put an exclamation point on their victory with five more runs. Jordan and Jamy Antoine singled to start the inning and both runners scored on a wild throw from the shortstop on Jeff Johnson's grounder. With Jeff at second, Lee singled and Eric followed with an RBI-single to score Jeff. A forceout cut down Lee at third for the first out and then Chris singled to plate Eric, making it 13-1 Rez. Another grounder provided the second out and Austin capped the scoring with a run-scoring double off the wall.

The defense was very good in the game, with Lee recording five putouts at third base to go along with his one assist.

Game two promised to be a barn-burner as the two most talented teams faced off for second place. Living Word, sporting its full lineup, was the most formidable team in the league all year. Living Word beat Rez 26-18 in a slugfest in the first meeting and handled the Warriors 17-12 in a game that saw the Warriors twice come back from 10+ run deficits. This game went the other way as Rez had leads of 7-0, 11-4 and 14-12 before falling in the extra frame.

The end of the seventh inning was controversial but the Warriors had the perfect opportunity to end the game and failed to do so.

Things started well as the offense exploded for seven runs in the top of the first inning. Lee led off with a single and Austin followed with a single out of the two-hole. Chris popped up for the first out but the shortstop fired the ball to the pitcher who couldn't handle the throw and the ball went out of play, allowing the runners to advance one base. AJ singled which plated Lee and moved Austin to third. Eric then popped foul but the shortstop's momentum carried him out of play, allowing Austin to score and move AJ to second. Jamy then singled to score AJ and make it 3-0 with two outs. Jordan followed with a double that scored Jamy and Matt Shuster singled to push Jordan to third. Jeff delivered the big blow launching a three-run homer to make it 7-0.

Living Word answered with four runs in the bottom half using two singles and a three-run homer to start its scoring. With two outs, two singles sandwiched a walk to plate the fourth run.

In the second, the top of the order produced again. Lee and Austin singled back-to-back and Chris drilled a three-run homer to center giving the Warriors a 10-4 advantage. AJ singled and Eric doubled to plate him making it 11-4. Still with no outs, Jamy walked to make it first and second. However, three straight pop-ups ended the inning.

The defense held strong versus Living Word's bottom half of the order, keeping them off the scoreboard. The first two batters singled, but Lee made a very nice unassisted double-play at third for the first two outs and Chris snagged a flyball to end the inning.

A two-out double from Austin in the third inning was wasted and Living Word bounced back with three runs in the bottom half making it a four-run game, 11-7. Living Word used four hits and a sacrifice fly to score the three runs.

Leading 11-7, the Warriors managed one more run in the fourth after AJ led off with a triple to right. Eric singled to score AJ but a popout and back-to-back grounders capped the frame, 12-7.

Living Word had its biggest inning tying the game with five runs in the bottom half. An error started the inning and after a pop-up Living Word drilled a two-run homer to make 12-9 with one out. A single, walk and a two-out three-run homer tied the game.

In the fifth, the Warriors were shutout again wasting a lead-off walk from Jeff. Thankfully, the defense held ground in the bottom half, keeping Living Word off the books also.

Chris started the sixth with a single and moved to second on AJ's walk. Eric Johnson lined his third hit of the game to score Chris and after a flyball advanced AJ to third, Jordan lined one to left that allowed AJ to score making it 14-12.

With just two minutes left on the game clock, Living Word came to bat in the bottom of the sixth. For the first time all season, the Warriors actually wanted the game to end via time limit but because of three straight slick catches from Austin and Chris in the outfield, the inning lasted just 100 seconds leaving enough time for the umpire to call the "flip/flop" rule letting Living Word bat to start the seventh inning. With its stud hitter due on deck and most likely going to hit the team's fourth and final homer, Living Word's three-hitter came through with a huge lead-off single. As estimated, the Living Word four-hitter hit a ball over the grass and the first parking lot to tie the game at 14. However, the good thing was that any additional homers would result in an out. After another single, the next three batters went down quietly, leaving the score tied at 14 with the Warriors coming to bat in the bottom of the seventh.

With the 9 and 10 hitters coming up, things couldn't have started better for Rez Life. Jeff walked on three pitches to open the inning and Matt Hanson lined a single to center on the next pitch. Unfortunately, the liner looked a little deceiving off the bat so Jeff had to hold up for just a split second and the left-center fielder was able to field the ball and gun to second to nail Jeff by a step for a forceout. However, Lee came through out of the lead-off spot with a single to put two on for Austin and Chris. The Warriors were feeling pretty good about their chances. After a short infield conference, Living Word chose to pitch to Austin, mainly because Chris was waiting on deck. With a deepened outfield, Austin drilled one to deep left-center only to have it caught by the left-center fielder. Living Word then pitched very carefully to Chris and threw the final ball over his head to ensure that he didn't swing, loading the bases for AJ with two outs. AJ was perfect on the night thus far, 3-3 with a walk and he laced the 1-1 pitch back up the middle. The pitcher stabbed it as he fell towards first base. The first baseman thought the ball would get by so he hadn't covered first and a footrace was on. The pitcher had just 30 feet to run and AJ had 60 but the pitcher knew he'd have to hurry. He ran so hard that as he reached AJ just 5 feet in front of first, he was unable to slow down enough to tag AJ as AJ slammed on the brakes. AJ avoided the tag and touched first, seemingly ending the game, 15-14 Warriors. That wasn't the case according to the umpire. The umpire called AJ out, not having a good view of the play as AJ was running away from him at the time. Living Word was very grateful for the opportunity to play the one extra inning as evidenced by the smiling and laughing caught on film by the pitcher and shortstop.

In the extra frame, a runner starts on second with one out. The first batter singled to make it first and third with one out. The next batter hit a chopper down the line at third that Lee knocked down, holding the runner at third from scoring but loading the bases with still one out. The next hitter singled to score one run and give Living Word its first lead of the game, 15-14. The next batter grounded to AJ who forced a runner at second for the second out, but a second run scored making it 16-14 with runners on first and third and two outs. The next hitter delivered the back-breaker, lining a ball to the wall in right-center scoring the two runners making it 18-14. Thankfully, Jamy made a nice relay throw to Eric who gunned the batter at home saving another run.

The bottom of the eighth went quickly for Rez Life. AJ started on second with one out and Eric singled to score him and make it 18-15 with one out. The next two batters got out to end the game and the season for the Warriors.

AJ earned Player of the Game with his 3-4 performance with one walk and a triple. He scored a season-high five runs and narrowly missed ending the game in the bottom of the seventh.

Life captured the league crown with a final record of 15-3. Living Word finished second at 14-4 with the Warriors coming in third at 12-6. The team now regroups and plays the Bloomington Assembly of God tournament this Saturday before calling it a season and re-tooling for next year.