#2 seed Winfield Scott’s Anacondas hosted #7 seed Bill Brunton’s Rollers in a set of playoffs where record does not seem to matter; I truly believe any team in these playoffs could win the World Series (well, except for Susquehanna who has already – barely – been eliminated). Red Hill and Scott sport 7 World Series championships between them, and experts expect this series to be extremely close. Play Ball!!
Game 1 – Scott sent Mike Fiers to the mound opposed by Red Hill’s Zack Greinke. Red Hill threatened in both the 1st and 2nd innings, but could not come through with a hit when runners were in scoring position. Scott had the same problem, going 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position in the first 2 innings. RH’s Jose Reyes led off the top of the 3rd with a single, then was put into motion as Adam Lind lined a shot into the RF corner and scored easily. In the top of the 4th RH’s Jason Castro singled with 1 out and then, after Greinke struck out, Andrew McCutchen cleared the LF fence with a long fly to push the Rollers out to a 3-0 lead. Scott finally got their offense going in the bottom of the 4th when Carlos Gomez led off with a single. After Edwin Encarnacion struck out David Peralta duplicated McCutchen’s trick by going opposite field over the LF fence and cutting the lead to 3-2. Scott’s bullpen went into lockdown mode, giving up only a lone single to the Rollers over the next 5 innings while walking none and striking out 6. Could the Anacondas bats break through? In the 6th Encarnacion walked but went nowhere. In the 8th Robinson Cano doubled, but Carlos Gomez flew out to LF to end the threat. In the bottom of the 9th, RH’s Zach Putnam got Encarnacion to ground out to Jose Reyes then blew a fastball past Steve Pearce for the second out. Melky Cabrera stepped up…drove it deep to CF…and Andrew McCutchen tracked it down to end the game. Neither team could get a hit with runners in scoring position…all 5 runs scored with a runner on 1st. Red Hill held on for the 3-2 victory and a 1-0 series lead.
Game 2 – Scott’s Tanner Roark faced Red Hill’s Yordano Ventura. Both teams wasted a 2-out double in the first 2 innings, but Scott broke through in the 3rd when Jose Reyes’ wild throw put Roark on first then Matt Carpenter doubled him to third. Robinson Cano hit a grounder to Ian Kinsler who fired home and nailed Roark at the plate. But Carlos Gomez legged out an infield hit and Carpenter crossed the plate to make the score 1-0 Scott. In the bottom of the 5th with 2 outs Robinson Cano and Carlos Gomez walked with 2 outs, then Steve Pearce dinked an rbi single to LF. Red Hill pulled Ventura and brought in Roman Mendez, but Edwin Encarnacion greeted with a one-hopper of the CF wall to plate 2 more…4-0 Scott. In the bottom of the 7th the Anaconda bats continued to ring out as Robinson Cano walked and scored on Eric Campbell’s 2-out pinch-hit double. David DeJesus walked then Melky Cabrera ended all doubt in the game by launching a 3-run blast as Scott built an 8-0
lead. Red Hill put 2 runners on in the 8th but couldn’t bring them home, and then went quietly in the 9th as Scott wrapped up the 8-0 victory. Off to Red Hill!
Winfield
Scott Anacondas