Tom’s Market Pirates top Minor League
- Published: July 20, 2017
The Tom’s Market Pirates continued their late season rally last week with three victories and won the overall 2017 Minor League regular season championship by just a half-game over the Peach’s Dodgers.
The Pirates opened the week with a 20–0 dominance of the Nipper’s Corner Red Sox on Monday, July 10. Thirty hits were pounded out by the Pirates, resulting in five runs in each of the first two innings, a pair in the third, one in the fourth and a big seven-run fifth inning. That’s when Hazen VanMeter had an RBI single, followed by a Derek Reed grand-slam homerun and Javen Obringer’s two-RBI double to center. Reed went four-for-five at the plate, knocking in nine total runs while brother Dylan, VanMeter, Obringer, Bryce Fleming, Adeline Zinger and brothers Jack and Teddy Horvath also had multiple hits for the Tom’s Market Pirates. Aiden Scavone, Justin Hamilton, Max Lugo and siblings Henry and Violet Babb each managed a hit to pace the Nipper’s Corner Red Sox.
Despite eventually losing, the Nipper’s Corner Red Sox played one of their best games of the season on Wednesday, July 19, when they fell by a narrow 7–6 margin to the Peach’s Dodgers in an exciting game with a final inning walk-off RBI by Olivia Labrador. Trailing 3–1 after the first inning, the Red Sox took the lead with a four-run third inning that started with a Henry Babb fielder’s choice ground out to score Max Lugo. Alex Hamilton knocked in two more runs with a two-out ground ball single to center followed by an RBI single from rookie Henry Lake to score Hamilton. The Dodgers fought back and tied the game at 6–6 going into the final inning, where they retired three of four Red Sox batters to get one last chance at bat. Otto Cipollini led off the inning with a hard hit line drive triple to center field that put the winning run just 60 feet away. Rookie Olivia Labrador then sent Cipollini across the plate as the winning run with her walk-off infield single. Both teams smashed 15 hits with Cipollini, Labrador, Kian Rainey, Braylon Williamson and brothers Xavier and Hudson Pauling all collecting multiple hits for the Peach’s Dodgers, while both Hudson Pauling and Quinn Creighton each had a pair of RBIs. The Nipper’s Corner Red Sox were led by Henry Babb’s three-for-three day at the plate, while sister Violet, Avery Bell-Arment, Alex Hamilton, Max Lugo and Aiden Scavone all had multiple hits.
Another one-run game decided the regular season championship on Saturday, July 15, when the Tom’s Market Pirates edged out the Peach’s Dodgers 12–11. Alternating big run and strong defensive innings resulted in the teams passing the lead back and forth several times. The Dodgers took a 4–1 lead after the first inning on RBI singles from Braylon Williamson, Mateo Basora, Hudson Pauling and Otto Cipollini. The Pirates responded with their own five-run second inning on a Teddy Horvath two RBI double, a Dylan Reed RBI double and RBI singles from Hazen VanMeter and Adeline Zinger. The Dodgers then went to work, adding four more third-inning runs to go up 9–6 thanks to Otto Cipollini’s RBI single and an inside the park three-run homer by Quinn Creighton. That didn’t seem to faze the Pirates, as they came right back and added another six runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead for good. RBI singles from Teddy Horvath and Hazen VanMeter were followed by back-to-back inside the park home runs by Derek Reed and Adeline Zinger to put the Pirates up 12–9. A Dodgers fourth-inning rally netted a pair of runs thanks to an RBI ground out and RBI base hit from brothers Xavier and Hudson Pauling respectively. The top of the final inning saw the teams hold each other scoreless with some great defense. After retrieving a pair of infield grounders and throwing to first baseman Braylon Williamson for the first two outs, Dodgers second baseman Mateo Basora then caught Teddy Horvath’s pop fly for the third out. But the Tom’s Market Pirates’ defense held in the Dodger’s final chance at bat to seal the win and the regular season championship.
The week’s final contest was actually closer than the final score made it look, as the Nipper’s Corner Red Sox fell 15–2 to the Sam and Eddie’s Open Books Orioles in the team’s second meeting of the week. The Orioles only led 2–1 after the first inning, thanks to RBI base hits by Lucas Price and Frank Machi of the Orioles and Aiden Scavone’s RBI fielder’s choice ground out for the Red Sox. The teams held each other scoreless in the second before trading single runs in the third when Kellen Scott of the Orioles scored on a Lucas Price RBI single and Henry Lake’s RBI base hit scored Aiden Scavone to bring the Red Sox within a run at 3–2. The Orioles than added a pair in the top of the fourth when Cal Freeman scored on Neirin Barker’s RBI base hit and Ezra Lydy’s RBI single plated Orion Sage-Frabotta. The Orioles defense then held the Red Sox scoreless in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of fielder’s choice outs. The Orioles offense then exploded in the top of the final inning, scoring 10 runs off 11 hits, including RBI base hits by Sameer Sajabi, Ezra Lydy, Kellen Scott, and Cal Freeman, a two RBI double by Lucas Price and a pair of two RBI triples from Freeman and Frank Machi. Price led the Sam and Eddie’s Open Books Orioles, going four-for-four at the plate and four RBIs, while Violet Babb led the Nipper’s Corner Red sox with her own four-for-four day.
More rain and scheduling conflicts resulted in only a single Major League game last week that saw the Yellow Springs Chiropractic Dodgers outlast the Sunrise Café Indians 17–5 on Monday, July 10. The Dodgers jumped out to an 8–1 lead after the first led by a three RBI Noah VanHoose triple and brother Shawn VanHoose’s two RBI ground out. They added three more runs in the second on RBIs from Sam Miller and Azel Schindel after holding the Indians scoreless. But the Indians responded with four runs in the third thanks to RBIs from Luka Sage-Frabotta, Jeremy Lange and Matt Duncan. That’s as much offense as the Sunrise Café Indians could produce, while giving up another six runs in the fifth, thanks to an Eamonn Cary RBI single and six walks. The teams were to finish up the season with a double-header on Monday, July 16, although the Yellow Springs Chiropractic Dodgers have already clinched the 2017 regular season Major League Championship
The 2017 season concludes with the Minor League Post-Season Tournament Championship game this Saturday, July 22, at 4 p.m. on the softball field at Gaunt Park. The Peach’s Dodgers will face the winner of the semi-final game between the Sam and Eddie’s Books Orioles and Nipper’s Corner Red Sox held Wednesday, July 19. The all-league post-season picnic, awards ceremony and annual meeting will immediately follow the game. All Minor and Major League players, parents and family members are encouraged to attend and bring a side dish or dessert to share and something to drink. Hamburgers and hot dogs will be provided. More details, a link to RSVP and this week’s game results can be found on the league website at http://www.ysbaseball.org.
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