SWEEP

August 30, 2007

Brickyard 19 - Barbarians 17


On a beautiful night at the end of the summer, the Brickyard took home their franchise's first Nahant Championship Series title, completing a sweep of the Barbarians. The Brickyard made it five straight in the playoffs, sweeping both of the clubs they faced. The Barbarians gave a great effort and were in every game, but the Brickyard proved to be to strong down the stretch. The Barbarians threw their third pitcher in as many games, Dave Johnson. Johnson normally has precision control, but the Brickyard hitters worked the count the entire game and hit the ball hard all-night. John Peterson was on the hill again for the Brickyard and narrowly escaped a late surge by the Barbarians to get the win. The Barbarians would jump to an early lead in the first when Matt "Meet-The-Press" Pressman hit a towering blast, deep to left, just as fans were ushering into the stadium. The Brickyard would come storming back courtesy of an Adolph "A-Train" Gracile home-run that found the gap in right center and rolled to the infamous parking lot. The lead would change throughout the night and was tied three times during the course of the game. Greg "The Big Fella" Crosby hit the furthest home-run in the history of the league (which started in 1976) over the tree in deep center. This area of bullrush may be painted red to start the 08' season. With two runners on, Kiley Barret hit a screamer out to center. Charging hard to make a throw to the plate Matt Pressman let the ball under his glove and roll to the wall, Barret would come all the way around to score. The Barbarians would keep coming back and their MVP, Matt Pressman hit another pair of homeruns to keep pace with the playoff home-run record. The game was broken wide open in the sixth, when the Brickyard loaded the bases with two out. Dave Johnson was looking at a two run game, staring at one of the most feared hitters in the game, Greg Crosby. Crosby took Johnson's second offering, a fastball down the middle, into the August sky for a grand slam. The Brickyard wasn't done, one of their unsung heroes, Darren Malloy came to the plate with a runner on and two out in the inning. A tailing line drive to the right center gap gave him his first career home-run, and it would prove to be the difference in the game. Jack "Yack" Peterson finally would end the inning, his second at-bat, to make all three outs. (double -play, ground-out) The Barbarians weren't going to roll over and got within two runs on some great hitting and a tater by Carlo "Capa" Capinigro, but came up just short in the end.

Truly an amazing series, playoffs, and season. Congatulations to The Brickyard on their championship, and congratulations to all the teams who participated in this glorious league. The cookout is scheduled for September 22, at 3pm. Brickyard will recieve their trophy and drink beer out of it, I'm sure. Me, I'll just have to drink out of my cowbell until next year.