By Ted Waddell
MONTICELLO — August 26, 2005 – In Monday night’s first game of the Monticello Men’s Softball League best-of-three-game championship series, the underdog team from Ma & Pa’s jumped out to the three-run lead in the opening frame, and hung in there for a 10-6 win over the favored Fitness Factory/D-Tech team.
The game featured a controversial seventh inning, in which the members of the Fitness Factory/D-Tech squad felt they were robbed when a grand slam home run was not allowed by the umpires.
Ma & Pa’s Brain Kowal started the game with a triple, which paved the way for Ma & Pa’s to score three runs during the inning.
The score remained 3-0 until the top of the fourth when Ma & Pa’s added a run to make it a 4-0 ballgame.
At its turn at bat in the fourth, Fitness Factory/D-Tech got on the scoreboard thanks to a two-run homer by Jay Legenos.
Ma & Pa’s grabbed back a run in the fifth, only to see it erased in the bottom of the sixth as Fitness Factory/D-Tech scored a run.
The seventh inning was wild and wooly, as Ma & Pa’s sent five runners across the plate in the top of the inning. In the bottom of the frame, Legenos thought he had hit a grand slam, only to find out the base umpire had called timeout seconds before he tagged the pitch.
Fitness Factory/D-Tech’s Dan Gallo got tossed out of the game by the base umpire for being a little too vocal. Shortly thereafter, the home plate umpire ejected an irate Legenos from the game.
Jason Corman earned the win for Ma & Pa’s, while Jo Jo Van Keuren took the loss for Fitness Factory/D-Tech.
In the second game of the title series, which began shortly after the first contest concluded, Fitness Factory/D-Tech rebounded to defeat Ma & Pa’s 21-4. The game ended in the fifth inning because of the league’s 10-run mercy rule.
Ma & Pa’s led off with two runs in the first frame and sent a couple of runners across the plate in the second.
But Fitness Factory/D-Tech scored seven runs in the bottom of the first, including a pair of two-run homers.
After going scoreless in the second, Fitness Factory/D-Tech racked up a total of 14 runs in the next three innings.
“We finally woke up,” said Edwin Rodriguez, who is the player/coach for Fitness Factory/D-Tech.
His take on the first game?
“We beat ourselves,” he said.