Challengers edge Barracudas 9-8

It had been awhile since the NLB Challengers had been able to go home happy after one of their games (personally, I'd come home from the last two sets of games wanting to go on a 10-Canton killing-spree). In fact, the last time the Challengers went home happy after a game was back in June, after they'd put a good whuppin' on the visiting Barracudas. The two teams met again last Tuesday, and after 9 innings - and nearly 4 hours - the Challengers finally got to go home happy again.

Things got off to a bit of a slow start for the Challengers, who fell behind 2-0 early. With two outs and no one on in the top of the third, center-fielder Alex Gordon came to bat, and quickly fell behind 0-2. After working the count full, Gordon fouled off several pitches before finally driving a single to center. Shortstop Kurt Kovac followed with an easy fly to left, but the ball was misplayed by the left-fielder, giving the Challengers runners on first and third. After Kovac stole second, second-baseman Carlos Nepomuceno drove in both runners with a double to right. First-baseman Oliver Bernet then drove in Nepomuceno with a double of his own. In the span of four batters, the Challengers had gone from down 2-0 with two outs and no one on base, to up 3-2. Not too shabby!

In the bottom of the third, the Barracudas missed out on a prime scoring opportunity: After former Challenger Ueli von Burg stole second, shortstop Kovac, rather than returning to his position, remained standing near the base. Ueli never noticed and was easily picked off by pitcher Dean Scherbaum. The pick-off became even more important when Scherbaum's next pitch was lined into center for a single, which would have easily scored the runner from second.

The Challengers added to their lead in the top of the fourth. After a von Burg error allowed right-fielder Gregory Zingg to reach second, Scherbaum followed with a booming double to straight-away center, making it 4-2 for the visitors. Unfortunately, after having been gifted a run by the Barracudas, the Challengers quickly returned the favor. With one out in the bottom of the fourth, third-baseman Adderly Sarmiento committed a two-base throwing error, which turned into a run when the next batter singled, making it 4-3. The Challengers struck back quickly however: with one out, Nepomuceno tripled to right center, and later scored when Sarmiento reached on another Barracuda error. Sarmiento advanced to second on a balk - more on that later - but was left stranded.

With the Challengers leading 5-3, things really started to get exciting in the bottom of the 5th: After von Burg led off with a walk, 'Cuda Second-baseman Andreas Hug tripled to left-center, cutting the lead to 5-4. Although the exact details are a bit hazy (I was busy running after the ball), von Burg somehow managed to run into catcher Yusuke Azuma's shoulder, sending Azuma to the ground in pain (knowing von Burg, there's no doubt that it was unintentional, and Azuma was able to remain in the game). A few pitches later, play was interrupted when the Barracuda's coach - displeased that an alleged balk by Scherbaum wasn't called - proceeded to throw a temper tantrum that would have been the envy of any two-year old child. Even after being ejected, the coach continued to yell and scream in the face of the home-place umpire - who couldn't have been more than 20 years old, and was physically smaller than the coach by a significant margin - before finally getting off the field so that the game could continue. I'm sure that the coach, whose name I don't know, is super proud of himself for the sterling example of sportsmanship and class that he demonstrated, not only to his team, but also to the several young children in attendance. I'm sure his parents must be very proud.

Anyway, once the man-child had finished embarrassing himself, the game resumed - and the excitement continued: After a hit-by-pitch put runners on first and third, the next batter lofted a fly-ball to left, which was caught by Renzo Falcone. Inexplicably, the runner from third had broken for home and was about 5 feet away from the plate when the ball was caught. Falcone's throw was caught by Sarmiento, who applied the tag for the double play - ultimately allowing the Challengers to escape with minimal damage (also somewhat inexplicably, the official scorer credited the put out and assist to me...which was nice, I guess, but inaccurate).

The fireworks continued in the top of the 6th, as the Challengers quickly put runners on first and third with one out. After Gordon was drilled in the back by a fastball - his second HBP of the game - Kovac came up with the bases loaded, and promptly singled, scoring Scherbaum from third. Nepomuceno continued his big night with a 2-RBI single to right, scoring Azuma and Gordon, and sending Kovac to third. Although the Challengers couldn't push any more runs across that inning, they had managed to expand their lead to 8-4.

The Barracudas began their comeback in the bottom of the inning. After the lead-off batter reached on an error, Scherbaum surrendered back-to-back one-out hits, making the score 8-5. Oli Christen was brought on in relief, and - after a walk and a strikeout - gave up an RBI single to make it 8-6. However, Christen came back to strike out the 'Cudas' #4 hitter to retire the side. The teams traded runs in the 7th and 8th innings respectively (the Challengers' score coming on a clutch RBI single by Azuma), making the score 9-7 heading into the 9th. After Gordon was hit for the THIRD time (seriously guys, aim for the plate once in awhile!), the Challengers had the bases loaded and two outs, but Kovac was retired to end the threat.

The bottom of the 9th got off to a great start for the Challengers, as Christen quickly struck out the first two batters. With the 8 and 9 hitters coming to bat, it seemed that the game would be over soon. Of course, that would have been too easy: The next batter hit a ball up the middle that deflected off of Christen's glove and over to Nepomuceno at second, whose throw was too late to get the runner. Well, no big deal, right? Still a two run lead with two outs. After a stolen base, the next batter hit a weak grounder to short that seemed to be the game ender. Unfortunately, Kovac's wild throw couldn't be handled by Scherbaum (who had moved to first after the pitching change). The runner was safe, and a run scored, making it 9-8 Challengers and bringing up the top of the order. Crap. The next batter promptly singled, putting runners on first and third with two outs. Double crap.

At that point, after nearly four hours of play, had the the Challengers lost there was a better than average chance that this writer would have sat down in center-field and wept. Not just a few stray tears, mind you, but flat out sobbing and howling - it would have been quite a spectacle. Fortunately, Christen took matters into his own hands, striking out the next batter to end the game - and then celebrating by screaming something unintelligible in German and flinging his glove across the field towards the Challengers' dugout. It was pretty awesome. Even better - given the late hour - the Barracudas had to clean up the field! Two reasons to go home happy.

by Alex Gordon