Challengers rally from 7 run deficit, hang on for wild win in Sedin's farewell

WAY TO KEEP IT INTERESTING: Challengers rally from 7 run deficit, hang on for wild win in Sedin's farewell

After barely holding on in Game 1 (see guest write-up by Michel Mariano Romang...if he wrote one), the Challengers got off to a horrible start in Game 2. After a lead-off walk and a steal, starting pitcher Yusuke Azuma got the next batter to hit an easy grounder to Kurt Kovac at short. Unfortunately, Kovac's throw to first was dropped by Juan de la Rosa, putting runners on first and third. After Azuma, not knowing the new rule, tried the 'ol fake to third throw to first pick-off move (which worked maybe once in recorded history anyway), he was called for a balk and it was 1-0 Mustangs, with a runner on second (who eventually scored following two ground-outs). Aside from de la Rosa's flubbed catch at first, another defensive low-light came from Carlos Nepomuceno who somehow managed to field a grounder at second and then basically spike the throw directly into the ground in front of him. I don't think he could do that again if he tried (of course, an inning later Carlos managed to make a diving stop deep in the hole and throw the runner out with no problem...I don't get it). Fortunately, that runner didn't score and it was 2-0 Embrach after one.

Things went from bad to worse for the Challengers in the top of the third, as the Mustangs touched Azuma for three more runs on three hits, a passed ball, wild pitch and a hit-by-pitch. The C's got one run back in the bottom of the inning, when Azuma doubled home Adrian Amoros. But Embrach got that one back plus two more, as they peppered hits around the field. Coach Rob Sedin finally pulled an uncharacteristically ineffective Azuma - who in fairness was facing a line-up with several NLA-level players and a defense that was playing at a sub-juniors level - and replaced him with Kovac, who was able to record the final two outs. By that point it was 8-1 Embrach, and the Challengers looked dazed as they came off the field. I was certainly stunned - I can't recall having played in a game all season where we were behind by more than 2 runs. Sedin urged the team not to give up, but it sure felt like the Challengers had already been beaten. That is, until the bottom of the fourth inning began.

Nepomuceno led off with a walk and scored on a booming double by Renzo Falcone. 8-2. In what can only be described as true Renzo-fashion, Falcone took maybe four steps towards first before pausing to admire the ball in flight. Unfortunately, the Heerenschurli is a tad bigger than most of the other fields in the league and as a result, the ball had absolutely zero chance of actually leaving the yard. Even after the ball bounced off the left field wall, Renzo had yet to proceed even half-way down the first-base line,before finally running safely into second. One batter later, left-fielder Alex Gordon drew a walk, before Amoros doubled to score Falcone and send Gordon to third. 8-3. Azuma followed with a 2-rbi single, and suddenly it was 8-5 and the C's were in business. Kovac doubled to plate Azuma and make the score 8-6, before himself scoring on an absolute brain-fart of an error by the Embrach pitcher.

With Kovac on second, the pitcher spun around to make a pick-off throw, but no one was covering the bag. After stopping and seemingly thinking about what to do, the Mustang hurler inexplicably decided hey, I'll throw the ball anyway. The ball flew into the outfield and Kovac scored from second. 8-7. After consecutive hit-battsmen, Embrach called for a pitching change, but it made no difference. After Nepomuceno walked to load the bases, Daiki Sato scored the tying run on a passed ball. Falcone followed with a single, scoring de la Rosa with the go-ahead run, and sending Carlos to third. 9-8 Challengers. Falcone then stole second, inexplicably drawing a throw from the catch, which allowed Nepomuceno to trot in from third. 10-8 Challengers. After Adderly Sarmiento shattered his bat in a pop-out to second, Gordon came to bat with two outs and a runner on second. A-Dad came through with a line-drive single into left, scoring Falcone (11-8) and atoning for swinging at ball four in a prior at-bat. Gordon promptly stole second as well as third on a delay (to the untrained eye it may have seemed as if I merely wandered into the middle of the baseline and then stopped, before finally deciding to run to third...but that's to the UNtrained eye). Amoros took second as the trail runner - nearly getting tagged out when he inexplicably started to walk back to first base after the steal - but both runners were stranded. No matter. The Challengers had put up a 10-spot, going from 8-1 down to 11-8 up in just half an inning.

The Challengers expanded their lead to five runs in the bottom of the 5th, on RBI ground-out by Nepomuceno and a wild pitch that allowed de la Rosa to score from third. The Mustangs missed a scoring chance in the top of the 6th: after the (NLA-ringer) clean-up hitter crushed a booming double between Gordon in center and Sato in right, Kovac hit the next batter, putting runners on first and second with two outs. The Challengers were able to extinguish the threat when Gordon ran down a hard hit ball in center. The Challengers failed to score in the bottom half of the inning, which brought us to the top of the 7th, with the score still 13-8 Zurich.

Now, far be it from me to do a write-up that criticizes coach Rob in his last game with us, but I will note that Sedin has a tendency to make defensive replacements that are not always, shall we say, plus changes when it comes to defense. The problem with these moves is that the ball will inevitably find these replacements and cause my blood pressure to spike. The lead-off batter for the Mustangs in the top of the 7th had actually homered (like a legit over the wall shot) in the first game, so things were a little tense. However, Kovac got him to hit a lazy fly to left-center which was caught by Gordon for the first out. After that, things started to get tense: The number 8 and 9 batters reached on a walk and a bunt respectively. The next hitter hit a slow chopper to second, which Andreas Rudisühli couldn't handle cleanly and then flung over Ryan Koley's head at first, allowing one run to score and putting runners on second and third with one out. Kovac got the next batter to hit a routine fly ball to Romang in right, which while deep enough to score the runner from third, should have been the second out - except Romang muffed the catch (perhaps losing the ball in his new 'stache). Instead of two outs and a runner on second or third, a run scored, there were runners on second and third, and still just one out… and now it was 13-10. After an RBI single made it 13-11, Romang tracked down a fly ball in right for the second out. Kovac followed with a walk, loading the bases for the Mustangs' clean-up hitter.

At this point, I cannot exactly say that I was feeling good about things, particularly as this particular batter had crushed a ball way over my head his last time up. I think Kovac got the count to 0-2, or 1-2, something like that, but I can't really remember now. What I DO remember is what happened on his last pitch of the game: an absolute laser...right into Rudisühli's glove at second. The ball was hit so hard that it literally knocked Andreas on his backside, but he held on to the ball for the final out (and a good thing too: there's a better than 50/50 chance that had he missed that ball I would've run in from center and beaten him to death with my glove). Game over: Challengers win 13-11.

And with that, the Challengers send Rob Sedin off to Canada with a perfect 14-0 record (as well as the knowledge that I was intending to savage him in this write-up if we had lost!). Yeah, I guess B-school has its perks, but the B team in Zurich will sure miss its coach.

by Alex Gordon