Volts Go Back-to-Back for Second Title

 

New Lenox, IL - High Voltage started the playoffs in defense of their summer crown against tough luck Off the Rails who have been a much better team than the record would indicate.  The game would go down as one of the most memorable playoff matches in Lions Den history with both teams putting on their offensive shoes and having an absolute slugfest.  After making the first out on one pitch, the Rails blasted off with an eleven run blitzkrieg to put in a statement that the Volts would be in a fight all night long.  The Volts placed the first five runners on base and would answer back with six runs while batting around the order.  Volts hit two homeruns in the process, which is not that great, but a far cry from last week when they shot all of their cannons with none out in the first.  High Voltage made a key stop in the second inning to briefly throw some water on the red hot Rails bats and hold them scoreless.  Volts once again batted ten men in route to a four run inning while hitting their final legal homerun of the game to trail 11-10 after two innings.  Off the Rails fired back with a six spot while hitting the remainder of their legal quota of homeruns and led the game 17-10 with the Volts coming to bat.  With no homeruns remaining for the Volts, the Rails employed the five infielder strategy to dare the Volts to hit safely without going out of the park.  The Volts would once again score their first five batters on the way to an eight run inning and a brief 18-17 lead in this game that was already starting to run short on time given the long at bats.  Rails came back by scoring with their first four hitters and would load the bases, only to have the rally stall, however, they would hold a 21-18 lead at this point.  The Volts put up a singleton in the bottom of the fourth to trail 21-19.  Off the Rails scored a run to increase the lead to 22-19 with less than five minutes on the clock. The Volts entered the bottom of the fifth inning with time running down and the first two hitters making quick outs, thus bringing El Capitan to the plate with three minutes on the clock and a decision to make.  The choice was to either try a two out rally with the top of the order coming up, or make a quick out and try to hold the Rails to minimal runs and start a final at bat with three precious outs in hand.  El Capitan chose the later and struck out looking on two pitches to cast the die and put the plan to the test.  Part A worked as Off the Rails could only muster a base on balls in what was to be a scoreless top of the sixth.  The Volts needed to score three runs to tie or four to win to wrap up the plan. The top of the order did its job by putting the first five guys on base before Jeffrey Sketches launched a SAC fly to tie the game at 22 with one out.  The rails pitcher intentionally walked the next batter before Big Jimmy roped a single to score Sutes for a walkoff 23-22 victory against gritty Off the Rails.  The Volts would only lead briefly one time during the game in the third inning when they led by a run, and on the final play of the game when they inched past Off the Rails.  Hats off to the Rails for turning things around on Tuesday and smacking the ball hard.  The Volts would have to wait for the winner of the Paradise Bay vs Brew Jays game for their opponent in the championship game, which would ultimately be the Jays after pounding Bay on the run rule 27-9.

The Championship game was much more subdued in comparison to the previous two rounds.  Rigor mortis set in on the fan base who had been hanging around all night supporting their charges in the 40 degree weather.  The match featured the two teams that have played the best throughout the 2024 season, and it was only fitting that they would play each other to settle the Fall Playoff Title.  As offense was the key in the previous two matches of the night, defense was now the game.  The Jays started off the game with two runs with the Volts matching that number for the teams to be deadlocked at 2-2 after an inning.  The Jays went 1-2-3 in the top half of the second while High Voltage pushed two more runs across for a 4-2 lead after two.  The Volts shut out the Jays once again in the third and would add six runs to take a 10-2 lead after three innings.  The Jays tacked on two runs to narrow the lead to six.  The Volts added a run in the fourth inning to lead 11-4 heading into the fifth inning of this swiftly played game.  Jays once again narrowed the gap to six runs by scoring a run and making it 11-5 Volts heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.  The Volts would quietly need four runs to end the game on run rule and were well on the way after scoring with three of their first four batters.  With two out and runners on first and third, Pratl came to the plate with a chance to end the game.  He jumped on the first pitch and smacked a single past the shortstop for the game winning RBI to score Sutes for a 15-5 game shortened run rule Fall Championship.  High Voltage recorded the rare Summer/Fall Playoff Championship after finishing 3rd in the Summer regular season and 1st in the Fall.  Congrats to the Brew Jays on a fine season.  Congratulations to the 2024 Fall Playoff Champions High Voltage!  See you in 25'

Notables:

Time & Temp - With light rains falling for several hours during the morning/afternoon, it was not an automatic that last night's games would be played.  High winds and temps in the low 40's would not stop the games from being played as the infield was in excellent shape, with no puddles to be observed anywhere.  With all of that, next week's temps are forecast to be in the low 70's........of course it's going to be 70 next Tuesday when no games are played.

They Did It Again - For the umpteenth time, Paradise Bay franchise left their lineup aka scorebook behind.  You got to give them credit for saving trees with their minimalist view on using paper.

Not to Be - Folks were excited to see this truck roll up outside the Zlogar wedding on Saturday.  Visions of groomsman playing laser tag, and bridesmaids slugging it out with Socker Boppers were short-lived as the truck was only passing through.  We did catch up with the driver, Dusty Walnuts, to ask him where he was going.  "This is for the kids whose parents shell out 90 grrrrrrr a year to send their brats to this Academy".  

#12 Wire - Forget leather laces, what's an electrician to do when he "jacks" up his glove at a wedding of all things.  Hey, if it works.............

Audit Please - Fall league cost somewhere around $580 to join.  Being the #1 seed netted $395 and the playoff title raked in another $70...........all in cash.  Cash!!! Cash???  Who's running this league anyway?  Folks, you play for the love of the game.  After investing $580 in the league and then running the table in the regular season and playoffs netting $465 back, it's clearly not for the money.