Danny Monroy tumbled to the Vet’s Park turf, snuggling the ball
for the game’s final out.
Danny Monroy tumbled to the Vet’s Park turf, snuggling the ball for the game’s final out.
Monroy, who had been dazzling at shortstop the entire night Wednesday, made the play look a pinch tougher than it was due to some well-deserved exultation.
Monroy and his third-seeded Greenwood Chevrolet/DentPro men’s slow-pitch softball team had just pulled off a miracle comeback to shock top seed Washington Mutual Bank by David Carroll 19-15 in eight innings.
Greenwood/DP’s improbable Division II odyssey, which will send them to Division I for the second half, began innocently with a one-out walk to Brian Sullivan down down seven runs in the top of the seventh. Seven batters later, a two-run home run by Jim Tomlison had tied the score 15-all.
The big blow in the inning, though, was a towering grand slam to left field by Gary Garcia, his second home run of the game. Garcia had three hits and 5 RBI for the night.
Washington Mutual had only a leadoff single by Victor Sanchez in the bottom of the seventh and the game went into another extra frame. Monroy recorded the second out on an over-the-shoulder catch in short left off the bat of Kevin Collins.
“This was the best game I ever played,” said Monroy, who had three hits, including a double, scoring three times. “I’ve never been in a game like this in my five years playing softball.”
Greenwood/DP, which had about seven hearty fans rooting them on, entered the top of the eighth juiced. Shannon Reilly singled, then Marty Greenwood doubled Reilly home. Sullivan, who belted a behemoth grand slam way over the center field fence in the second inning, singled to the right side for another run. James Marshall crushed a double to center to move Sullivan to third. Chris Cason, who had four hits, singled in two big insurance runs, giving him 5 RBI.
Jonathan Taylor led off the bottom of the eighth with a single and Curt Raitz walked with one out. But Jr. Gutierrez got the final two hitters to pop-up.
“This was a tough loss,” said Washington Mutual’s Dale Stevenson, who had a solo home run, a double and two RBI. “We just came up a little bit short.”
Washington Mutual had surged ahead with a huge third inning, sending 11 batters to the plate for seven runs. Randy Evanger led off the inning with a bomb to left field. After Sergio Sanchez singled in a run, Jorge Sanchez belted a three-run home run to left field for a 10-5 lead.
WMB tacked on three more runs in the fourth to go up 13-6 with Taylor chipping in an RBI double.
Defensively, Collins was stellar in left-center with three great catches. Two were the first two outs of the third inning. The rest of the Washington Mutual Bank players must have been so impressed, they headed into the dugout. Greenwood/DP didn’t protest that there were only two outs.
Garcia led off the fourth with his solo homer.
Other first half championship games:
Division III – BeVo’s 22, Bandits 20. Bandits defeated Speedee Oil 37-29 in a semifinal slugfest.
Division IV – Bertuccio’s 14, San Juan Oaks 13. SJO defeated Ornelas Plumbing/Guarding Landscape by forfeit in the semifinal.
Division V – PacSci/Quantic 25, Hazers 3.
Women’s – Denice-Filice-Breen 16, A & N Plumbing 10. Christina Castillo hit a 3-run homer for DFB, while Laura Vargas homered for A & N Plumbing. A & N Plumbing defeated The Crew 17-1 in the semi.
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WP – Gutierrez. LP – Raitz. 2B – Monroy, Marshall, Greenwood (GC/DP); V. Sanchez, Taylor, Stevenson (WMB). HR – Sullivan, Garcia 2, Tomlison (GC/DP); J. Sanchez, Evanger, Stevenson (WMB). 4 hits – Cason (GC/DP); V. Sanchez, Collins (WMB). 3 hits – Sullivan, Monroy, Garcia, Reilly (GC/DP). 2 hits – Marshall, Rhodas, Gutierrez, Tomlison (GC/DP); S. Sanchez, Taylor, Stevenson (WMB). 5 RBI – Sullivan, Cason, Garcia (GC/DP). 3 RBI – J. Sanchez (WMB). 2 RBI – Tomlison (GC/DP); Evanger, Stevenson (WMB).
