World Baseball Classic 50- Everything (IC)

[Cassadaigua]

Final- (3) Nova Anglicana vs (4) Cassadaigua @ Dagan Airways Stadium, Concord Heights (best of seven)- Scorinated by Chromatika

Game 4:

Nova Anglicana         0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2  4
Cassadaigua            0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 3  5

Cassadaigua leads series, 3-1

3rd P- (1) Newmanistan vs (10) TJUN-ia @ Cassgo Stadium, Victoriaville (best of five)

Game 4:

Newmanistan            3 0 1 0 3 0 0 1 0  8
TJUN-ia                0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0  3

Newmanistan wins series, 3-1

[Cassadaigua]

Wild Rally Puts Team A Game Away,
By Chelsea Dufresne, Concord Heights Times

Madison Mahoney slammed her glove down after returning to the dugout. After giving up two runs in the top of the tenth inning, it seemed as though the efforts of the Fillies to claw out a 2-2 tie to send the game into extras would be wasted. This had been the biggest pitching duel of the series, with Jessica Ashfield stepping up and throwing a great one, sticking with it after the Lions scored single runs in the second and third. Ashfield kept the game from getting worse, and new life for the Fillies would happen as the game went into extras. Madison had been brought in to shut down the Lions so that the team could get a walk off win in the bottom of the inning. That is not the way it would work, however, as Mahoney failed to come up with a put-away pitch after getting ahead of hitters, and that would lead to two runs. She would be saddled with the “L”, and the series would be all tied up.

Kaitlin Beane would lead off the bottom of the 10th, as the Dagans looked to get something going, but a routine ground out to short was not the way to start the inning. Meghan Thompson, the catcher, would single up the middle, and up stepped Adriana Vasquez. The scene would be similar. Very, very similar to that big eighth inning against the Rockets in the semifinals, as Vasquez appeared to hit a double play ball to short. Thompson was retired, but the speed of Vasquez, once again, would beat out the throw. Clearly safe by a step, the Fillies bench jumped into life. They saw this act before for a dramatic win, but would it happen again? With two outs, Katie Stephens blooped a single into right, and that allowed Vasquez to get all the way to third. Now, the fans were standing, clapping. The tying run was aboard and Rachel Kessler was coming up to the plate. Kessler, on a 1-2 pitch, would like a single to left, scoring Vasquez to make it 5-4. The speedy Stephens made it to third.

Next up, Tori Fullerton. And again, nothing fancy, just another single that dropped in, this to left, allowing Stephens to score. The fans were ecstatic now, as they would at least live to fight another inning as the game was all tied up. With runners on first and second, Macy Hamel had the chance to make sure that there would be no “next inning”. A deep drive would not make it over the fence, but it would not have too, hitting the left field fence, allowing Kessler to score, sending the stadium into a frenzy of cheers as the Fillies celebrated the come from behind victory. An amazing sight, and the kind of win that might make you think this will be our year. Among those celebrating was reliever Madison Mahoney. All she’ll need to do five years from now is say she was the winning pitcher in Game 4 of the WBC 50 championship series.

The team enjoyed the moment, but not for that long, knowing there is more work to do. There is still one more game to win, and for the team that up three games to two in World Baseball Classic 48, there is no premature celebrations, or sensing that things might go our way. It would be special for that to happen, right here on this field, but the team is not foolish to where they do not realize that all three of these wins could have gone the other way. Hannah Phelan will get the call in game five.

[Nova Anglicana]

Lion's Roar Chicken's Roost

A SportsWorld Weblog

Dagnabbit!
by Omega Lion



Dale Garner most of the time, and me after last night

One step forward, two steps back. That's what it feels like right now. It feels like we're sliding inexorably into another 4-1 finals defeat. The Lions are playing well, they're just not playing well enough. And Cassadaigua is just playing that much better. The Lions and Fillies have played four games in the WBC finals. Four times has the game been decided by one run, and three times it's been the Fillies coming out on top. The other two times, we can say that the Lions have just fallen short. But last night, they flat-out blew it. They took a 2-0 lead, and blew it. Then, after keeping a lid on the Cassadaiguan offense and scoring two runs off of Madison Mahoney in the 10th, they blew it. A failed double play opened the door to a two-out rally, culminating in an RBI hit from Macy Hamel, ending the game. Rocky Gantt looked like the solution at closer for a hot second there, but Singleton may go back to Zach Kelley or someone completely different if the Lions have a lead in the last inning again, which is no certain proposition.

But instead of completely moping through an article where I tell you all about how the Lions failed last night, I'm going to let the "expressive" language of first base coach Dale Garner do the talking. Garner is famous for his "motivational" speaking style and occasional mangling of the English language. Let's check out some of his best work below:

List of things this is

• Amateur hour

A classic, used to berate players who are underperforming.

List of things Dale Garner is incredulous that you think this is when it clearly isn't

• The Antigonish County Chili Cook-off

Posed in the form of a question, this is used to underscore the importance of a drill or a game by comparing it to a similarly high-stakes competition, but if it were exactly like this, it would be irrelevant to your work as a baseball player and thus ought never to be considered equivalent.

List of things this is like

• A country bear jamberoo around here
• Amateur hour at the Antigonish County Chili Cook-off

Bears can be a problem in Nova Anglicana, and a whole jamberoo of them spells trouble, while the second is used when you're particularly messing up...er, when you're not taking things seriously that you shouldn't...er, see "mangling" above.

List of things this isn't

• Three-legged race
• Pin the tail on the donkey
• Apples vs oranges

The first two are straightforward party games, likely used to criticize the performance of runners and hitters, respectively, while the third, uh, mangles a common metaphor, unless it's a party game where you have to select the object or idea most unlike the given object or idea.

List of things that is

• Good old-fashioned home-cooked flim-flam with a side of horse pucky

Usually used after a bad call by the ump to avoid being thrown out, because there are technically no curses in that sentence.

List of things you are

• A rotten apple at the bottom of the barrel
• Green behind the ears

The first appears to be reserved for players who betray their teammates or commit some other violation of the team's code, or perhaps it's another colorful way to refer to an umpire who's making a bad call. The second is often used in reference to rookies.

List of things they are

• Ham-fisted salami slicers
• Yella'-bellied skunk-snatchers
• Artichoke-eatin' IPA swillers

This invective is typically reserved for the lowest of the low: umpires, unsportsmanlike players, insufficiently engaged fans, or just a group of people you're annoyed with.

List of things you aren't

• The smartest cookie in the jar

Reminds me of that joke, "Two muffins are in the oven. One of them says to the other, 'Phew, it sure is hot in here.' The other one replies, 'Ahh! A talking muffin!'" Is it just me that finds the idea of an intelligent baked good funny?

List of things you couldn't do

• Hit the broad side of a barn if you fell off a boat

This one's all-purpose and can be used for hitters and pitchers. Just don't ask me to explain what it means.

List of things all of you shouldn't do

• Go to hell in the same handbasket

Used to motivate the team when momentum swings against them and a general collapse seems imminent.

Did we miss any? Feel free to add them or any would-be Dale Garnerisms in the comments below!

More from Lion's Roar
An actual recap of WBC Finals Game 4
Puppies and kittens, if you're feeling down about the Lions
Coffs Harbour about to get under way

(OOC: Logo at top shamelessly cribbed from Pride of Detroit, Detroit Lions blog a random Google Image. The opinions expressed above are the opinions of the writer and not necessarily indicative of the opinions of Nova Anglicans or the user behind Nova Anglicana.)

Additional OOC: if you're confused a little by this post, click here.

[TJUN-ia]

---

3rd Place Playoff Game: vs Newmanistan (4/24-6 in Group 11) (@Cassgo Stadium, Victoriaville)
Game 1: L 1-8 (0-1)
Game 2: L 0-6 (0-2)
Game 3: W 7-5 (1-2)
Game 4: L 3-8 (1-3)
Game 5:

Newmanistan Wins Series 3-1

---

And That Is The End Of That
We Fought And Won And Lost And Fell, And 4th Is Where We End Up.

This Will Be Remembered For A Long Time, As The Moment TJUN-ia Became A Member Of The Supposed "Big Boys" Of Not Just Baseball, But U3 As A Whole

But It Will Also Be The Remembered For When I Told You So,
That TJUN-ia Is Led By A Bisexual

See You Next Time!

GO JAGS!

[Chromatika]

Final- (3) Nova Anglicana vs (4) Cassadaigua @ Dagan Airways Stadium, Concord Heights (best of seven)- Scorinated by Chromatika

Game 5:

Nova Anglicana         0 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 2  6
Cassadaigua            0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0  2

Cassadaigua leads series, 3-2

[Cassadaigua]

Lions Step Up, Force Game 6,
By Chelsea Dufresne, Concord Heights Times

Game 5 was pretty much a dud for Team Cassadaigua. For a team that has had all of their games decided by one run after they defeated the Rockets in Game 1 of that semifinal, the lack of response in this fifth game is discouraging. All credit for that goes to Nova Anglicana, who showed the world that they have plenty of fight left in them, and with that they are in the same situation they were in after five games during WBC 48: Down 3-2.

We can critique this game in many different ways, and we are seeing that throughout various Cassadagan publications. There are some theories that I don’t prescribe too, and one of them is that the team did not have any emotion for this game, and got too relaxed following the fourth game victory. Another is that with the emotional roller coaster that was game four, Cassadaigua’s emotions might have been too celebratory while that of the Nova Anglicanans would be on getting redemption. That, to me, is all nonsense. We’re talking about a team that has made a habit recently of losing in the finals, and Maddie Polanco, despite a very successful record with the team, still needs to win the big one with us. At the start of the game, I didn’t see anything within the Cassadagan dugout that seemed amiss to me. The players all seemed to be approaching things the same way that they did in the first four games. That means also, that I do not feel that they were too celebratory from the game four win. They had their time to enjoy the win, but came out ready to play. As for Nova Anglicana feeling the need to vindicate that result, perhaps, but when you are down 3-1, your backs are against the wall and you are not worrying about redemption from any one game. They know that they need to string three straight wins together, but also know that they can’t get all three of them in one game.

When I look at this game, it is a case of a great performance by the Lions. They needed it, they can’t lose another game if they want to win this Classic. For the Fillies, it didn’t help that Katie Stephens and Rachel Kessler went a combined 0-for-8, each striking out twice. Each of them have been hitting the ball so well of late, that you can’t fault them here. Stephens had hit safely in 12 of the prior 13 games, while Kessler was riding an eight game hitting streak. That’s just baseball. It happens. Cory Sharpe did not pitch well in Game 1, but he is a better pitcher then that. We all know that, and in this game, Sharpe showed why he is the ace of the rotation.

One difference between the teams is that while Nova Anglicana shortened their rotation to four starters, Cassadaigua did not, so this meant a pitching duel between Sharpe and our #5 starter, Hannah Phelan. Could that be second guessed? Maybe, but this has been the strategy throughout the Maddie Polanco era and even before that, as she continuously talks about how a pitcher like Phelan is not a #5 starter as like on a normal rotation, she is the fifth best starting pitcher in the entire country. With the team up 3-1, there would be no reason to change that. Why skip over her and go to the top of the rotation with Brianna Shirley for game five? I do believe, therefore, that the correct decision was made. Now, this will mean that Shirley, our ace, is on the mound for Game 6. Hopefully, we can get this over with tonight with her leading the way. You never want to go to a seventh game when you had a 3-1 lead, especially when you were up 3-2 to them just two Classics ago.

[Nova Anglicana]

Lion's Roar Chicken's Roost

A SportsWorld Weblog

Lions stay alive
by Omega Lion



Me in front of my TV last night

The streak is broken! In the first four games of the WBC 50 finals, the outcome was decided by a single run, with three of those four games favoring the Fillies. But Game 5 was decided by four runs, and more importantly, it benefited the Lions! Facing elimination, on the wrong end of a 3-1 deficit, the Lions took the Fillies down, 6-2. And especially important was the fact that the Lions didn't blow this lead. A game removed from blowing 2-0 and 4-2 advantages, the Lions took leads of 3-0 and 4-1, then scored two late runs while holding off their opponents, a big relief for Mark Singleton and the bullpen. I honestly don't know who he would have sent out for the ninth had they needed to protect a small lead. Let's hope we don't have to find out, as the bullpen isn't exactly the steadiest part of the team right now.

But any discussion of yesterday's win has to start with Cory Sharpe. Sharpe was the ace of the rotation and the #1 pitcher in the league coming into this WBC, but found himself slotted into the #2 spot for the playoffs following Erik Russell's excellent group stage performance. But he's made two starts in the finals, and they've both been good. In Game 1, he gutted out seven innings and allowed three runs, bookending five scoreless innings with runs in his first and last innings. But here in Game 5, with the Lions' survival on the line, he really brought it, tossing eight innings and allowing only two runs. You can find a more detailed look at his start here, but I'm going to give you the brief summary.

Sharpe is known as a power pitcher, combining a strong fastball with a hard slider to generate a lot of strikeouts, but as we saw in the Daskel series, he's capable of pulling out the curve and change to great effect. Cassadaigua's hitters are all switch-hitters, so Sharpe was facing a parade of wrong-handed hitters, looking to pounce on any mistake. And he did allow two walks and six hits, combining five of those in the fourth and sixth innings to allow two runs, but otherwise, he was fantastic. You can tell because Katie Stephens, the 1-2 punch at the top of the Dagans lineup, those two women who provide excellent defense up the middle as well as jump-starting the offense, went a combined 0-8 with 4 Ks. Stephens had reached base in almost every game since the quarterfinals, while Kessler had an eight-game hitting streak snapped. When you shut down the top of the lineup, it becomes that much more difficult to get runs across. Sharpe utilized his slider well, targeting it at the back foot of the Fillies hitters, getting them to swing over the top. In addition, he kept up a steady diet of changeups away to keep the hitters off balance and offer a change of pace from the hard fastballs and sliders. This pitch mix, with a well-placed curveball or two, generated ten strikeouts and led the Lions to victory.

On the offensive side, the Lions faced Hannah Phelan. Phelan is the #5 starter for the Fillies, and while a #5 starter on a national team is nothing like a #5 starter on a club team, but the Lions had the decided advantage with their ace against a lesser starter. Phelan is a rookie, but she's more than proven herself in this Classic. Nevertheless, the Lions started early and built a lead that they would keep for the entire game. In the second, Joey Keller led off with a ringing double off the wall in left-center, then Matthew Gilbert singled up the middle to put runners on the corners with none down. Jerome Duplantier, the first of three lefties in front of Sharpe, hit one deep to center, which Stephens was able to run down, but Keller scored easily from third and the speedster Gilbert moved up, though the play was close at second. Marc Dufors swung and hit a ball that deflected off first base and into the outfield, allowing Gilbert to score from second on a crazy play. Phelan struck out Goodwin and Sharpe, but the Lions had the 2-0 advantage. In the fourth, Gilbert turned on a pitch and pulled it down the left-field line, a lined shot that barely cleared the wall, but got out of the stadium in a hurry, making it 3-0. In the following inning, Sharpe grounded out to start the inning, but Erik Austin drew a walk and Luke Mills singled him over to second. Kelvin Hill whiffed, but with two down, Keller hit a lined smash up the middle, and Austin beat Stephens' throw at the plate, extending the lead to 4-1. With a 4-2 lead going into the ninth, Pierre Duchesne pinch-hit for Sharpe and showed some great opposite field power, hitting a deep fly to right-center that kicked off the wall and landed Duchesne on second with a double. Austin singled to put runners on the corners, and Luke Mills' groundout moved Austin to second and scored Duchesne, 5-2 Lions. Hill flew out and Austin tagged to get over to third, where Keller singled him in for his third hit of the night and second RBI. That provided the final tally and Christian Norton got three outs in the ninth to end it.

Here in Game 6, the Lions again face elimination. Dan Cunningham will take the hill, hoping to keep the Lions alive. He didn't fair well in his Game 2 start, giving up seven runs in fewer than three innings. He's looking for redemption and the Lions are looking for one more chance. Mark Singleton has given himself an out, saying that, "In such an important game, it's all hands on deck and I won't hesitate to make the best in-game decision." This sounds to me like Cunningham will have a short leash, and somebody like Hank Jackson might be called on to provide multi-inning relief if Cunningham struggles early. Erik Russell is likely the only player who won't be available, as they will be saving him for a potential Game 7.The Lions will need to summon every ounce of their strength to win, and if they do, they'll still need to win again. It is an open question as to whether they can dredge up enough clutch plays, energy, and determination to do it, but no matter what, we'll be behind them all the way.

More from Lion's Roar
Sharpe's Game 5: A Breakdown with GIFs
Community Rally Sing-along thread (check the link!)
How difficult is it for the Lions to rally?

(OOC: Logo at top shamelessly cribbed from Pride of Detroit, Detroit Lions blog a random Google Image. The opinions expressed above are the opinions of the writer and not necessarily indicative of the opinions of Nova Anglicans or the user behind Nova Anglicana.)

[Chromatika]

Final- (3) Nova Anglicana vs (4) Cassadaigua @ Dagan Airways Stadium, Concord Heights (best of seven)- Scorinated by Chromatika

Game 6:

Cassadaigua            0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0  3
Nova Anglicana         1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 X  4

Series tied, 3-3

[Nova Anglicana]

Lion's Roar Chicken's Roost

A SportsWorld Weblog

Lions come through late to tie it up
by Omega Lion



What I hope to be doing tonight when Game 7 ends

I cannot believe it! When Cassadaigua went up 2-0, when the Lions blew two leads in Game 4 to go down 3-1, I'll admit, I was almost certain that it was over. But our boys have battled back, winning Game 5 6-2 and now Game 6 4-3 to tie the series at 3-3 and set up a winner-take-all Game 7. The last time the Lions were in the finals, against Cassadaigua, it was a back and forth battle, with each team erasing the other's lead before the Lions rallied to take the last two games and win in 7 games for their first-ever championship. It's been a little bit of a different story this year, with the Lions falling behind early and coming on strong late, but let's hope it ends the same way, with a Lions victory.

This game was a game of rally and counter-rally. Cassadaigua sent out their ace, southpaw Brianna Shirley to try to close things out, but the Lions touched her up early. In the first, after Erik Austin struck out on the seventh pitch of his at-bat, Luke Mills jumped on a first-pitch fastball, whacking it back up the middle for a single. Kelvin Hill followed suit, lining one over Rachel Kessler's head, making it first and second with one down. Joey Keller whiffed on a good changeup, but Matthew Gilbert hit a sinking liner that fell in right, and Mills, off with the crack of the bat, beat Steffie Kennedy's throw to make it 1-0. Later, in the third, Austin lined a shot down the right-field line that bounced fair and headed into foul territory, letting him make it over to second with a leadoff double. Mills grounded to the right side, moving Austin up. Hill, after fouling off five pitches in a row, drew a walk, and Keller hit a fly ball just deep enough for Austin to score, making it 2-0. The very next inning, Marc Dufors, after Jerome Duplantier had struck out, showed excellent strength and opposite field power, muscling a homer over the fence in left-center. That "oppo taco" made it 3-0 and had the Lions feeling good. They were a bit lucky (3 runs on 5 hits and a walk across 3 innings), but you don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

The Cassadaiguan rally began in the fifth against Dan Cunningham. Cunningham had scattered two hits and a walk across his first four innings, but ran into trouble. Brianne Salvador coaxed a walk from Cunningham, then stole second on one of his famous curveballs. Perhaps unnerved by the steal, he walked the eighth-place hitter, Megan Thompson. A successful sacrifice by Shirley meant two runners in scoring position with just one out. Back-to-back singles from Stephens and Kessler scored them both, making it 3-2. Cunningham was able to get Tori Fullerton to roll into a double play, but the damage was done and the game was close.

Perhaps fearing that Cunningham was succumbing to the dreaded third-time-through-the-order penalty, Singleton yanked him after that inning and sent in Hank Jackson. Jackson, the #4 starter in the group stage, struck out two in his first inning of work, but the bottom of the order again proved to be the key for the Fillies. Salvador again reached and made her way into scoring position, and although Jackson got Thompson and the pinch-hitter, Stephens singled her home, tying the score at three and spoiling the chance of a win for Cunningham. Two baserunners in two innings isn't bad work, but he bunched 'em, and that's how you get burned. Jon Klein pitched a scoreless eighth, and the Lions headed into the bottom of the eighth looking for the top of the order to get things started again. Austin drew a leadoff walk and moved up to third on Mills' single. A ball chopped up the middle by Hill saw Kessler cut it off swiftly and get Austin hung up between third and home in a rundown; he was eventually tagged, but Mills and Hill moved up to third and second, respectively. Keller singled to center, scoring Mills, but Kessler cut down Hill at the plate, preventing the deficit from growing too large.

The suspense for the ninth was who would take the mound for the Lions. Rocky Gantt and Zach Kelley had both seen success and struggle. Would it be one of them, or another pitcher? In the end, Singleton went back to the tried and true. Kelley and his arm angle, his hard two-seamer and slider, came out and nailed it down for the Lions win. The Fillies threatened, getting a runner into scoring position, but Kelley got a strikeout on a slider to end the game. He pumped his fist and yelled; he was back, and the Lions were too. 3-3.

Once again, Erik Russell will take the ball for the Lions in Game 7. In Game 7 of WBC 48, Russell, a WBC rookie, pitched six innings and gave up five runs. It wasn't a great start, but the Lions' offense bailed him out. He'll likely need to improve on that line and on his Game 3 line (6 IP, 4 ER), if he's to come up big in this game 7. The difference between this Game 7 and the last Game 7 is that last time, it was on neutral ground. Seven Star Stadium in Drawkland might have been huge, but they were rooting for a good game. This time, upwards of 60,000 Cassadaigua partisans will fill Dagan Airways Stadium, cheering lustily for a Fillies win, something they haven't seen in decades. The Lions' ability to overcome this disadvantage (despite playing as the home team in this game) will be critical. Make sure to check out our game thread, which is going to be buzzing all day in anticipation. My work is about the Lions, and I can barely pay attention, so I think we should just go ahead and declare it a national holiday anytime the Lions are in a WBC Game 7. Who's with me?

In any case, ask St. Sebastian to pray for the Lions tonight, tune in on StateSports1 and root 'em home.

More from Lion's Roar
WBC Finals Game 7 Open Thread (All Day)
Community Rally Sing-along thread 2: Electric Boogaloo (check the link!)
Rooting for Cassadaigua: Heresy or the only moral choice?

(OOC: Logo at top shamelessly cribbed from Pride of Detroit, Detroit Lions blog a random Google Image. The opinions expressed above are the opinions of the writer and not necessarily indicative of the opinions of Nova Anglicans or the user behind Nova Anglicana.)

[Cassadaigua]

We didn’t need this,
By Chelsea Dufresne, Concord Heights Times,

It is only fitting, of course, that the championship series of World Baseball Classic 50 goes a full seven games, and if I told you at the start of the series that this one would go the distance, you would have been okay with that. After all, despite getting here, things have not been easy for this Cassadaigua team, going the max in every series that they have played. Nova Anglicana has taken a pretty similar path, with close series from the start. Daskel, you almost had them! Anyway, we are not really happy that this series is going seven games, because we had a nice 3-1 lead in the series. All seemed well, and even though all of our wins were by one run, and all of them very easily could have gone the other way, we still didn’t want to get to this game. We could have knocked out the Lions in Game 5, and then in Game 6. But in neither of those games did it seem like the Fillies ever got involved. Sure, they did come back to tie Game 6 to get our hopes up, but that lead soon vanished. Now, we are here.

Hopefully we win. If we do, then the rest of this article does not really matter.

But if we lose, maybe it’s time to part ways with Maddie Polanco. [i] I know, that seems tough, doesn’t it? [/i] This is her 10th Classic with Cassadaigua and she has done a great job with this team, getting us to the championship series in three of the last five Classics. If we lose, then we didn’t win any of them. Under Maddie’s guidance, this team has gone to the semifinals seven times. A “podium” finish in seven out of 10 tries? That’s awesome! How can I possibly suggest that it might be time for her to go if we lose the game? Well, the podium is nice, but if you are not on the highest step, then you did not accomplish the main goal that you set out to do. However, there is an ugly number here. 0-5. It doesn’t seem like Cassadaigua would be 0-5 in anything, right? Well, if Cassadaigua loses, then they would 0-5 in their last five games where a win would have resulted in a World Baseball Classic Championship. Just one win. Remember, they were up 3-2 in 48, and lost. If they lose this one, they were up 3-1 in 50, and lost. At some point, you stop being satisfied with tipping your cap to the opponent and realize that there would be a problem here.

I like Maddie Polanco. She has done a great job for our team, but 0-5, if we lose, is something that I don’t like. Imagine going into your place of business, and just needing to have one of your five calls lead to a major sale? And then failing. On all of them. Right now, Maddie Polanco is 0-for-4. She still can make one more call. This statistic does not go to WBC 46, because Cassadaigua was never one win away from a title. We have been alot lately. Now, I am not the Cassadagan Association for Baseball. What I decide and what I think is not relevant to the actual decision gets made. Most likely, the association will think about all of the successes that she has. Or maybe they won’t. Because this one would be particularly frustrating, because it would happen right here. Maybe hosts of the tournament are jinxed. Maybe Maddie Polanco just can’t win the big one.

Maybe, all of that won’t matter and my next article will be about our celebrating a title.

[Chromatika]

Final- (3) Nova Anglicana vs (4) Cassadaigua @ Dagan Airways Stadium, Concord Heights (best of seven)- Scorinated by Chromatika

Cassadaigua            0 2 0 0 2 0 0 2 0  6
Nova Anglicana         0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 1  4

(4) Cassadaigua wins the series, 4-3

Thank you for the honor to score this final, and thanks everyone for participating!

[Cassadaigua]

Finally, Our Fourth Title!
By Chelsea Dufresne, Concord Heights Times

This one did not come easy, even though they never will. We might have preferred to have ended this series in five or six games, but that does not matter now. All that does matter is that the Fillies are champions of the 50th World Baseball Classic, our fourth title in the competition but first that many of us can fondly remember. It is the first time that Cassadaigua has ever won a national championship in a competition that they hosted, something that is a lot more rare in sports than you would think it would be. It also completes a pretty interesting double for us, winning the 50th edition of both the World Cup and the World Baseball Classic, the only major senior team sports that have hit the “50” number thus far. Maddie Polanco will certainly coach the team another day, as the label of not being able to win the big one as a manager will be ripped to shreds. If you’re like me, when we got the third out, there was a sense of relief first, before celebrating. As the half innings went by, one after another with us holding the lead, we were still nervous. That could be understandable, but this time, we would get it done.

Kayla Mason would get the start for the Fillies, fresh off a good outing in game two. She is one of those few players that were a part of this team for the loss to the Lions of Nova Anglicana in World Baseball Classic 48. In that championship series, she would get the start in Game 4, a game the Fillies won 12-7, going six innings and allowing four runs and earning the “W”. She has generally been consistent for the entire Classic, not dominating in every start, mind you, but has been reliable, so a good option to be getting the start. After the Fillies would be retired in order in the top of the first, Mason was able to go the same to the Lions in the bottom of the first. Then, came some help. Macy Hamel lined a single to left to lead off the top of the second. Next up, Steffie Kennedy got a hold of one and sent it a long way, clearing the left field fence to put the pink and black up by the score of 2-0. This would be the first time that Cassadaigua had led since Game 4. Erik Russell was the start for the Lions, just like he was in Game 7 of the WBC 48 final. While his team won the game, Russell was not the reason for it, giving up five runs over six innings. He was in a tough situation here, but hoping for redemption. That was not the way to start.

Mason continued to shut down the Nova Anglicana offense, allowing just two baserunners over the first four innings. Russell had settled in for a while after the second inning, but the pink and black would get the fans cheering again in the fifth. Steffie Kennedy would lead off the inning, and flew out to the warning track in left. It was an out, but it was a warning shot. The next two batters, Kaitlin Beane and Brianne Salvador would hit the ball hard, each for doubles, giving Cassadaigua a 3-0 lead. Catcher Meghan Thompson then singled to make it 4-0. Mason would sacrifice Thompson over to second. It looked the team might go up 5-0 in the inning as Katie Stephens hit a single to left that Thompson, not known for her speed, tried to score from. With a very close play at the plate, Thompson was initially called safe, but the play would be challenged by Nova Anglicana, and after a review, Thompson was ruled out, correctly.

The Lions got one back in the bottom of the fifth, but Mason still seemed to be in control despite the run, and would pitch a 1-2-3 sixth inning, making it an easy decision to put her back out there for the seventh. Here, the game almost got away from us as Mason began to lose some command of her curveball, and the Lions were able to capitalize. They’d cut the lead to 4-3, and had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out when Polanco went to the bullpen for Sophie Calhoun. Sophie may have saved the game with two strikeouts, getting the team out of further trouble. Even better, the Fillies got those runs right back in the top of the 8th on a two-run single from Katie Stephens, who was 3-for-4 in the game. Danielle Simms pitched a perfect 8th, and then in the 9th, Becca Fischer made it a little tense briefly, but the team was able to get out of it, completing a 6-4 victory.

A combination of relief and jubilation filled the stadium as the players celebrated with the fans in the stands able to witness the whole thing live. This will make this title much different than any other that we have won, the ability to do it right here. It is what all players dream of. Winning a title in another country is great, but to do it in front of your fans, makes it even more special.

This would not be complete without complimenting the Nova Anglicana Lions. They have a great program and will continue to contend for titles. We’ve gotten used to seeing them lately, and there is probably a lot more to come.