Monarchs Complete Comeback In Dramatic See-Saw Fifteen Inning Victory

The Seattle Monarchs completed an amazing comeback, returning from a 3-1 deficit to win Game 7 with a dramatic fifteen inning victory over the Hickory Huskers that ended with a walk-off home run.

The action started in the top of the second when Christopher Moss led off the frame with an infield single.  He went to second on a wild pitch and came home on a Tyler Thomas single.  Seattle took the lead when Bas Bijkerk hit a two-out double to center.  That was followed by a walk to pitcher Nicolas Vargas and a Richard Bender double which brought home both runners.

In the top of the seventh, Christopher Moss battled back from an 0-2 count to work a walk from Vargas.  After Paul Shunk struck out, Tyler Thomas hit a double to left-center, sending Moss to third.  With second and third occupied with one out, Thomas Geter came to the plate and flied out to center field.  Christopher Moss is fast and decided to test Bas Bijkerk's throwing arm in center.  Moss came home, but Bijkerk's throw came in ahead of him, for the third out of the inning.

With the score standing at 2-1, Hickory came to the top of the ninth facing elimination.  The Monarchs brought in their closer Robert Riddick to finish off the Huskers.  Gustavo Silva came in to pinch hit and led off with an infield single.  Jesus Flores walked, moving the tying run to second.  After Christopher Moss struck out for the first out, Paul Shunk came up and hit a line drive single to right.  Silva came home to tie the game up at two runs each.  Tyler Thomas then stepped up to the plate and on the first pitch hit the ball to third baseman Gregorio Reyna, who threw the ball away, allowing Flores to come home with the go-ahead run.  Shunk went to third and Thomas took second.  With the score now at 3-2 Hickory, Thomas Geter struck out for the second out.  Carlos Pais then walked to load the bases.  With pinch hitter Cristobal Santoyo at the plate, Riddick finally managed to get out of the inning by striking out Santoyo.

The game then went to the bottom of the ninth with Seattle now facing the same elimination that the Huskers faced a half-inning earlier.  The Huskers brought in their closer, Thomas Ramirez, to bring an end to the Monarch's season.  Pinch hitter Juan Gomez flied out to start the inning.  The next batter was another pinch-hitter, Jonathan Anderson, who reached on an infield single.  The next batter, Toshinobu Mizutani lined a single to left, moving Anderson to second.  Another pinch-hitter, Kevin Craig hit the first pitch for a single.  Anderson rounded third, heading for home ahead of the throw.  After a close play at the plate, Craig made it home safely to tie the game at three runs each.  With one out and the winning run on second base, Ramirez managed to induce Richard Bender to ground into an inning-ending double play, sending the game into extra inning.

Seattle brought in Manuele Chiappo to pitch the tenth inning.  The first batter, George LaBarre, hit a double to center.  The next batter, Marvin Cardoza, came to the plate.  After the first pitch, LaBarre took off for third, but catcher Alberto Granado nailed a throw to third to catch LaBarre.  Cardoza walked on four pitches.  Flores followed that up with a single, sending Cardoza to third.  With runners on the corners and one out, Christopher Moss stepped to the plate.  Chiappo battled back from a 3-1 count to get Moss to strike out.  Paul Shunk then struck out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the tenth, Reyna led off the inning with a strikeout.  Bruce Frison then singled, bringing Granado to the plate.  With a full count, Frison took off for second.  Granado swung through the pitch and Geter rifled the ball down to second for a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play.  John Hukill then popped up to third to end the inning.

The pitching then settled down for both sides as inning after inning passed without any serious threat, until the top of the fourteenth.  Carlos Pais led off the inning with a four-pitch walk against William Haner.  Pitcher Forest Powell then laid down a sacrifice bunt to send Pais to second.  The Monarchs then intentionally walked George LaBarre to face Marvin Cardoza.  Cardoza laced an infield single to load the bases with one out.  Haner then managed to get Flores to fly out to shallow left and Christopher Moss to ground out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourteenth, Juan Gomez reached first with a lead-off single against Powell.  After Jonathan Anderson popped up to second, Mizutani came to the plate.  On the second pitch Powell uncorked a wild one, sending Gomez to second.  Mizutani then grounded out, sending Gomez to third.  With the winning run on third, up came pitcher William Haner*.  Haner managed to work the count full before grounding out to end the inning.

The next action finally happened in the bottom of the fifteenth when, with Powell still pitching, Richard Bender strode to the plate to lead off the inning.  After working the count 1-2, he grounded out to end the inning.  The next batter, Chris Chambliss Gregorio Reyna came to the plate.  After getting himself in the box, he lofted Powell's first pitch into the right field stands, 380 feet away.

Game 1 of the Cecil Cup -- Maui vs. Seattle will be simmed on Sunday morning.


Zev



* To see how this might have worked out, check out this video of the Mets/Braves game on July 4, 1985.  The Braves came were down by a run in the 13th with two out when pitcher Rick Camp came to the plate: