May 18, 2017
AL Game 39

Coldwell Banker Preferred    11
Plush Mills    9


In a seesaw battle that saw several ties and lead changes, Coldwell Banker came away with a 10-9 victory over Plush Mills on Thursday night. In the first, Anders Kristiansen took the hill for Coldwell and despite walking two batters, escaped the inning unscathed. Coldwell struck quickly in the bottom half. Mike Phillips started the game with a bunt single and wound up on third after two overthrows. He then stole home for the first run of the game. Jack Gill walked, moved to second on a ground-out by Shawn Welsh, and scored on an Avi Patel RBI single. Patel stole second, third, and home. Joe Arizin (walk) and Matt Halpin (single) reached base in the inning. But Coach Gill’s ill-advised call to send Arizin home on a passed ball ended the inning as Joe was tagged out and it was 3-0 Coldwell Banker after one.

In the second, Plush Mills tied it up with three of their own. Shaun Fernandes singled and stole second, third, and home. Sam Ramsey (hit by pitch) and Dante Cholmeley-Jones (walk) both scored in the inning and Luke Merino recorded an RBI single. But after Jack Bonner and Zach Guyer both walked to load the bases, Mason Messina hit a pop-up to second base. The infield fly rule was invoked so Mason was called out. But the ball came down and hit Jack Gill in the gut at second base, the ball fell to the ground, and the runners tried to advance. Gorman picked up the ball and rifled the ball to home where Arizin tagged out Merino. Arizin then fired to third where Guyer was tagged out and the half-inning ended with a 4-6-2-5 triple play. In the bottom half, Coldwell reclaimed the lead when Kristiansen walked and stole three bases and it was 4-3 Coldwell after 2.
Plush Mill tied it again in the third when Felix Gusic singled and stole second and third and came around to score on a Jacey Fox RBI single. Cole Wood also singled in the inning for PM. Coldwell was unable to score in the bottom half and the teams were locked at 4 after three.

In the fourth, Cholmeley-Jones hit a hard-lining single to start the inning and stole second and third. But Kristiansen recovered a passed ball and beat Cholmeley-Jones to the plate to tag him out. Plush Mills didn’t score in the inning. In the bottom half, Coldwell appeared to get some breathing room by adding three runs. Jason DiRita (single), Arizin (walk), and Kristiansen (RBI single) all scored in the inning. Matt Halpin also singled in the inning and Welsh picked up an RBI with a sacrifice grounder and it was 7-4 Realtors after 4.

But Plush Mills wasn’t finished. Gusic beat out a close one at first for an infield single and stole second and third. Jacey Fox drove him in with a line-drive single up the middle. Cole Wood reached on an error. Fernandes knocked in J Fox with a single and Ramsey plated Fernandes with an RBI single of his own and suddenly it was 8-7 Plush Mills. In the bottom half, Phillips used his wheels to beat the throw from shortstop for an infield single. He stole second and third and was driven in on a sacrifice grounder by Gorman. The teams were locked at 8 heading into the final inning.

The Retirees took the lead back again in the top half. Luke Merino hit a triple to right and stole home and it was 9-8 heading to the bottom half. DiRita smoked a ball to the left-centerfield gap for a double to lead off the inning. Airzin drove him in with a hard ground ball single that found its way into right. Halpin doubled to left for his third hit of the game but Arizin had to hold at third. Kristiansen stepped to the plate with nobody out and the winning run just 60 feet away. After working a 2-2 count, he hit a hard grounder up the middle for the game-winning single to score Arizin. Coldwell improved to 10-3.

Pitch counts:
Coldwell:
    Kristiansen – 48
    DiRita – 79
    Phillips – 8

Plush Mills:
    Cholmeley-Jones – 42
    N Fox – 65