NALB 2005 Regular Season Ends

The NALB 2005 regular season ended with plenty of excitement. In League 1, there were no surprises as the Brooklyn Knights and the Cornfield Axemen clinched their respective divisions quite early. However, the division races in League 2 went down to the wire. After 162 games had been played, the Washington Allies and the Stade Maples were tied at 92-70. Likewise, the Richmond Slam and the Vancouver Wild posted identical records of 77-85. All of these teams fought down the stretch in late September and jockeyed for position. The Maples beat the Allies head to head for the final two games of the season to force a tie. The showdowns were set as the NALB scheduled a winner take all tiebreaker game for each division.

Stade and Washington took part in a slugfest. The game was tied 10-10 going into the ninth inning. The Maples fans went crazy as Paul Waddell pinch hit in the bottom of the ninth and hit a walk-off home run to win the game 11-10. The other tiebreaker game was no less exciting. Vancouver got on the board first and was up 2-0 after three innings. Richmond clawed back with a run in the fifth inning and another in the sixth inning to tie the game. Steve Jurewicz hit an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh to put the Slam on top by the score of 3-2. Richmond's relief pitching held firm and that is how it ended.

So the League Series are all set. The Cornfield Axemen (87-75) will meet the Brooklyn Knights (114-48) and the Richmond Slam (78-85) will face the Stade Maples (93-70).