NALB 2014 World Championship Series - Game 7

K. Fields
2015-10-20T19:32:53-04:00
Baseball

Game seven. There is nothing quite like it in sports. The NALB 2014 World Championship was on the line in Brooklyn, NY. The pitching matchup featured two hard throwing young stars—Gutierre Jiménez (15-8, 3.13 ERA) vs. Tony Tamayo (16-4, 2.69 ERA). Jiménez and the Slam got the better of Tamayo and the Knights in game three of the WCS, winning 7-5. The Slam hoped Jiménez could duplicate his brilliant performance.

For fans of pitching, this game did not disappoint. Tamayo pitched 5 ⅓ scoreless innings while Jiménez pitched 7 ⅔ scoreless innings. Both teams had scoring opportunities but they were hard to come by. The starters always found a way to work out of trouble. Tied 0-0, the game went into extra innings.

It appeared all but certain the Knights had the game won in the bottom of the eleventh. Alexis Schmidt led off with a double and Hsiao-lou Yeh was intentionally walked. Maurílio Godim was brought in to pinch run for Schmidt. Lariel Gómez put down a successful bunt to advance the runners. Once again, the Slam called for the intentional walk to set up the double play. Angel Santago ended up at first to load the bases with one out. Blas Ramos hit a grounder to the second baseman who threw home to get the second out. The catcher rifled the ball to first to complete the double play.

In the fourteenth inning, the Knights had Bernard Gastelu on the mound. Nub Spade led off the inning with a home run. Although Gastelu finished the inning, the Slam’s 1-0 lead appeared to be enough to secure its first title. In the bottom half of the inning with one out, Walt O’connell walked Alvino Flores. Romeo Usquiano came to the plate to face an obviously tired O’Connell. In a magnificent eight pitch at bat, Usquiano fouled off four pitches. He turned on a fastball and promptly deposited it into the seats in right field. His two run walk off homer won the game and the World Championship for the Brooklyn Knights. The fans were treated to perhaps the greatest WCS game in NALB history!

Final score: Brooklyn 2, Richmond 1

             1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14   R  H  E
Richmond     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0  0  0  0  1   1 10  0
Brooklyn     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0  0  0  0  2   2  9  0

W: B. Gastelu
L: W. O’connell