If the Peppers are the 8 seed, then parity exists!
I don't have the book in front of me, but Monday night at New Scotland Town Park ...
... the Peppers came fully rostered and loaded. Pitching, defense and a timely 2-out hit in the top of the 7th gave the Peppers a 1-0 lead.
And when Bill Smith lined a shot into the CFers mitt to lead off the bottom of the 7th, it appeared that the defending champion Giants would need a miracle to pull it off.
Then it happened. Tony Nardacci hit a shot at the Peppers' 1st-baseman that he dove for and snared. But he couldn't recover quick enough to get off a good throw to the pitcher covering and Tony beat it out. Like I said, I don't have the book with me. But the Giants managed to load the bases still with one out and Will Ferguson, who had three hits on the day out, lined a shot over the Peppers' CFers head and the Giants escaped with a 2-1 victory in this one-game playoff to determine who advanced to the best-of-3 semi-finals against the winner of the Americans-Whiz game.
Bill Smith headlined this victory. Before the game, we discussed who would pitch. For whatever reason, I had a gut feeling Bill would do just fine. And just fine he did. Bill pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball, leaving with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Reliever JimmyK walked Paul Post on 4 pitches to load em' up for Don Ball, who hit a grounder just to the right of 2B that Ron Smaka back-handed and flipped to Darrell Duncan at 2nd to narrowly get the force and end the threat.
But the Peppers would not relent. After retiring the Giants in the bottom of the 6th, Gerald Johnson lined a one-out double down the left-field line - his second double of the game. After moving to third on a ground-out, a seeing-eye grounder up the middle plated Johnson for the 1-0 Peppers lead entering the bottom of the 7th.
Along with Billy's stellar performance, Tom Maney, more known for his offense prowess at the lead-off spot, was nothing short of spectacular in left field. All game long, Tommy looked like a Gold Glover, running left, right, in and back to make several tough catches. Ron at 2B made a couple of great plays as well. But the Peppers were equally as tough. There may have been just one error in the game. If there was a second, it escapes me.
Johnson also put on a clinic defensively for the Peppers. He played SS and 3rd and made great plays on wicked line shots throughout the game. The Peppers OF was as solid as any OF in the division, running down fly balls and keeping the Giants at-bay.
If the Peppers had all their players there every game, they would not have been the 8-seed. This would have been a great best-of-3 series. Sorry their season is over. Mike Hart has a bunch of talented and class guys.
