| THE BIG DANCE preliminary round 12 SEED) VICE CITY MIRACLES (2003) -) THE WEENISES (2002) LINEUPS: MIRACLES WEENISES 1- matt mcclelland 1-jamie moroco 2- ted gilliland 2- kip corbett 3- jason biddle 3- billy weisberg 4- jon biddle 4- jason betts B- ben elliott B- ween farmartino B- elysa farrell |
| THE WEENISES 16 THE VICE CITY MIRACLES 13 despite tremendous showings from rookie of the year candidates matt mcclelland and jon biddle, the vice city miracles were unable to hold serve against the weenises, a team which many sbl insiders had tabbed as a trendy pick for an early upset. in 2003, the miracles were ousted from the playoffs as a 3 seed by bottom seed the weenises strike back. in eerily similair fashion, a combination of red-hot weenises and poor game strategy by vcm captain ted gilliland spelled ultimate disaster for the black and pink. the game began with a miracle scrum victory as mcclelland dominated corbett, plowing thru him to earn the win even tho kip had previously called "dibs" on winning the scrum. oh well. after a jon biddle double play ended a weenis bases-loaded threat, the vcm got on the scoreboard first a mcclelland was knocked in by jason biddle's 2-out triple. mcclelland then returned the favor, plating biddle with a single. then, in perhaps the worst possible turn of events for mcclelland and the biddle's, teddy ballgame swished through a two-run homer to extend the lead to 4 before the weenises tallied the final out. moroco led off the second with a double, then scored on corbett's three-bagger. weisberg then drilled a homer to clear the bases and cut the defecit to a lone run. the two teams exchanged the one-run lead over the next 5 innings, as both team turned to small ball to try and earn a big prelim vitory. in the seventh, trailing the yellow-clad weenises by an 11-10 count, the miracles exploded for 3 big runs as mcclelland continued to stay hot, hitting his 10th and 11th consecutive shots and crossing the plate twice to go with his rbi. jon biddle, already at 5 double plays, held fast as the dominant force in the paint, tipping in 6 and 7 to keep the lead at 13-11 into the top of the ninth. looking for a spark, ween farmartino pulled out betts and moroco and inserted herself and seldom-used elysa farrell into the weenis lineup. it proved huge, as farrell started the inning with a triple to get the ball rolling. in succession, farmartino, corbett and weisberg connected on extra-base hits to knot the count at 13. but the weenises weren't done yet, as farrell again reached base on a single, then was driven in by ween's 2-run middle homer. following a corbett miss that was tapped in by biddle for his 8th of the game, the yellow finally capped the scoring with a weisberg solo homer. the miracles came out looking to regain the lead in the bottom of the ninth. a gilliland double miss was tipped in by corbett to start the inning off in huge fashion for the weenises, but the outlook was soon in doubt as the biddle brothers and mcclelland each tallied singles to load the bases. in perhaps the oddest turn of events of the game, never used ben elliott of the vcm snapped after mcclelland's single. screaming about never getting to play, elliott sprinted onto the court and assaulted his own captain. as the crowd watched, speechless, elliott took a chair to gilliland's face and arms, the beating culminating in the one they call big whitey breaking both of gilliland's arms in a move dubbed "what?! play me now, bitch". to make matters worse, elliott then put out his cigarette in ted's eyes. after the court was cleared of blood and urine and elliott was restrained by bryan frankovich, it seemed like a sure thing that gilliland would have to play elliott, as he was in no state to produce any type of offense. but ted, in the highlight of his "i refuse to come out ever" career, instead chose to take his shot to extend the game. and to make matters worse for his miracle teammates, gilliland chose not to take 2-run double, but a middle homer, attempting to win the game with one shot and add to his huge homerun total. and so came the shot that will define ted's career in the sbl. unable to see with his boiling eyes, unable to grab the ball with his bloody, broken arms, ted limped to the middle homer and hoisted up a shot... ...that went 4 inches before falling to the ground. mcclelland finished the game 12 for 15 with 7 rbi. jon biddle tapped in 8 double plays and collected 4 hits, and jason biddle garnered 6 hits and 3 rbi. for the weenises, weisberg led his squad with 6 rbi and 4 double plays. corbett added 3 dp's of his own and a 3rd inning assist. farrell and farmartino combined to go 5 for 5 with 3 rbi in the 9th off the bench. after the game ben elliott was taken into custody by the sharon police department and everyone made ted drag himself to the hospital by his chin. but then we sent him cheeseburger basket to aid his recovery. BACK |