| THE BIG DANCE quarterfinals 3 SEED) THE TRANSEXUAL HEARTBREAKERS (2003) 6 SEED) HOOSIER DADDY (2004) LINEUPS: TRAN H.B. H.DADDY 1- elysa farrell 1- bryan frankovich 2- kurt rodemoyer 2- mikey moroco 3- jared clayton 3- dennis lackey 4- brandon mckendry B- seth salcedo |
| HOOSIER DADDY 8 TRAN. HEARTBREAKERS 3 playing on the unforgiving hoop at the cumfiesta fieldhouse, neither team was able to stir up much offense and what many had hoped to be a high-scoring contest turned into a defensive slugfest. the heartbreakers were playing shorthanded, missing normal 4th starter erin leyde, and with her quite a chunk of their run-production. hoosier daddy, meanwhile, were playing at the fieldhouse for the first time, and seemed to be confused by the jumble of wires hanging above the court (put in place by pj & the ladies to keep teams from hitting homers, one can only assume) and were unable to get a homer from any member of their squad for the first time in their history. however, while many thought the bigger, stronger heartbreaker lineup would prevail in a defensive battle, it was the young hoosiers who were able to squeak out the 2-run win, relying on timely hitting and the psyche-out abilities of dennis lackey to get the job done. as predicted, rodemoyer had his way with the cruiserweight tandem of moroco and salcedo in the scrum and earned his heartbeakers home-team advantage. the thb was unable to capitalize in the first inning as lackey came out of the gate red-hot, getting both farrell and rodemoyer with his patented "beached whale" psyche out, the latter being tipped in by bryan frankovich for a double play to end the half-inning. while the heartbreakers didn't even attempt a psyche-out in the first inning, the results were the same as both frankovich and moroco were off with triple attempts, moroco's going back through off the hands of clayton for 2. the game remained scorelss into the third as lackey continued to impress, earning another psyche-out and his first double play for hoosier daddy as clayton got a big double play off a mckendry homer miss with 2 men on. in the 3rd frame the scoreless tie was broken by mikey moroco, whose triple drove in frankovich, who had singled to lead off the inning. after lackey's miss was double played by rodemoyer, mckendry plated moroco with a triple of his own. the rally stalled when frank's homer attempt connected with nothing but a dead electric wire hanging 12 inches above his head, but hoosier now had a lead they would never relinquish. the heartbreakers got nothing but a clayton solo shot in their half of the third, but were finally on the board, and more importantly, went their first inning without surrendering a psyche-out to the fuzzyheaded one. frankovich and rodemoyer each tallied 2 double plays over the next 2 innings as neither team would have a runner reach base. heading to the 6th, the score remained at 2-1 in favor of hoosier daddy. changing their entire strategy as a team, the heartbreakers moved in as the game proceeded to the second half. both farrell and rodemoyers drilled singles to lead off the 6th, but clayton got greedy and attempted a three-run homer. lackey, ever the oppurtunist, busted out the chicken legs and clayton's shot flew a good 2 feet below the rim. pissed at the shot selection of her fearless leader, farrell missed a gimme single to end the inning without any runs crossing the dish. after a mckendry miss to lead off the inning, hoosier daddy finally got some offense going as frankovich, moroco and lackey would connect in succession from the double stripe to take a 4-1 lead. insisting on making a homer, mckendry became the second member of his team to find wire, but frankovich picked up the slack, drilling a middle triple for his teams 5th run of the game before moroco blew a single attempt. kurt rodemoyer's skyball solo homer brought the heartbreakers to within 5-2, but again the homer or nothing mentality became contagious and clayton's longball miss went back up for 2 courtesy of mckendry. farrell busted a single to reach base with 2 gone, but rodemoyer, feeling hot, airballed his next homer attempt for out number 3. after another putrid inning, things began to get ugly in heartbreaker land as all three members of the team began jawing at each other. hoosier daddy, meanwhile, was the epitomy of a team. they joked amongst each other as the three members not named mckendry smallballed their way to another 3 runs in the 8th. mckendry accounted for all 3 outs that innings, one a double play by clayton and both while attempting to navigate a homer through the maze above his head. the game was over for all intents and purposes when clayton's attempt at a grand slam found nothing but rim and, with no big hit to escape from an 8-2 hole, solidified their fate. tho rodemoyer would connect on a triple to score farrell, clayton couldn't find his range even from the double line as his miss would go back up for a double play off the fingertips of mikey moroco. neither team would so much as advance a runner past first for the remainder of the ugly contest. the only stat worth noting over the final inning was dennis lackey recording his second psyche-out/double play combo of the game to end the contest, this time getting farrell for the second time. frankovich, moroco and lackey all drove in 2 to pace the winners. frankovich would also tip in a game-high 4 double plays. for the losing heartbreakers, the final 2003 team to be eliminated, rodemoyer tipped in 3 double plays and drove in 2. clayton also contributed a trifecta of d.p.'s. the win secures hoosier daddy a spot in the semifinals against the 2002 world champion ratchet thunder studs at the tubbietronic superdome. hopefully, that game will provide a little more in terms of offense. 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