| THE BIG DANCE semifinals 2 SEED) THE RATCHET THUNDER STUDS (2002) 6 SEED) HOOSIER DADDY (2004) LINEUPS: RTS H.DADDY 1- shelley goodpastor 1- bryan frankovich 2- nate tomko 2- mikey moroco 3- mark tarkanick 3- brandon mckendry 4- sam lynn 4- dennis lackey B- mikey moroco B- seth salcedo |
| HOOSIER DADDY 7 RATCHET THUNDER STUDS 22 (7 innings) led by another solid defensive performance and a huge offensive outing from mark tarkanick, the 2002 world champion ratchet thunder studs were able to blow past hoosier daddy and set up a finals battle with old foes the pink bandana girls. the studs, who never trailed in the contest despite failing to make a shot in either of their first two at-bats, put 6 runs on the scoreboard in both the 3rd and 4th innings and never looked back. aided by miserable shooting games from the usually steady hoosier daddy captains bryan frankovich and mikey moroco, the studs were able to put enough runs on the board to end the game 2 innings early via the 12-run mercy rule. the one on one scrum pitted speedsters tarkanick and seth salcedo, and though both reached the ball at nearly the same time, it was tark's strength advantage that ultimately won the prize. hoping to take full advantage of their first trip to the plate, hoosier daddy came up emptyhanded as frankovich and moroco missed on consecutive shots, with nate tomko putting in the second miss for a double play. the studs, however, were just as miserable in their shooting, with goodpastor and tomko missing rare back-to-back shots, the latter of which resulted in a frankovich double play. with the scores knotted at one all, hoosier daddy got it's first runners on base in the second when brandon mckendry and dennis lackey hit shots from the single stripe. unfortunately, frankovich and moroco were unable to capitalize, once again missing their shots, and this time it was tarkanick who put back moroco's miss for 2. h.d.'s defense continued to impress in the bottom of the inning, once again allowing the bare minimum of batters to attempt shots as frankovich got his 2nd d.p. of the contest. the fans in attendance at auschwitz gardens expecting to see a shootout between two of the highest-scoring teams in sbl history began to get restless in the top of the third when, for the third straight time, hoosier daddy failed to break the scoreless tie. this time, it was frankovich who surrendered the double play to tomko after a leadoff triple from mckednry and missed single from lackey. once the offense came around for the r.t.s. in the bottom of the third, it came in a big way. shelley goodpastor notched the first stud hit, a leadoff triple, which tomko duplicated one batter later. tarkanick made the score 3-0 with a middle homer. following a sam lynn miss that went back for two off the hands of moroco, the studs got 3 more nearly the exact same way, with tark following a goodpastor triple and tomko double with his second homer of the inning. lynn missed her 4th consecutive shot to end the stud 3rd, but the damage had been done as hoosier daddy went to the 4th ice-cold and trailing by a half-dozen. after h.d. finally tallied a run, a two-out solo homer by dennis lackey, the studs went right back to drilling shot after shot, putting 6 more across the dish in the bottom of the fourth. the inning was highlighted by back-to-back jacks from tomko and tarkanick, the first being of the 3-run variety. hoosier daddy was able to take a chunk out of the thunder stud lead when mckendry took matters into his own hands with a one-out grand slam in the 5th that closed the gap to 12-5, but tarkanick squashed any sort of rally with a double play in the very next at-bat. the studs were then able to get half of the runs right back when, with a pair gone in the bottom of the frame, goodpastor swished through a triple that plated both tarkanick and lynn. after 5 full innings, the studs held a comortable 14-5 lead. the defenses once again took over the game in the 6th. tarkanick recorded double play number 4 on the day as the r.t.s once again faced only 2 batters, retiring both frankovich and moroco for the 4th time. perhaps feeling comfortable with their 9-run cushion, the studs replaced tomko in their lineup with mikey moroco, but were unable to get any offense from the replacement, who made the final out in a 1-2-3 inning. lackey contributed to the scoreless inning with back-to-back psyche-outs on moroco and tarkanick. the hoosier daddy captains finally got involved in the game in the seventh. after a leadoff double from chicken leg lackey, frankovich hit his first shot of the game, a double to bring a run home. moroco followed suit to make the score 14-7, but that would be all hoosier could muster as the next two batters missed and tomko recorded another double play. the studs pulled right back away from the visiting squad in the bottom of the seventh. tarkanick got things going with a leadoff solo homer, then the studs moved in and rattled off 7 consecutive hits, one of which was a goodpastor miss that went back in for an assist off the fingers of tark. by the time hoosier daddy realized what had happened, tarkanick was lining up a right homer with the bases juiced that would give the r.t.s. a 22-7 lead, plenty good for the mercy rule to take effect. despite a combo psyche-out attempt from lackey and moroco that left both blue in the face, tark banked in the longball and ended the contest prematurely but mercifully. tarkanick paced r.t.s with a huge 9 for 12 performance with 5 homers, 11 rbi and 4 double plays. besides that monster line, the victorious studs got a 5-rbi, 1 homer, 3 double play line from tomko and a 10 for 12 shooting performance from shelley goodpastor that included 3 runs batted in. mckendry drove in a team high 4 runs for hoosier daddy, who also got a 6 for 10 performance from dennis lackey. frankovich tipped in a team-high 2 double plays. when asked about the rout following a post-game beer, tarkanick replied "what can i say? we were on and they were definately not. also, i have a huge penis." you certainly do, mark. you certainly do. pink bandana girl captain sean hood, who was in attendance, had the following to say when asked about his thoughts on facing old nemesis the r.t.s in the big dance finals: "i bet mine is bigger" BACK |