| SBL 2005 PLAYOFF OPENING ROUND JULY 31 K-Y COURT @ ASSBANG FIELDHOUSE 4TH SEED) RETURN OF THE WEENISES VERSUS 7TH SEED) ANALISA GOODTHING RETURN OF THE WEENISES 21 ANALISA GOODTHING 11 the weenises, behind some solid play from 5-year vet jamie moroco, drew first blood on a hungry and dangerous analisa team in their opening round series. though the weenises had won the season series 2-1 and finished 4 games ahead in the win column, analisa had made quite a few believers with their thrashing of the weenises one week prior. most involved with the sbl had this one going right down the middle, and the weenises were able to get the big game one win. knowing only twice in history had an sbl team won a 3-game series after falling in the first meeting, the weenises jumped on analisa early, scoring 5 runs in the second in the same fashion they had all season; every player shooting what they could make and advancing runners from station to station. analisa bounced right back, however, and plated 6 of their own 2 innings later in a somehwat different fashion, with both ben elliott and billy picciotto draining homers to help their squad to a 7-6 lead. it was, unfortunately for goodthing fans, short lived, as analisa would fail to score again until the bottom of the ninth. the weenises, meanwhile, all but put the game away when they answered analisa with 8 runs in the top of the fifth and 2 more in the 6th to extend their lead to 16-7. by the time ben elliott's charges took to the plate for their last at-bat of the game, they were down by a 21-8 count. picciotto tried to get the rally started with a leadoff triple, but leadoff man dank elly would miss a single attempt on batter later to set the tone for the rest of the inning though analisa would muster 3 in the stanza, that would be it. moroco finished with a team high 7 runs batted in on 9 of 13 shooting. terry shernisky also collected 9 hits and drove in 6 while tipping in 4 double plays to lead his team. for the losers, picciotto turned in a 6 for 9, 1 homer, 4 rbi, 2 double play performance. RETURN OF THE WEENISES 12 ANALISA GOODTHING 11 ben elliott, after being selected to his first all-star game only hours earlier, proved he should be among the games biggest names with his game winning homer in the bottom of the ninth with his team trailing by a pair. after his squad dropped the first contest in the series, it appeared things would be over early for analisa when the weenises once again took a lead into the bottom of the ninth. things would go down a little differently this time around, as after a picciotto leadoff triple, dank elly drove his teammate in and set a more positive tone for the inning. and wouldn't you know in, shortly following a jamie fabian miss, elliott would step up for his only homer of the game and the biggest of his 3-year career. the weenises were once again able to build an early lead, plating runs in each of the first 3 innings to take a 4-0 advantage. analisa stormed back in the middle innings to build a substantial cushion of their own, leading by as much as 3 at 10-7 before the r.o.t.w. would regain their composure in the eighth. there, analisa watched as team ween rattled off 5 hits in a row to reclaim the lead and set up elliott's last-second heroics. elliott finished with 6 hits in 11 chances with 4 rbi and a team-high 3 double plays. dank elly added 6 hits and 3 ribbies of his own. in a losing effort, terry shernsiky collected 6 hits and drove in 6 runs. danielle hennon hit safely 7 times. RETURN OF THE WEENISES 15 ANALISA GOODTHING 13 despite getting little production from the top of their lineup, the weenises were able to move on to the second round thanks to stellar play from terry shernisky and pat lackey. with the normally solid tandem of danielle hennon and jamie moroco combining to go 7 of 24 with no rbi, lackey and shernisky turned in 8 for 11, 8 rbi and 9 for 11, 7 rbi performances, respectively. shernisky also tipped in3 double plays to lead his team defensively. as they had all series, the weenises were able to get runs on the board first. after a ben elliott double play led off the game, moroco, shernisky lackey all connected on extra-base hits to put two across the dish in the first. analisa, however, had an answer in the form of three runs of their own as jamie fabian, dank elly and elliott all connected for extra base hits of their own to give their squad the advantage after one. the weenise offense quickly recaptured the lead in the second with 5 runs on 6 hits before a dank elly double play stymied the rally. this time analisa couldn't answer, and the weenises had a lead they would never lose. analisa would get close a few more times throughout the contest, actually threatening in the ninth by getting their first three runners on board, but ultimately the tandem of lackey and shernisky was just too much for them to overcome. a dank elly single missed badly to end the contest, the series and the season for analisa, a team who had showed so much promise early in the year. elly led the way for his squad, connecting on 7 hits in 11 attempts with a quintet of runs batted in. elliott paced his team defensively with 3 double plays. GAME OF THE SERIES: GAME 2, the 12-11 last-second win by agt PLAYER OF THE SERIES: TERRY SHERNISKY, WEENISES 24 of 33, 19 ribbies and 9 double plays PLAYOFFS HOME |