August 10, 2005

-DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS-

SUNNYVALE: The visiting BUMS played outstanding defense to soundly defeat each of their playoff opponents to earn their 5th City Championship in team history.

Mike Vaughn led team batting in the playoffs with an .857 avg and James DeMello smacked 2 HRs to help give the BUMS a championship.

GAME 1:

BUMS (5-2-1) @ Call Me Papi (6-1-1)

The BUMS only allowed 1 run in the first 5 innings of the game and defeated Call Me Papi by a final score of 12-7.

Bell Plaza scored 2 runs in the 1st inning with RBI singles by Nelson Villanueva and Doug Nishijima. Call Me Papi cut the lead in half by scoring 1 run in their half of the 1st, but that was the last time that Call Me Papi would have a runner cross the plate until the 6 inning.

Bell Plaza countinued to slowly build a lead in each of the next 2 innings with some clutch 2 out RBI hits. In the 2nd inning, James DeMello slapped a 2 out RBI single making the score 3-1, then in the 3rd, Joe Madruga found a hole with a 2 out 2 RBI single making the score 5-1. In the top of the 4th, it appeared that Bell Plaza dealt the knock out punch with a James DeMello 3 run blast through the left field gap making the score 8-1. The BUMS extended the lead once again in the 6th with RBIs from Mike Vaughn, James DeMello and Doug Nishijima making the score 11-1, but Call Me Papi didn't quit without a fight.

Call Me Papi tagged BUMS' hurler Joe Madruga with 5 runs in the 6th to cut the lead to 11-6. The BUMS added an insurance run in the top of the 7th with a solo shot from Davis Lee to make the score 12-6. Call Me Papi scored the final run of the game in the bottom of the 7th, making the score 12-7.

James DeMello led the BUMS offense with 3 hits, an HR and 5 RBIs.

The BUMS will now advance to the Championship round, where they will play the winner of the Hitmen (4-4) or New Beginnings Agents (7-1).

GAME II.

Hitmen (4-4) at New Beginings Agents (NBA) (7-1)

NBA shut down the Hitmen by a score of 13-1. The Championship game has been set, The BUMS (6-2-1) will visit NBA (8-1) at 9:PM at Washington Park. NBA is not only seeking a championship, but they are also seeking revenge from their only loss of the season. The BUMS defeated NBA in week III on June 22nd, when Bell Plaza erased a 10 run defecit to stun NBA by a score of 15-12.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:

BUMS (6-2-1) @ NBA (8-1)

NBA hasn't lost a game since June 22nd and just finished dusting off the Hitmen in the 1st round of playoffs by a score of 13-1, but that didn't seem to intimated the BUMS...it only inspired them to play one of their best games of the season.

The visiting BUMS struck the first blow with 6 runs, as they sent their entire batting order to the plate and ripped NBA with 9 consecutive hits. NBA returned the favor with 8 runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to take an 8-6 lead. That 1st inning alone resulted in a lead change, a bat inspection controversy, and ignited a verbal assault between the two teams that lasted the entire game.

In the 2nd inning, James DeMello hit a 2 run blast, his 2nd HR of the playoffs, to give the BUMS a short lived lead of 9-8. NBA scored twice in their half of the 2nd to take back the lead, 10-9. It appeared that the game was taking shape to become a true softball classic with both teams continuing to hurl verbal assaults at each other in-between pitches.

Unfortunately, for NBA, their strategy of talking smack to get inside the BUMS' head backfired, as they only scored 2 more runs in the last 5 innings of the game. Meanwhile the BUMS's bats were sparked with emotion and fueled with TOGO's sandwiches as the BUMS score multiple times in each inning of the contest. Nelson Villanueva hammered the coffin shut with a 2 run blast to right field in the 7th inning to extend the BUMS lead to 21-12.

In the bottom of the 7th, the BUMS defense extinguished any chance for an NBA comeback. NBA 2nd baseman, Jose, tried to turn a double into into a triple, but was gunned down by a perfect strike from Doug Nishijima as Dave Thompson applied a text book tag. Tony Santos sealed the left side of the infield with some slick plays to retire the final 2 outs of the game, giving the BUMS their first City Championship since 1999.