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TOTALLY SCREWED In the longest softball game in CSA history, Screwballs overcome a seven run seventh inning deficit and pull out an improbable championship victory. The finals of the Wednesday Co-ed Softball league Spring playoffs pitted two teams with CSA championship game history. In the 2002 summer seasons, both the Screwballs and the Desperados appeared in their leagues championship game. The Screwballs lost a heartbreaker in eight innings to the Independent Strippers Union in the longest softball game in CSA history, 1 hour and 45 minutes. The Desperados captured the summer league title in the highest scoring championship game in CSA history, when they defeated CCRT Ballers 26-24 in a "Little Fenway" shootout. This time, they both raised the bar. The fourth seeded Screwballs got to the title game by rolling over the top seed, Glove'm & Leave'm. The final score was 17-11, but the game was not that close. Screwballs took advantage of 17 Glove'm errors, and got timely hits throughout the line-up to advance. The Desperados had a more difficult road to the finals. Facing the surprising sixth seed, A Team, the Desperados trailed 9-4 going into the bottom of the sixth. An eight run inning looked like it would propel the Desperados into the finals, but A Team came back with three runs of their own to tie the game. In the bottom of the seventh, the Desperados needed only one run. With one out and the bases loaded, Guin Hayes delivered a line single up the middle that scored the winning run and sent the Desperados to the championship game in search of their second CSA championship. The title game was a heart stopper. It matched up the resilient Screwballs against the high powered Desperados. In the early going the Desperados, the home team, looked like they would run away with the game. They led 3-0 after one inning, and when the Screwballs scored four in the top of the second, the Desperados responded with seven runs of their own to take a 10-4 lead. But the resiliency of the Screwballs showed when they scored five in the third and after allowing only one run in the bottom of the inning, the score was 11-9, with the Desperados leading. Screwballs cut it to 11-10 entering the fifth. In the fifth, Desperados extended the lead to 14-10 and in the sixth they scored six more runs and appeared to have iced the game. Going into the seventh, and final?, inning, Screwballs trailed 20-13. It looked like it was a lock for the Desperados, Screwballs plugged away and managed to plate four runs with two outs. They had two runners on with their clean-up hitter at the plate. Championship Game MVP, Kerry Senna, had already gone deep once in the game, but the Desperados chose to challenge him. Senna won the battle, his three run homer tied the game at 20. The Desperados retired the next batter, and for the second game in a row they went to the bottom of the seventh needing only one run to win. It seemed almost a certainty that the number one offense in the league could score one run. Leadoff hitter Bert Dasher started the inning with a double and the game was in the bag, right?. Ryan Chappelle flew out to left and Dasher was unable to advance. Bart Patterson got an infield single, but Dasher remained at second. Screwballs pitcher Jeff Young got Brooks Henderson to fly out to short left-center, and then he retired Juliane Walker to end the inning. Dasher remained on second base for all four batters. Screwballs had survived the bottom of the seventh and taken the game to extra innings with new life and the momentum. They took advantage of a shaken Desperados in the eighth inning to score three runs. Timely hits and key errors gave Screwballs a 23-20 lead entering the bottom of the eighth. The Desperados now needed three runs to stay in the game, and they had the heart of the order coming up. Gregory Calley led off the inning with a solo homerun and the deficit was only two. Craig Henry singled and Desperados had the tying run at the plate. After a single by Guin Hayes brought the winning run to the plate, a fielders choice and a fly out brought the game to the crossroads. The winning run was at the plate, with runners on first and second. With the game on the line, Young got a harmless fly ball to center and when Senna squeezed it for the final out, the Screwballs had completed a remarkable comeback and captured their first CSA championship. Both teams should be commended on an exceptional effort. The game, which lasted 1 hour and 52 minutes, broke the record for the longest game in CSA Co-ed Softball history. SCREWBALLS
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