UNPROTECTED
9/7/03

Hey, It's Roger...Use Protection caps a perfect season with a rout of the defending Sunday league champions to win the Sunday co-ed softball championship. HIRUP won three games on one weekend to take the crown.

The regular season was a walk for Hey, It's Roger. They completed the campaign a perfect 7-0 and were the top seed entering the playoffs.

As the top seed, they had a first round bye and faced Hit For Brains, the ninth seed, in the quarterfinals. Hit For Brains was coming off a record setting game. In their first game, they broke the CSA record for most runs scored by one team in a co-ed softball game when they put up 36 to advance.

Hey, It's Roger had a tough time with HFB, but they managed to squeak by and advance to the semi-finals with a 12-9 win. That game was on Saturday, and they moved on to Sunday morning where they would have to face a fierce rival, It's All About the Beer.

For the first time in almost two years, Roger (CSA VP) and Leland (CSA President) would face each other in a playoff game. Leland was playing for It's All About the Beer, and Roger was captaining Hey, It's Roger...Use Protection.

The game projected to be a possible CSA classic. IAAB was looking to advance to the championship game for the sixth time, HIRUP was looking to extend the longest active winning streak in CSA.

The game was not as close as the "experts" predicted. After a tight game early, the score was tied at six after three full innings, HIRUP broke out with six runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth, while IAAB was unable to score any. The final score margin was a formality, in the bottom of the sixth inning, HIRUP was able to score the three runs they needed to end the game by rule, 17-7.

This advanced Hey, It's Roger to the finals where they would meet another CSA power. D.O.D. had eliminated Team Roger in the semi-finals of the Spring league on their way to their third title in three years.

The match-up featured the first time an undefeated team faced the defending champion in the finals. D.O.D. was looking to go four for four and run their CSA playoff record to an astonishing 16-1. Hey, It's Roger was looking to become only the third co-ed softball team to go 10-0 (Roger's own BIG hITS were the first) and win the league title.

The game had two decidedly different parts.

Early on D.O.D.'s playoff dominance appeared that it would be the deciding factor. They put up three runs in the top of the first, and then they allowed a leadoff homerun to Darren Ross in the bottom of the inning, but that was it. After one inning they led 3-1. D.O.D. extended the lead to 6-1 in the top of the second and could have had more. After a double by Mark Bryant had scored two runs, Adrienne Walker followed with a single and Bryant tried to score. On the play at the plate, Bryant collided with HIRUP pitcher Mike Muzik and was called out for failure to avoid. This was the third out of the inning and cost D.O.D. a run and the runner on base.

The collision turned the game around. After that, Hey, It's Roger got fired up and it showed at the plate. Brian Patterson singled and Anna Thompson reached on an error. Then championship game co-MVP Charles Brown followed with a three run home run, his first of three in the game, to swing the momentum.
Then, throwing gasoline on the building inferno, D.O.D. pitcher Jeff Bryant walked the next three batters. This brought up Ross and Ross doubled to go along with his homer. The double scored Lisa Kiley and Todd Thompson. Three more D.O.D. errors coupled with a double, allowed four more runs to score and Hey, It's Roger had turned the five run deficit into a three run lead. After two innings it was 10-7.

The momentum had clearly swung and D.O.D. was not able to recover. In the top of the third, two flyouts and a popout to the pitcher were sandwiched around a two base walk and a double. D.O.D. got one run, but the floodgates were about to open again.

In a power surge that could have kept the city of Atlanta lit for days, Hey, It's Roger had four singles, two triples, and four homeruns (all over the fence) and put up a 10 spot to blow the game open. It started much as the second inning did. Kiley led off with a single and scored on Brown's second homerun of the game. Then HIRUP loaded the bases with three straight singles. Ross cleared the bases with a three run triple, scoring Michelle Veronesi, Todd Thompson, and Mike Muzik. Joe Fassler drove in Ross with an opposite field triple of his own, and Anna Thompson plated Fassler on a fielder's choice. With seven runs on the board, HIRUP could have been satisfied, but then the real fireworks began. Sandy Diaz hit a solo homerun that had to have FAA clearance. The ball traveled at least 450 feet. Following that Roger Werner hit a solo homerun of his own to centerfield and after a flyout, Brian Patterson hit their third solo homerun of the inning. After the final out of the inning was recorded, HIRUP had scored 10 runs and led 20-7.

Not to go quietly, D.O.D. had a rally themselves. They batted around, sending all 11 batters to the plate and used five singles, two walks and an error to score six runs. This cut the lead to 20-13 and the deficit didn't seem impossible to overcome.

It was however. HIRUP added four more runs in the fourth. They didn't leave the yard in the inning, but the frame was capped by championship game co-MVP Darren Ross, who had a RBI single to drive in his seventh run of the game and give Ross a cycle on his four for four day.

In the fifth, D.O.D. was unable to score any runs, and Hey, It's Roger simply needed to score one run to secure the championship. Brian Patterson singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth and advanced to second on a groundout. This brought up Charles Brown, who ended the game the way he started it, with a monster blast to right field for his third homerun of the game. The two run shot gave Hey, It's Roger...Use Protection the league championship, 26-13.

Click here for the Championship Game Boxscore

HEY, IT'S ROGER...USE PROTECTION
starting line-up

1. DARREN ROSS
2. JOE FASSLER
3. LISA KILEY
4. SANDY DIAZ
5. ROGER WERNER
6. MICHELE VERONESI
7. BRIAN PATTERSON
8. ANNA THOMPSON
9. CHARLES BROWN
10. open
11. TODD THOMPSON
12. MIKE MUZIK