THE DYNASTY IS MADE
11/17/02

Peaked in High School caps a perfect season with a heartstopping win over It's All About the Beer to capture their fourth consecutive co-ed softball championship in 2002.

In the franchise's seventh entry in CSA co-ed softball leagues, Peaked In High School has cemented themselves as the first true co-ed dynasty team. Coming off three straight titles in the spring and summer leagues, Peaked was perfect in the fall league, winning all 9 games they played..

The championship game matched up the one and two seeds on a chilly and windy Sunday morning. Peaked was facing It's All About the Beer, who had some championship game history of their own to deal with. IAAB was appearing in their fourth title game, having gone 0 for 3 previously.

The title game started as a slugfest. IAAB stormed out with a quick five runs, boosted by a two run single by Patti Stuczynski. Peaked came right back in the bottom of the first with six runs of their own to take the lead. The Peaked rally was sparked by a two run triple by Championship Game MVP, Darren Hulst, and run scoring hits from Michelle Saba and Katie Blankenstein.

The scoring did not stop in the second. IAAB started a rally when they got a single from injured captain Chad Wade and were able to put three runs on the board. Trailing 8-6, Peaked bounced right back with eight runs, started by a three run double by Hulst that scored Monica Hollison, Ray Peebles and Lee Temple. At the end of two, Peaked led 14-8.

In the third, the defenses started to tighten. The Peaked defense behind the pitching of Kirk Graves kept IAAB from putting any runs on the board. A two run homer by Hulst in the bottom of the third was the only scoring, but made the score a seemingly insurmountable 16-8 after three complete innings.

In the fourth, IAAB returned the favor to Peaked with two solo home runs of their own, off the bats of Jeff Masisak and Ryan Matteson. In the bottom of the fourth, they finally stopped the Peaked offensive machine. Solid pitching by Michael Medina-Brodski was backed by a spectacular play by Cathi Dugger at third to keep Peaked off the board.

In the fifth, IAAB made it a game again. Wade started the inning with his fourth hit of the game and was driven in by a triple by Dugger. After RBI hits from James Estes and Travis York, IAAB was able to put a rally together and score five runs in the inning to pull to one run down at 16-15.

With their eight run lead trimmed to only one, Peaked looked vulnerable. They managed to score two runs in the bottom of the inning to boost the lead to three entering the sixth.

The sixth inning got very exciting. IAAB kept the offense on and ended up scoring three runs to tie the game. The pressure was now on Peaked, who had squandered an eight run lead. When it looked like IAAB was going to get out of the bottom of the inning tied, Peaked responded like three time defending champions. With two outs, they got a clutch single from Chuck Currin to drive in Graves and retake the lead 19-18. After a single by Jayne McClinton put a runner in scoring position again, Peaked was unable to produce any more runs.

The championship game was going to come down to one final inning. It's All About the Beer needed at least one run to keep the game going. Peaked managed to retire both Matteson and Medina-Brodski to put IAAB down to their final out, with no runners on. With the game on the line, Tara Gilmore singled to give IAAB new life and Chad Wade got his fifth hit in five plate appearances to put runners on first and second. With the tying run on second, IAAB had their hottest hitter at the plate. But Peaked was able to get Cathi Dugger to fly harmlessly to left field and when Darren Hulst squeezed the ball for the final out, Peaked In High School became the first four time champion in CSA history.

PEAKED IN HIGH SCHOOL
starting line-up

1. PATRICK MCCONNELL
2. MONICA HOLLISON
3. RAY PEEBLES
4. LEE TEMPLE
5. DARREN HULST
6. MICHELLE SABA
7. PAUL CRATER
8. KIRK GRAVES
9. KATIE BLANKENSTEIN
10. CHUCK CURRIN
11. JANYE MCCLINTON