WOOD Brings Home A Championship!

 

 

Baseball.

Baseball has its ways. Ways of making you believe that you’ll never have a chance, then all of a sudden making you believe you’ve got no chance for failure. And it’s usually a constant wave between those two emotions.

Season after season of Superstar despair – six or seven solid innings and two bad ones per game is a perfect recipe for seasons worth forgetting, save for those memorable moments after the game at the bar.

In 2010, the call came for a re-branding. How about the Redwoods? “How about just… WOOD” said the most interesting man of WOOD. And thus began WOOD Baseball.

Flash forward to today, and after two seasons of early round playoff exits, the WOOD had pulled together quite an exceptional regular season. A 16-4 regular season record, highlighted by numerous memorable victories: a comeback 9^th inning win against the Heroes, a hitting display against a very tough Phitans team, a shutdown pitching performance against the Sea Lions, a one-Web show against the Blue Claws, and a double-header sweep of the Dons that saw Chente Lopez make his one hit of the season a memorable one.   

But the playoff road that lay ahead was certain to be a tough one. Entering as the #2 seed in the Bay Conference, WOOD would need to outlast a number of teams that had beaten them in the regular season to reach the title. But with the Gamecocks upset in Round 1, WOOD knocked off the Aces, and then toppled Bay Conference #1 seed BaySox to reach the championship round. 

That set up this weekend’s three game series with the Tsunami, who had undergone a transformation of their own to become one of the league’s powerhouse teams.

Game 1

Post-Game Priorities: Ice, and Beer

A masterful pitching performance by Lopez kept the Tsunami off balance all night, only yielding one run in eight innings of work. It says a lot to win a championship series game when you don’t have your best stuff going. Defensive highlights included Frank Bauch’s snare of a 100-mph line drive to first base, stellar defense by Dave Aubuchon at the hot corner and continued mastery up the middle by Matt Moyer and Pat Whelly.

On offense, Whelly laid down a perfect drag bunt, and two key opposite field hits by Sean Bachleder played a role in both scoring innings. Sean’s first hit brought a runner to third, and even though he got picked off, the baseball gods redeemed WOOD with a run scored on Cam Weissensee’s broken bat groundball to the pitcher that was overthrown. That’s baseball for you. Sean’s 2^nd hit was followed by a 2 RBI single from Will Tong that drove in the eventual winning runs.

(Side note: these RBI’s got a “Like” on Facebook from former WOOD player Cayetano, who Coach Sides once described as a right handed Ted Williams before arm troubles brought him down.)

Final: WOOD 3, Tsunami 1.

Game 2

“Let’s win this one for Steve.” Ironically, the day that crafty righty Steve McDevitt tied the knot in Tahoe would also be the day he likely would have pitched for WOOD. That is, had he not torn up his ACL and meniscus in the aforementioned comeback win against the Heroes in April. Pitching depth didn’t prove to be an issue however, as Bachelder had proved to be a solid addition to the rotation for WOOD. However, the tribute to Steve’s big day was interrupted by the hot hitting Tsunami, who torched the WOOD for six runs through four innings to open up a lead.

In came Brandon “Hmm… Would I Rather Go to Tahoe for Steve’s Wedding or Pitch One Inning Then Pace around Aimlessly through the Dugout All Weekend? I Can See an Argument for Both” Sides to take on the brunt of the damage, and by the time he left, the Tsunami had opened up a sizable lead. Solid pitching by Grant Bledsoe and a few two-out knocks late in the game made the score more respectable, but all eyes were already pointing towards game 3. Final: Tsunami 11, WOOD 4.

Game 3 –

“Everybody Relax!” inculcated Sides in the Game 2 postgame speech. All year, his attitude had not wavered – a constant belief that WOOD baseball would win it all. WOOD was one win away from making it a reality. Aiding the cause was the return of Ryan Tovani and the Moyers from weddings that caused them to miss game 2. 

 

On the morning of the game, Sides would lighten the mood by asking WOOD “How many of you have won a championship?” Most of WOOD slowly raised their hands, unsure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. Regardless, the point is well taken Coach– it’s not often that you win the whole damn thing.  

 

He allowed runners to reach base, just to see how it feels

Game time, and here comes the Most Interesting Man of Wood. Coach even gave him an AB on Saturday night to keep him locked in for Sunday’s morning’s start. The AB, coupled with a pre-game pump up speech from his lady means there’s little doubt he’ll be on his game today.  

11 up, 11 down to start the game. Not quite as simple as that though. Takes a few 4-6-3’s. Or 6-4-3’s. The speed at which they are turned makes the order almost irrelevant – well done Moyer and Whelly. Also takes a caught stealing in there somewhere – well done Jevon Mattiassi. Meanwhile, the WOOD bats are on fire, to the tune of 6 runs in the first three innings.

Then comes the point when you think it’s suddenly slipping away. Seven straight base runners. The man who just threw 12 1/3 innings of one-run baseball in the past week suddenly hits the inevitable string of bad luck. You look up again and its 6-5. That supposed D-1 catcher hit a bomb. Motherfucker. Without Ely we’d never have gotten this far, but now he was done.

Don’t fret WOOD – time to turn to the young gun from the outfield. Not to right, where a sore arm prevents last week’s game 1 winner Mike Moyer from seeing the mound at all today, but to Webershapiro from center. Parents in the back row of the stands might whisper to each other that he hasn’t pitched since before Colby and Lucas were born. But even a 4-year-old can recognize a good pickoff move when he sees it. After a groundout ends the 4^th, the young lefty lifts his leg and catches the Tsunami catcher leaning off first base in the 5^th.

6^th inning, tied 6-6. If the set of sixes isn’t ominous enough, the bullpen action for the WOOD might leave the WOOD fans worried about the rest of this game. Chente Lopez, on one day of rest after an 8 inning masterpiece on Friday, is getting loose. As is Jevon Mattiassi, who hasn’t pitched an inning all season.

“I want one run” says Jevon in the dugout. When he speaks, he treads the line between brutal honestly and honest brutality – the team often responds with laughter but takes the message to heart this time.

Rally time commences – Will “The” Tong drives one just short of the wall in left field to give Wood another edge. Just as he had led the charge on Friday night, Will delivered clutch hitting – in a game eventually won by two, he drove in two with one sweet swing.

Webershapiro starts to get hit hard in the 7^th, so here comes Lopez at 8-7. First pitch – bomb. That damn catcher again. 9-8.

Bauch walks to the mound from first during the trot around the bases – what can you say here? We’ve twice had an edge, and twice this guy has changed the game. Luckily, Lopez smiles and shrugs it off – like the rest of the WOOD, he truly believes we’ve still got this one.

As it turns out – he was right. The WOOD kept hitting. Grant Bledsoe continues to hit. Bachelder lays down a perfect bunt. Cam Weissensee drives one in with a groundout. Pinch runner Ryan Tovani scores on a wild pitch with two outs! 10-9 WOOD. In the 9^th, WOOD gets two more off the bat of Alex Webershapiro with a HUGE two out opposite-field poke. 12-9 WOOD.

Bottom 9, a three-run edge. We knew Lopez had a rubber arm, but the fact that he’s still out there is hard to comprehend. WOOD playing to get one out at a time, but the Tsunami never quit. With one down, the Tsunami have cut the lead to 12-10. Grounder to Aubuchon at third, who’s been wicked all year with the glove.

To second for one… and the relay hits the runner in the hand!

WOOD has seen this call before – it’s interference, batter is out, and the game ends with the ball trickling towards the mound. Ump makes the call immediately, and the chaos ensues.

End: Bring it home. Hit the Grooveshark, Dave – this song has been cued up since just before 10 a.m., but really, for those who endured years of Superstar torture, it’s been cued up for years.

 

2012 WOOD SFNABA Champions

 If you are, what you say you are.

A superstar.
Then have no fear.
The crowd is here, and the lights are on.
And they want a show, oh oh oh oh – yeah.  

Congrats to the 2012 SFNABA champions, WOOD! Thanks to all the fans and supporters, and especially the WOODettes for filling the available seats from start to finish – can’t wait to do it again next year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woodettes!