Week 13: Wonders walk off Phils; Plugs take 2 from Goats

"Is this heaven?" "No, it's Hadley"

Wednesday

Phillies 9
Wonderboys 10
WP - Chris Ciepiela
LP - Ken Sloat

Chris Ciepiela pitched a complete game and the Ageless Wonders™ eeked out a win over the Phillies.
The Wonders scored 4 runs in the first and second innings to break out to an 8-3 lead, but the Phils continued to chip away at it. The Phils outscored the Wonders 5 to 1 over the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings, and then scored a single run in the 7th to tie it at 9. The Wonders score the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 7th to close it out.
Phillies hitting star was Jon "JR" Ross who went 3-4 with 2 doubles. The Wonders' shortstop Tod "1D" Garfield went 3-3 with a double and two singles. He also walked once and drove in 3 runs,

Thursday

Suspended game:
Plug Uglies 12

Fainting Goats 8 (8 inn)

WP: Greg Elbaum, LP: Ed Webb

Regular game:

Fainting Goats 4
Plug Uglies 7

WP: Bill Evans, LP: Ed Webb

In the resumption of a tie game that was suspended on June 13, the Plugs jumped off to a quick 4-0 lead from the get-go on a series of bloop hits and fielding miscues.

In the regularly scheduled game, Bill Evans pitched six strong innings, allowing just 3 runs and keeping hitters off balance. He struck out the side in the 4th. Webb pitched well but some defensive lapses behind him led to extra outs and critical runs. Todd Neumann came on in relief and pitched two strong innings, allowing one unearned run.

At the plate, Brian "Benji" Benjamin and Jeff Cabana had doubles for the Plugs, while Tom Sebastyn had a single and a double and scored 2 runs. He also stole third twice.

Standings

The Grays and Wonders have agreed to make up their rainout from last week. The game will be played Wednesday at South Hadley High School.
The Grays will then play their regularly scheduled game against the Plugs on Thursday.

As of right now, the Wonders are 8-2 and have a 2-game lead over both the Wonders and the Plugs with 2 games to play. But the Plugs (6-4 ) have two games, a suspended game Thursday v. the Plugs and then the regularly scheduled game right afterward.

The Grays were off this week, and their record is unchanged, at 5-3 but with 4 games remaining.

By this next week, the playoff picture should be a lot clearer. And here's why.
The Grays play the Wonders on Wednesday, and then have two against the Plugs on Thursday.

If the Wonders win Wednesday and on the final week of the season versus the Goats, pop the champagne. They'll finish with 10 wins and no one can catch them.

If the Grays beat the Wonders on Wednesday and two against the Wonders on Thursday, then heading into the final week of the season the Grays and Wonders will have identical 8-3 records heading into the final week of the season.

Scenarios:
-- WONDERS WIN: Any win by the Wonders clinches a tie for first with 9 wins.
--GRAYS WIN: If the Grays win 4, they will have a 9-3 record. If the Wonders lose 2, they will finish 8-4.

If the Grays and Wonders finish tied, the first tie-breaker is head to head records. At this moment, their records are 1-1 against each other. Whoever wins Wednesday's game gains an edge in the tie-breaker.

WONDERS WIN: If the Wonders lose 2, the Plugs win 2, and the Grays lose 2 of remaining 4, Plugs and Wonders would be tied at 8-4, and the Grays 7-5. The Wonders win the tie-breaker 3-0 over the Plugs.

PLUGS WIN: If the Plugs and Grays split their 2 upcoming head to head games and finish with identical 7-5 records, the Plugs would have the tiebreaker edge 2-1 and would leapfrog into 2nd place.

WONDERS WIN: If the Wonders lose 2, the Plugs win 2, and the Grays win 3 of 4, the three teams will have identical 8-4 records. Based on head to head records:
Wonders 1-2 v grays, 3-0 v plugs -- 4-2
Grays 2-1 v. Wonders, 1-2 v Plugs -- 3-3
Plugs 2-1 v. grays, 0-3 v. Wonders. -- 2-4

TL/DR: Just win, baby!