The South Dayton Slammers and Camden Redlegs met up this past Saturday for the MVABL championship series at Action Sports Center in the best of three series.
The #1 seed Slammers sent out Jon Venters to start and he got out of a first inning jam to get things going. The Redlegs got a leadoff single but Venters struck out the next batter. The next two batters walked to load the bases, but on the first pitch to the next batter the Slammers turned a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. After the Slammers went out in order, Venters did the same to the Redlegs. The Slammers were able to take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning as Todd Barhorst led off the inning with a single and moved to second as Rick Anderson was hit by the pitch. After a fly out, Mark Barhorst singled to right field to score his brother and Darren Himsworth then walked to load the bases. Taylor Hause then lifted a short fly ball to centerfield but Anderson was able to score from third base for the second run. Venters got into a groove and kept the Redlegs scoreless until the ninth inning.
The Slammers increased their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning as Daniel Barhorst led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a SAC bunt by Troy Koze. After a ground out, Todd Barhorst singled in Daniel and after Todd got to second base, Anderson singled him in for the 4-0 lead. The Slammers played add on in the bottom of the eighth inning as Todd Barhorst singled and got to second base on a SAC bunt by Anderson. After Aaron Fannin walked and an out, Darren Himsworth singled in Todd for the 5-0 lead. In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Redlegs put together three hits and scored once as the Slammers won game one 5-1. Venters went the distance allowing 7 H, 5 BB’s and had 16K’s to earn the win.
Looking for the sweep, the Slammers were able to take an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning in game two on an unearned run. Jeff Beall got the start and was sharp from the beginning. The Slammers’ defense helped him out in the bottom of the first inning after a one out walk as they turned a nice 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. The game remained 1-0 until the top of the fifth inning. Hause led the inning off with a walk and with one out, Koze singled to center field and Hause was able to get to third base with a head first slide, allowing Koze to move to second base on the throw. After a strike out, Todd Barhorst was walked on four pitches to load the bases bringing Anderson to the plate and on a 1-2 pitch Anderson singled to left center to knock in two runs. Fannin then came up and singled sharply past the first baseman to score the third run for the 4-0 lead. The Slammers added another run in the top of the seventh inning as Deane Grandfield led off with a single and eventually came home from third base on a Fannin single. The Redlegs put together a rally in their half of the inning on two walks and two HBP to score one run but the Slammers got that run back as Himsworth led off the top of the eighth inning with a double and scored on a Hause single up the middle. Beall was working on a no hitter but gave up a single to the first batter in the bottom of the eighth inning but was able to shut the Redlegs down the rest of the way for the 6-1 win and the Slammers’ first ever championship. Beall went all nine innings, 3 H, 3 BB’s and 11 K’s to finish off an outstanding day of pitching by the two Slammers starters.