FINAL PLAYOFF TEAM DETERMINED

October 6: The Pottsylvania Creepers, losers of seven straight to finish the season, hosted the Casselton Horned Toads for a one-game playoff to decide the 2012 BARB Central Division champion and playoff representative.

What an epic collapse it was. Needing just one win in the final week to clinch the title outright, the Creepers pulled a vanishing act straight out of the annals of the 2007 and 2008 New York Mets. Casselton was able to rest a few days after losing their final two, and they were ecstatic for the chance to play one more. One saving grace for the Creepers was that they finished with a division record one game better than the Horned Toads, which allowed them to host the playoff in the Creeper Dome.

It was to be former Pottsylvania ace Cliff Lee going on full rest for the visitors. Taking the hill for the home team was one of the players acquired from (insert Ronald Melkonian’s team location here) in the Lee deal before the 2011 season, Jeremy Hellickson.

Alas, before 10 pitches had been thrown, Casselton had a lead.

Brandon Phillips lined a single past Hellickson to lead off. Jason Kubel struck out, but Hellickson left a 0-2 pitch in Mike Napoli’s wheelhouse.

MOONSHOT

Er…

RAFTER-SHOT?

The score remained 2-0 until the top of the third, when Phillips again led off and was hit by a pitch (another 0-2 mistake by the young righty). Napoli and Garrett Jones both singled to move Phillips around and across the plate, bringing up Jay Bruce with runners on first and third and one out. Bruce swung and hit…a five-hopper to second. Allen Craig flipped to Erick Aybar for one. Aybar back to first???

NOT IN TIME!!

Bruce’s speed denied the double play and scored Napoli! It was 4-0, and the Horned Toads were still alive!

Asdrubal Cabrera approached the plate. After a few pitches, he lashed one on the ground, INSIDE the third-base bag! Aramis Ramirez dove but had no shot. Bruce again turned on the wheels and motored around second…third…and on toward home! But was it too aggressive? Desmond Jennings played the carom perfectly and fired a strike toward the infield. Aybar was lined up, caught and threw home…

IN TIME!!!

A.J. Pierzynski was able to swipe the tag on Bruce just before the big slugger slid across the plate! Had he scored, it might have put the final nail in the Creeper coffin.

Pottsylvania still had work to do, however. Carlos Pena capitalized on that momentum with a blast to lead off the bottom of the third against Lee, but Paul Konerko struck out with two on and two out.

After three, Casselton leads, 4-1

Lee continued to deal, and by the time he was removed to start the eighth inning he still held a 4-2 lead (Ramirez drove in Matt Kemp in the sixth) and had racked up 11 k’s in a 97-pitch outing.

David Robertson was the choice to replace Lee against the heart of the order, and he promptly struck out Craig. Kemp, however, grounded a seeing-eye, 1-2 single through the infield and Casselton’s manager (in winner-take-all mode with everyone rested) made another move. This time it was the closer, Jose Valverde.

Some questioned the move. Valverde had lost 10 games and blown 15 saves during the season. He was the fireman, though, so he got the call. And it immediately backfired.

After getting a force out, Valverde allowed a double to Ramirez that put runners on second and third with two away. John Jaso, who had pinch-hit for Pierzynski two innings earlier, took a half-swing and blooped the ball into left, where it fell in front of the onrushing Kubel! Konerko scored easily, and Pottsylvania third-base coach Mike Bordick (an original Boise Brawler—the forerunners of the Creepers) waved his arms wildly for Ramirez to test Kubel’s arm.

It was no contest. The throw bounced twice before reaching catcher Geovany Soto and Ramirez was in to tie the score!

The Creepers’ Luke Gregerson shut down Casselton in the top of the ninth, and Valverde came back out for the bottom of the frame to face Pottsylvania’s 8-9-1 hitters.

Pena, leading off, grounded it to first. Jed Lowrie fed Valverde perfectly, but it didn’t stay in Papa Grande’s mitt! Pena was safe on an error, and he was subsequently replaced by speedy Brendan Ryan. Jennings came up next and took the first offering: strike. He attempted to bunt: foul. Finally, in a 0-2 hole, Ryan ran.

The strategy worked. Jennings bounced to short, but because of the hit-and-run Ryan was able to make second base.

With the winning run in scoring position and just one out, the Pottsylvania faithful rose to their feet. Aybar, who had a key relay throw to nail Bruce earlier in the game, had the potential to be a hero. Valverde fired the first pitch…outside. The second was more to Aybar’s liking and he lined the ball THROUGH the left side! Ryan read it perfectly and was halfway to third before the ball left the infield. Kubel again with the throw…Bordick again with the windmill…

NOT. EVEN. CLOSE.

Ryan’s teammates were already mobbing him as he stood up at the plate after the 5-4 victory. Some lucky bounces had ended the late-season streak of futility, and Pottsylvania was heading to the playoffs for the third time in franchise history!

Casselton’s players, meanwhile, stood in disbelief. Just a few innings earlier their ticket appeared punched, but it all slipped away. They would console themselves later with the realization they had performed an incredible comeback during the regular season just to get this far, and many said they thought they were the team to beat in the Central in 2013.

As for the Creepers, one day off and then the first round series against top-seeded Yuma awaited. That same day, New England and Brooklyn would be beginning the battle to determine the other World Series participant. Will the newcomers be able to knock off the perennial powerhouses? Stay tuned!