Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)
60-and-over baseball
On April Fools' Day, Team White stunned Team Blue with a walk-off win in the bottom of the seventh inning and came away with a thrilling 11-10 win in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game at Udall Park.
It was standing-room only at the ball park as 30 fans gathered six feet apart, behind the back stop and up and down the first and third base lines.
Under blue skies and a mid-morning temperature in the mid-70s, both teams battled from the start. There were three lead changes in the first four innings of play. Team Blue's Reed Palmer belted his third home run of the season in the top of the first inning with a solo shot over the right field fence.
Team White came right back in the bottom of the first, scoring two runs on bases-loaded RBI singles from Ken Nebesny and Mike Steele. In the second inning, Team Blue's Ron Ryan drilled an opposite-field triple down the first baseline. Pigpen Price and Steve Foster, with back-to-back singles to start the inning, raced home to give Team Blue a 3-2 lead and with two outs Ryan was able to score from third on a shot to left field by Jesse Ochoa for an insurance run.
Down 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth, it looked like Team White was back in business when they plated seven runs -- thanks to triples from John Mathews, Pete Peters and John Misiaszek. With the bases loaded, Mathews drilled an inside fastball from Pete Maldonado down third. The ball went all the way to the fence and Mathews cruised into third, while Joe Aparicio, Bobby Stofft and Brad Vermeer scampered home to give Team White a 5-4 lead. Later in the inning, Peters tripled to the gap in right-center to score two runs and Misiaszek ended the barrage with an opposite-field 2-run triple to right field.
Suddenly, Team White held a commanding 9-4 lead.
Team White's starter Mike Dawson returned to the mound in the top of the sixth in hopes of shutting down Team Blue the rest of the way. Dawson struck out the first two batters, but allowed singles to Tim Tolson and a double to Joe Opocensky. After a walk to Billy Heiny, the hard-hitting David Byars stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and drilled a Dawson fastball over the left field fence for a grand slam home run to pull Team Blue to within one run at 9-8. It was Byars first home run as a TOT.
"I've been hitting the ball hard all year, but I just haven't been able to put one out." Byars said. "Today, I felt a slight gust of wind behind me and I did have an extra bowl of Wheaties for breakfast this morning."
In the bottom of the sixth, Maldonado struck out the side and Team Blue came to bat in the top of the seventh, needing a run to tie and two runs to take the lead.
Dawson fanned the first two batters, but Doc Thompson belted a ground-rule double, Foster singled and Team Blue was in business with runners at the corners. Ryan followed with his third hit of the game, a screamer down the first base line and two runs scored to give Team Blue a 10-9 lead. Ochoa followed with a smash to the fence in center field, but Dennis Crowley caught the ball on a dead run to end the top of the seventh.
The hard-throwing Palmer replaced Maldonado in the bottom of the seventh and quickly fanned the first two batters, but Bob Daliege blooped a single to right and suddenly Team White had the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate. Mathews stepped into the batter's box and took two Palmer fastballs right down the middle. On the next pitch, Mathews swung. The ball sailed high and deep to left field, clearing the fence by 20 feet for a game-winning two-run, walk-off home run.
"Reed is tough to get around on, but he threw the third pitch right over the heart of the plate and I got all of it," said a smiling Mathews, after the game.
Okay. Just kidding!
April Fools.
Boxscore:
Team White 11 Team Blue 10
WP Mike Dawson
LP Reed Palmer
Home runs: Reed Palmer (Team Blue), David Byars (Team Blue), John Mathews (Team White).
Note: I woke up at midnight...couldn't sleep, got on the computer...and the above is what came out of my head.
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