2009 NY Star Fall Champions!!!!
On Tuesday, December 8th, under a starry sky and on a brisk 40 degree night, Dumpster Fire took to the East River Park fields one last time to do battle with Our Balls Your Face and, eventually, a championship rematch with cross-town rivals Lock It Up.
Dumpster Fire started the night off hot, scoring 6 runs on OBYF in the bottom of the 1st and they never looked back from there. While LIU had a smidgen of trouble on the other field with Ramrod – one of NY’s hottest up-and-coming teams – DF was able to easily lock down an 8-0 victory.
LIU was eventually able to secure the victory setting up one of the most highly anticipated rematches in NY Star history. The two heavyweight teams in NYC slugging it out, one last time, to close out the year and put another chapter of New York kickball to rest.
DF had the higher seed and elected to be home team, giving LIU a chance to execute their bread-and-butter style of bat first, score first, hang-on kickball. And while DF was successful in stealing this comfort from them in the first game, they put their stalwart defense to the test, asking it to respond on the highest stage. And respond it did.
DF shut down the explosive top of LIU’s order 1-2-3, getting Sajac to pop out, Jared to ground out and Sandy to ground out. In the bottom of the 1st, DF responded by getting its first three runners aboard, giving Dematas the chance to sac kick in JHard and Rabidou the chance to kick in KP before the inning ended.
In the 2nd inning the defense started hot again, getting Wilson to ground out. However, KP walked Skalocky and a quick foot off the bag at 1B on a sure out vs. the Sage allowed LIU to get runners on 1B and 2B with only 1 out. The next kicker bunted on perefectly to load the bases for Ad-Rock, who managed to tuck a kick in shallow LF, just in front of 3B woman BonFire. Diving for the catch, she was unable to control the ball and scooped to Rabidou who was able to throw the ball between his legs on a no look pass to peg Sage advancing from 2B to 3B. Skalocky scored on the play to make it 2-1 before DF could close out the side.
The DF offense then started to sputter, going down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 2nd and 3rd innings.
LIU showed signs of life in the top of the 4th when they were once again able to put runners in scoring position with their big kick, Wilson up to bat. However Wilson blasted a laser of a shot to a perfectly positioned JHard in RF to end the inning.
The DF offense showed life in the bottom of the 4th inning finally get some runners aboard with a good kick from Cullen, but were unable to captilize on kicks from Marlene and JHard to move the runner.
DF huddled at the mound one last time as the heart of LIU’s order came up in the 5th inning. Three outs away from glory. But LIU would not go quietly in to the night. Former DF teammate, Skalocky, once again burned the Dumpster with a perfect bunt on. Sage once again laid down a perfect bunt to get runners on 1B and 2B. Ad-Rock followed the first two kickers with an absolute beauty of a kick up the middle. And while Marlene was quick to get in to position and make the force out at 2B, Skalocky took off immediately on the kick and was able to score, tying the game and setting up a potential overtime battle. DF finished out the inning for last-ups.
KP lead off. After Sajac had mowed down nearly all of the DF bunters that evening, KP lead the inning off with a line drive kick to shallow RCF that was nearly caught on the run by former DF’er Corvigno. However the stars were aligned in DF’s favor this night and the ball bounced off her fingers and harmlessly to the ground.
NY Star Fall Classic MVP Allison Willis was up next and true to form she put down a perfect bunt that was bobbled by the fielder who eventually made the out, but the damage was done. KP was able to advance to 3B on the throw, setting up the game winning run.
LIU elected to walk Dematas and Rabidou to get to Oakley, long time DF c0-captain and founder. With ice water running through his veins, he picked the perfect kick and blasted it to RF. Ad-Rock, the former Bulletproof Tiger, looked to make the catch and throw at the plate, but at the last minute took his eyes off the ball and bobbled it, enable KP to get a solid head start running home. As he bobbled, Rabidou came off first base, uncertain as to what would happen. At the last minute, Ad-Rock caught the ball and made a laser throw to peg a diving Rabidou headed back to the base. But Rabidou’s hand reached the bag moments before the ball hit him and as KP crossed the plate, DF won its first ever NY Star Championship: 3-2.
And so ends the first ever 16 game season in NY Kickball history. DF runs the table, 16-0. 155 runs for, 10 runs against. Congrats to the entire league on a great season and thank you to the inimitable Shane for running everything so smoothly.
Where we go now is anyone’s guess. See you at the SoFL tournament in 2010!
Team Members:
Female — Amy Malbon, Allison Willis, Susan Marschall, Marlene Marji, Maitane, Jane Argetsinger
Male — Oakley Hall, Karl Pawlewicz, Jeremy Hardwick, Chris Rabidou, Marquis Scott, Dematas, Sean Duffy, Cullen Shaw, Nate Poeschl, Brian Piechowicz, Chris Ruiz, Duane Pena, Kendell Villaroel
