November 6, 1999

Lightning Strikes Twice

LOS ALTOS, CA - In the history of baseball there has been no series of events
as unlikely as this.  The Litchfield Lightning, minus their ace David Cone,
their 100-RBI third baseman Scott Brosius, their leadoff hitters Eric Young
and Otis Nixon and half the other players on their team, have taken a 2-0 
lead in the OL Division Series against the heavily-favored Los Altos 
Undertakers.  For the second game in a row, these two teams combined for less
than 13 hits as pitching took front and center stage.

The home town Undertakers fans, who sat in stunned silence during Game One of
this series, were shocked into silence again in the very first inning today.
Litchfield's very first batter of the game, Brady Anderson, doubled into the
gap off Los Altos starter Chan Ho Park.  Two batters later, he was driven home
on a base hit by Edgar Martinez.  Then with two outs in the inning, Chris
Hoiles hit a ground ball to shortstop Rich Aurilia which was bobbled for an
error, forcing home another run.  Before the Los Altos fans could even settle
in their seats, their beloved team faced a 2-0 deficit.

Barry Bonds made it 3-0 in the top of the third with a one-out homer.  And in
the fifth, Litchfield added another run when Bonds singled home Mark 
Grudzielanek.  Harnisch, meanwhile, was on top of his game.  He sailed through 
four innings before running into trouble against the bottom of the order in 
the fifth.

A walk to Bill Mueller and a base hit by Mike Lansing put runners on the 
corners for Tony Eusebio.  Eusebio flied to right for out number one, bringing
Park to the plate.  But Los Altos manager Jeff Paulson, sensing an opportunity
to score and trying desperately to avoid a two games-to-none deficit in this
series, elected to pinch-hit for Park.  Bret Mayne made his skipper look good,
doubling to the gap to score the Undertakers' first run of the game.  Darryl
Hamilton followed with a ground ball to third which scored another run, cutting
Litchfield's lead to 4-2.

Amazingly, the score would remain that way for the rest of the game as 
Harnisch, Scott Radinsky and Jeff Shaw held Los Altos in check the rest of the
way.

The series now shifts to Litchfield, where Los Altos will try to stay alive
with one more win against this resilient, quirky Litchfield team.