November 6, 1999 It's No Joke: Lightning Wins LOS ALTOS, CA - This has probably been the most unlikely series the BDBL will ever see, and it occured during the very first season. The Litchfield Lightning, who came into this series without the services of their best pitcher, their top run-producer, their top stolen base threat and several other important players due to the gross apathy of their owner, have defeated the BDBL's Cinderella-story team, the Los Altos Undertakers, in five games and will advance to the Ozzie League championship series. After winning the first two games of this series, and losing the next two, the Litchfield Lightning needed ten innings to do the impossible, and they did it once again against Los Altos' best pitcher. Darryl Hamilton began the scoring today when he led off the bottom of the first with a double off Litchfield starter Denny Neagle. Rich Aurilia then drove a base hit to center, scoring Hamilton. The Lightning wasted no time answering back. J.T. Snow led off the next inning with a double to the gap off Los Altos starter Chan Ho Park. Two batters later, Bip Roberts advanced Snow to third on a single. Enrique Wilson then connected for his second and final time in the series, driving home the tying run with a base hit. In the fourth, Larry Walker led off the inning with a single. He then fell as the unlikely victim of a caught stealing at the hands of Chris "Poor-arm" Hoiles. That play proved critical, as the next two batters - Mo Vaughn and Bill Mueller - singled. The next batter, Mike Lansing, also ripped a single, plating the go-ahead run. Neagle then whiffed Tony Eusebio, leaving runners stranded on second and third. Once again, Litchfield wasted no time answering back. Neagle proved he can be as lethal as Ramon Martinez with the stick by drilling a one-out double in the fifth. He later scored on a base hit by Mark Grudzielanek that tied the game at two apiece. In the bottom of the inning, Chan Ho Park answered Neagle's challenge with a base hit of his own. He moved over to second on a bunt by Hamilton, then advanced to third on a base hit by Walker. But he was left stranded when Albert Belle grounded out weakly to first. The Undertakers finally broke the ice in the sixth when Vaughn led off the inning with a double. Two quick outs later, he was driven home by a base hit by Tony Eusebio. Pinch-hitter Bret Mayne then followed with another RBI single, giving Los Altos a two-run lead heading into the seventh. Scott Elarton came on in the seventh for Los Altos and recorded three quick outs against the bottom of the lineup. He ran into trouble in the eighth, however, when Brady Anderson led off the inning with a double. Grudzielanek was then hit by a pitch. A ground ball by Edgar Martinez advanced both runners into scoring position with Barry Bonds stepping to the plate. But with one down and lefty specialist Trevor Miller called in from the pen to face Bonds, Los Altos manager Jeff Paulson elected to pitch to Bonds with first base open. The move worked, as Miller enticed a fly ball to left which scored Anderson from third. Then, with J.T. Snow and his sub-.200 average against left-handers coming to the plate, Paulson called upon his right-handed closer Trevor Hoffman in place of the lefty Miller. Snow ripped a base hit up the middle, scoring the tying run, but was thrown out at second as he gladly played decoy on the relay throw home. In the bottom of the inning, with Neagle working on more than 110 pitches, he was allowed to pitch to one more batter. Vaughn singled, prompting Litchfield manager Phil Geisel to go to his closer Jeff Shaw. Paulson then made the fateful decision to pinch-run Rich Amaral, taking Vaughn's bat out of the lineup. Amaral stole second and third, but after Mueller and Lansing both flied out to left, Geisel smartly issued an intentional pass to Eusebio (note: that will be the only time you'll ever see the words "Geisel" and "smartly" in the same sentence) with Hoffman coming to the plate. Paulson was then faced with a gut-wrenching decision. With the go-ahead run and the fate of this Division Series sitting ninety feet away, would he pull his best pitcher from the game in favor of a pinch-hitter? Or would he sacrifice the scoring opportunity in favor of containing the Litchfield attack the following inning? Paulson chose to stick with Hoffman, who then grounded out to short for the final out. In the top of the ninth, Hoffman rewarded his manager's confidence by retiring the bottom of the Litchfield lineup in order. Then, in the bottom of the ninth, Shaw enticed a ground-out from Hamilton and a fly-out from Aurilia for two quick outs. Arthur Rhodes was then brought in to face Larry Walker, and Walker grounded weakly to second for the final out, forcing extra innings. With the Los Altos crowd buzzing with excitement, Hoffman strode to the mound once again this series with more than 30 pitches under his belt. The last time Hoffman was allowed to throw more than 30 pitches in this series, he surrendered the game-winning run in Game One. Litchfield used their only pinch-hitter, Damian Jackson, to lead off the inning and he meekly struck out for out number one. Hoffman then walked Brady Anderson and struck out Mark Grudzielanek for out number two. Then, with Edgar Martinez at the plate, Hoffman issued another walk, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position. That brought Barry Bonds to the plate. Two innings earlier, Paulson was faced with a similar situation. He brought in the lefty to pitch to Bonds with first base open, and gave up a run on a sac fly. This time, in the tenth inning, with the game, the series and the season on the line, Paulson took no chances. He ordered an intentional walk of Bonds, loading the bases. Again, Paulson faced a similar situation with Snow coming to the plate. With no other reserves available to Litchfield, they would be forced to stick with Snow against a left-handed pitcher such as John Rocker or Mike Remlinger. Snow, who hit well below .200 against left- handers, is notoriously inept in that situation. One more out and Los Altos would be out of the inning. Instead of going with the left-hander out of the pen, Paulson stuck with his ace. In a way, the move paid off as Snow struck out. But not before Hoffman unleashed a wild pitch which skipped by Eusebio to the backstop, scoring Anderson from third. With Rhodes having faced only one batter in the ninth before he was pinch-hit for in the top of the tenth, Litchfield had no choice but to put the fate of their season in the hands of Eric Plunk. Plunk, who amassed a 4.70 ERA during the regular season, had one giant obstacle ahead of him with the name of Albert Belle. The odds were against him. But for the fifth time in the game, Belle recorded an out - a harmless fly ball to center. The next batter due up would have been the dangerous Mo Vaughn, who could have tied the game with one swing of his mighty bat. Instead, it was Amaral, who came in to pinch- run for Vaughn in the eighth. Amaral hit a lazy ground ball to short for out number two. That brought Bill Mueller to the plate, and Mueller was simply overmatched by the adrenaline-pumped Plunk. Mueller struck out, ending the game, the series and the season for the Los Altos Undertakers.