By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — Naturally, it was a throwback, Twi League slugfest that helped clear up the playoff picture last night.
The Loafers and Highlife met for the second night in a row, this time with the Loaf one point back of the Life after their 4-2 victory the night before.
With an identical 4-2 Loafer lead after four innings, a jump from 4th place to a 2nd place tie with the Unknowns seemed inevitable.
Are you still tracking? Good, because this is where the action really starts.
In the top of the 5th, with the daylight all but suddenly sunk into the horizon like a Koji Uehara splitter, the Highlife put together a twilight rally, putting up three runs to take a 5-4 lead.
Not to be outdone, the Loaf rose to the occasion in what would be the last half-inning no matter what due to the darkness. They responded, tying the game before the Highlife somehow got out of a bases loaded, one-out situation, ending the game in a 5-5 tie.
The final result, with the 5th place Slappers beating the last-place Expos over at Moulton, is the Highlife tied with the Unknowns for 2nd place while the Loafers sit one point back in 4th, still two points up on the Slap.
The Loafers took command of this one, building a 4-0 lead in two innings. They put up 3 in the 1st thanks to an RBI knock by Ben Waldrip and later a base hit by Jared Pavey to bring home two more.
In the 2nd, a leadoff walk to Matt Smith and the second infield single of the game by James Beaton (later the hero in the 5th), set up an attempted 6-4-3 double play on a grounder but an overthrow to first allowed “Smitty” to scamper home for a 4-0 advantage.
Highlife starter and Twi rookie Owen Riddell, fresh off an All-Star senior season at Wakefield High, didn’t have his best on the familiar Walsh Field mound to start, but he would settle in, shutting the Loafers down in the next two frames while his team started a comeback.
That comeback began in the 3rd with the Life finally getting to Loafer starter Jordan Fauci who was terrific in the first two innings. Derek Dettorre had the big hit, a single bringing home Mark Sullivan from second and Danny Concessi all the way from first to make it 4-2.
With the Highlife bench bringing the noise in an attempt to rattle Fauci’s cage, a pickoff at first and later third out on a pop up brought the chirping back the other way – a classic Twi-talk turn of events. It was sandlot baseball at its finest. Just wait until the playoffs.
Riddell and Fauci took the reigns for the next 30 minutes or so until the Life’s 3-run 5th. With runners at the corners and two outs, Dettorre and Fauci had an epic battle that ended in a walk. That brought up Anthony Cecere, who came through with a clutch, 2-RBI double to tie the game. The Life took the lead on a rocket off the bat of rookie Caleb Birchem, a harsh comebacker that appeared to catch Fauci in the shin but was hit so hard that the final destination was really unknown. Fauci somehow walked it off and the Loaf brought in Nate Ickes who got the final out on a fielder’s choice.
With one out in the bottom of the 5th, Andrew Waldrip cranked one that got under a glove at short and Matt Russo walked which finally chased Riddell. Wakefield High coach Kevin Canty, who knows his ace better than anyone, volunteered himself to pick up his now teammate. It ended up being all the same to Beaton, whose third hit of the day was the biggest for the Loaf, connecting on an RBI double which tied the game and set the Loaf up for the win.
After intentionally walking Dom Sorrentino to load the bases with one out, Canty matched up against the No. 3 hitter Ben Waldrip. The big lefty hit one to center but Concessi timed his catch with momentum coming in and made a strong throw home to keep the runner at 3rd.
And so, with the bases still chucked and two down, Taylor Robinson dug in, having reached base in all three of his previous at-bats. In the end, Canty won the matchup, getting Robinson to pop up for the final out and ending one of the Twi’s most entertaining games of the 2023 season.
It appears as though the league still has some work to do in scheduling more double-headers before the playoffs start next week. The Expos, Slappers and Highlife have only played 10 of the required 12 regular season games. The Brewers and Loafers have played 11 and the Unknowns are at 12.
The Highlife and Brewers are scheduled to meet tonight, 5:45 p.m. at Moulton while the Loafers and Expos are set for tomorrow night, same time and place. The rest of the makeup games from a rainy summer are not yet known.
The best of three semifinals could potentially start on Sunday but will now most likely begin on Monday.