Pattaya Softballers Strike Silver in Cebu

Our boys started slow, playing their first game at the ungodly hour of 9am. They got out-classed, out-hustled and out-played by the number 1 seeded Salazar team (who sported 2 national team players on their side). The lone bright spot was rookie Ben “F.W.” Reiber, who hit the first homerun of the tournament. The 2-run blast gave our boys the first inning lead, but it was extremely short lived. Salazar went yard on us often, and punished our defensive errors in the soggy quagmire that they called a softball field. It was an ugly game for the Pattaya players, and they went down in shame by a score of 18-2.

The first game loss meant that Pattaya needed to win each succeeding game, or suffer early elimination. With their backs up against the wall, the Pattaya boys showed their true colours, playing hard-nosed, high spirited, team softball. They used their embarrassing first game defeat as fuel to help them feed their burning desires to earn a place into the finals. In the process, they eliminated every other team from the tournament.

Their first casualties were team Haberstock, an older and experienced Pilipino team. Perry McNeely is crafty pitching and the team’s revamped defense silenced the Haberstock bats. Ringer, Mike Lopez hit a grand slam homerun in the first to open the offensive flood gates, as the Pattaya boys won the match by the incredible score of 15-0 after 2 innings (mercy rule instituted).

Next up for the Thai farang, team was Team Energo, who had also beaten Team Haberstock. Energo gave the Pattaya team a scare, scoring 6 runs in the first inning, to lead 6-1. But again, our guys overcame adversity and turned up their play another level. Diego Wells hit a grand slam homer in the second to ignite an 8-run rally. In the third inning, key hits by Brian Gavagan, Mike Nardick, and homers from Scotty Torgusson and Peter Jaffe turned the game into a blowout. The final score read: Pattaya 19, Energo 8, and sent them to home, packing.

The semi final match up was another tough test for the Pattaya Partiers, as they took on another A division team from the Philippines, Team Locan. Our boys had hit their groove, and managed to score in every inning of the four-inning encounter. The defense was stellar, as our infielders Andre, Mike L., Phil and Rick constantly stymied the Locan rallies. A grand slam homerun by Rick Harris in the top of the third was the nail on the coffin for Team Locan. The final score, Pattaya 9, Locan 1 and a trip to the finals was booked for our ecstatic Thai expat team.

The finals would be our toughest match of the day as we were again going up against Team Salazar. The undefeated Salazar team boasted 2 national team players in their line up, and had won all of their games by a minimum of 10 runs. The Pattaya team again rose to the challenge and played brilliant defense throughout the 6 inning final. The best defensive series I have ever seen occurred in the fourth inning. Out number one saw center fielder Brian Gavagan track down a sure homerun, running into the fence, falling on his back, causing the fence to tumble, and bare handing the grab. Out number, two saw Diego cut off a hard one hopper to shallow centerfield, and gun down the speedy runner at first. Out number, three saw a hard hit ball glance off of pitcher Perry’s mitt and deflect into shortstop Mike’s mitt. We had to play this good to contain the high-powered Salazar offense. Salazar led 4-0 after three innings with 2 run homers from each of their national team players. In the top of the fourth, Pattaya made it a game, as sexagenarian Perry McNeely hit a sharp one into the right center field gap and legged out a homerun. It is the first time the ‘Pinoys’ have ever seen a senior citizen earn an inside the parker, and it pumped up the entire Pattaya team. Two batters later, Diego caressed a ball over the right field fence to score both he and Ben, cutting the deficit to 4-3. However, the bats of Team Salazar awoke in the fifth and they earned 3 runs to go to the last inning ahead 7-3. Our Pattaya boys gave them one last scare, scoring a run and leaving the bases loaded with our ringer Mike Lopez up to bat. Unfortunately, for us, Mike got a little too excited, and swung at some extremely bad pitches, to end the game on a strike out. Final score Salazar 7, Pattaya 4.

Congratulations must go out to all the Pattaya boys who journeyed to the “Pines” and showed their stuff! Overall, our second place finish was both well deserved and well received. All who took part agreed that we played both hard and fair, and impressed the locals (both on and off the field). We leave Cebu hoping that some day soon, we can do it all again. Rumour has it that plans are in the works for a bigger and better tournament to be held there in April, so stay tuned.

If you would like to join our champions out on the diamond, we meet every Sunday at 1pm in Jomtien.

Go see Perry McNeely at the Pattaya Sports Club, or email me at igolfwells@gmail.com for more details. See you on the diamond soon.