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A Day of DecisionAnd Dramatic Defeatby PHIL KURTHWas it or wasn’t it?No one will ever know for sure, but the man in black, the final judge, ruled thatit was.And on the wings of his decision flew Roselle-Bensenville’s nine-game winning streak and the clinching of a district berth.For the first time in this 1970 American Legion season, defeat came to R-B — but not without a fight and not without one of the most dramatic finishes ever written on a legion diamond.Trailing 3-1 in their last turn at bat, R-B immeidately spoiled Hinsdale’s Rich Siemers’ bid for a no-hitter and then set about the task of stealing victory from the fire-ballling right hander.Mike Fonseca led off the seventh with a looping single to center for R-B’s first and only safety. One out later Ted Brinkman worked Siemers for a pass and Bill Natale, pinch-hitting, was struck on the right arm with a pitch to load the bases.Tom Stuckey drew another walk to force in a run and leave the bases loaded with just one out.Sal Dalo stepped up as a pinch-hitter and bounced into a force at the plate. Which left it all up to lead-off man Tom Finn.Siemers quickly got the tough little shortstop in the hole with a 1-2 count Tom took the next pitch high, and then fouled back a strike. The next delivery was high, running the string out.Bases loaded, two out, 3-2 pitch, 3-2 score. And Tom fouled it off, as the tension continued to build.Again the delivery. Finn started afterit, checked his swing, and threw his bat aside as he trotted toward first base. The umpire’s call stopped him in his tracks. “Strike three!”Angry words flowed (and most spectators behind the screen agreed that the pitch was wide), but the decision of course stood. And there’s no doubt the pitch was close. Had the verdict gone the other way, there would doubtless have been protest from the other side.This day luck was not with R-B, and strangely enough, even though they were out-hit 5-1, they easily could have won with a break or two.The hosts’ first run came in the fifth on a less-than-solid hit.Randy Daugh led off the inning by walloping a drive to right that bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double.Southpaw Ray Neidhardt, who had yielded only one hit through the first four rounds, knocked down the next two men without the runner moving.Rick Albaugh then bounced a ground ball over the mound. Neidhardt couldn’t quite reach it, Finn couldn’t glove it, Jim Shriver missed on a tumbling try to head it off, and the ball rolled into center field as Daugh scored.R-B tied it in the sixth and should have taken the lead.Tom Stuckey drew a leadoff walk as a pinch-hitter. Neidhardt bunted toward the mound and Siemers threw the ball into center field trying to get Stuckey. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third and Finn cracked the hardest shot of the day off Siemers.Unfortunaely, his hot one-hopper was stabbed by shortstop Norm Young whoturned the play on Stuckey at the plate.An infield grounder by John Mikes sent the tying run home, but Hinsdale regained the lead in the bottom of the in-ning.Bruce Luehring ripped a two-out hit to left center to score Young who had walked and moved up on a wild pitch. Daugh legged out an infield hit and with men on second and third Sal Dalo was called on to relieve Niedhardt.Sal, though, couldn’t adjust to the Hinsdale mound and walked two straight batters to force in what proved to be the winning run.HINSDALE (S) BOSELLE-BEN-abrh senvilleAlbaugh. 2b —4 0 1 A® ® HSiemers, p _______3 0 0 Finn, ss ---------4 0Gabriet, 3b ......3 0 1 Mikes, 11 ........3 0Young, ss _______2 1 0 DeLazzer, cf ....3 0Kresse. lb .......2 0 0 Fonseca, 3b ......3 1Luehring, c ______3 1 1 Seggeling. rf ....2 0Daugh. If ..........2 1 2 Brinkman, c ....2 0Hud, cf ......-2 0 0 Shriver, 2b -------2 0Keller, rf ________.0 0 0 Natale, ph ........0 0Rog Siemers, rf.---------- Abrams, lb ......1 0,_1 0 0 Stuckey, ph ......0 0--Neidhardt, p —1 122 3 5 Dalo, ph ---------1 022 2 1SCORE BY INNINGS R_B 000 001 1—2Hinsdaie _________________________________—000 012 x~3RBI—Mikes, Stuckey, Albaugh, Luehring, Siemers. E —Abrams (2), Siemers. LOB — Hinsdale 7. Roselle-Bensenville 5. 2B—Daugh. 3B—none. HR—none. SB—Daugh.Siemers (W) Neidhardt (L) DaloPITCHINGIP H B EB BB SO______________7 1 2 1 4 11______________5 2/35 3 3 4 61/30 0 0 2 0Clglclreaitli01KR-B coach Ray Stuckey just shook his flt; head in anger after the second walk (by a man who seldom walks a batter in sev- ben innings). “You can’t blame Dalo. KThat mound is a disgrace. They have a iihole there a guy could break his neck in I.coming off the rubber.”Lady LScorned by Lady Luck all year, Addi- ison finally won her affection Tuesday in 1Lombard. lt;The result was a very welcome 3-2 vie- 1tory at the expense of one of the league’s 1rpemier hurlers, Reynolds. 1So effective was Reynolds Tuesday that he didn’t yield a hit through the first four rounds and gave up only four for the ;game. But he was betrayed by his fe- ifense (including himself) and victimized iby a sparkling performance by his mound opponent, Hank DeAngelis.The big break for the visitors came in the fifth and coach Nick Baffa admits: 1“It was kind of a screwy inning. We had ]two men thrown out on the bases, yet we still got three runs on only three hits.” Baffa’s sons, John and Mark, collected two of those hits.John started it all with a single, the :first hit off Reynolds. Dane Anderson lt;bounced one back to the mound and Rey-
Newspaper Details
Bensenville Register
Bensenville, Illinois, US
Fri, Jul 10, 1970
Page 15
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