September 1, 2017 at 3:01 p.m.
Snowhawks end season with a walk-off win
Snowhawks end season with a walk-off win
On Monday night, the Lake Tomahawk Snowhawks closed out their 2017 season with one final game against Shamrock. Initially thought to be a light-hearted affair, Shamrock brought a wealth of strong players and it turned into a barn-burner.
Trailing 13-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Lake Tomahawk made a dramatic comeback in the final three frames, finally earning a 14-13 walk-off win on a trick play to bring down the curtain on the season.
"They didn't waste time. They were here to play ball," Lake Tomahawk manager Jeff Smith said. "There was no weak spot on that lineup. That was a heck of a game."
Shamrock started out fast indeed, taking a 3-2 lead after the first inning thanks to runs by Melinda Cleveland, Jeff Ziamba and Joe Marshall.
They would tack on seven runs between the fourth and fifth innings, getting runs from Cleveland, Tommy Ziamba, Jeff Ziamba and Bill Donner in the fourth. With the bases load in the fifth, Marshall clubbed a deep shot to left field that scored all three runners, giving the team a commanding lead. He hit a similar bomb in the seventh that would score two more runs.
It was the bottom of the seventh when the Snowhawks began to make a comeback, however, scoring four runs to slice into the lead.
Billy Kuckkahn drove in a run, followed by a 2-run single by Nick Mercks and another RBI by Smith.
The offense continued in the eighth, as Lake Tomahawk cut it to a one-run game. Todd Niemuth brought home a run on a sacrifice and Shawn Moran reached on an error, allowing another run to score.
Then in the bottom of the ninth, Smith singled, with one out, but had to use Niemuth as a pinch runner due to an injury. Ryan Schowalter followed with a double, bringing Derek Young to the plate with two runners in scoring position, trailing 13-12.
Young - known for his speed - beat out a throw to first, bringing home the tying run and moving Schowalter to first.
Rather than staying at first, the Snowhawks had a trick up their sleeves.
Young faked being caught in a pickle, making a move to second and another back to first that made the Shamrock first baseman chase him, but he tripped, allowing Young to move safely to second and Schowalter to score the game-winning run.
"It was planned, we just didn't think it would happen that quick," Smith said. "We needed to razz someone to make a bad throw and we had just that."
The Snowhawks end the year with a record of 9-3. They won their final six contests after dropping three straight earlier in the season.
"It was a good season," Smith said. "The guys did come together. We held in there. We'll be looking forward to next year. The season goes fast, you have to make every week count and we had three losses in a row, but to really good teams. We'll play them again next year. Hope to get a little more solid team, with guys here every week. We've got to be thankful to all the fans that showed up. We really had a good fan base."
Nick Sabato may be reached at [email protected] or via Twitter @SabatoNick.
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