August 11, 2022 at 10:47 a.m.
Snowhawks beat Old Timers on walk-off hit
Snowhawks beat Old Timers on walk-off hit
By Brett LaBore-
The Snowhawks beat the Old Timers 10-9 with a walk-off hit by Don Moore. Player/coach Jeff Smith scored the winning run for the Snowhawks' fifth win.
"It's great to play against a bunch of good players. Makes it challenging and it was a lot of fun," Smith said. "The teams went back and forth and it's kind of what keeps you in the game. And I think it was a lot of fun for the fans, too."
It was all knotted up at nine apiece heading into the ninth. The Old Timers had something cooking with a two-out hit by Craig Holmquist. Bucklew reached first on a near catch in centerfield that dropped in. With runners on the corners, Tom Pulek hit into a fielder's choice with Steve Bucklew out at second.
The game seemed destined to go to extra innings. The first two batters grounded out for the Snowhawks in the ninth. Then, Smith reached on an error at third base.
Next up, Moore hit a liner right down the left field line that went to the wall. Rounding second, Smith tripped and fell on his way to third base. Getting up, he easily raced home to score the game-winning run.
"I tell you to be honest... I was having trouble coming into second base all night. It was a real thick, wet bunch of chips and it slowed you down," Smith said. "I hit second base and (I'm) going and that's when it happened. I didn't expect it, it was slow motion... I thought 'this cannot be happening.' When I looked up, I knew it was pretty far away, I knew I just had to get on my feet. I got on my feet and took off. It was a great feeling."
"Well he was giving me left field, I'd been hitting right all day. Finally gave it to me and I smoked it," Moore said.
Moore was asked if he thought Smith would score.
"Not when he fell. I was like get up, get up. I was going to score if he was in my way," he said with a smile. "Can't do that in baseball."
It wasn't Moore's first time walking it off.
"I've done it a couple times in my life," he said. "The Chicago All-Stars I had a walkoff home run the first time we've ever played them."
John Otteson and Nick Piterle got the Old Timers off to a 2-0 lead with RBI singles. Craig Holmquist and Bucklew came home to score.
Cole Punches answered back in the bottom half of the inning. He lined one up the middle that just kept rolling into center field. It was an easy inside-the-park home run to give the Snowhawks a 3-2 lead.
"(I told him) to go the other and he can't go the other way. He hit a nice ball up the middle so for him that was going the other way," Smith said. "(It) couldn't have happened at a better time."
It was a back-and-forth game. Jack Dunbar gave the Old Timers the lead back at 4-3 in the second. Then, Jacob Sinclair hit a sacrifice fly RBI to gain the Old Timers another run. The Old Timers led 5-3.
"I think we had 12 guys originally on the roster and four-five backed out from Noon on. So we had to scramble to get some players. That's how they got some of the younger guys on there," Smith said.
The next two half innings featured two double plays. First, Jayden Christianson grounded into a double play to end the Snowhawks' half inning.
Then in the third, Shawn Murry hit a fly ball that ended up turning into a double play, doubling up the runner at second base.
In the top of the fourth, key baserunning netted the Old Timers an extra run. Brady Bruhl doubled to right center. Two batters later, Martin Haromio flew out. Bruhl ended up tagging up, going to third base. Next up, Jack Dunbar singled to left center to bring home the run.
The Snowhawks best inning came in the bottom of the fourth. Gunner Dunbar hit an RBI double to right to bring home a run. The Snowhawks came up big with two outs.
Smith drew an RBI walk with the bases loaded. Moore drove in the tying run on a ball hit back to the pitcher. The pitcher went home with the ball, but the run came home to score to tie it at 6-6.
Todd Niemuth came up with an RBI single to left to give the Snowhawks a 7-6 lead.
After a couple of quick innings, the Old Timers took advantage of an error to give them the lead back. First, Holmquist tied the game with an RBI single to left.
Then, a groundball hit to third off the bat of Bucklew looked like a routine out for Smith. Instead, he threw it low and a run scored. Pulek capitalized on the error with an RBI single to left to make it 9-7 Old Timers.
"That ball was thrown low, was hoping that Todd could pick it up on a one-hopper, but it didn't happen. I put my head down right away. I said to myself 'you know you can't do this with guys on base,'" Smith said of his error. "The ball is so wet, I could see the water spinning off it. Sure enough, I tried to throw it easy. If you're too careful, you don't make the good throw and that's exactly what happened. I thought 'yep this is going to come back and bite us and it kind of did.'"
Smith helped make up for his error with an infield single to third to lead off the seventh. Moore followed him up with a hit to left. Then, Niemuth came up big with a two-run single to right center to tie the game at 9-9.
Up next, the Snowhawks (5-2) take on WPS Monday, August 15 right back at Snowshoe Park in Lake Tomahawk. The game starts at 7:30 p.m.
Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
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