Zimmy’s zips past ‘Hawks in ninth

One inning separated Zimmy’s All-Stars from the Snowhawks in a high-scoring affair. Zimmy’s All-Stars defeated the Snowhawks 22-16 on last Monday night in Lake Tomahawk.

“It’s what snowshoe is all about you know? You keep the game close, and you change scores a bunch of times,” player-coach Jeff Smith said. “It’s kind of like a classic (on Monday). You want it to be close in the eighth or ninth inning, and that’s what it was and either team had a chance to win. They went nuts in the ninth inning, and there was not much we could do about it. We had fun. It was tough. I mean, we laid it all out. We had some unfortunate errors on our side, but what are you gonna do? It’s one of those games, and my hat’s off to them for the way they hit the ball and forced the errors.”

Ninth inning

    Tanner Lopez of Zimmy’s All-Stars races home for the go-ahead and game-winning run in the ninth inning against the Snowhawks Monday, July 14 at Snowshoe Park in Lake Tomahawk. Zimmy’s All-Stars scored six runs in the ninth inning to defeat the Snowhawks. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

Tied at 16-16, Zimmy’s All-Stars put together an inning that would give them the win. In the ninth inning, teams can score as many runs as they can. There is no cap.

First, Tanner Lopez started with a single to center. Brett Nastala scored the go-ahead and game-winning run with an RBI double. Tommy Ziemba kept the train moving with a single as the No. 1 hitter in the lineup.

“(Tommy’s) a competitor,” Smith said. “He used to play with us too. He was on our team for a while, and yeah, he’s a heck of a competitor, and he’s the one who fired that team up, got them going in the ninth.”

Ryan Schowalter, who just played last week for the local police/fire departments, reached on an error to load the bases. Zimmy’s led 17-16 with no outs.

“That was a heck of a ninth inning and because of the no five-run cap, I mean, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, but we were in trouble,” Smith said. “With guys on base and nobody out, I thought, ‘This is not good,’ but yeah, they hit the ball. They hit shots where we weren’t, and it’s just a great performance on their part.”

Jeff Ziemba hit an RBI single to center. Then it was Brady Bruhl picking up a hit and RBI.

Two batters later, Justin Meyer produced a two-run double down the left field line. Things were unraveling for the Snowhawks.

Zimmy’s scored six runs and took a 22-16 lead going to the bottom of the ninth.

The Snowhawks (2-2) had one more chance to answer. They went quietly with a one-two-three inning.

Hot start

Zimmy’s All-Stars raced out to a 7-0 lead after two innings. Bruhl, Dom Caroselli and Dustin Schowalter all had RBI hits in the first. Zach Furtak also drove in a run.

More runs came home to score in the second inning for Zimmy’s. Jeff Ziemba delivered an RBI double. Then, the All-Stars took advantage of a drop by Snowhawk pitcher Nick Merckx. Another run came home to score. Caroselli registered an RBI single to center.

“We have to play with who we have and hope for the best, and I think we laid it all out there,” Smith said. “It wasn’t for the lack of trying. We did all we could do to come back, and you just try to hold them guys down to two or three runs here and there.”

Zimmy’s All-Stars led 7-0 after one and a half innings.

The Snowhawks scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Zimmy’s came right back with four runs in the top of the third inning.

Jon Otteson hit an RBI single to left. After a double play, Tommy Ziemba picked his team up with a two-run double to left-center field. Ryan Schowalter delivered an RBI single as well.

Zimmy’s All-Stars led 11-3.

Snowhawk comeback

The Snowhawks started coming back in the bottom of the third inning.

Cole Punches produced an RBI single to left. Paul Miller also drove in a run. Todd Christianson, called upon to play for a banged-up Snowhawks team, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly RBI.

“We were missing a few, and we had jostle the positions around a little bit,” Smith said. “Todd’s not used to being on snowshoes really, and we were gonna be short players because of injuries and vacation.”

Merckx drove in a run following a Gunner Dunbar double.

In the fourth inning, the Snowhawks took the lead. Don Moore reached second with a hit. A run scored on an error.

Punches was fortunate to reach base following a drop. Jesse Robinson put the Snowhawks within a run with an RBI double. Miller got the job done for the home team. His two-run single gave the Snowhawks a 12-11 lead, their first of the game.

“We put a few zeros on the board for them, which helped us come back, but it just wasn’t enough,” Smith said. “They had one heck of a ninth inning.”

Back came Zimmy’s as both teams traded runs. Tommy Ziemba tied the game with an RBI double to deep left. Ryan Schowalter came up with a two-run single to center. Zimmy’s led 14-12.

Zimmy’s All-Stars added to their lead in the top of the sixth. Meyer singled and drove in a run to put Zimmy’s up 15-12.

The game would be tied after six innings. Moore reached on a drop in play with one run scoring. Another hit by Punches scored a run. Christianson brought home the tying run at 15-15.

Dunbar grounded out to strand two runners on base.

Tight game

There were a combined 30 runs scored in the first six innings. In innings seven and eight, a combined two runs came across the plate as the game got tight.

Zimmy’s All-Stars didn’t score a run in the seventh inning. The Snowhawks had a chance to race ahead in the bottom half of the inning. They also went scoreless.

“The shots just don’t go your way,” Smith said. “The seventh and eighth I think where we kind of failed a little. We had a chance to put some runs on the board and take a little bit of a lead, but it remained tied, and that kind of hurt. It’s anybody’s game when it gets in the ninth.”

Three straight singles by Caroselli, Meyer and Dustin Schowalter loaded the bases in the eighth inning. Furtak drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single.

There was an opportunity to score more runs. However, Otteson grounded into a double play.

The Snowhawks came to the plate. Smith started the inning with a heads-up play. He turned a single into a hustle double by diving into second base.

“It looked like it was gonna be a close play,” Smith said. “They gave me like a double hitch. It was like a delayed throw or something so I took off. As soon as someone does that I just go. When Tommy got the ball, (I said to myself), ‘He usually makes a pretty darn good throw. I better get here fast,’ and when you’re running and doing that stuff you forget how old you are. I mean, you’re just playing. The competitive (spirit) — it’s just in you, and yeah, once I was done with that dive I thought, ‘What the heck did I just do?’ You know what, you’ll remember these days the rest of your life when you’re done playing so might as well go out with a bang.”

Tommy Ziemba showed off his defensive skills by making a catch on a pop-up while falling backwards. He made the first out and kept Smith at second base.

“He puts himself in a position sometimes to get really, really hurt or banged up and somehow he comes out of it, but he’s a heck of a shortstop,” Smith said. “You can’t take nothing away. That kid can play, and he’s all for it. I mean, you can tell. He lives for this, and he’s not too far away from that on Thursday nights too.”

Robinson tied the game at 16-16 with an RBI double to left-center field. Miller grounded out, stranding the go-ahead run at second base.

Up next

The Snowhawks played a combined team from The Lakeland Times and Northwoods River News Monday in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. A full report will be published in Friday’s River News. The Snowhawks will take on Black Bear Bar July 28 at Snowshoe Park.

Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].