Mike Milligan fires a pitch home for A Perfect Game, which won the Men’s Fastpitch Tournament with a 2-1 victory over All Phase Land Clearing.
The Union photo/John Hart
The two teams that led the league all season long weren’t exactly surprise qualifiers for the Western Nevada County Recreation Services Fastpitch Softball championship game.
And after splitting the two regular season meetings, it wasn’t exactly shocking for softball fans to see “A Perfect Game†and “All Phase Land Clearing†locked up in a tight contest to decide the tournament title Friday night at Memorial Park in Grass Valley.
But when a two-out single to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning settled a pitching duel for the league crown, fans left Les Eva Field knowing they’d watched a classic contest to close out the season.
A Perfect Game pushed the game-winner across the plate on a two-out flare to left field by Jeromy Hoskins for a 2-1 championship game victory.
Yuba Taylor drew a walk from All Phase pitcher Will Maddux to open the bottom half of the inning. Pinch runner Martin Savedra moved to second on a wild pitch, but stood still as Maddux forced a fly out and then struck out another batter to bring the .487-hitting Hoskins to the plate.
Mike Milligan, who led the league with a 12-1 record and a 1.49 ERA, picked up the pitching victory for A Perfect Game after allowing one earned run, three walks and seven hits with eight strikeouts over seven innings. On the season, Milligan struck out 90 batters against 19 walks.
His counterpart in the championship, All Phase’s Will Maddux, led the league with 101 strikeouts on the season and finished second to Milligan in season victories with 10. And in the title game, Maddux matched Milligan throughout, allowing one earned run on three hits and six walks, while striking out 12 in 6 2/3 innings.
All Phase was first to break into the scoring column, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Curtis Campbell drew a walk from Milligan to open the game, while Justin Deme followed with a single to put runners at first and second. Milligan then struck out the next two batters, before Ryan Carlson came up with a two-out, high-chopper over Milligan’s head for an RBI single and a 1-0 score.
Deme, who went 2-for-4 in the game, was the only player to have multiple hits on the night. The former Nevada Union High School and Sacramento State standout led the league in nearly every offensive category over the course of the five-month season. Deme finished regular-season play with a .614 batting average to go along with his league-leading 26 RBIs, 22 runs scored and six home runs.
A Perfect Game knotted things up in the bottom half of the fourth, when Justin Nicholson got things started with a leadoff walk. Larry Hensley followed with an infield single to put runners at first and second with one out. Pinch runner Daryl Allen then scored on a fielder’s choice on Mike Fouyer’s ground ball to first base for a 1-1 score.
The championship game was the third meeting between the two teams this season. A Perfect Game won the season opener over All Phase by virtue of the seven-run mercy rule. But by the end of July, when the teams met again, All Phase emerged with a 1-0 victory.