Still very much still in the thick of things are the Hill United Chiefs from Six Nations, Ontario. The Chiefs, with Islanders Mitch Hardy and Jeff Ellsworth on their roster, advanced their record to 4-0 with a big 6-4 win over another Ontario team, Jarvis Hallman Twins in Thursday’s nightcap.
The Chiefs scored four runs on two second-inning hits and moved to 6-0 with two runs on a pair of fifth inning hits.
Ellsworth registered one hit and a walk in three at-bats.
Adam Folkard pitched four scoreless, hitless innings for the Chiefs, striking out seven batters along the way.
Hardy took over in the top of the fifth and held the Twins off the scoreboard for one inning, but the floodgates opened in the sixth as Hardy gave up three runs on two hits. His pitching summary showed two hits, two strikeouts and two walks in one and two-thirds innings. Grant Patterson gave up the Twins final run in the sixth on a wild pitch but shut them down in the seventh.
The Chiefs will face the New York Gremlins in the tournament’s final winners’ bracket game tonight at 10 p.m. (Atlantic time). The Gremlins, the only other remaining undefeated team in the 48-team, double knock-out tournament, downed PA Power from Pennsylvania 3-1 Thursday night.
Tonight’s winners’ bracket final is a rematch of the American Softball Association’s championship final from two weeks ago which the Chiefs won after Ellsworth hit a two-out double in the bottom of the seventh and scored the winning run on a Steve Mullaley hit. Hardy was the closer for the Chiefs in that championship game.
The winner of tonight’s Chiefs-Gremlins game advances right to the championship final of the ISC tournament Saturday at 9 p.m.
The loser plays in Saturday’s 4 p.m. semi-final with the hope of moving on to the final.