Playing under threatening skies all afternoon, the Pirates and Expos battled it out for the 28+ Championship.   I say battled with no exaggeration, and I say all afternoon also without exaggeration.  In a game that lasted 13 innings, the Pirates finally pushed across the lead run and then held off the Expos to become champions.

The pitching match up was reminiscent of the  “Thrilla in Manila” when, it has been said,    Ali and Frazier grew old together.  Like heavyweights, the Expos’ Paul Siegrist and the Pirates Dustin Brown slugged it out for 12 of the 13 innings.  As the game wore on, you could see each pitcher tiring, and you could see just as clearly the look of determination that they shared.

Both arms became worn out, but when it was absolutely necessary they reached down for something extra, the veteran Siegrist coming through with guile, and the younger Brown powering through when he had to.  Both playing like champions.

The Expos opened the scoring in the bottom of the second when skipper Kyle Corbin looped a double to left, advanced to 3^rd on an infield out, and then scored on a single by Brad Streeval. 

The Pirates would do most of their damage in the third inning.  Mark Ayler led off with a single, Brown struck out, and then when Tim Ayler hit a come backer it appeared that the Expos would get an inning ending double play.  But the throw pulled SS Barry Neuman off the bag, and instead the Pirates had runners at first and third with one out.  Jamie Nunnally then reached on an infield single to load the bases with the meat of the Pirate order coming up.  Lee Miller worked a full count before drawing a bases loaded walk to start the scoring.  Pirate’s slugger Bill Harris then smashed a single to score two more runs, sending Miller to 3^rd, who later scored on a wild pitch.  It looked like the Pirates would put it away early, but then Siegrist dug down and got Don Pollard and Brett Denneman on backwards K’s to end the inning. 

Siegrist then proceeded to retire 17 batters in a row to keep his team in it.

From there the Expos chipped away at the lead.  Scoring in the 5^th when Siegrist reached on an error and then scored on a double by Neuman, before Brown settled in and struck out the side.  They struck again in the 8^th when Streeval came through again.  This time with a double to left that brought in courtesy runner Neuman who scored on an infield out by Nick Iverson.

The Expos looked like they would win it in the bottom of the 9^th.  With one out, Jared Courtney pinch hit for Rich Hardesty, and on a 1-2 pitch got hit by an inside curve ball.  Catcher Brennan Burns then drew a walk that brought in probably the fastest man in the 28+ as a courtesy runner, Brady Beyers.  When Kurt Corbin ripped a double to right center it looked like it was over, but then the Pirate defense took over.  Bryan Englebrecht chased down the ball at the fence and fired a strike to Nunnally who then turned and fired a strike of his own, coming in on one hop that bounced true and was handled by veteran catcher Miller, who put the tag on Beyers to preserve the tie.  The Pirates weren’t out of the woods yet.  Kurt Corbin then followed with a single to send his brother to 3^rd and it looked like they were going to get it done, but Brown induced a shallow fly to right for the 3^rd out to send things into extras.

The Pirates threatened in the 11^th and 12^th, loading the bases in both innings, but once again Siegrist found something extra and came up with big pitches to get out of the jams with no runs.

Brown also found a second wind, retiring 9 out of 10 batters in the 10^th, 11^th and 12^th, actually looking stronger than he had in the first inning.

In the 13^th, Nunnally lead off with a sharp single, which sent Siegrist from the game.  He was replaced with Pete Martin who had just thrown a complete game on Friday night to send the Expos to the finals.  Miller then reached on a dribbler that Neuman wasn’t able to handle and Bill Harris came to the plate in another key situation.  With a 0-2 count he reached out and took a nasty outside pitch the other way, just getting past the first baseman and hugging the right field line to bring in Nunnally with the lead run.

Then came the bottom of the 13^th.  With runners at 1^st and 3^rd and one out, courtesy of Brad Streevals’ third hit of the game, and a walk to Iverson, the runner on first tried to draw a throw so the runner on third could score.  The play backfired when Tim Ayler played it perfectly, cutting off the catchers’ throw, holding the runner at 3^rd and chasing Iverson back before firing the ball to first for the second out.  Dustin Brown, no doubt feeling how close it was, finished up with his 18^th strikeout of the game to give the Pirates their first 28+ Championship in team history.

Pirates skipper Don Pollard “This was the way a championship game was supposed to be played... I want to congratulate the Expos on an incredible season and the entire MSBL for making this another memorable year for all of us who get a chance to continue playing baseball.”

Sports clichés are overused... otherwise they wouldn’t be clichés.  Sometimes, a cliché is just what fits best, and in this instance you’d have to use the one that says it was such a great game that “it’s a shame someone had to lose”.  Everyone involved can be proud of the effort they put forth.  Both teams left it all on the field.