Marines’ bats heat up in fifth inning of championship play against JCSE
Marine Corps Forces Central Command (MARCENT) was crowned champions of the 2009 Intramural Softball season after defeating Joint Communications Support Element (JCSE), 6-5, in a recent championship game.
This win marks a second consecutive title for the defending champions who beat Special Operations Command in last year’s championship game, 23-12.
While MARCENT has remained unbeaten in slow pitch softball this season with a 12-0 record, its wins have not come easy. The Marines have struggled through an unpredictable season, surprising themselves, their opponents and fans with several unbelievable come-from-behind wins.
This hot-and-cold style of play has plagued the Marines all season long, and their performance in the championship game would be no different. They got off to a slow start and failed to score through the first four innings of play. MARCENT found itself in a familiar place – behind in scoring, as JCSE jumped out to an early three-run lead that increased to four by the end of the fourth inning.
Although MARCENT has proven itself a force to be reckoned with in slow pitch softball, the Marines’ coach was concerned about his team’s chance of claiming victory. Remaining scoreless through four of the game’s seven innings was uncharacteristic of the defending champions.
“I didn’t think we would win based off the way we were playing,” said MARCENT coach Richard Alicea, summarizing his team’s performance. “It was a real slow game, and the score was really close. We didn’t execute the way we wanted to, and we made a lot of errors. Once (Willie) Davis hit that three-run homer, that’s when we got loose and realized we could win.”
The JCSE players were well aware of MARCENT’s ability to heat up in a moment’s notice. During the regular season, JCSE lost to MARCENT 15-13 after letting a seven-run lead slip away to the unbeaten MARCENT team.
The championship game seemed to offer a bit of déjà vu for both teams. MARCENT fought to overcome yet another big lead while JCSE fought to hold onto one.
“Offensively, we started off great in the first inning. But, we sat down from there and then we matched our opponent,” said William Harrington, JCSE’s pitcher and assistant coach. “We weren’t scoring; they weren’t scoring. We just couldn’t get any timing hits. We just couldn’t get the runs in that we should’ve scored.”
Although Harrington was pleased with JCSE’s defense, he acknowledged the team was lacking in its offensive output.
“We let them hang around until they got their bats going. We were up on them before, and we let them slip away,” said Harrington, recalling JCSE’s regular season loss to MARCENT. “They have a good team, and their infield is pretty tight. You don’t go 12-0 by accident. They will hurt you. They have some homerun hitters, and they will hit them.”
The momentum shifted in favor of the Marines in the top of the fifth inning, as MARCENT’s offense began clicking. The inning started out with a Hector Serrano walk. Serrano, MARCENT’s leftfielder, then ran to second after a base hit by Alfredo Delharo, MARCENT’s third baseman. Serrano may have stopped at third base when Phil Goodrich singled, but managed to slide home off a JCSE fielding error. This gave MARCENT its first score of the game, cutting JCSE’s lead to 4-1. However, this lead evaporated when MARCENT’s right center, Willie Davis, blasted a three-run shot over the leftfield fence. Davis drove in Delharo and Goodrich to tie the game’s score at 4-4.
“I don’t think (Davis) was trying to hit a homerun, he just wanted to get on base. But, after striking out on the previous at bat, I knew he would come up big for us,” said Alicea who also played shortstop for the MARCENT team. “I knew going into the top of the sixth that if anyone from the top of the order got on base, it could get hairy. And, it did."
MARCENT went yard again in the top of the sixth inning with a two-run homer by Andy Ayos, MARCENT’s pitcher. Ayos drove in Alicea to give MARCENT its first lead of the game, 6-4. JCSE had an opportunity to put more points on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh, but only one JCSE player managed to cross home plate.
As Ayo’s homer sailed away, so too did JCSE’s hopes of beating MARCENT and winning the championship title. The communicators had one last chance to pull out a win, but they came up empty.
“It was a very good game. Two to tie, three to win, and we only came up with one run,” said JCSE coach Bernard McGriff, citing inconsistent batting for his team’s loss. “Their big guy (Davis) came up and blasted the shot that got them right back in it. You can either make it or break it during that part of the game.”
JCSE finished the regular season at 9-3, falling short to MARCENT (15-13), Medical Group (6-5), and SOCOM (8-7), respectively. According to McGriff, JCSE hadn’t lost a game all season by more than a two-point margin.
“During my time here as the coach, we’ve always been in it. But, we seem to struggle in the fourth and fifth innings. My top four batters just started struggling, and it was inconsistent batting that cost us the game,” McGriff said. “Congratulations to the MARCENT team. They had a good season.”
The Marines credited their success to good defense and timely hitting. A well-balanced attack on offense and defense allowed MARCENT to come back and win several games to end the season on a perfect note of 13-0, according to Alicea who was also a major contributor in the Marines’ victory. Alicea noted Davis as the game’s MVP, saying the three-run homer hit by Davis gave MARCENT the spark it needed to get its offense going. However, some of his teammates felt his defensive stops are what essentially sealed the Marines’ victory.
“Defense was the key to this game,” Delharo said. “The unassisted double play in the bottom of the seventh inning by our shortstop Richard Alicea killed a possible rally for JCSE.”