Dinger, who gave up three runs on only three hits, delivers to Gaurav of Pumice!
Dinger gave up only three hits on the mound, and hit the first walk-off home run in league history, as the Fish Sticks topped Pumice on Slow! 5-3 in 7 innings.
Dinger retired John and Gaurav in order in the top of the first, and was the first batter for the Sticks in the bottom of the first. Pumice on Slow! sent Gaurav to the mound for his second start of the day. He retired Dinger to start the game, and after giving up a single to Joey, Gaurav retired Blose to end the first.
Pumice! obtained Jeff Treadway as a fourth player for their second week 7 game, as usual starters Brad and Holly were on their honey moon. Dinger retired Luke and Treadway in order in the top of the second. Gaurav matched Dinger in the bottom half of the inning, getting Vassallo and Dinger to fly out.
John and Gaurav were both retired by groundouts in the top of the third, and with Gaurav having reached the 8 inning pitching limit for the day, John took the mound for Pumice! Joey led off the bottom of the third with a single. He advanced to third on a groundout by Blose, but he was stranded in scoring position when Vassallo flew out to left to end the third inning.
Dinger retired Luke and Treadway in order in the top of the fourth, and had a perfect game in tact through four innings. John gave up a single to Dinger to lead off the bottom of the fourth, but retired Joey and Blose with a groundout and flyout to the mound to end the inning.
With the game still tied at zero, John broke up the perfect game when he led off the top of the fifth with a solo bomb to left field, making the score 1-0. Pumice! didn’t wait long to add to their lead, as Gaurav followed with a solo shot to right field, making back-to-back homers and pushing the lead to two runs. Dinger retired Luke, who grounded out to left field, for the first out of the inning, but Treadway extended the Pumice! lead to three runs when he hit the third home run of the inning, a solo homer to center. Dinger retired John to end the top of the fifth, having given up three runs in the frame.
Down three, Vassallo grounded out to start the bottom of the fifth. Dinger singled, and the next batter, Joey, cut the score to 3-2 when he hit a towering two-run home run to left field. Blose flew out to end the fifth, and the Sticks deficit was cut to a single run.
Dinger retired Gaurav and Luke in order in the top of the sixth, as both grounded out to left field. Needing a run to extend the game, Vassallo led off the bottom of the sixth with a clutch solo homer, his second of the day, tying the game at 3. One run away from victory, the Sticks couldn’t end the game, as John settled down on the mound and retired Dinger and Joey in order to send the game to extra innings.
In the top of the seventh, Dinger retired Treadway and John in order. John retired the first batter in the bottom of the seventh, Blose, by getting him to fly out to right field. Vassallo followed with a one-out double, putting the winning run on second base. After taking several pitches, Dinger clubbed a two-run homer to left field, scoring Vassallo and himself, the first walk-off home run in league history. The blast gave the Fish Sticks a 5-3 win, and moved them a game ahead of the Dentists for second place in the league standings.
Game Notes:
– Dinger came the closest anyone in the league has come so far to a perfect game, retiring the first eight batters of the game for 4 perfect innings
– Dinger also hit the first walk-off home run in league history
– Pumice on Slow! had no base runners the entire game, scoring three runs on three solo home runs
– Blose went hitless for the first time in 14 games this season
– Joey now holds the league’s longest hitting streak, at 14 games
– Morrison and Ron are tied with the league’s second longest hitting streak, at 12 games
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