By Paul Gotham
MUMFORD, NY – Live Oak switched hurlers after two innings. The change came a little too late.
By the time Marty “Crooked Arm” Brancato took over as hurler, Victory Baseball had seven aces and held on for a 12-7 victory to advance to the finals of the 2014 Mayor’s Cup.
Nate “Stitches” Shapiro and Nick “Leprechaun” Dobbertin made their second in back-to-back at bats to tally two aces apiece in a five-run second inning as Victory grabbed a lead they never surrendered.
Troy “Slack Jaw” Seamen and Mike “Shamrock” Dobbertin were aboard when Scott “Handyman” Man loaded the sacks before “Stictches” Shapiro’s sent a stinger to left field. “Leprechaun” Dobbertin followed with his own to right center, and Victory took advantage of two muffs to push across a fifth ace for a 7-0 lead in the second.
“Stitches” and “Leprechaun” both made their first with one hand down and eventually tallied to give Victory a 2-0 edge in the first.
Victory whitewashed their opponents for two innings before Live Oak tallied single aces in the third and fourth innings and put a crooked number on the Silver Base Ball Field scoreboard in the fifth. A series of Victory of duffs tallied the first ace in the fifth.
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With runners on second and third, Tony “Tiger” Brancato tallied two aces on a stinger to left field. Another duff led to a tally before Jason “Moose” Aldred beat the defensive shift as he made his first with an opposite-field hit to left. Scott “Moonshine” Wilson made his first on a duff before Sean “Two Bits” Thomas tallied an ace as he made his first with a blooper.
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Live Oak could have tallied more if not for “Leprechaun” Dobbertin showing a little ginger. The Victory centerfielder drew the applause from a grandstand full of cranks with a daguerreotype moment when he chased a “Tool Time” Brancato hit into right center, spun and hurled the onion to the basetender at second for the side out, and Victory held on to an 8-6 advantage.
Victory tallied four aces in the seventh to seal the victory. Dan “Saggy Bottoms” Ball started the inning with a stinger to right center. Jim “Jockey” Sears made his first on a muff. Bill “Wild” Donofrio brought home the first ace of the inning with a stinger to left. “Handyman” Hand made it a 12-7 match on a banjo hit to left.
Victory meets Flower City next Sunday in the Mayor’s Cup final.
Flower City took advantage of a late-inning controversy to defeat Rochester in the other match.
With one out in the ninth, Brian “Meat Cleaver” Gotham went to the ground to field a ball at shortstop before making a throw to Jim “Piano Man” Levandowski, the basetender at third. Levandowski appeared to catch the ball but had to stretch and fell to the ground on the play. “All Day” Pagan was ruled safe and scored the first of two runs in the inning as Flower City overcame a six-run deficit for a 13-12 victory.
“Gazelle” Walsh, “Shorty” DeVito, “Pops” Northrup and “Stubby” Devito all tallied in the second for Rochester. “Pops” Northrup, “Moonlight” Gotham and “Big City” Gotham tallied in the fourth for a 9-3 Rochester lead.
Flower City took advantage of Rochester fielding muffs to rally. Jeff “Pay The” Piper, Scott, “Scribe” Pitoniak, “Doc” Brecker, Constable” Peters and “Dangerous” Dapper all tallied in the fifth as Flower City tied the match.
“Stubby” DeVito tallied in the sixth and showed a little ginger with a fine catch in centerfield to leave the side out and bases loaded in the seventh.
“Meat Cleaver” Gotham and “Gazelle” Walsh tallied in the ninth to give Rochester a one-ace edge.
Flower City defeated Rochester to claim the 2013 Mayor’s Cup.
Sunday’s final is slated for 1 p.m. at the Silver Base Ball Park.
The Mayor’s Cup Consolation Match takes place Saturday, October fourth. It is also a 1 p.m. start.
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