While Storm was the top team in the league, The Crew had had their number during the season winning three out of four games against them. But Storm had gotten the Albatross (or the Falcon?) off their backs in the previous game, eliminating the Falcons, the only other team in the league with a winning record against them during the season, so they were ready to take on The Crew.
Or were they? The Crew jumped out to a big lead in the top of the first scoring five runs. That normally wouldn’t seem insurmountable, but considering Storm had only scored seven runs in their victory over the Falcons, the prospects were not looking good. And they didn’t respond very well. Rene led off with a double and Joey knocked him home. Then… nothing, and Storm trailed 5-1. But the defence picked up and they kept The Crew off the board in the top of the 2nd. Mills started the 2nd with either a home run or a single depending on how you want to score it. He hit a ground ball to third base. The ball was thrown away. It rolled along the fence and Mills went to second and kept going to third. Instead of running his hardest, he actually slowed down to bait the first baseman into throwing to third. The throw was offline and Mills turned and scored. On a ground ball to third. Storm added another to close the gap to 5-3.
The Crew found some of their power again with a two run homer in the 3rd, extending the lead back to four runs, but Storm was not done hitting yet. Rene hit another double and Storm scored three to draw within one.
The next two innings looked like an MLB game where both teams bring in their ace relievers as one run was scored across the four half innings and The Crew extended their lead to 8-6. Storm came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth down two runs. They played some serious small ball using singles, walks and sacrifice flies to score four runs and take their first lead of the game. The Crew was in the middle of their order, past the home run bats but still with players that can hit the ball hard coming up and the second batter hit the ball through Brad’s outstretched glove for a leadoff single. Brad had had a few balls like that get by him, but with his children in the stands he decided that they are still not too old to learn from their daddy. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try try, try again. And he did. A ground ball to second that he fielded cleanly tagging the runner and throwing to first for a game ending double play.
Storm won the championship and the regular season. If only the midfield tournament hadn’t been cancelled, they could have tried for the trifecta. They shouldn’t be too greedy, though, they won. And what should make them happy is that they were trailing in two of the three games, and all of them were close. They also won as a team. There was no clear dominant offensive force. Hits came from everywhere in the lineup, and the steady contribution is what enabled them to go all the way. That and the incredibl;e amount of experience they have on the team.
This year experience won over age., We’ll see if age catches up to them in 2025 or if experience wins out again.
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