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Patsy’s hooks Rivershark Twins — this time
By Tim Shoemaker | Special to The Morning Call
July 21, 2008They’re sure to meet again, but NYC team wins Madl/Walsh title.
On Saturday in the round-robin portion of the ninth annual Tom Madl/Bob Walsh men’s fastpitch softball Memorial Classic, Don Scott of the Kitchener (Ontario) Rivershark Twins pitched a perfect game against Patsy’s of New York City.
On Sunday afternoon in the Madl/Walsh Classic championship at Patriots Park, Scott was not quite as fortunate.
Scott came on in relief in the seventh inning and allowed a double to Omar Moraga and a single to Frank DeGroat — back-to-back hits which produced the game-winning run in Patsy’s 3-2 victory.
Patsy’s, ranked No. 2 in the world, and the Rivershark Twins, No. 4, play each other on a regular basis over the course of the season and take turns beating each other. They will probably meet in two more tournaments this year, including the ASA Men’s Major Fastpitch tournament July 31-Aug. 3 and the the ISC World Tournament Aug. 10-16.
”He’s [Scott] a very, very good pitcher,” Patsy’s manager Roger Schnorrbusch said. ”We have a bunch of guys who bear down. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. Today, we won.”
”[Saturday], we got them. Today, they got us,” said Riversharks sponsor/general manager Bob Nydick, a Villanova business professor who lives in Ambler. ”We’ve battled them for years. We probably have beaten them as much as they beat us.”
Patsy’s lost three times in the tournament’s round-robin portion, but got hot on Sunday and won twice to reach the championship game.
Todd Martin of the Rivershark Twins and Gerald Muizelaar of Patsy’s each threw three scoreless innings, but Patsy’s scored first in the top of the fourth when Brad Rona walked, went to second on a wild pitch, to third on a sacrifice fly, and scored when Martin threw high to home on a short grounder in front of the pitcher’s circle.
With two outs and none on base in the bottom of the fourth, the Twins strung together five consecutive hits off of Muizelaar. Steve Mullaley singled in Ian Fehrman and Dan Loney singled in Mullaley, but the rally ended when Patsy’s left fielder Daniel Milne threw out Blair Ezekiel, who tried to score on Blake Miller’s single.
Schnorrbusch replaced Muizelaar with Adam Folkard, who pitched three scoreless innings to record the victory.
Patsy’s tied the game in the fifth when Thomas Makea doubled in Jeff Holk, who reached on a fielder’s choice. They scored the game-winner in the seventh when DeGroat singled in Moraga.
”It shows a lot of character that the guys can put away losses on late Friday night and Saturday night, and come back Sunday in 95-degree weather,” Schnorrbusch said. ”That’s what it takes to win.”
Patsy’s 000 110 1 — 3 6 1
Rivershark Twins 000 200 0 — 2 6 2Muizelaar, Folkard (5) and DeGroat. Martin, Scott (7) and Shannon. W: Folkard. L: Scott.
Tim Shoemaker is a freelance writer.