The Northern California Mavericks won a wild one in the semi-finals, 5-4 with outfielder Jeff Reich making a game saving catch at the fence in the bottom of the 7th:
Nor Cal defeated New Image 5-4. Trailing by two outs in the top of the seventh, with runners on first and third, New Image batter Harvey Knutson hit a fly ball to centerfield. Nor Cal centerfielder Jeff Reich jumped to make a catch that carried him over the fence and would have been a walk-off homer for Knutson in the Fourth Place Game.
Fastball fans may recall that Jeff Reich made an identical play in the 2003 NAFA Class “AAA” World Series in a crucial game against a very strong RWP team from Minnesota. Lyons and RWP were tied when Reich made a leaping catch at and over the fence to prevent a walk off win for RWP. Lyons won the game in the 12th inning on a home run by Todd Garcia, and went on to win the NAFA “AAA” World Series that year. RWP had Team USA shortstop Chad Boom and pitcher Rick Lang that year, and many thought it was the best game of the “AAA” World Series.
Here is the excerpt from a story that appeared in Fastpitchwest’s recap of that 2003 catch by Reich:
The game remained tied until the bottom of the seventh inning when it appeared might be over on a walk-off home run with two outs by designated batter Brian Elliott. Lyons centerfielder Jeff Reich raced back – to the same spot that he watched the earlier home run by Scott McCleod leave the yard. Reaching the fence and out of room to run, Reich timed his leap at just the right moment, reaching as high as he could to snare the ball in his outstretched glove hand, doing a back flip, head over heels and landing on the other side of the portable fencing to snatch the win away from RWP
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Deja vu, eh?
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