Axemen Walk-Off 2010

Tuesday night saw both of the Axemen’s 2010 All-Stars (Ryan Mehler and JJ Straker) come up with huge RBI singles in the bottom of the 7^th inning to propel the Axemen over the visiting Sherwood Park Athletics by a 4-3 score.

With one out, leadoff hitter, CF Cal Zimmer, was walked for the 4^th time in the game after a 6 pitch, 3-2 battle with Athletics RHP Callen Kenyon. After a wild pitch moved Zimmer to second base, SS JJ Straker was able to send a 3-2 fastball into left centre to score a hobbling Zimmer from second putting the Axemen even with the Athletics at 3-3. Athletics CF John Van Sickle-Kope made a poor and costly mistake, over throwing 1B Scott Stevenson’s cut, allowing Straker to stroll into scoring position on the throw. Costly because after seeing a first pitch ball, P Ryan Mehler connected with a high 1-0 fastball and deposited it into left centre allowing Straker to easily score giving the Axemen a walk off single victory.

The win marked the first victory for the Axemen over the Sherwood Park Athletics. Previously the Athletics beat the Axemen 12-8 in a thrilling come from behind victory by the Athletics in Sherwood Park.

RHP Ryan Mehler picked up his 4^th victory of the season (4-2) while RHP Joel Graumann and RHP Paul Schole gave the Axemen 5.00 solid innings of work surrendering only 4 hits and 1 earned run between them.

CF Cal Zimmer was 0 for 0 in 4 plate appearances as Athletics pitchers awarded Zimmer with 4 walks on the night. Zimmer was able to make them pay by scoring twice, including the tying run in the 7^th.

Play began to get chippy when in the bottom of the 4^th inning, Athletics 2B Brett McElroy let a low arcing fly ball drop with Axemen runners tagging up on first and second to easily turn a 4-3 double play as 2B Bryan Toles was out on the force out at second base while C Kris Johnson was an out on the force play at first.  Infield fly was not called as the umpiring crew explained that the ball was not high enough, however words were already being spoken between the two teams.

Tempers were still high when in the top of the 5^th inning, Athletics SS Padon Brenholen, who reached second via a two out walk and a stolen base, and Axemen SS JJ Straker both received warnings from the umpiring crew for what one fan called “aggressive positioning during the leadoff by both players”.

Axemen pitchers had excellent control all night, walking only 3 batters (Schole – 2, Mehler – 1) and only hitting 2 Athletics batters (2B Brett McElroy in the 6^th inning and SS Padon Brenholen in the 7^th inning). Both hit by RHP Ryan Mehler, who was hit in the 5^th inning by Athletics RHP Cory Curtis.

The victory put the Axemen at 11-11-1 overall and 7-10-1 in NCABL play, finishing in 6^th spot in the NCABL standings.

With two very clear cut tiers of teams in the NCABL, and with only 4 teams making the NCABL Playoffs, the Axemen will have to look into the off season for some acquisitions and strong preparation for a run at the 2011 playoffs.

The Axemen were able to sweep the Edmonton Athletics (6-2, 10-4) in NCABL play, however being swept by the Westlock Red Lions (5-2, 5-4) and the Edmonton Blackhawks (6-1, 3-0) put large dents in the 2010 playoff chances. While small victories such as splits with the Legal Indians, Mayerthorpe Mets and a 0-1-1 record versus the Parkland White Sox helped in the standings, splitting against teams that ended up lower in the standings such as the Paladins, Sherwood Park Athletics and the Warriors, proved to outweigh the splits against playoff teams.

The NCABL Semi-Final weekend will take place on August 21-22 at Keller Field in Westlock, where the Legal Indians (14-4-0) will take on the Edmonton Blackhawks (12-6-0) and the Parkland White Sox (13-4-1) will square off against the Mayerthorpe Mets (13-5-0). Both series are a best of three with the winners squaring off on August 28-29^th.

All four semi-finalists in 2010 were in Westlock in 2009 for the semi-finals, with the Legal Indians sweeping the Parkland White Sox 2-0 (6-2, 2-1) and the Mayerthorpe Mets defeating the Edmonton Blackhawks 2-1 (6-5, 1-7, 6-5) in a series that saw 7 extra innings played.

The Indians then went on to sweep the Mayerthorpe Mets in the final with scores of 1-0 in Game #1 and 3-2 in Game #2.