Santa Barbara Champs The Long Beach Black Sox

Martinez Bros. shine in Sox 2-1 win over the Panteras

From SCIFL reporter, Ron Rupp:

The Long Beach Black Sox beat the always dangerous Panteras 2-1 on Sunday in Santa Barbara to win their second SCIFL Tournament of the year. Much like the last time these two teams met in the Championship game earlier in the year in Palm Springs, this game was a hard fought battle right to the end. In the top of the 4th Trino Ramirez led off the inning with a long triple to left field,then with one out Andy Martinez stole a hit away from Gerald Pyle on a hard hit grounder up the middle. Throwing him out at first base and keeping Ramirez from scoring a sure run, allowing the Sox to escape the inning unscathed. Then in the bottom of the 7th after a Dave Demaio double, Chris Martinez singled home the winning run giving the Sox the Championship and extending their 1st place lead in the SCIFL.

From The Long Beach Black Sox Site

www.eteamz.com/longbeachblacksox/

Ron Rupp pitched back to back games including the championship game leading the Sox to a 2-1 win over The Panteras. Rupp had a complete game allowing a unearned run with 5 K’s and 4 hits. He had only 1 walk and was on his game again. He was also 2-3 at the plate scoring a run. The Sox won their 14th career tourney and their 2nd in the SCIFL this year. The increase their overall 1st place lead in the standings. The game featured 3 brilliant defensive plays. In the Panteras second inning Dan Plesance singled and scored on a error making the score 1-0 Panteras. Spud Barker the Sox nemesis held it there until the 5th. he once again was outstanding holding the Sox in check again. In the Sox 5th Rupp singled as did Angel Martinez and Doug Rooney. Jeremy Rooney with 2 outs singled up the middle scoring Rupp but Eli Salazar made a perfect throw to get Angel Martinez at the plate and keep the game tied at 1-1. With the score tied 1-1 into the 6th Trino Ramirez tripled to deep left with no out. Gerald Pyle stepped up and hit a sharp ground ball in the hole between third and short that looked like a sure game winning hit. Andy Martinez made a spectacular diving play to retire Pyle and hold the runner at third. With 1 out Fred Hanker had Dan Plesance intentionally walked. Rupp than retired the next 2 hitters keeping the score 1-1. In the 7th Chris Martinez made a spectacular play up the middle robbing Jimmy Buentello of a hit and not allowing the go ahead run on base. In the bottom of the 7th Dave Demaio had a hustle double. Gerald Pyle relieved Spud Barker who threw another fantastic game against Long Beach. With o outs and Demaio on second Rupp was unable to advance the runner. Dave Demaio stole third though on a delayed steal putting the winning run on third with 1 out. Angel Martinez than hit a hard ground ball to short for the second out. Chris Martinez stepped to the plate with 2 outs and the winning run on third. He got two strikes on him and hit a ground ball up the middle for a single scoring the winning run and giving the Sox the win. The game was another in a great series of games between the two teams as they have built a nice friendly rivalry. The Sox went 5-0 in winning the tournament. Ron Rupp was 4-0 allowing only 1 unearned run the entire tournament. He had 2 shutouts and 26 strikeouts with only 2 walks. He also batted .428 as a hitter.

Flor de Cana, formerly known as the (Latin Heat) won their second straight championship in the SCIFL 11 - 3 over the Palm Springs express on Sunday in Santa Barbara. Flor de Cana used a powerful 13 hit attack to overwhelm the Palm Springs Express. Martin Borgen had three hits, David Carillo homered,doubled and walked while Celio Smalling added two hits to round out the Flor de Cana attack. Smalling also recorded the win in the 5 inning run rule game. A play by play account of the game will be posted here soon.