Win QLSA Championship Game 6-2
It was perhaps not the prettiest deciding championship game in Queens Lighted Softball Association history, but DEA took advantage of five errors by Lafamilia for a 6-2 victory last Thursday, Aug. 23 at Queensbridge Park.
Only two of DEA’s six runs were earned. In the losers dugout, only one of their two runs were earned, but part of the game’s story had to be how Lafamila sent only nine batters to the plate their last three frames, especially after the Hitters, who led by one got two on an error at short in the sixth giving them insurance runs on what was a third out.
DEA got two in the first as Willie Maisonette led off the game with a single and scored with two out on a Steve Stiller single in the gap, with Stller taking third on the play home. Andy Fournier then singled and DEA led 2-0.
Lafamila answered back with a single marker in their half of the first as Edward Carrassco singled to right with two out and later scored on a Kelvin Nunez single. Lafamilia then tied the score at 2-2 in the second ining, as John Galindo reached on an error and took second on a long sac fly by Greg Schmidt. Galindo was erased on a Carlos Semidey fielder’s choice, then Chris Rowe reached on an error, with Semidey scoring on the overthrow. Jose Rodriguez reached on another error and Lafamila had runners on the corners, but failed to take the lead.
The game stayed tied until the fourth, when DEA took a 3-2 lead on an unearned run. Dawin Brito led off with a single, tagged and went to second on a Stiller fly ball. He then tagged and went to third on a Batista fly out and scored when Fournier’s grounder to short was misplayed, scoring Brito on what should have been the second out.
Team Lafamila was in a great position to do damage in the bottom of the fourth as John Galindo, Greg Schmidt and Chuck Semidey all singled and went station-to-station, loading the bases with none out. However, the next three hitters failed to get the runs in as DEA hurler Jorge Beritan retired the next three in a row without a ball leaving the infield.
In fact, Lafamilia only sent nine batters to the plate after Beritan got out of a bases loaded jam, with only Kelvin Nunez producing a single in the sixth He was erased on a line drive double-play.
In the meantime, DEA added two insurance runs (unearned) in the sixth and the seventh. With two out in the Hitmen’s sixth, once again a two out error at short played a role, as Brito and Fournier scored. In the seventh, Beritian helped his cause with a leadoff single and later scored on a Anthony Cardinale fielder’s choice.
Losing veteran ace Chico Flores took the loss. With back-to-back titles, the DEA Hitmen became the first team in QLSA weeknight history to win the championship twice.
