Mellieħa Northenders were crowned baseball champions last weekend, winning their 11th title and seventh in the last eight seasons. They swept the final series but first they had to deal with a stubborn Mustangs team who didn’t make things easy for the champions.
Game One of the Championship Series brought back some fond memories as Charles Attard and Keith Bartolo were handed the ball to battle out each other in yet another play-off game.
The two veteran pitchers had faced each other several times before during play-offs between 2002 and 2007. Both won their fair amount of honours thanks to their fastballs and command.
Mustangs’ first baseman, Patrick Pace, put his team ahead in the first innings with a long two-run home run over the left field fence.
The Mustangs scored another run in the second inning, exten-ding the lead to three.
Mellieħa, however, caught up with Attard’s pitching in third, scoring in three runs to tie the ball-game at three apiece.
The Northenders then took advantage of the Mustangs’ relief pitching, being on the mark in three more runs in the top of the seventh, taking a 6-3 lead.
Mellieħa then pulled Bartolo off the mound, relying on their relief pitchers to close the game.
Mustangs managed two runs and put the tying and winning run into scoring position. A wild pitch basically ended the game as catcher Marlon Borg was quick in throwing out the tying run at the plate for a 6-5 victory.
Game Two was played the very next day, with the Mustangs needing to win in order to force a championship decider.
They took full advantage of pitching wildness in the first, scoring five runs to take a 5-0 lead. However, those were the only runs they would chalk up on the day.
Borg came in as a relief pitcher in the top of the second, and com-pletely shut down the offence, dominating for six innings.
Mellieħa slowly ate up the Mustangs’ lead, scoring runs off starter Kevin Spiteri through the course of the game.
In the fourth inning, Bartolo ignited an offensive spark as he drove in three runs with one swing, hitting a home run in left-centre field before another run to tie the game 5-5.
In the bottom of the sixth, Mellieħa managed some timely hits to add two runs and take the lead. With the tying run in scoring position, Borg battled out the Mus-tangs’ offence, to give Mellieħa the championship – 7-5.
Malta Baseball and Softball Association president Mario Debono presented the trophy to Mellieħa Northenders.