QML Championship Series: Hobrau Wins 13-8, One Win From Title

WEST QUINCY - Team Hoffy took another giant step toward a 4th consecutive QML title last night with a 13-8 win over Malachy's.

Big Green was brimming with optimism before the game. Rumblings about winning four straight and taking Hoffy down in six games peppered the pregame warmups.

Hofbrau quickly silenced such banter as the first six batters reached and scored in the first inning. True to the team's veteran form, the Hoffy batters were patient, taking advantage of control problems by Malachy's starting pitcher, who walked four in the first and eight throughout the game.

Hoffy put up three more runs in the second on key hits from Jim Dennis and Steve Yocco to take a 9-1 lead. The game almost took a disastrous turn in the third inning when fireballing Hoffy pitcher Steve Lannan got hit in the shin with a scorching line drive by Malachy's Billy MacDougal. Lannan stayed in and completed the game to add yet another in a long list of post season victories.

Malachy's rallied back in the middle innings, posting 5 runs in the fourth inning and 2 more in the fifth to pull within one run at 9-8. Web Gem specialist Nellie Feliciano helped stop the bleeding with an incredible all-out diving catch in the fifth.

The game was eerily looking like a repeat of game 3 with Hoffy slumping and Malachy's surging. But the three time defending champs put the game away for good in the sixth inning. Glen Bosse walked after Scott Logan's single to put runners on first and second. First baseman Jim Dennis, not shaken by the David Ortiz-style shift put on by the infield, fired a single to center to score Logan. With two on and two out, Yocco delivered the crucial blow for Hoffy with a 2-run double to make it 12-8. Logan drove in the final run for Hoffy in the seventh with two on. Catcher Greg Harper scored easily on the play.

In the bottom of the seventh, Hoffy's defense squashed any hope of a Malachy's comeback. Shortstop Bill Wysocki took the wind out of Malachy's sails snatching up a grounder and starting a 6-3 double play. Two batters later, Hoffy recorded the final out to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

"This was a total team win tonight," Logan said. "Everyone pitched in." The numbers bear that sentiment out as every Hoffy batter reached base at least once.