Whetstoners rattle off two wins to return to title game in rec league

Shot at redemption with Rastas

Wow, and I mean WOW! Watch out Rastas, the Whetstoners are coming in hot.
The Whetstoners fought off the Eldo and then blasted KBUT in back-to-back wins Tuesday night to earn a spot in the rec league championship game to face the Rasta Hairnets. The same Rasta Hairnets that beat the Whetstoners in extra innings, in the dark, in the 2011 title game.
The Whetstoners are all about revenge right now. After giving up 10 runs to the Eldo in one inning, they came back with a big inning at the plate and eventually took the lead for good.
They stuck around to then face KBUT in the second game of the evening, just one week after KBUT had sent the Whetstoners to the loser’s bracket.
To say the Whetstoners were fired up would be an understatement. They are notoriously loud and proud, but they ramped it up a notch for their game against KBUT.
The Whetstoners set the tone in the top of the first inning combining base hits with crafty base running.
Michelle Wheels Gerard kicked it off with a double and then snuck home when a pop up by Alex Mattes-Ritz fell for a double in shallow centerfield.
Tessa Frederick did some damage with a two RBI single and Sarah Chesebrough fought through her injury to keep playing and tapped a RBI single for a quick 6-0 lead with runners on.
Fortunately, for KBUT, Kelly Jensen sprinted to his left to pull in a ground ball up the middle and flipped a back hand toss to second base for the third out to stop the bleeding.
Carson Hoff West did his best to stem the Whetstoners tide as he stepped to the plate and cracked a solo inside the park home run (ITPHR) in KBUT’s first at bat of the night.
Liz Ewing added two more runs with a double down the right field line and it appeared we had us a serious game.
But Whetstoner pitcher Rich “the Resistor” Driscoll was once again masterful on the mound keeping the KBUT hitters off-balance for the next three innings.
KBUT managed just two base hits over the course of the next three innings while the Whetstoners poured it on at the plate led by Mattes-Ritz.
In his next two at bats, Mattes-Ritz crushed a pair of two-run home runs to straightaway centerfield with room to spare celebrating his effort by Tebowing between second and third base on his second trip around the bases. Zach Matthias added in a couple RBI base hits and the Whetstoners were sitting on a 12-3 lead after five and a half innings.
KBUT regrouped in the bottom of the fifth inning as Hoff West tripled and scored on a two-run ITPHR by Mark Ewing.
But there was no stopping the Whetstoners as Scott McKenrick slapped a RBI double in the top of the sixth inning and Charlie Parr and Matthias pushed four more runs in with RBI doubles in the top of the seventh inning bringing the Whetstoner bench and fans to an all time high.
Hoff West quieted them down with another lead off solo ITPHR and Ewing threw in a two-run home run to centerfield for good measure but the damage was done as the Whetstoners closed out the 17-8 win.
They will face the Rastas on Thursday, August 16 at 5 p.m. in the rec league championship game and the pressure is on. The Rastas need just one win for the title while the Whetstoners, who are coming out of the loser’s bracket, need to win two in a row over the Rastas that night for the trophy. It’s a tough task but the Whetstoners have proven that they are up to the challenge.