T.I.S. takes Monroe Senior League B Crown

Monroe - T.I.S won the B Division championship with an 11-5 win over Fatboys in the best-of-three series. Kevin McGee led the way for T.I.S., playing great defense and adding two hits while batting .700 for the playoffs and .715 for the year. There was no shortage of stellar offensive and defensive performances. Lloyd Kurth, Mike Mullahy and John Thuman added two hits each and played great defense all year long. Neil Riordan added a big hit, ending the year batting .666 with 10 home runs and excelling at first base. Humberto Grueiro played a great short stop all year and added big clutch hits. Pat Ryan, playing on a bad leg all season, had a two-out RBI hit and hit .580 for the year. Kevin Mare, straight from Ireland, had a clutch hit and his smart base running added a big run. Greg Helbeck added a big base hit and Dave Drucker, in his first year, showed speed and a great arm in the outfield. He also batted .600 in the playoffs. Steve Berry pitched another strong game for the win and the championship in his first year on the hill. T.I.S. were gracious in acknowledging the class and effort displayed by the Fatboys during the great series. The Fat Boys took the first game of the B Division finals with a thrilling 7-6 victory over T.I.S. Bob Klopchin pitched the win, holding the powerful T.I.S. squad to two earned runs, both coming on back-to-back home runs by T.I.S. leadoff man Dave Drucker and second baseman Kevin McGee. Both took Klopchin fastballs deep over the center field fence for a 2-0 lead before an out was made. But Klopchin settled down, using his breaking ball and off-speed pitches to set up the heater, thus keeping the T.I.S. lineup off stride. With Klopchin and his solid, sometimes spectacular, infield defense keeping the Fat Boys in the game, the Fat Boy offense peck away at T.I.S. and pitcher Steve Berry. Berry escaped a number of jams, leaving the Fat Boys stranded with bases loaded three times in the six innings they batted. The Fat Boys did break through for four runs in the third inning, propelled by RBI hits from Ron Schnell, Jeff Swedelson and Sean Donnellan. This gave the Fat Boys the lead they were never to relinquish, despite some uncharacteristically shaky play from their outfield that let T.I.S. put the tying run on second with two outs in the seventh. Klopchin, however, induced a weak grounder to second, thus ensuring a game one victory for the Fat Boys. For the winners, Schnell finished the night a perfect 3-3, driving in two. Swedelson, Bob Casilli, and Tom Partridge also contributed two hits apiece. T.I.S tied the best-of-three series against Fatboys with a 10-5 win. It was a team effort with big hits from Humburto Gueirro, Kevin McGee, Neil Riordan, Lloyd Kurth, Dale Miller, Pat Ryan, Mike Mullahy, Billy “Black Shoes” Spina, Greg Helbeck, John Thuman and Steve Berry. T.I.S. turned four double plays led by McGee, Gueirro and Riordan. Berry pitched and fielded a great game after coming in down 3-0 in the top of the first. Information for this dispatch, as it had all season, was compiled by Greg O’Connor based on reports from team coaches and managers.