2022 Monarchs Take the Long Road to 50+ PSSBL Everest Title

Everest Monarchs 16, Naranjeros 12

Submitted by Carl Detert

The 50+ Puget Sound Senior Baseball League Everest Monarchs bounced back from a deflating loss in the first Championship game to vanquish the defending champion Seattle Blues, now called the Naranjeros, in a winner take all second game by the final of 16-12. 

The Monarchs cruised through the regular season to a first-place finish with a record of 17-3-2 and won their first two playoff games (including one against the Naranjeros) by an aggregate score of 25-6 but ran into trouble in the first Championship game losing to the Naranjeros by a final of 12-8. 

With only 30 minutes to regroup, the Monarchs turned to veteran Eric Sallee to start game #2 and he responded magnificently by throwing seven shutout innings while the Monarch bats ran out to a 14-0 lead.  Eric ran out of steam in the eighth and turned the ball over to Pat Fetty, who gave up a few bloops and ‘sun doubles’ to push the score to 14-6. 

The Monarchs added two insurance runs in their half of the ninth to push the lead to 16-6 but again the ‘Orange’ battled and dropped in some bloops and a few ‘lasers’ to drive the score to 16-12 and bringing the tying run to the on-deck circle.

Manager Blaze Bresko brought in Carl Detert to close out the victory with a strikeout of their Manager, Jeff Naranjo, cementing the win and preventing a repeat.  The Monarchs and Naranjeros battled all season long with the Monarchs coming out on top with a 4-3-1 head-to-head record.