2025 Monarchs Go ‘Back-to-Back’ in 50+ Everest Division of Puget Sound Senior Baseball League
Puget Sound Senior Baseball League, 50+ Everest Division
K.C. Monarchs 5, Pilots 4
Submitted by Blaze Bresko, manager
The 2025 Everest Division came down to a battle between the #1-seeded K.C. Monarchs, seeking to defend their 2024 title, and the #3-seeded Seattle Pilots. In the bracket leading to the finals, the Monarchs handily defeated the Pilots by a final of 8-2, but in the first game of the double-elimination bracket, the Pilots returned the favor by walloping the Monarchs by a final score of 16-7.
The game was relatively close early on with the Monarchs taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning and the Pilots putting up a 3-spot in their second, but the game really broke open in the fifth. With a walk to the #10 hitter, Dale Pierson, Monarch starter Carl Detert put himself into a bind, which he then compounded with back-to-back throwing errors.
When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, the Pilots had sent 16 men to the plate and scored 12 runs, effectively ending game one and forcing a winner-take-all game two. The Monarchs sent game one starter Carl Detert back out to start game two, and this time the outcome was much smoother.
Once again, the Monarchs, now playing as the visiting team, scored a single run in the first while Detert managed to keep the Pilots off the board through the first two innings and limited the damage by allowing single runs in the third and fourth.
Going into inning five, the Monarchs still trailed 2-1 but strung together four consecutive hits to push across two runs, taking a 3-2 lead. After putting up a zero in the fifth, both teams went to their bullpens in an effort to hold the score and give their respective offenses time to score more runs.
The Pilots replaced starter Ron Scruggs with Spencer Headley while the Monarchs removed their starter, who wound up throwing 169 pitches across both games, and countered with Fernando DaSilva.
The Monarchs picked up a single run in the seventh and another in the ninth, bringing the score to 5-2 and setting up a fantastic finish. DaSilva started his fourth inning of work, having thrown a manageable 47 pitches, but was met by Jason Yormark’s leadoff double to start the bottom of the ninth. A single by leadoff hitter Jeff Newman plated a run, making it 5-3, and a stolen base and fielding error allowed another run to score, making it 5-4 with nobody out.
DaSilva buckled down, striking out the #3 hitter for the Pilots and inducing back-to-back groundouts to seal the win for the Monarchs, bringing them back-to-back titles and their third win in four seasons.
Hitting stars for the Monarchs in game two were Brian Funk, who went 4 for 5 with two runs scored, as well as Eric Davis, Patrick Todd (2 RBI), and Paul Otto, who each chipped in two hits.
Carl Detert picked up the win in game two with five innings of 3-hit ball, while Fernando DaSilva grabbed the save with four innings of 5-hit relief, as the two hurlers combined to strike out 11 while only walking one.