2011 35+ Mountain Division
Chicago North Cubs 9, Tri-Valley White Sox 3
| The Chicago North Cubs, 35+ Mountain Division Champs |
Salt River Fields, November 5, 2011 – Behind stellar, complete-game six-hitter by Jim Balian the Chicago North Cubs defeated the Tri-Valley White Sox 9-3 for the 35 Mountain Division crown.
“Today we got out front early,†said Cubs manager Tony Niezyniecki. “We turned it on, added some runs, extended the lead and Jim (Balian) threw a gem of a game.â€
While it was a tough loss for the White Sox, it was still a great experience for them. They brought 25 players with them, the most in two years, and led their division in runs scored and least amount of runs allowed.
“It was a great experience,†said White Sox manager David Lewis. “The experience overall was tremendous. Great host, great organization. It was great all around and everyone had a blast.â€
The Cubs employed some timely hitting in the championship to drive in nine runs. With the Cubs leading 2-0 in the top of the fourth inning catcher Oscar Samano drove a clutch two-out two-run double to put them ahead 4-0. Two innings later Chris Oliva hit a triple to right field that drove in Rick Malott and George Jimenez. Samano then followed with a triple of his own pushing the score to 7-1 and putting the Cubs in the driver’s seat.
“We tended to have a lot of clutch hitting this week,†said Niezyniecki. “We’ve had big hits up and down the order.â€
The hit barrage didn’t stop there as Javier Gamboa flied a one-out double to centerfield, followed by a Scott Hanish walk and a Mike Torresso double to right field giving the Cubs a 9-1 lead.
Alfonso Quintar had a RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning for Tri-Valley making the score 9-2. In the bottom of the ninth inning Marlen Foster led off with a double and Albert Vasquez drove in the pinch-runner, Charles Loseth to get the score to 9-3.
“They are a great team,†said Lewis. “Hats off to them, they deserved it. They played very well and hit extremely well. Their pitcher did an extremely good job against us.â€
Pool Play
The Cubs finished with a 3-2 record. Balian threw a 2-0 complete game shutout against the Scottsdale Scorpions in round robin play.
Tri-Valley earned a 4-1 with pitchers Ron Arostegui and Shane Holbrook leading the charge. . The White Sox played excellent defense throughout pool play by not committing more than one error in any of their games.
The Cubs beat the South Dakota Rustlers 8-7 in the semifinals. Mike Torresso hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Cubs the win. Rod Biehl earned the victory.
Tri-Valley defeated the Scottsdale Scorpions 15-2. Pete Hartmann earned the victory in that game for the White Sox.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Chicago North Cubs | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 2 |
| Tri-Valley White Sox | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
Balian and Samano. Holdrodk, Brown, Arosegui and Scuitti. W – Balian, L – Holdrodk. Leading Hitters – (Chi) Samano 2×3, 3RBI, Javier Gamboa 2×4, 2R; Oliva 2RBI; (TV) Quintor 1×3, RBI, Eric Pickett 1×3, Foster 1×3. SAC – O’Connor (Chi). SF –Hanish (Chi.) Tinsley (Chi.). CS – Adams (TV), LOB – Chicago 10, 5; Tri-Valley, 4. 2B – Samano, Gamboa, Toresso, Foster. 3B – Samano, Gamboa, Oliva, Picket.