2014 Dragons Smoke Silver Sox to Clinch 55+ Redwood Empire Title

Redwood Empire Baseball League 55+ Division

Greenwood Ridge Dragons 12, Silver Sox 0

Submitted by Allan Green, Dragons manager

Greenwood Ridge Dragons ace Jesse Bower carried the Dragons to their fifth straight Redwood Empire Baseball League 55-and-over championship at Doyle Park in Santa Rosa. After the Silver Sox forced a third game with an easy 9-2 victory in the morning, Bower shut them down completely in the decisive afternoon game, enabling the Dragons to cruise to a 12-0 win.

The previous day Bower had beaten the Silver Sox 6-1. As he had done the previous year in the championship best-of-three series, Bower won two games for the Dragons, allowing just one run in 14 innings. He kept a strong Silver Sox team off balance with a mix of fastballs, change-ups and curves, and the Dragons played error less defense in the final game. Third baseman Eli Duran, catcher Bob Harchut, and Doug Thomson in left field all contributed outstanding defensive plays.

The Dragons offense also woke up. They scored once in the first inning when lead off hitter Mike “Tiny” Felder reached on an error, stole second, and scored on a base hit by Tom Whelan. They broke the game open with four more in the third inning on a walk to Felder and singles by Harchut,Bower, Thomson, Jesus Renteria, and Tom Rodrigues. Bower kept the Silver Sox off the board for seven innings and Jesus Renteria followed suit over the final two innings to preserve the shutout.

Bower helped his cause with three hits. Thomson and Whelan, who led the league in hitting, also were three for five.

The championship caps a remarkable season for the Dragons in the highly competitive R.E.B.L. They finished 19-1-1 in league play and 4-1 in the playoffs. Earlier in the year they won a regional tournament in Woodland and finished second out of 16 teams at a Memorial Day tournament in San Diego.