Michael LaFranchise Achieves Perfection for 18+ Padres in Inland Northwest MSBL
Submitted by James Edwards, Padres’ manager
Heading into the final week of the regular season for the 18+ Inland Northwest Men’s Baseball League, the Rockies (15-1) held a one-game lead over the Padres (14-2) for the regular season championship and the number one seed in the playoffs. As fate would have it, the Padres and Rockies were slated for a doubleheader in the August 3rd season finale.
As coach of the Padres, I knew we needed game one to give us a chance to capture the league in game two, and I knew who belonged on the mound to get us there. A few days earlier, I texted “Game 1?” and Michael wrote back “Up to you, Coach.” “Yes, I want you with the ball.”
Michael LaFranchise is our ace; he has proven it over the years in league, in our local playoffs, in the Desert Classic in Palm Springs, and last year in Phoenix at the MSBL World Series, leading the Spokane Bandits to the 25+ Cactus Division World Series Championship. But we don’t call him Ace, we call him Bulldog.
On this day, Bulldog added another chapter to his impressive resume. Mike twirled a PERFECT GAME, leading the Padres to a 3-0 victory. 0 hits, 0 walks, five Ks.
In our league, we play seven innings. 21 outs with just five of those by strikeouts means a lot of opportunity on the defensive side to have one drop in for a hit, or misplay one to have it ended by an error. But today, the defense matched his perfection, which is imperative to accomplish this feat.
In the third inning, a hard ground ball was hit up the middle to the shortstop, Chris Dempsey. He lost his footing and fell to the ground, but quickly recovered, throwing the runner out at first.
The bid nearly ended twice in the fourth inning; first, on a line drive to centerfield when Curtis Jones made a quick read, racing in to make a shoestring catch, then, on a laser down the third baseline that hooked and was ultimately called foul. Mike got him to ground out to third base on the next pitch.
I think some of us started realizing what was going on, but no one said a word. To start the fifth inning, a line drive to left field looked like it would be the end of it, but Chris Baker came up sliding to save the milestone. There wasn’t much drama for the final eight outs. Mike struck out the last two batters in the seventh and his Padres teammates rushed him at the mound to celebrate.
Mike finished the day with those five Ks, seven groundouts, and only two balls making it into the outfield, both mentioned above. Most impressively, Mike forced seven infield pop-ups, including one chased down the rightfield line by Rylin Dukes, who made an over-the-shoulder grab.
He credited his catcher Devan Khoma, who’s been catching him on various teams for over 10 years, saying, “I pitched a perfect game, but you called all the pitches!” Khoma replied, “You called one.”
It was a special moment for all.
We always expect a great performance out of Mike, but today, he was simply PERFECT.
