2026 TJ Couch Twirls Perfect Game for Woodpeckers in 40+ Playoff Championship in Detroit MSBL
Detroit MSBL, 40+ Division
MC Woodpeckers 7, Cardinals 0
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence” – Vince Lombardi
Submitted by Ed Alberts, manager
Here we were at the league-clinching game for the 40+ championship, and the Woodpeckers had been here before. Perennially the 2nd-place finisher, we faced perhaps the toughest lineup of the season, as it looked like the entire Cardinals roster was in attendance. The Cardinals are a historically great team, but their backs were against the wall: a loss could knock them out of playoff contention and give the Woodpeckers the championship. The stage was set for this seven-inning game.
Woodpecker management elected to go with TJ Couch, the young kid out of Ann Arbor, who was originally drafted to improve the team photo. TJ was up for the challenge, and away we went!
‘3 up, 3 down’…Before TJ threw the first pitch, we sent Farq up to the old broadcasting booth to turn on the field lights. Two minutes later he came down and the Woodpeckers were already running back in for the dugout. “What the heck happened?” he asked. Five pitches, three outs. Farq missed the entire inning.
Next, the Woodpeckers swung the bat and brought in two runs. We were off and running, Zip-2.
‘6 up, 6 down’…The mighty Cardinals came out swinging, determined to wear TJ down. You could say it worked, since this time it took throws, not just five pitches, to close the top half of the second.
In the bottom of the second, the Woodpeckers pushed across three more runs, all from the bottom half of the lineup! With a 5-run lead, the dugout energy shifted. We came into this game confident, knowing we could win, but now I felt a quiet resolve that we would.
‘9 up, 9 down’…Top of the third, and now, with one out, TJ needed our defense to keep the streak alive. They answered the call when the Cardinals drove a long fly ball into the left-center field gap. As much as the Cardinals were gunning for a rally, some Woodpecker truths remain. One is, ‘Two thirds of the earth may be covered by water, but the other third is covered by center fielder Ronnie Grendysa ! (credit to Ray Didinger writing about Garry Maddox, 1975. We are all in our 40’s after all!) Ronnie ran it down, and the sure double died softly in an over-the-shoulder basket catch. The web gems had begun.
‘12 up, 12 down’…During the top of the fourth, TJ was still dealing. Each one of us knew what was happening, and each one of us knew not to see it, hear it, or speak of it. In fact, don’t even think it.
Every team has one, though; that ONE guy. The guy whose impulses outrun his baseball instincts. Our guy is Wally, who kept the scorebook, which meant he was staring at the statistics the rest of us pretended didn’t exist yet. His eyes widened as he suddenly blurted, “HEY, DID YOU GUYS KNOW TJ HAS A PER…”
He never finished. Nine voices squashed his temptation of fate with, “SHUT UP, WALLY,” in perfect unison.
‘15 up, 15 down’…By the bottom of the fifth, each player had either recorded an out or assisted on one. A rare occurrence for any level of the game. This wasn’t just TJ’s moment; every Woodpecker owned a piece of it now. As the anticipation built, no one breathed a word, but our looks said it all.
‘18 up, 18 down’…One out, top of the sixth, and another heart-stopping moment came when a Cardinals batter hit a scorching liner into the left-center field gap, with double written all over it. As we held our collective breaths, Steve Lezotte Jr., the team’s All-Star shortstop and leader, launched himself horizontal to the ground, arm fully extended, and snatched it out of the air. As his body crashed into the dirt, Steve yelled out, “WE GOT YOU TJ! KEEP GOING”.
This was instantly followed by the enthusiastic words in the dugout of, “he’s gonna do it, he’s gonna do it…” Met with, “SHUT UP, WALLY”!
Two down and standing at the plate was not just one of the toughest outs in the division, but a long-time competitor who had battled TJ for years, dating back to the 30+ division, Scott Misuraca. On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Scott showed us what he’s got, sharply hitting a ball down the left-field line that, as a left-handed hitter, came off his bat as a knuckleball.
No fielder heroics possible, as the ball was just out of anyone’s coverage. All they could do was follow the ball as it jumped, sliced, and then, with the extra push from what felt like collective internal prayers, miraculously landed inches on the foul side of the line.
As the Woodpeckers cheered in relief, the two warriors’ eyes met, and they shared schoolboy grins of mutual respect, one with relief and the other with disbelief. The epic at-bat finally ended with a soft grounder to second baseman Joe Peace.
‘21 up, 21 down’…By the seventh inning, the Woodpeckers had cumulatively pushed seven runs across the plate, and the score stood at 7-0. Being the last inning, just three outs stood in the way of the perennial second-place finishers finally climbing to the top of the mountain and going down as league champions.
With one out, lifetime .440 hitter David Donigian worked the count until it became the first full count TJ had faced all evening. Given the magnitude of the moment, the Woodpeckers old school archaic manager decided it was time to remember the basics.
He signaled the catcher for a fastball on inside third of the plate, a routine target for the kid with obvious butterflies in his stomach. As a sidearmer, if he missed his target, it would most likely just get too much of the plate- anything better than a ball four. If this was going to end, make it end on a strike.
With all the respect in the world for his manager (eye roll), TJ wound up and out of his wild gunslinger arm came a sweeper! The pitch froze the hitter, who, at the very last moment, made a desperate, far-too-late stab at a ball that seemed to do a loop-de-loop around and over the barrel of his now-baffled bat.
STRIKE 3, TWO OUTS
From deep in the dugout, the manager whispers out loud but to himself, “the ballz on this kid.”
TJ winked towards his dugout as he received the throwback from his battle-tested catcher, Mike Garrett, who was clearly in on the pitch call. The two exchange a smirk.
A slightly softer voice in the dugout, to nobody in particular, the manager asks, “Did he wink at me?!”
Wally; “HE WINKED AT YOU, COACH.”
Repeated, “DID HE WINK AT ME?!
Wally a little softer, “he winked at you coach, but come on, he’s about to…”
The entire bench, and what felt like the growing fans in the stands, shouted, “SHUT UP, WALLY.”
And if there was one thing that simply isn’t fair, it’s that a pitcher chasing a perfect game with two outs in the final inning might have to deal with a pinch hitter with, say, a .508 lifetime average, like left-handed Carlos Portocarrero!
Power? check. Runs like a deer? Absolutely. And perhaps the most terrifying of all, he is determined to make sure nothing remotely hittable escapes him.
TJ delivered, it’s a ground ball to second. Carlos’ first step looks to get him halfway down the baseline! Joe Peave looks it all the way into his glove and fries across to Rob Cavanaugh at first base.
Then it was as if the air in the ballpark paused as time moved ever so slowly while Umpire Al pumped his fist outward with a bark, “OUT”!
“In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened” – Vin Scully
The Woodpeckers’ run had been complete with a full team effort that stemmed from playing for each other, caring for each other, and maintaining focus on what the goal was. It was just one night under the dim lights of Hazel Park, but it was everything baseball should be. It was historic, it was magical, and it was PERFECT!