A sacrifice fly in the fifth inning by Stephen Strapp was the difference with the winning run as Kelly’s Pub Molson Bulldogs tied up their best-of-five St. John’s Molson Senior Men’s Softball League semifinal 1-1 with a 5-4 win over NTV Hitmen Tuesday night.
At Lions Park, Sean Cleary (7IP, 4R, 7H, 3W, 13K) got the win over Robbie Greene (4IP, 4R, 4H, 3W, 4K). Lee Cose (3IP, 1R, 2H, 2W, 3K) finished up.
Kelly’s scored three runs in the fifth, the two others coming on a double by Cleary, who contributed two hits to the victory. Liam Shea hit a two-run home run for the winners.
Ryan Boland hit a two-run shot for NTV, and was three-for-three. Brad Ezekiel hit a solo blast, his third of the playoffs.
The Hitmen had the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, but Cleary struck out Fergie Griffiths and Chris Murphy to end the game.
In the nightcap of a doubleheader Tuesday, 3 Cheers Pub Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in their series with a 6-2 win over The Bigs.
Colin Walsh was the star at Lions Park, going three-for-three with three solo home runs, becoming the first player to hit three home runs in a playoff game in senior league history (1957-2020).
Walsh also came on in relief to pick up the save for starter and winning pitcher Jason Hill (4.2IP, 2R, 5H, 1BB, 4K).
Nick Pittman (4IP, 5R, 7H, 3BB, 8K) started for The Bigs and was tagged with the loss. Mark Power (3IP, 1R, 3H, 0BB, 2K) pitched in relief.Pittman and Power both hit solo home runs.
Mark Stack and Doug Marshall both had two hits for the Dodgers. Nathan Kenny hit a solo home run, his first career playoff homer.
