Softball: Finnegan’s Rallies for Playoff Victory

Finnegan's Hitmen had to make a few comebacks during the regular season to earn a 10-4 record and second-place finish in the Yorktown Men's American Softball League.

In their opening round playoff game against Murphy's, the Hitmen pulled off another comeback. Down two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Finnegan's scored three times to defeat Murphy's 8-7 on Tuesday, August 3, at the Route 202 #2 lighted field in Yorktown.

"After a game like tonight, anything is possible," Finnegan's manager Patrick Devaney said. "We've had three or four come from behind victories. A couple of weeks ago we came back from down seven and tonight we fought back from down two. We play hard."

Starting the game-winning rally was Dan Zupa with a single.

"I just had to get on," Zupa said. "I knew my teammates would back me up and drive me in. Throughout the season with two outs, seventh inning we always seem to come alive, I don't know why. We can't hit until the seventh, it's kind of funny actually."

The fun continued for Finnegan's when Mike Paulmeno singled with a sacrifice fly by John Campobasso pulling the Hitmen to within one. Billy Waschenko followed with a walk.

Paulmeno and Waschenko eventually scored the tying and winning runs on errors.

"We have great chemistry," Devaney said. "We have guys that have been playing together for a long time, and because of that everyone knows what they are supposed to do."               

Murphy's KJ Kotch did what he was supposed to do in the first inning when his RBI single was part of a two-run frame that put Murphy's in front 2-0.

"We just started getting hits," Kotch said. "Everyone was contributing. That was the key to the rally in the first inning. Our coach, Pat Murphy, he really motivated us."

Finnegan's answered with single runs in its half of the first and second to tie the game at 2-2. Each team then scored a run in the third and fourth innings that left the game knotted at 4-4.

The game got knotted when Devaney had an RBI double that drove in Tom Bigler, who also doubled.

"I was just making sure I hit the ball hard," Devaney said. "I wanted to drive the ball to the outfield and get that run in."

Murphy's then re-took the lead to go up 6-4 with two runs in the fifth. The second of those runs came on an inside the park home run by a hustling Kotch, who hurt his hamstring after sliding into home plate safely.

"I didn't want to get hurt, obviously," Kotch said. "I was just thinking of scoring the run so we could be up by two. That is all that I was thinking of."

Despite the tough loss, Kotch, who went 2 for 2 with three RBI, was proud of the effort he and his teammates displayed against the Hitmen.

"Everybody really played hard," Kotch said. "We did the best that we could."