Christ Church Sweeps League Leader Watkins

Entering the night trailing first place Watkins UMC by five games, and having been swept by Watkins seven weeks earlier, and needing as many wins as possible to keep from falling out of contention, home-standing Christ Church responded by taking all three games Monday night.

Game One started with a lead-off home run and a 1-0 lead for Watkins.  Christ Church got on the board and tied the game in the third on a single by Charles Smith and an RBI triple by Jerry Hinton.  David Stierle gave Christ Church a 2-1 lead with a two out solo home run in the fourth and the lead was extended to 3-1 in the sixth when Jerry singled and was driven in on an RBI triple by Paul Hirsbrunner.  Watkins trimmed the lead with a solo home run in the seventh.  Christ Church added three insurance runs in the eighth-  Jerry doubled; Paul tripled (RBI); Mike Thompson singled (RBI); and Dick Lutz tripled (RBI) for a 6-2 lead.  It turned out the insurance was needed as a two run ninth inning rally by Watkins fell a couple runs short.  The final score was 6-4.  Christ Church had eleven hits (David added singles in the second and seventh innings) to Watkins three, all of which were home runs with an error supplying their fourth run.

Christ Church never trailed in Game Two.  After Watkins failed to score in the top of the first, Jerry led off with a triple.  After two were out, Mike Peak singled (RBI) and David tripled (RBI) for a 2-0 lead which was extended in the third.  Jerry tripled again and he was followed by Paul (RBI single), Mike P. (RBI triple) and David (RBI single) for a 5-0 advantage.  After the lead shrunk to 5-3 in the fourth, Christ Church wasted opportunities in stretch the lead in the fourth (a singe by Leah Bennett and an error by Frank Preston), in the fifth (a one out single by David) and the sixth (a two out error by Jerry).  Those wasted opportunities almost came back to haunt Christ Church when Watkins tied the game in the ninth on an error and a homer.  But in the ninth, with one out Jerry delivered his third triple of the game and Paul drove hom in with a "walk-off" single and a 6-5 Game Two victory.  Christ Church again had eleven hits (to Watkins eight).

In Game Three, Christ Church's hit production fell to five but there were no wasted runners.  In the second, David singled and Tom Bennett delivered the RBI triple to put Christ Church on top 1-0.  In the seventh Bob Stone doubled, David tripled (RBI) and Tom drove in the third and final run with an RBI single.  Watkins managed only one hit, a two out double in the fourth as Christ Church completed the sweep with a 3-0 win.

For the night, Christ Church out-hit Watkins 27 to 12.  All of Watkins hits were doubles (7) or home runs (5) with one error.  Christ Church had only two doubles and one home run but had eleven triples and thirteen singles.