Harvey Browne Wins Series

With each game being decided by a single run, Christ Church dropped two out of three games at Harvey Browne on Monday night.

Harvey Browne scored four runs on three solo home runs (in the first, second and sixth innings) and a pair of doubles (in the seventh).  Christ Church was hitless through three innings.  Mike Peak led off the third with a single and scored when Dick Lutz tripled after two were out.  Bob Stone had a one out double in the fifth but died at second.  Christ Church tied the game at two in the sixth, but it was the lost opportunities in that inning which proved to be fatal.  Mike P. again led off with a single and Paul Hirsbrunner drove him in and became the potential go ahead run with a triple.  David Stierle followed with a walk but failed to advance Paul from third, and the hit necessary to score Paul never came.  Leah Bennett singled in the seventh but could not score.  Trailing 4-2 in the eighth, it was another case of a missed opportunity.  Paul singled and with one out was driven in by a triple by Dick.  But Christ Church again failed to capitalize on the runner on third as the final two batters in the eighth and all three in the ninth produced no hits in a 4-3 Harvey Browne victory.

Christ Church took their first lead in the first inning in Game Two.  Mike P. started with a single.  He moved to second on Paul's sacrifice and scored on David's triple.  But the next two batters were out and Christ Church was limited to just a 1-0 lead.  The lead lasted less than a half inning.  A two run home run gave Harvey Browne a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first and it became 3-1 on a second inning home run.  Mike Thompson had a two out triple in the fourth and Christ Church tied the game in the fifth.  Leah singled, Mike P. tripled (RBI) and Paul singled (RBI).  Paul also singled in the eighth but the score remained tied into the ninth.  After an out Tom Bennett singled and, with two outs, Leah provided the game winning RBI with a triple and a 4-3 win which evened the night's series.

In Game Three Christ Church managed only five hits.  David singled with one out in the second;  Paul singled with none out in the fourth;  Dick singled with one out in the seventh;  but, with seven chances to deliver an RBI hit, all three runners were left on base.  In the fifth inning, Harvey Browne went triple-single-triple for a 2-0 lead.  Christ Church could muster only a single run on a single by Tom and a triple by Mike P.

Christ Church closed out the first half of the season with a 22-20 record.