Playoff baseball is back! The top-seeded Resolutes are in the Creighton Cup Series for the first time in their brief history, while the Blue Legs are in the Series for the second year in a row -- but they haven't won a championship since way back in Season 1.
Game 1 got underway with home-team ace John Clarkson against the Legs' leadoff man, Billy Hamilton. Hamilton managed to work a walk, then promptly stole second. Two batters later, Big Dan Brouthers brought him home with a booming triple. The Legs extended that lead in the second when Hamilton's double scored Hughie Jennings and Harry Wright to make it 3-0 in favor of the visitors.
Old Hoss Radbourn, meanwhile, cruised through the first three innings. He ran into trouble in the fourth, when third baseman John McGraw tripled with one out. Connie Mack doubled him home to give the Resolutes their first-ever postseason run. Monte Ward singled to put runners at the corners, bringing Clarkson himself to the plate. The game's best-hitting pitcher crushed one deep to the outfield, but had to settle for a sacrifice fly. Pete Hill then grounded out, so after four innings the Blue Legs were ahead by a slim 3-2 margin.
Not for long. In the bottom of the fifth, Orator Jim O'Rourke -- playing first base for the injured Jake Beckley -- led off with a double. Elmer Flick popped out, bringing up Fred Clarke, the Resolutes' most prolific slugger. Clarke belted Radbourn's pitch into the right-field seats, turning a one-run deficit into a one-run lead. It was the first playoff home run for the Resolutes, and it came from the very same man who hit the team's first regular-season homer way back on Opening Day of Season 5.
Both pitchers buckled down in the late innings and traded zeroes until we reached the top of the ninth, with the Resolutes clinging to a one-run lead. Jennings and Wright went down quickly, bringing up the pitcher's spot. With two outs and no one on base, the Legs turned to pinch hitter Frank Chance. Clarkson, meanwhile, needed just one out to secure a complete-game victory. Chance smashed Clarkson's offering into the right-field corner, legging out a triple to silence the home team's fans. Now the tying run was ninety feet away and Hamilton dug in with the game on his bat. He smoked an opposite-field line drive to left, where Fred Clarke -- he of the earlier home run heroics -- had the opportunity to make a highlight-reel catch to end the game.
It all came down to a single d20. I made the roll, Clarke made the grab, and Game 1 ended with a 4-3 victory for the Resolutes. Game 2, featuring Christy Mathewson against Pud Galvin, is on tap.
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