(November 3, 2025 – Coppell, TX) It was about as cliche as stories get with a team down by a certain amount, backs against the wall, and a bleak outlook in a game’s final outcome. The Spirits (45+) fall squad ran into a buzz saw on Monday night in the form of Ross Nussle, and a game that appeared to be one of those scenarios where a team has about a 2% chance at winning quickly jumped to 50% following a 2-out rally in the bottom of the 7th inning that eventually led to a walk-off victory.
The Spirits have a checkered past when it comes to playoff games and championships, handing over several in the past several years and in many cases, during the fall baseball season. Monday night seemed to be on that same path as Nussle, the starting pitcher for the Rough Riders (2-6), seemed to have nearly every player’s number as he mowed them down one by one throughout the game. Nussle finished the game with 12 punches, allowing 9 scattered hits while walking 2.
What went unseen was the job Mike Sopocy was doing. The Spirits starter was dealing himself, allowing just 2 earned on 5 hits, while walking 4 and striking out 10. Behind him, Shawn Hunt, the team’s catcher helping call a great game and proving to be solid force at the dish for the ghosts. Hunt’s contributions didn’t end on defense as he finished with a pair of hits on the night and likely the most important one of the season.
The game would feature several heros on the Spirits side and in a game that appeared to be the Spirits versus Nussle, it was the Spirits that eventually came out on top. The game was a pitchers duel from the start. Nussle and Sopocy traded punches with few base runners seeing bag visits until the top half of the fourth inning. Alex Reszitnyk singled to start off the inning and after swiping second, Nussle tripled to the wall in center to score Reszitnyk, and later scored on a ground out that gave the Rough Riders a 2 to 0 lead.
“That was a tough pill to swallow at that point in the game,” mentioned team skipper, Shawn Lee as he reflected on that moment of the contest. “I asked Mike not to give Ross a pitch. He’s literally the one person who can hurt us, especially with a runner on board. It’s tough to talk a great pitcher into that kind of strategy. Pitchers want to set guys down. I get it. But I knew it was going to be one of those days where it was likely to be a 1-run game. We needed to make sure he wasn’t the guy that hurt us and sure enough, with a runner on, we fed him and he nearly took the ball out the yard.”
With Nussle brining a lot of heat with every pitch combined with some solid placement, the Spirits hitters struggled to string anything together. Travis Hitzeman singled in the bottom half of the fourth, but Brian Kellner and Lee both struck out, and Sopocy flew out forcing the team to continue with a 2 run deficit.
The teams continued to trade 1-2-3 innings until the bottom half of the 7th when the Spirits once again saw signs of life. It appeared the team was headed down that upset road once again but Hitzeman took an 0-1 pitch from Nussle to the gap for a double to start off the inning. Keller flew out to the infield but Lee followed with a hard single to left to put runners on the corners.
“Travis seemed on him (Nussle) all night,” Lee continued. “He just missed earlier in the game and then later singled. Ross had my number for sure. He set me down twice swinging so I decided to come up with a heavier bat to slow my swing down following some advice from Sopocy. Ross had been great all game with keeping his strikes higher in the zone and most of us were missing under, but he gave me a fastball down the middle low, and I was able to get the bat head on it to finally contribute offensively.”
Down two runs and with one out, Nussle was able to then get Sopocy to pop to the infield but not before Lee was able to take second on a dropped ball by the Rough Riders catcher. The Spirits now had two runners in scoring position with 2 out and Hunt was given the opportunity to be a hero and he came through in flying colors. Hunt took the first pitch he saw to centerfield for a hard single, and with a great jump on the hit, Lee scored easily behind Hitzeman to tie the game. Nussle was able to get Kevin Simmons on swings which would lead to some later irony as the team headed for extra innings.
Based on the NTABL Fall Ball rules, teams are to start with a runner at second base and with nobody out. As if Nussle’s role in carrying his team wasn’t already on full display, he was the Rough Riders option to go to second as he was the last out on the team.
“You can’t make it up,” Lee continued. “He’s literally their best athlete. Glad we got him out in the seventh but then he gets to be their runner in extras? You can’t script this.”
The game’s drama continued after Matt Calderara flew out leaving Nussle at second base with one down. David Bennett then drew a walk off of Sopocy and a ground ball to Hitzeman at third by John Ip turned into a bases-load situation. After fielding away from the bag, Hitzeman attempted to tag Nussle who was charging in from second to third. Nussle dodged the tag attempt and slid into third safely giving the Rough Riders full bags with just one out.
“I’m not sure who yelled to tag him,” Lee noted. “I thought he may have time to stop and turn back to the bag to step on it but his momentum was definitely coming my direction at short. Ross just made a great move and got by him.”
This set the table for even more pressure on the Spirits and gave Sopocy the opportunity to be a hero on defense. Sopocy dug in and was able to strike out both Samuel Garcia and Manuel Rocha to get the Spirits out of the tense situation.
That took the game into the bottom of the eighth inning where the Spirits were able to send Simmons, the team’s last out, to second base. Simmons, not known for his speed on the base paths seemed to add to the game’s irony as the Spirits then sent up Vinny Diciero the opportunity to move him over to third.
“I asked Vinny if he could bunt and he told me it had been a while but he thought he could do it,” Lee explained. “We clued in Kevin (Simmons) and I explained to Vinny that the only thing he couldn’t do was bunt it to the pitcher. We knew Ross would be quick off the mound and it could likely backfire on us.”
Lee’s plan did just that as Diciero took his second pitch from Nussle and promptly bunted right to the pitcher. Nussle fielded and easily took out Simmons at third with a good throw, leaving the Spirits with Diciero on first with one out. What momentarily seemed to be another cloud of anxiety was soon exacerbated after Nussle was able to strike out Jonathan Duran while looking. The Spirits found themselves in another cliche moment with their backs against the wall but this time the team saw players step up.
Dee Mauldin took an 0-1 pitch up the middle and the play allowed Diciero to get to third after Reszitnyk, who was playing short, made a great break on the ball but wasn’t able to field it cleanly as it made its way into centerfield. That short mishandling allowed Diciero to advance to third. Before the Spirits could discuss any additional strategy, Matt Crowell settled into the batter’s box and immediately took the first pitch from Nussle into the left centerfield gap to score Diciero and to give the Spirits the walk-off victory.
“It was pretty surreal,” Lee summarized as he celebrated with his team. “I had knots in my stomach all game. Just kind of seemed we were headed down that road again of losing in the playoffs after dominating the regular season. It’s been a minute since we had some fun like that and I hope it adds to the momentum for us to finish the job.”
Crowell later noted that he was sitting fastball and it was exactly what he got on the first pitch. He was able to put the bat head on it and to drive one into the outfield to give his team the win. Crowell, new to the team in 2025, also had a core defensive play in the game by adding a put out from centerfield that had a direct result on the game’s final score. Back in the second inning, Rocha reached safely on a Spirits fielding error and was able to move to second base on the play. Michael Saludares followed with a hard single to Crowell in center and the the hard throwing left-hander was able to pick and throw a strike to Hunt at the plate to cut down Rocha at the dish when he was trying to score, ending the inning and keeping the game scoreless at that moment during the game.
The Spirits will host the Knights next Monday night at 7:00PM on Cowboy Field in Coppell. The Knights outlasted the Hurricanes by a score of 11 to 10 to advance to the NTABL Championship game against the ghosts. Fans can click here for schedule details.
Ranger Fire, Inc. Players of the Game
Travis Hitzeman (2-3, 2B, R)
Mike Sopocy (8 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 10 K)
Shawn Hunt (2-3, 2 RBI)
Matt Crowell (1-3, R, RBI, BB)