(July 21, 2025 – Coppell, TX) For some reason, the Spirits (45+) squad loves to fool around and find out when it comes to playoff baseball. It’s possible they’re the least feared team in postseason play despite having a near flawless record during the regular season. The team has a history of playoff faceplants in recent years and they once again flirted with that idea on Monday night against the Reds.
The Reds, a solid hitting team whose weakness is pitching, hit the gas early and often in the first two innings of play, holding a commanding 8 to 1 lead in the top half of the second inning following a 6-run inning to start the game and a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning that had the Spirits thinking about “Loser’s Bracket” strategies for upcoming games in the league’s double-elimination playoff setting. With a two-hour game time limit in play, the team needed a solution and needed it fast.
“I’m sure I didn’t make any friends in the dugout,” commented Shawn Lee, who managed his team from the sideline with a hamstring injury. “Nobody seemed amped up to play. Nobody would listen to any kind of advice. I just couldn’t understand it. Frankly, it was hard to watch as it unfolded.”
Equally frustrated was Lee’s starting pitcher, Jonathan Duran. Duran had to deal with a number of items that continued to mount before his early exit in the second inning. The Reds applied a combination of short line drives that ended up just out of reach of the Spirits infield and then was followed by a few big hits, bad calls at the plate, errors by the Spirits infield, and misjudging by his outfield.
Following the 6-run first inning, the team showed signs of hope, however their continued method of a slow starting offense once again slowed down possibilities. Eric McPherson drew a walk and then stole second base before Dee Mauldin flew out. McPherson tagged on the play to take third and Kirk Sipila was then walked by Reds starting pitcher, JR Roberts. Travis Hitzeman then singled and scored McPherson but Dale Baird flew out and Cliff Brade grounded out the the first was over with the Spirits down 6 to 1.
In the the top half of the second, a lightning strike in the form of Ross Nussle’s 2-run homerun blew the doors open and the Spirits began to face near certainty that earning the number one seed was going to prove nothing for the postseason. Sean Clark followed with a single and after Ron Pirkle reached on an error, Lee turned to Vinny Diciero to replace Duran in hopes of finding some new dynamic to change the game’s direction.
“Duran was mad when I took him out,” Lee continued. “He should have been. Seemed to be a perfect storm. We have to give them credit, they were hitting the ball but we weren’t finding any ways to make plays. And at that point, we had contributed with several errors to continue the direction we were headed.”
Diciero was able to get the Reds more off balance at the plate and he helped change the team’s momentum by striking out both Roberts and Anthony Vega to get out of the inning with the Spirits down, 8 to 1 and with a substantial amount of time removed from the game’s two-hour time limit already completed.
Enter an inning for the ages. Backs against the wall and perhaps a few other cliche options to consider at the team headed to the dugout to play offense. That’s when absolutely all hell broke loose for the Spirits offense. The Reds turned to Pirkle to replace Roberts and Mike Sopocy was the first to reach on a walk. Brade proceeded to run for Sopocy and was able to swipe both second and third base, scoring after Reds catcher, Mike Rosener threw the ball into left field in an attempt to catch Brade stealing. Kevin Simmons also drew a walk, and Shawn Hunt followed suit to made it three in a row. With bases juiced, the Reds turned to veteran Steve Nutt to clean things up.
Earl German then singled against Nutt to load the bags again and David Tipton broke through with a hard single to right centerfield to score both Simmons and Hunt. With Stacy Scott at the dish, German scored on a failed pickoff attempt that allowed Tipton to make his way to third. Scott battled Nutt with several foul balls before sending an RBI single to the outfield good to score Tipton and to cut the lead to, 8 to 6. Scott swiped second base and a follow up single by McPherson put runners at the corners. McPherson swiped second and Nutt was able to slow things momentarily after getting Mauldin to fly out to short left field, but a hard single by Sipila scored both runners to tie the game at 8 to 8.
With momentum growing in the Spirits dugout, Hitzeman took the next pitch to the deepest part of the gap in left centerfield for a 415 foot, 2-run homerun that gave the Spirits a 2-run advantage. Baird followed with a double to the gap and later scored on Brade’s RBI single to give the Spirits an 11 to 8 lead before Sopocy and Simmons flew out to end the inning.
“That was pretty special to watch,” Lee continued. “Quiet faces that were looking at the ground were now laughing mouths in the dugout. I caught a bit of hell for throwing my tantrums but I stand behind some of the things I was saying. We don’t show up ready to play sometimes but I often forget just how talented our hitters are. Today they reacted and fought back. It was fun to watch. It’s hard to sit there and not be able to help but it was great to watch them rise to the occasion and to fight back for sure. The only team that can beat us is us.”
In the top half of the third, tension seeped it’s way back onto the field as the Reds slows placed runners on bags. Diciero struck out hard-hitting Marc Bouvier but the Spirits infield once again allowed a runner to reach safely with a throwing error that allowed TK Hayes to reach base. Diciero then walked Kelly Tomlinson before getting Mike Rosener to fly out. Christofer Pritchett also walked and with the bases loaded, Diciero refocused to strike out Dwayne Gurley to get out of the inning with the Reds top of the order coming up soon.
During the bottom half of the inning, the ghosts added some insurance, rallying for another 6 runs after Hunt and German led the inning with back-to-back singles. Tipton flew out but Scott was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Duran, who was added to the bottom of the lineup, knocked in Hunt with an RBI single. German was tagged out at home trying to score on the play but McPherson kept the inning going by drawing a walk. Mauldin followed with a single to score Scott, and Sipila made it 15 to 8 with an RBI single that scored both Duran and McPherson. Hitzeman followed with nearly the same deep fly ball that left the park just an inning ago, this time hitting the wall and caraming away from Nussle in the outfield allowing Hitzeman to reach on a bases clearing triple, and giving the Spirits a 17 to 8 lead before Nutt was able to get Baird out on a fly ball.
Diciero was able to get the Reds in order to close out the top half of the fourth before the game was called due to the league’s two-hour time limit.
“Outstanding comeback. Hopefully we don’t have to be as dramatic next time but the truth his there is firepower in this dugout and depth,” Lee closed with during the post game. “Proud of the guys for their effort to turn around a horrible start. Hopefully, we don’t need that kind of effort in the next one.”
The Spirits move to round two of the tournament and will host the hottest team in the NTABL in the form of the Hurricanes who have one several straight games, including the only loss on the Spirits season. First pitch is scheduled for 8:45PM at Cowboy Field in Coppell, and fans can click here for schedule information or to listen live by downloading the iScore Central app and searching for Dallas Spirits (45).
Five Star Ford Players of the Game
Travis Hitzeman (3-3, HR, 3B, R, 5 RBI)
Kirk Sipila (2-2, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB)
Vinny Diciero (2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K)