(June 24, 2024 – Coppell, TX) Once every blue moon…every now and again…once in a while…on rare occasions…we’ve all heard of these phrases. Unfortunately, that’s been part of recent history when the Spirits (45+) squad lines up against the Dallas Cardinals, with these phrases applying to how often the Spirits get the win over their friendly rival. On Monday night at the Coppell Baseball/Softball complex on the grounds of CISD, the ghosts put one of these phrases to action. Pick your favorite or come up with another, but it won’t matter to the Spirits as the squad celebrated a walk-off win against the dirty birds, capping off a 5-run bottom of the seventh inning to come from behind to get the victory.
David Tipton became the hero, knocking a hard line drive up the middle and over the head of Cardinals center fielder, Kevin Fought, allowing Shawn Lee to score from second while courtesy running for Shawn Hunt, and Stacy Scott, not known for his blazing speed, to score all the way from first. The hit, of course, followed a solid inning of key hits by several players to help the ghosts complete the cliche come-from-behind win.
Tipton finished with the double, was hit by pitch, and knocked in the 2 key runs to help lead the Spirits box score. Kirk Sipila continued to stay hot, adding a pair of hits and a run scored, and Scott finished with a key single, run scored, and 2 runs batted in. Ryan Marsland pitched most of the game, throwing for 5 innings while allowing 3 earned runs on 5 hits while walking 2, and striking out 4. Marsland also added an RBI double earlier in the game and walked once.
Hoping to break the chain of losing to the Cardinals organization, the Spirits looked to set life aside and focus on some error free baseball to see if they could return to their once polished form. Exactly 3 pitches into the game, that idea seemed like it was going to quickly disappear after Joe Lowry took a 2-0 pitch from Marsland and crushed a fly ball to deep center field. Tipton, playing center field didn’t see the ball off the bat, finally turning to chase after the ball had passed and completed it’s apex over his head. Lowry, a speedy runner, easily chased around the bases while Tipton chased the ball to the wall for a lead off, inside-the-park homerun to give the Cardinals an early 1 to 0 lead. Fought grounded out but Marc Boggio singled and later stole second base after John Mahalik struck out. Jerry Gamez followed with a line drive to center field that caught up to Tipton chasing in, taking a hard bounce off the turf and again rolling to the deep center field wall. Gamez was able to take 3 bags for a triple and Boggio scored easily to make it 2 to 0. Gamez later scored on a wild pitch and after Jason New drew a walk, Marsland was able to strike out Mark Tierney to get out of the inning.
“Honestly, at this point it felt like it was 10 to 0 to me,” Lee mentioned later. “We show up with good intentions and then boom, something goes awry and our heads go down and we’re walking off the field instead of running. You just get it in your head that this game is going to be just like the last one. They’re a great squad, but when we combine that by making mistakes it typically becomes fatal. They don’t make many mistakes, so when you give them an inch, they are certainly the team that will take it a mile.”
Sipila was able to reach on a single in the bottom half of the first that went nowhere and the Cardinals added a fourth run in the top half of the second inning after Marsland was able to get Chris Cec to ground out and Juan Mollinedo to strike out looking. Lowry followed with a single and then stole second base a pitch later. Fought was able to reach on an error by Spirits first baseman, Brian Hackney, allowing Lowry third base. Lowry later scored on a passed ball before Boggio flew out with the Cardinals up, 4 to 0.
In the bottom of the second, Boggie set the Spirits in order by striking out Lee and then getting Mike Sopocy and Hackney each to ground out. The teams then traded three-up, three-down innings until the Spirits offense broke scoring ice in the bottom of the fourth inning. Eric McPherson flew out to the infield but Sipila doubled down the left field line to give the Spirits a runner in scoring position. Marsland then followed with an RBI double to score Sipila and it seems the ghosts may be in business. Kent Fischer grounded out but Marsland was able to take third, but Boggio, the Cardinals starter, was able to strike out Lee a second time to stave off any additional scoring.
The Cardinals make it 5 to 1 in the fifth after Lowry drew a leadoff walk and again stole second base. Fought again grounded out, allowing Lowry third and as Spirits luck would have it, he later scored on a wild pitch before Marsland struck out Boggio. Mahalik was able to reach on another Spirits fielding error but Marsland was able to get Gamez to ground out to end the frame.
Hackney was able to reach on a single in the bottom half of the fifth that unfortunately once again went nowhere for the ghosts. The Spirits then turned to Sopocy to close out the game’s final two inning down 4 runs. Sopocy walked New but Hunt was able to cut him down trying to steal to record the first out. Sopocy was then able to get both Tierney and Cec to ground out to keep the deficit to 4 runs.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Spirits showed signs of life after Tipton was hit by a pitch by New, who had replaced Boggio as pitcher for the Cardinals. McPherson flew out Tipton later moved to second on a passed ball. Marsland was also walked, but New was able to get Fischer to fly out to again hold off any come back ideas by the Spirits.
Sopocy set the Cardinals in order and the Spirits headed to the bottom of the seventh inning in hopes for a rally. Though the dugout didn’t appear to have quite the pep in its step to flip hats and cheer on hitters, Lee was able to battle New for a single off the end of the bat to give the Spirits signs of life with nobody out. Lee was able to take second on a wild pitch and later scored after stealing third. Tierney, who replaced Cec at catcher, relayed a throw to third in the dirt and Boggio wasn’t able to handle the ball. Lee was able to score as the ball rolled to the outfield and the Spirits showed signs of an early rally, cutting the score down to, 5 to 2. Sopocy eventually drew a walk and a walk to Hackney put two on with nobody out and the nerves started to show on the Cardinals side of the field.
Fought, the Cardinals skipper turned to Mahalik to see if he could find a combination of pitches to quietly tell the Spirits, “nice try, but we’ll take it from here.” Hunt took to the dish, previously 0-for-2 on the night and following a strike one take, hit a line drive single into right centerfield to load the bases. With the dugout now poised and showing large signs of life, Scott followed suit with a first pitch single into right field that allowed McPherson (running for Sopocy) and Sipila (running for Hackney) to score. That setup Tipton for the heroic walk-off hit. Tipton fouled off the first pitch from Mahalik and then followed with a line drive to center field that cleared Fought and rolled to the wall, allowing Lee (running for Hunt) and Scott to score all the way from first base to complete the walk-off win.
“They (Cardinals) were joking about us celebrating after Tipton’s hit,” Lee continued after the game. “They mentioned it was just one game but man, it’s been a minute since we beat that team. But more importantly, it was fun celebrating one of our guys coming through. He should get some love following a walk-off hit. Super cliche scenario, bottom of the seventh inning…hell yes, we’re going to celebrate that. Great effort tonight collectively. It was definitely slow to unravel, but key hits in that inning and a few solid plays later in the game led to that opportunity. Shawn (Hunt) did a great job behind the plate. That put out at second base was huge. And Stacy (Scott) coming through with that big hit and then scoring from first base? That was a big deal as well. Felt good to turn our frown upside down and walk away with a win against a great team. Hope we can use that as a little momentum moving forward.”
The Spirits return to action next Monday night before most folk break for the fourth of July holiday. The team visits the Knights on July 1st right here at Cowboy Baseball/Softball Complex in Coppell. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30PM and fans can click here for schedule details or for information on how to listen to the game live online.
Central Roofing and Restoration Players of the Game
David Tipton (1-3, 2B, GW 2 RBI)
Kirk Sipila (2-3, 2B, R)
Stacy “Stacheman” Scott (1-3, R, 2 RBI)