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Back To Back Golds
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| By Bob Scheppler | ||||||
| The S.F.F.D. Red team won another GOLD MEDAL in the 2005 Fireman’s Olympics for BACK TO BACK GOLDS. The team carried a 9 game Olympic winning streak into this year’s open division and left with an 18 game winning steak. The ball club went through pool play by mercy ruling all four teams including, San Jose, LA City, LA Co. and Ventura Co. When the tournament started, the Red Team had a #1 seed and opened with Kern County. They quickly put up 17 runs in the top of the first to put Kern County away. Jose Zalba came up big for the squad as he played first base and had 4 homers against Kern. San Francisco won 30 to 6.
The following game would put us up against the SF Heat. The team fell behind 5 runs in the top of the first, but that would change behind the pitching of Jack Taylor and his defense. The Red were able to hold the Heat to only 2 runs for the next 6 innings, while the Red would score in every inning. The offense was led by Shawn Zimmerman, Dwayne Curry and Geoff Quesada. The final score was 14-7. It was the first time the Red Team did not 12 run an opponent. Friday morning put us up against Millbrae for the right to advance to the winners final. Millbrae went up by 3 runs in the top of the first, but that is all they would score. SF was up 8 to 3 in the bottom of the 5th when the team batted around to score 7 runs. Dave Smiley hit a walk off home run to 12 run Millbrae. That put SF up against LA Co. Backdraft - the only other undefeated team. The teams traded runs early and remained tied after 3 innings of play. SF would put up 4 in the 5th and 6 more in the bottom of the 6th, with big hits coming from Nate Szutu and Sean Bonetti to secure the win, 16-11. The team was led defensively by Sleepy Bro and Gold Glover, George Debrunner. San Francisco Red now had the luxury of cooling off and waiting for the loser’s bracket champion. The Red Team now had to be beaten twice by the same team. The final game put us up against Millbrae who just played the last 3 games. The Red Team would not be denied another Gold Medal as they won, 16 to 7. Bob Kishi and Antonio Vernon were swinging hot bats as they continually rolled the order over to keep the pressure on Millbrae. The team went 9-0 on their way to BACK TO BACK GOLD MEDALS. |
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| Top row, left to right: Nate Szutu, Bob Kishi, Dwayne Curry, Geoff Quesada, George Debrunner, Mike Smith, Jose and Jose Miguel Zalba.
Bottom row, left to right: Jack Taylor, Shawn Zimmerman, Madrid Quesada, Dave Smiley, Bob and Kaley Scheppler, Sean and Logan Bonetti, Isabella Zalba. Photo provided by Bob Scheppler |
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