A familiar slo pitch team is on top once again.
The Frank’s Auto Vipers defeated the Seasport Sluggers 10-4 in the final game of the year-end Kaien Island slo pitch division-A finals. It was a repeat performance for the Vipers who also took home last year’s trophy under significantly more soggy conditions.
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“It’s always nice winning, they [Sluggers] have a great team and the league is getting more competitive every year,” said Vipers captain Trevor Girbav. “They had a tight race with us in this playoff round, but it’s always nice to come out on top.”
The game started out evenly, with neither team able to bring in any runs in the first inning and each team scoring single home runs in the second inning to enter the third tied 1-1.
Four consecutive hits in the third inning from Graham Morgan, Bob Stark, Kristal Le and Jordan Weir helped the Vipers to establish a four run 5-1 lead. Another solo shot from Morgan in the fourth inning extended the score to 6-1.
Girbav pointed to Morgan, Le and Weir’s performances as critical to helping the team take control of the game early.
“Kristal and Jordan both gave us clutch hits when we need them,” he said. “And I think Graham only had one out the entire weekend, so having him up was almost a guaranteed blast hit every time.”
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The Vipers were able to extend their lead to 8-1 by the end of the inning and held on to win eventually win the game by the final 10-4 score.
Even though it was a repeat tournament win for the Vipers, Girbav said the competition is constantly improving and he anticipates the games to be even better next year.
“These guys will be back and the young kids are probably going to have more competitions under their belt,” he said. “You never know, it might not be us back in the finals but I think we have a good shot at it.”
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