And the Winner Is......

Monday night marked the first ever playoff game for the young married men of Greenville Oaks, and the only word that can be used to describe that first game is...

EPIC.

The game almost never happened due to a beautiful Monday afternoon giving way to some ominous clouds as the 6:30 hour approached. Amid much speculation that game 1 of the spring playoffs may not get underway due to rain, the powers that be decided that the show must go on.

The matchup featured the 4 seed Greenville Oaks and the 1 seed Chase Oaks. It was an intriguing matchup as the teams split the season series with one win a piece. Despite Chase Oaks having the better record, the teams matched up very well on paper. The teams had a similar mustache ratio, and they both had "Oaks" in their team name. The game really had all the makings for a great competition, but the crowd couldn't have expected the historic duel that specatators will be telling their grandkids about.

The game started out with rain just before the first pitch was thrown. Greenville won the toss, and they elected be the home team. Bryan Brokaw took the flat mound for the Green Oaks. Brokaw was coming fresh off two wins in his last two decisions, and the team hoped to ride that golden arm to their third straight victory.

The Chase Oaks jumped out early with their offense, as they posted 2 runs in the top of the first. Greenville answered quickly though as Mike Mabry belted a homerun in the bottom half of the first, which plated David Strickland and Dustin Swart to make the score 3 to 2 in favor of the Green Oaks.

The Chase Oaks scored 2 more in the top of the 2nd inning, and it gave the Chase Oaks the lead at 4 to 3. The rain really began causing problems for the Green Oaks defense, as they found themselves down 14 to 5 going in to the bottom of the fourth. It was key for the Greenville team to score runs in the bottom of the 4th, because once you finish 4 innings in softball, it can be declared a full game if they have to call it due to inclement weather.

With lightening flashing over head and rumbles of thunder beginning to pick up steam, the hopes of a first playoff win for the Green Oaks seemed to be fading with each passing second. The Green Oaks still had fight in them, however, and they broke out for 7 runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it 14 -12. Everyone held their breath when the inning ended to see if the game might be called as a steady rain begain to make field conditions a little sloppy. The game was not called, and the defenses began to take over.

The fifth inning led to two scoreless frames for both teams. In the sixth inning, Brokaw picked up the pace and held the Chase Oaks scoreless as the uniforms on both teams began to fully soak through. With the winds swirling in the bottom of the sixth, the Green put up a run to make the score 14 - 13 in favor of the Chase.

In the seventh, the Chase were again held scoreless for the third inning in a row, and it left it up for the Green to tie or win the game. With a runner on 3rd and 2 outs, Michael Shivers brokaw out with a big at bat and tied the score at 14 a piece, but that was the only run that the Green could score sending the game in to extra innings.

In extra innings, the batter starts his at bat with a full count. That means that batter only gets one pitch. At this moment, their was a heavy downpour, along with swirling winds and the occasional lightening flashing above. The game moved on.

In the 8th inning, the teams sloshed around in what was becoming a large mud pit and neither team was able to score any runs.

The ninth inning brought on more rain, but the clouds were beginning to break to the west and the sun was poking through. The teams were soaked, but each team managed to score a run in the inning which brought the score to 15 to 15. Randy Way drove in the big hit, and Cade Thompson scored the tying run as he ended up at third with his 2nd acrobatic slide into third of the game.

In the top of the 10th, the pitcher's rubber could not even be seen, and you couldn't even see the shoes of the batter standing in the batter's box. The game moved on though, and the Chase struck with 2 runs in the inning and only had one out.

With that, the umpire called the game due to unfit field conditions claiming that the field had become a safety hazard.

The game will resume in the top of the 10th inning next Monday night. Chase Oaks will finish their top of the inning, and Brian Edwards will lead off for the Green Oaks in the bottom of the inning.

Stay tuned...