1919 Divisional Playoffs
Northern League: Flagstaff fends off Grand Canyon in 6
Game Scores
Flagstaff 4, Grand Canyon 3 — WP: Al Schulz
Grand Canyon 3, Flagstaff 2 — WP: Byron Houck
Grand Canyon 3, Flagstaff 2 (11) — WP: Carl Mays
Flagstaff 6, Grand Canyon 4 — WP: Al Schulz
Flagstaff 4, Grand Canyon 1 — WP: Pol Perritt
Flagstaff 3, Grand Canyon 1 — WP: Herb Pennock
The two best teams in the Northern League staged a great series, with the first three games decided by one run.
Flagstaff scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to steal Game One from the River Runners. In baseball, managers like to push the importance of getting that first out in an inning. Grand Canyon didn't do it, as SS
Otis Johnson singled. Then 1B
Vic Saier got hit by a pitch. 2B
Steve Yerkes followed with a double to score Johnson for a 3-2 game. After intentionally walking LF
Claude Cooper, GC pitcher
Dan Marion gave up a single to PH
Zip Collins, scoring the tying run. While Saier's pinch-runner was thrown out trying to take home on the play, 3B
Jim Breton singled in the winning run on the next at-bat.
Obviously, that would be an important inning for both teams. Grand Canyon, which went on to win Games Two and Three, could have been up 3-0 in the series instead of 2-1. The Lumberjacks finally started to find their rhythm in Game Four, winning 6-4, and cruised the rest of the way behind strong pitching from
Pol Perritt and
Herb Pennock.
Centerfielder
Lee Magee had a great series for Flag. Batting leadoff, he stroked 10 hits in the sixth games, including a 4-for-5 performance in Game Three. 1B
Joe Judge was Grand Canyon's most productive offensive player, rapping eight hits, with two doubles. The problem was, the 'Runners didn't have too many men on base when Judge came up.
Amazingly, Flagstaff won the decisive Game Six with only two hits. Both turned out to be home runs, by Johnson in the sixth and by Magee in the eighth
Flagstaff has been to the Cactus Champions Cup series three times, winning in 1907. The 'Jacks' last appearance was 1915 when they lost to Phoenix 4-2.
Southern League: New-look Carefree team chops down Bisbee in 5
Game Scores
Carefree 5, Bisbee 1 — WP: George Ferguson
Carefree 7, Bisbee 3 — WP: Raymond Bressler
Bisbee 1, Carefree 0 (10) — WP: Brad Hogg
Carefree 7, Bisbee 3 — WP: George Ferguson
Carefree 9, Bisbee 1 — WP: Raymond Bressler
Carefree's baseball team wants people to know there is more to them this season than just new uniforms, a new nickname and a new logo. The recently re-named Blue Sox proved that in the Southern League Divisional playoffs, whipping Bisbee in five games.
Aside from one hiccup in Game Three, where the bats didn't show up, Carefree was a buzz saw. The Sox outscored the Prospectors 28-9 in five games.
George Ferguson tossed a one-hitter for Carefree in Game One. The Sox, meanwhile, pounded out 11 hits, jumping out to a 4-0 lead early.
Bill "Rough" Carrigan (of
Pat O'Farrell dynasty fame) broke up the no-hit bid with a double in the fifth.
Bisbee outhit Carefree 13-9 in Game Two but still lost because it couldn't get those guys home. Game Three was a barn-burner.
Brad Hogg held the Blue Sox to only four hits over 10 innings. But Carefree's bats didn't stay quiet the rest of the series, and the team erupted for 20 hits and 16 runs the next two nights to close things out.
LF
Chet Chadbourne (.318), DH
Al Scheer (.333, 3 RBIs), CF
Tex McDonald (.333, 5 RBIs) and 3B
Cliff "Shanty" Daringer (.364, 6 RBIs) carried the heaviest bats for Carefree during the five-game stint. (An aside: ever notice there is always a Tex somewhere in the playoffs?).
Carefree will make its first-ever appearance in the Cactus Champions Cup. That leaves only one team out of the 16 Arizona League franchises that has never made it to the championship round, the Sedona Scorpions (who will begin play in Show Low in 1920 - maybe a new look for that club will help them like it seems to be helping Carefree).
Count me excited about this Flagstaff vs. Carefree series. A chance to meet some new players for a change...