[Elendil]

Game Five

Spence vs. Morris

September 7, 2011 - It was an elimination game after Juneau had let the last one slip away. Furthermore, they would have the shaky Quinn Spence up there on the mound.

The field lights came on in pregame warmup as a light but horizontal sleet swept in over the Kuskokwim Mud Flats from the Bering Sea. It was 34 degrees and the wind was blowing in at 24 miles per hour. These would be vicious conditions in which to hit.

Leif Morris looked sharp in the first, striking out two Senators, and the game went to the bottom of the 1st. With one out, O'Feeney stroked a high, arcing flyball down the left field line. Wynn Dunsmore raced over but a gust of wind knocked it down, and a burst of sleet didn't make the ball too easy to see either. It rolled to the wall, and O'Feeney was in with a double. Joly then came up and hit the ball more or less to the same spot, but Dunsmore was able to make the play this time, and O'Feeney scampered over to third with two outs. Heath came up and just squibbed the ball off the end of the bat toward the shortstop. O'Feeney was running on contact and slid into home under the tag. 1-0 Bethel. Sutherland then flied out to center to end the inning.

That score held up until the 4th as hitters and fielders alike battled the elements. In the top of the 4th, Juneau took the lead as, with two outs, Willerton walked and then Crawford hit an absolute bullet down the right field line that just got over the wall. If that ball had been hit any higher, the wind would have gotten ahold of it and knocked it down. If it had not been pulled quite so much, it would not have cleared the fence. But clear it it did, and Juneau now had a 2-1 lead.

In the 6th inning, an even more spectacular shot was hit by Wynn Dunsmore, a 380-odd-foot blast to right-center. It was a monster shot. It would have been a upper-decker in a domed stadium for certain. 3-1 Juneau.

The wind started to die down as the evening wore on and the sun set, and the temperatures dropped another degree or two, and a soft snow began to fall. No delay was called, and Bethel would later complain to the league office that they had disproportionately suffered from the conditions as the team that had to play catch-up.

In the end they never did catch up. Spence had his control working and gave up no walks in eight innings. He also struck out just three, but the Mushers really didn't hit any ball hard all night.

Colwill came in in the 9th, and the Mushers threatened with two singles to lead off the inning, but Heath promptly grounded into a double play and pinch-hitter Bryan Morris struck out to end the threat.

Final score: Juneau 3, Bethel 1. The Mushers still lead the series 3-2, but now the series heads back to Juneau.