July 31, 2011

Santa Barbara, CA - The Santa Barbara Foresters finished off their season with an 8-1 victory over Team Vegas Sunday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. A packed house was on hand to see the Foresters claim their eighteenth CCL Championship which they will share with the San Luis Obispo Blues. For the Blues, it was their first CCL title.

“This league is as good as it’s ever been,” said manager Bill Pintard, “Any team could beat any other team on any given day. And that’s what happened this year.”

After completing Saturday night’s suspended game, which resulted in a 6-4 Vegas win, the Foresters came out with their backs against the wall, knowing that they had to win in order to tie with the Blues for first place.

Mitch Mormann, who was the opening day starter, fittingly took the hill for the closing day game. He went seven strong innings, allowing one run on four hits while collecting ten strikeouts, for his fourth win of the season.

Mormann got a big lift from his defense early in the game when right fielder Joe Wallace threw a bullet to third base to nail Duncan Blades who was trying to advance to third on a single by Kyle Billbrey. After applying the tag, third baseman Derek Legg completed a double play with his quick throw to second where Billbrey was tagged out while trying to advance on Wallace’s throw to third. Short-stop Shane Kroker then finished off the inning with an amazing barehanded play on a slow chopper up the middle.

“I wasn’t particularly throwing the ball well at that point,” Mormann explained, “Joe [Wallace] really picked me up, and after that our team just got a ton of momentum, a ton of confidence, and after that it was just smooth from there.”

Mormann was relieved by Ian McCarthy who pitched a solid eighth inning, surrendering no hits and striking out three batters. Steven Johnson came in to shut the door in the ninth.

It was first baseman James Wharton who powered the Foresters offense, hitting his seventh homerun, a booming shot over the trees in left center field, to put Santa Barbara on top 3-0. Also having a big day was left fielder Jeff McVaney, who finished the day with two RBIs and a fourth inning triple that excited fans as he raced around the bases.

With the CCL Championship in their pocket, the Foresters boarded the ‘Sters Bus for a twenty-eight hour drive to Wichita where they will make a run at their third NBC World Series Championship. Stay tuned to SBForesters.org for results from the tournament. Each game can be heard on AM 990 and SBForesters.org.