Washington Township Senators 35+

The Washington Township Senators marched into the finals today on the heels of an 8-0 victory over their old foes, the Winslow Tigers. John DiPietro tossed seven shutout innings to pick up the big win, and Dave Koerner pounded three doubles as the Nats chased Shawn Senior after four innings, getting five runs off the Tiger lefty act.

The game had an early highlight when Koerner swiped home against Senior. With Bruce Stowell at first and two out, Senior made several tosses to first in an attempt for a pickoff -- he had picked off two Senators in the first game of the set with that nasty move of his. On one of the tosses, Koerner broke for the plate and scored ahead of the throw to give the home team a big 1-0 lead. They never looked back. 

The Senators collected 11 hits on the day, and even managed to score three off Doug Kepple in the ninth. Kepple had frustrated the Senator offense time after time the past two seasons.

The Senators did just about everything right on this morning, getting timely hits, having productive at-bats, and playing stellar defense. And of course, the great pitching made it all stand up.

Now the Nats wait to see who their opponents will be in the finals. The Marlins and Red Sox will play Game #2 of their series tomorrow at Bob Meyer Park with the Sox holding a 1-0 lead. 

With impeccable timing, Donny Davis picked a wet Sunday morning against his old teammates to have a career day. The Senators outfielder ripped a two-run homer and a grand slam, collected six RBI and leading the Senators to a 15-2 win over the Moorestown Marlins. Bruce Shaw picked up the win, tossing seven innings of three-hit ball. Bruce Stowell (who also homered) and Dave DeRuchie both reached base in all four trips. Gabe Masterangelo took the loss, going six-plus innings. The Marlin ace threw a ton of pitches, the Davis salami coming on the Marlin lefty's 134th toss of the morning. Frank Izzi added three hits, and did nothing but hit bee-bees all morning long. The win brings the Nats to 3-1, and the Fish suffer their first defeat to fall to 4-1.

After a perfect 6-0 season, Senator righthander Chris Lawrence was rewarded with his first Cy Young Award, a well-deserved honor. In addition to his perfect regular-season mound record, Lawrence sported a nifty 2.62 ERA, fanning 33 in 65-1/3 innings of work and walking just 23. He threw three complete games into the mix, too. Lawrence out-dueled some of the best pitchers in the league, and pitched gem after gem in leading the Senators to a 10-5-1 record and a birth in the playoffs. Congrats to #51!