Ballers Win First-Half Championship

A tranquil evening at the ballyard that later erupted into a champagne celebration

RAIMONDI PARK, OAKLAND - Lou Helmig’s sharp ground ball towards the right side of the infield in was one of those events that, given the magnitude of the situation — eighth inning, tie game — seemed to unfold much slower that it really did. Like a climactic fight scene in an action flick, for a precious few moments, the Oakland right-fielder’s bounding ball seemed to travel as if rolling through quicksand. That is, until it split through two Rocky Mountain infielders and skidded into the outfield grass.

The crowd of over 2,000 erupted, everything sped up, and all hell broke loose.

Cam Bufford, who had reached on a fielder’s choice and proceeded to steal second base, was off on a dead sprint towards third, promptly greeted by manager Aaron Miles’s frantically windmilling arm. Go! Go! Go! The throw to the plate was not even close; Bufford scored easily, and Helmig beat the relay throw from the catcher into second.

And the Ballers, who were at one point down 4-0, had a 6-5 lead. Only three defensive outs separated them from a 34-11 record and a first-place finish in the season’s opening half.

Carson Lambert got them, striking out the side in the top of the ninth, the final pitch a high fastball that old friend Stephen Wilmer swung through, putting a dramatic flourish on a perfect two-inning performance that saw Lambert strike out five of six Vibes batters and allow not one single baserunner.

The Ballers’ dugout and bullpen emptied, with both factions coming together near the mound, Champagne bottles popping, spraying, dousing everyone in sight, including co-founders Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel.

“First of all, I want to thank the city of Oakland,” Helmeg said during the on-field interview. “Without you guys, it wouldn’t have not been possible. And it feels amazing! We won today!

“We worked incredibly hard for this moment, and we put in all the work and grinding all those days and grinding game for game, but, it’s been a real pleasure to play in this ballpark … thank you guys.”

Helmig was the star of the game. Not only did he push through the big hit in the eighth, he recorded a game-tying sixth-inning single, and, two innings earlier, was aboard when third baseman Nick Leehey went deep for his fifth round-tripper in the last five games. Helmig finished the game 2-for-4 — pushing his season average to .326 — with a run scored and two RBI.

And yet, as is the hallmark of great teams, it also felt like so many others contributed in some way. Christian Almanza got Oakland on the board in the second with a two-run opposite-field homer. There was also Leehey’s blast. Danny Harris singled to lead off the sixth, unnerved Vibes pitcher Malik Binns into committing a pair of balks, then trotted home easily on Helmig’s game-tying hit. And after Oakland starting pitcher Dylan Matsuoka was pulled after four innings, having allowed four earned runs courtesy of a trio of homers, the bullpen stepped up and held Rocky Mountain to one run over the game’s final four stanzas. Gabe Tanner, who allowed that run — a solo homer to the first batter he faced, Carter Booth — gobbled up two innings while working around some traffic. James Colyer, who has been lights out for much of the last month, allowed only a harmless hit-batsman in the seventh, setting the stage for Lambert’s two shutout frames and the Helmig game-winning hit.

With this victory — and the Ogden Raptors’ victory over the second-place Missoula PaddleHeads, the Ballers not only won the first-half title, they also clinch homefield advantage in September’s postseason.