'Major West' Red Sox remain undefeated, advance to finals

The Mathewson McCarthy "Major West" Red Sox pulled out a tightly contested 11-8 win over the Cardinals on July 1 to advance to the finals. Both teams were undefeated.

The Cardinals were scrappy all game and never gave up despite trailing 11-3 going into the bottom half of the sixth inning. Ricky Procknal and Nick Courtney starred at the plate and on the mound for the Cardinals with each recording two hits and two strong innings pitched.

The Red Sox combination of big bats and crafty pitching paved the way to victory. A.J. Aqualino's first inning triple scored Francisco McGowan and Aqualino scored on a Dante Sparcino single. Chris Mussachio was crushing the ball all day with two big hits and Ryan Johnson chipped in with a pair of singles.

The lethal pitching combination of Matt Macomber, A.J. Aqualino and Jimmy Honsberger kept the Cardinals off balance most of the game as they again spun a gem.

Red Sox 17, Braves 10 The 2007 playoffs continued as the Red Sox defeated the Braves.

The Red Sox started their usual way, falling behind in the first inning as the Braves tallied five runs in the bottom of the first to take a nice lead. The big blow for the Braves came in the form of a Mark Gleico single that scored two Braves.

After the first, the Red Sox pitching and defense settled down to scatter seven hits over the remaining five innings. One of those hits was a blast to the left center fence by Richard Patti, who circled the bases for a home run in the second inning.

The Red Sox came to bat in their half of the second, scoring eight runs and never looking back. Matt Macomber led off with a double and scored when Ryan Johnson singled to center, keeping his hot playoff bat alive.

Home runs were the order of the day for the Red Sox as A.J. Aqualino and Macomber hit one each and Jimmy Honsberger added two homers.

The Red Sox pitching proved too much as Macomber, Aqualino and Honsberger each pitched two innings and kept the Braves off balance most of the day.

Red Sox 11, Royals 2

The Red Sox and Royals kicked off their 2007 playoff seasons with the Red Sox picking up a hard-fought win over the Royals.

Pitching played a major role for the Red Sox which saw Matt Macomber, A.J. Aqualino and Jimmy Honsberger scatter eight hits over six innings of work.

The Royals jumped on top in the second inning with two runs. David Archer and Alex Martin scored on a Ryan Woods solid single. That was all the Royals could muster as the Red Sox bats came alive in their half of the third inning.

Ryan Johnson sparked the offense with a leadoff double and scored on Francisco Mc- Gowan's home run. Aqualino singled and scored on Honsberger's triple. Dante Sparcino kept the attack alive with a single, followed by a Macomber triple and a Clay Tuyn double. The Red Sox pitchers took over from there and threw a shutout the rest of the way.