Jul 22nd, 2009
The East Nepean Major Eagles faced the Carlingwood Frank Ryan Cardinals in the District Playdown Championship Game at Pinecrest Diamond with Matt Ianni as their starting pitcher. After both teams blanked the first, CFR went ahead in the top of the second inning scoring three runs. East Nepean responded in the bottom of the same frame by tying the score. The third inning saw no runs scored by either team. The Cards were held to no runs in their half of the fourth when Ianni earned two strike-outs before being relieved at the peak of his pitch count by Matt Cooke, who threw one pitch to ground out the third CFR batter. The Eagles came alive with a three-run Home Run from Mark Pharoah in the bottom of the fourth. That proved enough as both CFR and East Nepean were blanked in the fifth. "Cookie" the closer allowed no further runs in the top of the sixth to render a final score of 6-3 in favour of the Eagles. The game ended on a nail-biting throw from Short-Stop Michael Constantine to First Baseman Matt "The Vacuum" Ianni who scooped the catch for the final out. The Eagles move on to represent District 2 in the Provincial Championships in Pembroke next week.