Merrimack – The McCall Mudhens took a huge step toward earning their first major Championship Wednesday night by defeating the Merrimack Owls in the NLCS. The victory by the Hens’ will be remembered as quite possibly the tightest five game set in the history of ASB as every game was decided in the 8th inning or later and with game 4 stretching into extra innings. The series will also be remembered for clutch hitting by the Hens’ all night long and stellar relief pitching from one side and dismal relief pitching form the other.

Game 1
In a sign of what was to come for the Owls, game one saw a 16-2 lead in the 4th inning evaporate and eventually slide into a Owls loss by the score of 16-17. The Mudhens relief corps shut the door on the Merrimack offense for the final 5 innings and opened the door for a tireless offense.

Game 2
Game 2 saw two brilliant pitching performances, one by eventual winner Bob Gibson and the second by tough-luck looser Warren Spahn. The Owls offense was again shut down, scoring 2 runs in 8 innings before cutting the lead to one in the 9th by posting 5 runs. Poor base running was partially to blame for the Owls loss as both Ron Santo and Ed Delahanty were caught trying to stretch singles into doubles and both eventually costing the Owls runs.

Game 3
The lone Owls victory of the series was a shut-down win from Catfish Hunter. A complete game victory along with a three hit, 1 home-run and two runs scored made Hunter a one man wrecking crew.

Game 4
A 10 inning affair that the final score does not show the truly nail-biting nature of this contest. Tied at 12 in the 9th inning, the Owls placed two runners on base against Bruce Sutter with one out and failed to score and win the game as Ed Delahanty and Tony Phillips failed to deliver in the clutch. The Hens’ blast out 5 runs in the top half of the 10th for the win.

Game 5
Another game that the Owls seemingly had in the bag goes awry as Jackie Robinson blasts a game winning grand slam home run in the 9th inning. The Owls score 3 times in their half of the ninth but can not overcome the deficit. Warren Span’s 8 innings and 6 earned runs are spoiled again by the clutch hitting of the Hens’ and the poor relief pitching from the Owls.

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McCall – Baseballs zip around a dew covered infield on a chilly Wednesday morning in McCall. I arrive at 8:00… The Mudhens daily regiment began an hour earlier.

With his freshly shaven crew cut gleaming in the morning sun, Whitey Herzog, the Hen’s manager for the last 4 years, stands at the right field foul pole pounding cloud-scraping fly balls to Hank Aaron and Joe DiMaggio. “GET IT! GO! GO! GO!,” he screams after each swing.

Herzog and the Mudhens, after a long 4 week layoff, are putting in the extra work to come prepared to play Wednesday night as they take on a Merrimack Owls team that has beaten them 4 times out of 6 this season. The soft spoken and media shy Herzog’s best quote of the day comes in the form of a grumble. “We gotta get some work done. Tighten up on defense. That’s why we are out here.”

With little to worry about offensively, the Hens have taken the long layoff to focus on defense and pitching. They have used the time to study the Merrimack Owls and have watched all six head-to-head games from the season together as a team. Complete with pencils and note pads, the Hen’s pitchers have broken down every at-bat from Owl players and most notably focused on the combination of Dan Brouthers and Mickey Cochrane.

With the Owls arriving in town this afternoon, if the Hen’s aren’t ready, they might never be.