The defending League Champion and top-seeded Leesburg Lightning took advantage of its opportunities to outlast the Sanford River Rats, 5-4, in 10-inning walk-off at Pat Thomas Stadium Thursday night.
Leesburg will face the No. 3 seeded DeLand Suns, who advance to the Championship Series for the first time in five years, after sweeping past the No. 2 seeded Winter Garden Squeeze at Conrad Park on Thursday.
The Best-of-3 Championship Series will open tonight (Saturday) at Pat Thomas Stadium in Leesburg at 7 p.m., with Game 2 set for DeLand on Sunday and the ‘if necessary’ third game back in Leesburg on Monday.
The River Rats, who had eliminated the Orlando Snappers in the Play-In Game on Monday and then eased past the Lightning in the first semifinal game on Tuesday before getting Run Ruled on Wednesday, used a 4-run third inning to erase a Leesburg, 1-0, lead.
The Lightning took advantage of a pair of errors to score two runs in the fourth inning to make the score 4-3, and it was still that score heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, where another pair of Sanford miscues led to the tying run with two outs.
The hosts then pulled out the series victory in the 10th on a walk, a single, an advancement on a pop up, an intentional walk and a walk-off single.
Meanwhile in the other semifinal, the Suns had built a 6-4 lead going into the eighth inning in Winter Garden on Wednesday, forcing a suspension of the contest to Wednesday night in DeLand.
The Suns were able to close out the 6-4 victory and then in the regularly scheduled game, the No. 2 seeded Squeeze took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but would never score again as the hosts answered with single runs in the second and third innings to tie the score, then took the lead for good with two runs in the fifth inning and added an insurance run in the sixth inning before closing out the series-clinching, 5-2, victory.
Here are the results and Finals schedule:
POSTSEASON
Play-In Game
Monday, July 22
No. 4 River Rats 9, No. 5 Snappers 6.
Semifinals (Best-of-3)
Tuesday, July 23
No. 4 River Rats 7, No. 1 Lightning 2, Sanford leads 1-0.
No. 3 Suns vs. No. 2 Squeeze, Rain.
Wednesday, July 24
No. 1 Lightning 22, No. 4 River Rats 3, 7-innings, series tied 1-1.
No. 3 Suns vs. No. 2 Squeeze, suspended.
Thursday, July 25
No. 3 Suns 6, No. 2 Squeeze 4, continued from Wednesday, Suns lead 1-0.
No. 3 Suns 5, No. 2 Squeeze 2, Suns wins series 2-0.
No. 1 Lightning 5, No. 4 River Rats 4, 10-innings, Lightning win series 2-1.
Friday, July 26
No games scheduled.
Upcoming Schedule:
Championship (Best-of-3)
Saturday, July 27
No. 3 River Rats vs. No. 1 Lightning, Buddy Lowe Field at Pat Thomas Stadium, 7 p.m.
Sunday, July 28
No. 1 Lightning vs. No. 3 Suns, Melching Field at Conrad Park, 7 p.m.
Monday, July 29
(If Necessary, both teams with one loss)
No. 3 River Rats vs. No. 1 Lightning, Buddy Lowe Field at Pat Thomas Stadium, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, July 30
Make-Up Day, TBA.
Wednesday, July 31
Make-Up Day, TBA.
In other FCSL News:
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