After battling through an expanded 42-game schedule, and a first round playoff series that stretched to six games, the Toronto Maple Leafs 2013 season ended last night at Christie Pits.
Game Six was the best one of the series. It was a tense back-and-forth affair that saw four lead changes and a 6-5 final for the Kitchener Panthers.
Full congrats to the Panthers who slugged their way to a 4-2 series win, outscoring Toronto 64-50 over six games.
The game will stand out in many ways.
The Leafs jumped out to a lead thanks to Jon Waltenbury's two-run home run in the 1st inning.
The same Jon Waltenbury was thrown out of the game in the bottom of the 7th for arguing balls and strikes. When Waltenbury approached the home plate umpire to give him a piece of his mind, the ump shoved him and set off a brief fracas involving several players, coaches and umpires. Madness.
Upon seeing this, the Christie Crazies rose up in full voice, berating the umpire with a season's worth of pent-up rage. Even the mild mannered team statistician leapt to his feet and roared abuse at the umpire from behind the infield fence. A few other fans lost their cool and harangued the ump from behind the fence for several innings.
When order was restored, the Leafs were down to their final outs. Sean Mattson had belted two homers in the game including one in the 8th, but he went down on a strikeout in the 9th. Game over, series over.
After the victors' team pileup and the handshakes between clubs, the players didn't linger. They gathered their bats and gloves and hastily left the field.
One deranged fan - who was quite literally deranged, or maybe drunk - raged on into the night, his voice carrying on long after he'd disappeared somewhere into the darkness beyond the left field fence.
Before making one final climb up from the Pits, I watched the team staff gather up all the equipment and load it into a wheelbarrow.
Back on Opening Day, the groundskeeper was the very first character to appear in these write-ups. As I cast my final glances around the park, I watched as he was the last one to leave. He rolled the equipment-laden wheelbarrow slowly back to the clubhouse, to put it all away until next spring.
Recap:
The Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Kitchener Panthers at Christie Pits for Game Six of their first round playoff series.
Without poring over the stats at this hour, and despite the ultimate result of this game, I'll go ahead and say it was one of the best outings of the season for Toronto starter Marek Deska.
Deska mowed through the first three batters to start the game, striking out two.
In the bottom of the opening frame, Jon Waltenbury knocked a screaming two-run home run off Kitchener starter Matt McGovern. 2-0 Leafs.
Panthers DH Bryon Bell returned the favour in the top of the 2nd inning, hitting a two-run blast of his own to tie the game 2-2.
Both starters pitched scoreless 3rd and 4th innings.
In the top of the 5th, Darnell Duckett doubled and Mike Andrulis drove him in with a single to give the Panthers their first lead of the game, 3-2.
Toronto responded immediately. Waltenbury drew a walk, then third baseman Sean Mattson hit a two-run home run to put the Leafs back ahead. Catcher Damon Topolie then hit what looked like a double to keep the rally going, but he failed to touch first base when rounding for second, and was called out. 4-3 Leafs after 5 innings.
A scoreless 6th led to a critical top of the 7th. Rick Murray reached first on a throwing error by Mattson, then moved to second on a wild pitch. A single by Duckett brought him in and knocked Deska out of the game. Duckett then stole second off new pitcher Justin Cicatello. Another single by Andrulis drove him home and the Panthers were back ahead 5-4.
The Leafs went down in order in the bottom of the 7th, and Waltenbury was ejected for arguing with the umpire.
Each team scored a run in the 8th, with Mattson hitting an opposite field solo shot that made it 6-5 going into the 9th inning.
With two outs, the Leafs got a brief rally going. Rob Gillis, batting for Waltenbury, was hit by a pitch, and then DH Sean Reilly singled. But Mattson struck out to end the game with a 6-5 final for Kitchener, and a 4-2 series win by the Panthers.
Toronto's season is over, while the Panthers move on to the semi-finals against IBL pennant winners the Brantford Red Sox.
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