Schweyer hurls WAH to Palm Springs men’s fastpitch title

March 27, 2018

By BOB OTTO / March 25, 2016

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - After WAH reached the semifinals of the Palm Springs Classic men’s fastpitch softball tournament on Sunday afternoon, pitcher ROB SCHWEYER was essentially handed the ball with the bidding, “now take us to the finish line.”

 And over the final two ball games, the Canadian-born right-hander was near perfect in allowing but one hit over 11 innings in defeating the A1 Rockies 2-0 in the semis, and the Budmen 2-0 in the championship.

 Schweyer’s totals on the day tell of his dominance: Against the Rockies he fired a four-inning no-hitter with nine strikeouts and three walks. About 35 minutes later, he returned to the pitching circle and shackled the Budmen on a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts.

 His only blemish in the championship was ELI SALAZAR’S clean single in the fourth and a seventh-inning walk to MONTE WELLS, but Schweyer ended the game with an infield popup to nail down WAH’s first So. Calif. Independent Fastpitch League (SCIFL) Alliance tournament title of the season.

 Wells was nearly the equal of Schweyer, but WAH reached him for a run in the fourth inning on a DAN DURGIN single that brought home SCOOTER HARRIS, who led off the inning with a hit. 

 WAH of the Morongo Indian Rezervation, added an insurance run in the fifth when Harris hit safely to right-field plating MAL CRUZ, who opened the frame with a clean single to right. 

 But other than that, Wells was tough. He finished with four-hitter, 11 strikeouts, two walks and a hit batter. Wells’ defense came up huge and bailed him out of trouble in the first inning by pulling off a remarkable infield triple play.

 For WAH, Harris was 2-for-2 with a walk; Durgin 1-for-2, and Cruz 1-for-2. As the No. 1 seed, WAH opened Sunday’s playoff by beating Casa Trejo, 4-0, with ANTHONY LOZA notching the win. Loza and Schweyer each finished 3-0 in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Budmen came into Sunday's playoffs as the No. 3 seed, finishing pool play at 2-1. Sunday morning the bats heated up as Budmen defeated the Morongo Men's Club, 8-1, followed by shutting out Those Guys, 6-0, to qualify for the championship game.