The playdown semifinals between the Solingen Alligators and the Dortmund Wanderers went over the full distance of five games, before Solingen was able to prevail in the end, very narrowly but deservedly.
After the two teams met in Solingen, the score was 1: 1. Last Saturday game 3 of the best-of-five series started in Dortmund. After the game opened with the first pitch of Marvin Möllmann from premium sponsor Getränke Gefromm, Solingen had the better start. In the third inning, Brandt Holland, who was outstanding for the entire weekend, managed a 2-run home run to make it 2-0.
Dortmund countered in the fourth round with Geison Gomez, who initially brought Jorge Martin home with his hit and after a double from Mel Börner even reached the home plate to equalize 2-2.
With 2-RBI and one run, Geison Gomez takes the lead
In the fifth inning, the Dortmund team increased significantly. Player-coach Roy Wesche initially scored with his double Victor Velazquez. With a long shot in Geison Gomez’s rightfield, Wesche was able to cross the finish line together with Jorge Martin. And Geison Gomez also reached the home plate to 6: 2 after a ground ball from Luis Martin.
The Wanderers looked like the sure winners before Dave Paradela’s arm got heavy. He had once again delivered a great starting pitcher and held out into the ninth inning. But now he actually had to accept 4 counterpoints to equalize shortly before the victory. There is no tie in baseball and an extra inning had to be played. Gianni Westphal took over the mound for Paradela and had to accept the decisive point for Solingen to lose 6: 7.
Luis Martin provides the highlight in the second game with a 3-run home run
In the second game of the day (game 4 of the semi-final series) Dortmund immediately got into the game well. Luis Martin scored in the first and second innings. Solingen only countered in the fourth round, but again with 4 points for the lead. But the Wanderers also scored four times. In the fifth inning, Jorge Martin made a point after a Solingen mistake and brother Luis Martin hit a 3-run home run to 6: 4 lead. An inning later, Geison Gomez increased to 8-4 with a 2 RBI single. Because pitcher Ricardo Gonzalez, who had replaced the equally good Jorge Martin after five innings, had the Solingen attack division well under control and allowed nothing more, the 8: 4 was the deserved final score.
Dortmund Wanderers force the favorites into the 5th game
So it was a total of 2: 2 and on Sunday the all-important game 5 had to be played. The 19 innings played over a good 6.5 hours on Saturday were noticeable to everyone involved. Nevertheless, an exciting game developed between Solingen and Dortmund.
Dortmund came into play well with three runs from Luis Martin, Giovanni Binetti and Jorge Martin, but had to accept a 3-5 deficit again after three innings. In the middle of the encounter there was an exchange of blows. The Wanderers scored four runs in the fifth inning and five in the sixth. Solingen responded with a total of ten runs between the fifth and seventh game segment.
When the score was 15:12, it went into the ninth inning, where Dortmund came up to one point again. The Wanderers pressed the equalizer there and had loaded the bases in the event of an out. But a strikeout and a flyout ended the game after 4 hours of play in favor of the alligators.
Solingen is now playing against Cologne, which was also only able to prevail against Berlin in the fifth game, for 5th place in the 1st Baseball Bundesliga North. The Dortmunders have to compete against the Berlin Flamingos for 7th place.
