Kings out-slug Cyclones advancing to the ALCS for the first time

COUNTY LINE- The 2020 ORWBL Postseason kicked off on Sunday with all 14 teams in action at four different sites across the league. Let’s take a look at what happened over in the County Line Region as the 2nd seeded Kings hosted both a Play-in and Wild Card game before their American League Division Series.

After hosting games during the 2019 Mechanics postseason run, playoff wiffleball returned to the hitter friendly Garage.

Starting with the Play in game, we saw a matchup between two teams who underperformed this season as Twin Branch and Hudson Lake squared off. Both teams went back and forth from start to finish as each team traded plenty of Homers.

At the end of it, it was the 7th seeded Hudson Lake Heat who came out on top as they out-hit their way to a 14-13 victory. For Twin Branch, their disappointing season comes to an end just one year removed from winning 20 games in the regular season.

There is plenty of talent on that roster so they should be expected to have a bounceback season in 2021. Meanwhile, Hudson Lake looked to keep things rolling in the Wild Card game versus the 3rd seeded Flat Rock Cyclones.

Hudson Lake’s hopes of making a Cinderella run were cut short in the Wild Card game as the Cyclones joined two other ORWBL teams picking up their first postseason win in franchise history.

That set the stage for a National League Division Series between two teams that met up all the way back on Opening Day. The Flat Rock Cyclones handed the County Line Kings a sweep on that day in which the Cyclones opened up their new ballpark, The Barnyard.

The County Line lineup was a little different this time around however as AL Triple Crown winner JP Kehoe was in the lineup. Kehoe missed the first 3 games of the season before playing in the next 21, leading County Line to an impressive 18-3 record over that stretch.

With Kehoe in that loaded lineup, County Line was too much to handle for Flat Rock in Game 1 as they out-slugged their way to a 17-8 win. In Game 2, Mark Richards was able to slow down the County Line offense with success, holding them to only 2 runs.

This was definitely the type of game Flat Rock wanted to be playing as they excelled all season long in low scoring affairs. With Richards containing the Kings bats, the Cyclones received just enough run production as they held on for a 4-2 win.

With everything on the line in Game 3, we saw both teams turn it up a notch as this was probably the most entertaining game of the series. Both teams went back and forth throughout once again but it was the home team who did just a little more as County Line clinched the series after a dramatic 11-10 series clinching win.

This series certainly provided some high drama moments as both teams appeared rather evenly matched. However, it was the higher seeded County Line ballclub that is moving onto their first ever ALCS.

County Line will look to pull off the upset in the ALCS as they will travel to Magic Park to take on the 3x defending ORWBL World Series Champions.

This Kings team has already had their success against Maple City as they notably took 2 out of 3 from the Magic on their own ring day. They will certainly be heading into that one with confidence sky high knowing that they are the only team to win a series against the Magic all season long.