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Chippewa pitcher strikes out 19
Pami Mazulugwa leads Chiefs to a 3-2 win over St. Thomas Storm
September 11, 2024
By Rob J. Ross
FINGAL, Ont. - It was the Pami Mazulugwa show.
Mazulugwa struck out 19 batters carrying the Chippewa Chiefs to a 3-2 win over the St. Thomas Storm, in game one of the best of five South Middlesex Men's Fastball League final Tuesday.
"19 strikeouts. You're not going to win with that," Storm manager Tom Edie said. "Hats off to him. He's a good pitcher."
Tyler Annett had two of the Storm's four total hits and gave his team a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Annett delivered a RBI single, moved around the bases on a Jaso n Dawdy single and scored on a fielders' choice.
"We capitalized on a couple of mistakes by them," said Edie. "We had base runners on a couple of times, a little bit of traffic, but couldn't capitalize. They didn't make any mistakes after that first inning."
Chippewa cut the lead in half in the third inning. Back to back triples in the sixth inning pushed the Chiefs ahead, 3-2.
Singles by Annett and Randy Gray put runners on second and first base with one out in the bottom of the sixth. The threat was silenced with a pair of strikeouts. The Storm only had three base runners after the first inning, with Rob Burns hit by a pitch in the fifth.
St. Thomas pitcher Ben Hodgins tossed a six hitter, striking out eight batters and walking one.
"The series is not over. The guys are hungry," Edie said. "As the series goes on, the familiarities are there and sometimes in the last games there are more runs than in the first couple games. We'll see."
Game two is at Chippewa Thursday at 8 p.m. Dan Beecroft will start for the Storm. The veteran pitcher shutout the Chiefs, 2-0, during the regular season.
Game three is in Fingal, Sunday, at 7 p.m.
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