MILLSBERRY MILLERS CLINCH CHAMPIONSHIP!
Monday, November 1, 2004 — In a grueling battle, Millsberry's baseball team won a thrilling pitcher's duel against their chief rivals yesterday, rallying to win by a final score of 1-0.
Coach Danner was embraced by his entire team when the last strike was thrown? and quickly doused by the water cooler. "It was a long road," Coach Danner said. "We didn't start out the season looking like this, as I'm sure all the reporters will tell you," he said, laughing.
It's true—the season's first few games were dreadful. The team looked like a collection of superstars who had never played together before in their lives. There was no sense of teamwork or coordination. It was only after Coach Danner was brought aboard that the Millers actually started looking like a team.
Still, it was an uphill battle. The coach had to rebuild the team from scratch, working through his entire roster and picking players based upon their ability to play together, rather than batting averages and slugging percentages.
At last, Coach Danner finally had a lineup he was happy with, and sure enough, the team soon started winning most of their games. Their numbers might not have looked any better from a statistical point, but their ability to get clutch hits and play error-free defense was resulting in a lot of close, hard-fought victories.
Even though their bats took most of the evening off, the Millers were able to stay in the game, thanks to an incredible pitching performance by their ace, Johnny Scarborough. Johnny pitched a no-hitter through ten innings, staying on the mound for the entire game. In the tenth, center fielder Reggie Bradshaw drilled a massive homer over the left field fence for the one and only run that the Millers would need to clinch the championship.