OST, T.A.C.T. dominate in end-of-summer tournament
By Misty Volaski

The sun beat down hard upon the Ojai men's softball championships last Sunday, where OST and T.A.C.T. stood tall as the victors of their respective divisions.

Division II winner OST swept through the early rounds, stomping out the Silver Bullets and Joe's Quick Stop. The squad then went on to play in the semifinals against Pat's Liquor, who they bested by three runs.

Head Trip, which had climbed its way through the loser's bracket, topped Pat's Liquor, 9-7, for a berth in the playoffs against OST. The OST squad came off the bench swinging, driving home four team members by the end of the first inning. Head Trip retaliated with three at the top of the second, but never gained the lead - though they did tie it up in the fifth at five. OST ultimately pulled off the win in the bottom of the seventh inning, when they squeezed out a run for the win.

T.A.C.T. drowned out Valley Builders, Diamond Dogs and Ojai Sports before facing Team Transit in the finals. Ojai Sports just nearly missed the win, losing 17-16. Mimicking OST, Ojai Sports nabbed five runs in the first inning alone. Down five, T.A.C.T. dominated the third inning with eight runs. The Sportsters took the lead again in the sixth inning, where they topped T.A.C.T., 15-12. But that lead was short-lived, as T.A.C.T. pulled off five runs in the sixth. Ojai Sports drove in one more runner, but it wasn't enough for the win.

From there, Ojai Sports moved into the loser's bracket, where they had to best Team Transit MX in order to take another shot at T.A.C.T. Team Transit, which lost to Ojai Sports in the first round of play, got revenge on the Sports team for a chance to pay in the division-deciding game.
With the score at 5-2 Ojai Sports in the second inning, it seemed there would be a repeat of the two squads' first meeting

But Transit crept up on Ojai Sports, with a run in every inning until the fifth, when they knocked the Sportsters off the track with three runs to take the lead, 7-5. Transit drummed out one more run in the sixth to give them the 8-5 lead. Two more from Ojai Sports put the heat on, but the Team Transit clung to the lead for a championship berth.

So Team Transit, who was knocked out of the winner's bracket in the first round, found themselves playing T.A.C.T. for first place in league. T.A.C.T., however, rained on the Transit parade, coming back after being down five runs to drive seven men home in the fifth. T.A.C.T. snagged one more run in the seventh to Transit's zero, giving the T.A.C.T. team the win, 11-8.

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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