July 29, 2007 — The Yankees overcame a seven-run Monarchs fifth inning to take a 2-1 Raphael Jackson AA Baseball League finals lead. The 18-16 victory means that the Yankees can now claimed the 2007 crown in the best three of five series with a win Sunday night at the D.C. Canegata ball park. Leroy Simmonds delivered the heart-breaking blow on Saturday, as his grand slam in the bottom of the sixth broke a 13 all tie and propelled the Yankees to the win. The series, as well as the entire playoffs, has been plagued by a plethora of injuries. No team has been spared and players have had to play with their injury or there may not have been any games. Hardest hit has been the pitchers and this means that position players have had to pick up the slack. The result of all of this has been the big football-like scores.
Batting first, the Monarchs picked up an unearned run in the top of the first on a Yankees error to open the scoring. The Yankees responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Simmonds and a Monarchs error to lead 2-1 at the end of the first inning.
The Monarchs retook the lead in the top of the second at 4-2, scoring three runs on an RBI single by Rosito Velez and a two-run single by Javier Encarnacion. The Yankees could only come up with one run and they trailed 4-3 after two innings.
After a scoreless third, the Yankees plated four runs in the bottom of the fourth taking a 7-4 lead. They scored four runs on an RBI single by Simmonds and three on Monarchs errors.
The Monarchs responded mightily in the top of the fifth scoring seven runs, of which only two were earned. Rashan Foster had an RBI single and Encarnacion had a sac fly to help propel their team to a 11-7 lead. That lead was short lived however as the Yankees responded with six runs of their own on a three-run double by Mackeel Rogers, RBI singles by Omari Eastman and Rael Sacky and a bases loaded walk drawn by Jermaine Lynch to retake the lead at 13-11 at the end of five completed innings.
The Monarchs tied the game at 13 in the top of the sixth scoring two runs on RBI singles by Foster and Kenny Milligan. However the Yankees took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning, scoring four runs on a grand slam home run by Simmonds and leaving the score at 17-13 at the end of six innings.
After the Monarchs failed to score in the top of the seventh, the Yankees added their last run of the game on a Monarchs error to lead 18-13.
The Monarchs would add two runs in the eighth on a two-run single by Andre Poche, and one in the ninth on a sac fly by Conrad Prevost to set the final score at 18-16.
Simmonds picked up the win for the Yankees in relief of starter Omar Encarnacion, while Carmelo Torres, also on in relief, got the loss for the Monarchs.
Top hitters for the Yankees were, Simmonds, 3 for 3 with a home run and six RBIs, Eastman, 2 for 4 with an RBI, and Sacky was 3 for 6 with an RBI. For the Monarchs, Encarnacion was 1 for 4 with three RBIs, and Poche was 3 for 4 with four RBIs.
