By Jonah Karp

WAKEFIELD, RI—The Waves entered the second game of the Southern Division Finals having pinned the Pilgrims to the brink of elimination. The home team knew what was at stake: a victory on Monday would catapult Ocean State to the NECBL Championship Series for the second consecutive year. In what felt like a microcosm of the season, the Waves (3-0) defeated Plymouth (0-2) 8-5 in front of the South Kingstown faithful.

Despite the end result, the Pilgrims set the early tone. After Jesse Slinger retired the first two batters in the top of the first, the NECBL batting champion Cam Walsh laced a single down the right-field line.

As was the case the previous night, Plymouth capitalized on situations with runners on and two away. On Monday, the first ingredient of that recipe included an exclamation point. Isaiah Cullum cracked his tenth long ball with the Pilgrims to give his team a 2-0 advantage.

That initial tempo remained set to the beat of the Plymouth metronome. Willie Homza began the second with a single before Colton Parrish walked him over to second base. As the motif bubbled up with two gone, Elijah Dunham roped a single to plate Homza.

Trailing 3-0 into the fourth, the Waves were determined to get on the board. After AJ Kullman induced a groundout from Cullen Smith, Casey Dana doubled, and Garrett Hodges walked to place two ducks on the pond with one away. On the next pitch, Sonny Ulliana punched a single into right-center to score Dana to cut the deficit to two.

The Pilgrims called that run in the sixth, with Tyler Wyatt smashing a solo shot with two away against Jake Walker. Down three again, Ocean State answered back promptly in the bottom of the frame. Taking a page out of the Plymouth playbook, two-out scoring produced a rally. Garrett Hodges and Ulliana traded ground rule doubles to manufacture another run with two out in the sixth.

But the chess match persisted, with any sort of momentum for the Waves seemingly stifled by the Pilgrims. Parrish doubled against Cam Lafleur, and Tyler Wyatt worked a two-out full-count walk. After four straight foul balls, Elijah Dunham lined a single to centerfield.

The previous time Liam McArthur’s arm was tested, he threw out Dunham trying for home in the fourth. As Parrish rounded third, the throw from center headed to the dish. McArthur’s effort came in a little high, but Parrish decided not to slide, leading to a scary play but ultimately one more run for the Pilgrims.

But despite all of the two-out scoring for Plymouth, resiliency was wearing a Waves uniform in this contest. Hodges doubled on the first pitch in the home eighth, and Ulliana reached on a fielder’s choice on the second offering. Dave Chabut followed suit with a single to bring Hodges across, before crossing the plate himself off a Daren Wood groundout out to short.

The Waves entered the ninth trailing 5-4. It could’ve been worse had Hodges not gunned down Walsh attempting to tag from second for the last out of the prior half-inning. But a snapshot of the season for this team would highlight the notion that Ocean State not only overcomes but excels with an ominous cloud of adversity looming over.

After working a 2-2 count, Grant English muscled a single through the right side of the infield to get the inning going. On the next pitch, Cullen Smith flared a single to center, to put two on base and advance the tying run to scoring position.

After Declan Cronin forced Dana to fly out to left, he lost Garrett Hodges to a walk to load up the bases for Sonny Ulliana. The Rhode Island Ram stepped into center stage with four game-winning hits to his credit during the regular season—three of them walk-offs—and an opportunity with the winning run on second base.

After sitting on a 3-0 pitch, the catcher launched a moonshot into the night sky. Admiring his masterpiece in motion, Ulliana flipped his paintbrush back toward the dugout of the team he blasted into the NECBL Finals. As he headed for home, the man of the hour crashed into a tidal wave of elation with a sea of blue awaiting his arrival.

Sonny Ulliana cashed in, tallying three hits and six RBI. Perhaps lost in the jubilation, are the efforts of Liam McArthur and Garrett Hodges who each posted three hits as well. Meanwhile, Graham Seitz was credited with the victory—his first of the 2018 campaign—after tossing a sparkling ninth.

Ocean State will face the winner of the Valley/Sanford series, with the Blue Sox holding a one-game advantage over the Mainers.