In one of the most exciting Championship Games in recent memory, the Padres completed their Three-peat by beating the Giants at Buckland Park 5-4.  The Championship was also the Padres 8th overall, and came on a walk-off single in the 9th inning by Carl Gaupp.

The game was close and hard fought throughout, with both teams refusing to give in to each other’s opportunities.  After Padres starter Mark Manioci kept the Giants off the board in the top of the 1st inning, the Padres struck first in their half of the inning.  Gaupp led off the inning with a single, stole second base, and was sacrificed to third by Jim Varney.  An infield error on Jay Thomas’ ground ball allowed Gaupp to score the game’s first run.  With two outs, Thomas then scored on Dominick Tubolino Jr’s double down the left field line. 

The Giants came right back in the top of the 2nd with back to back doubles.  They had a great opportunity to not only tie the game, but also take the lead when following a single, runners were on first and third with still nobody out.  One of many big moments in this game occurred when Mark Manioci got the ground ball the Padres needed to turn a 5-4-3 double play, with the runner on third still not scoring.  A fly ball ended the inning and the Padres escaped still leading 2-1.

A sacrifice fly in the top of the 3rd inning tied the score for the Giants, but the Padres responded in the bottom of the 3rd to re-take the lead.  With two outs, Thomas legged out a double and scored on Dennis Tubolino’s single.  Another single by Tubolino Jr and a walk to Mike Murphy loaded the bases, but the Giants put an end to that rally and the inning ended with the Padres leading 3-2.  In the 4th inning the Padres extended their lead with a run scoring double by Ray Manioci to make the score 4-2. 

The Giants continued to respond in the 5th inning.  Back to back hits to lead off the inning, followed by a sacrifice fly scored a run to bring the deficit back to one run, 4-3.  With the tying run standing on third base and only one out, the Padres brought in Ray Manioci to relieve his father Mark.  The younger Manioci put out the fire by striking out the next two batters to preserve the lead. 

When the Giants brought in Nate Jones to pitch, it was obvious that this game was going to be decided by the two hard throwing relievers.  The two of them didn’t disappoint as they both put up zeros going into the 9th inning.  Manioci struck out the first batter and then allowed a single to Frank, who recorded his second hit of the game to give the Giants hope.  After a popup to short for the second out, Jones came up to the plate and with two strikes lined a double to score the tying run.  The Padres were one strike away from the win, but now found themselves needing to bat in the bottom half of the 9th inning.

Mike Yazback led off by reaching on an infield error.  Matt Delly followed with a single to move Yazback to second.  A groundout by Chris Murphy moved the runners to second and third.  Mark Manioci was brought in to pinch hit and drew a walk to load the bases.  With the infield drawn in, Gaupp hit his single up the middle to score Yazback from third and end the exciting game, giving the Padres the Championship.