With first place clinched in the Essex League, the Maple City Brewers didn't have anything to play for on Friday night against the Amherstburg Senior Cardinals, and it showed. Joel Smith gave up three runs in the first inning, and was shaky the rest of the way, while the defense was out of sync.

In the end it was a Dave Smith (RF) single up the middle, with the bases loaded, 2 outs and a 3-2 count, in the bottom of the seventh, that broke the 5-5 tie and sent Maple City to their fifth straight win in the Essex League.

The Brewers trailed 3-0 after the top of the first inning, but quickly recovered to tie the game at three.

Dave Smith doubled with one out to start the rally, and went to third on a Ryan Cattrysse (CF) single. Brandyn Broadwood (C) walked to load the bases, followed by a Joe Hewak (3B)  RBI single, a David Carey (LF) walk, and a Mike Verfaillie (1B) walk that plated three runs.

The Brewers took the lead in the bottom of the second, plating one run on a hit, a hit by pitch, a walk, and a throwing error by the catcher.

In the fourth, Dave Smith led off with a walk, moved to second on wild pitch, and stole third base. Then, with two outs, the Amherstburg third baseman misplayed a groundball off the bat of Hewak allowing Smith to plate, making the score 5-3.

The Cardinals would put up single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to tie the score at 5. Matt Rylett came out of the bullpen to pitch the top of the seventh for Maple City and stopped the bleeding; setting the stage for Dave Smith's walkoff.

In the bottom of the seventh, Brock Henderson (2B) came off the bench and worked a one out walk, then stole second base. Then, in only his second plate appearance of the season, Matt Rylett worked a walk, and Matt Knights (SS) followed with a hit by pitch to load the bases.

With the score tied at five, bases loaded, and two outs, in the bottom of the seventh, Dave Smith worked a full count before ripping a base hit up the middle to plate Henderson with the winning run to give Maple City the 6-5 victory. Full box score available.

The win moves Maple City to 16-3 in the Essex County League. Matt Rylett picked up the win, moving him to 4-2 on the year. Joel Smith threw 6 innings, yielding 12 hits and five earned runs, while striking out six.