After defeating the State House last week, the Fourth Estate couldn't repeat the feat in the first round of the playoffs Wednesday, falling to their rivals from the Hill, 23-6. The News Service ended the year with an 8-7 record.
It just wasn't the Fourth Estate's evening Wednesday. The State House took advantage of three walks and a grand slam as part of a seven-run top of the first to provide all the runs they would need. The bounces started going the State House's way early on, such as the one off a tree in rightfield that turned an out into significant damage.
Steve Popper started the bottom of the inning with a triple, but few other extra base hits followed the rest of the game for the Fourth Estate. Popper came home on a Jason Lefferts RBI groundout as the News Service finished the first frame down 7-1.
The State House tacked on two more in the second, which the Fourth Estate answered with two of their own in the last half of the inning, but it would get no closer. Surrendering 11 more runs, the Fourth Estate entered the last of the fifth down 20-4 and dreaming of the Red Hat menu.
Steven Kaye, who battled injuries and a hitting slump in 1998, seems back at 100 percent after hitting his second homer of the year in the fifth. Jon Tapper reached on an error and scored the team's final run of the year in the sixth. Tapper, who finished as the team's leading hitter with his .600 average, will spread softball goodwill internationally as a member of Fourth Estate Europe for the next two seasons. The temporary loss of Tapper will adversely affect the team's championship hopes in 1999, but the return of Dan Brem to the lineup Wednesday (even with his fielding error) came as a lift.
Despite the early postseason exit, it was a fine season for the Fourth Estate. The News Service started the year 2-4, but won five of the next six games and proved it could compete with any team in the league.
Walking away from the team's final encounter of the year, witty veteran Gerry Brown summed it up: "There's always next year!"
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