TBolts Look to Bust Bethesda's One-Seed Hopes Tonight at Blair
SILVER SPRING, JULY 21—The Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts (11-26) play a doubleheader against the Bethesda Big Train (25-11) tonight at Blair Stadium. These are the final regular season games for the Thunderbolts, as there are no makeup games scheduled for tomorrow. The Thunderbolts are looking to end the season on a high note, and improve their 6-12 home record.
Bethesda currently sits 0.5 games ahead of the Olney Cropdusters in the race for the one seed in the playoffs. Today, the Cropdusters face the Gaithersburg Giants. Tomorrow, Olney and Bethesda face off in a game that could potentially decide the top seed.
If Bethesda loses both games today and the Cropdusters win their next two, Big Train would be knocked down to the two-seed (perhaps even the three seed if the Southern Maryland Senators win their next two games). If Bethesda sweeps Silver Spring-Takoma and Olney loses to Gaithersburg, Big Train are essentially locked into the number one seed for the playoffs.
As for Silver Spring-Takoma, they secured the eight seed after losing to the Cropdusters twice and Senators twice this past week. No matter what, they will play the fifth seed this upcoming Thursday. As of right now, the candidates for that position are the Alexandria Aces, Metro SoCo Braves, and Gaithersburg Giants.
The Thunderbolts have not played a doubleheader against Bethesda since June 24, where they split at Blair. In Game One, they lost 11-9 after gaining an 8-3 lead through five innings. In Game Two, they came through with a 6-5 victory thanks to a walk-off single by outfielder Joey King (St. Olaf).
Game one is set to kick off at 5 P.M., and Game Two will be played shortly afterward. For those who can’t attend, Peter Kelly will bring you the coverage on the Thunderbolts YouTube channel
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