VIENNA, VA—Game 5 of the Clark Griffith Collegiate Baseball League Championship Series could not have been more exciting.  Unfortunately, it ended like a Shakespearean tragedy for the Senators.  The Senators lost 5-3 to Herndon Braves in the deciding game of the series Saturday night at Waters Field.  The win makes the Braves the 2005 champions.  The game was filled with strange occurrences.

            The Senators started the scoring in the second inning.  AJ LaMonda started the inning with a double.  He advanced to third on a Matt Lesyk single.  Kevin Hansen then hit a sacrifice fly to drive in LaMonda and give the Senators a 1-0 lead.

            The pitching of both teams dominated the game for the next five innings.  Neither team was able to put a run on the board.  After seven innings, the Senators still held onto their slim 1-0 lead. 

            The Braves finally struck in the eighth inning.   Ricky LaFrance singled to start the inning.  Andrew Abokheir followed with a bunt single that was just out of reach of Senator pitcher Hunter Hall.  Ryan Considine then moved both runners up with a sacrifice bunt.  With runners on second and third, the Senators brought in Noah Tritz to pitch.  Nate Parks then doubled to drive in both runners and give the Braves a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the eighth.

            After a scoreless eighth, the Senators were able to tie the game in the ninth.  Justin Bunkis singled to start the innings.  Will Bussey replaced Bunkis on the base paths.  LaMonda then reached with a bunt single, advancing Bussey to second.  Both runners advanced a base on a passed ball.  The Braves intentionally walked Lesyk to load the bases for Scott Scudder.  Scudder delivered an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2.  The Senators were not able to get any more runs on the board in the inning. 

            For the third time in the series, the teams went into extra innings.  The Senator appeared to win the game in the bottom of the eleventh inning when LaMonda hit a ball in the gap to drive in Will Bussey from first.  The umpires ruled the ball a ground rule double when the leftfielder raised his hands, signaling that the ball had gone under the fence.  The umpires conferred and decided that it was a ground rule double and that Bussey had to go back to third, taking the winning run off of the board. 

            Something that most baseball fans have never seen occurred in the top of the twelfth.  LaFrance singled to lead off the inning.  After a Cole Reeder strikeout, the Considine grounded into what would be an inning ending double play to Senator third baseman Kevin Hansen.  As Hansed threw the ball to second to start the double play, the umpire inexplicably stepped into the second and third base path and proceeded to get drilled in the head by the thrown ball.  The umpire went down immediately, halting the game.  Since the umpires are considered a part of the field, both runners were safe.  So instead of ending the inning, the Braves now had a rally going.  Parks followed the strange play with a triple, driving in two runs and giving the Braves a 4-2 lead.  They were able to put another run on the board to take a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the inning.

            Other than a Tim Guidry homerun with one out, the Senators were not able to mount a rally in the twelfth.  The loss stops the Senators from advancing to the NBC World Series in Wichita, KS.  It was a great year for the Senators, and all of the players and coaches can be proud of their accomplishments.  The loss makes the Senator organization even hungrier to challenge for the championship in 2006.