SEVENTH HEAVEN

As the celebration began at Cook Field, the euphoric Blasters rushed to first base to mob Goodhue, who clearly relished the attention from a collection of large and sweaty men.

"I knew I had to get a hit in that situation," Goodhue said. "[Blasters Manager Chris] Crowley was on deck. There was no way I was going to leave this game up to him."

The game-winning hit, plus eight stellar innings in relief of starting pitcher George McShane, earned Goodhue the coveted Most Valuable JAMmer award. She is the second woman to be so honored, and the first since Sue Smith captured the award for the Blasters in the 1996 Grand Slam JAM.

The 16-15 win gave the Blasters their unprecedented seventh consecutive JAM title, and it was probably their most difficult. As if dealing with the tropical heat and humidity and the intermittent rain were not enough, the Blasters also had to overcome numerous deficits to a Patch squad that was determined to drink from Lord Twon's JAM Cup for the first time since 2001.

The Patches made clear that this would be no easy task by jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a succession of RBI hits by Brad Sherman, Jag Bath and Joe Rosen.

The Blasters came back to tie the game in the bottom of the inning when Billy Tagliaferri drove in Mike Campoli and George McShane with a three-run homer to left field. This was the first of three times that the big first baseman would prove critical to the Blasters' potent attack.

The Patches grabbed a 4-3 lead with a run in the second when Rookie of the Year Alex Jones sent Chris Spellman home with an RBI single. They extended that lead to 7-3 in the third on a two-run Sherman homer and an RBI double from Mike Ozga.

Everyone was stunned by the power surge and five RBIs from the frequently mustaccioed and always entertaining Sherman, who typically spends his on-field time at The JAM smoking cigarettes and sending text messages to Korean hand models he met the previous evening in Lower East Side clubs.

"Today showed Brad's positives and negatives," teammate Tom Dever said. "Yes, he had seven RBIs, but his abject indifference towards defense -- not moving after balls, whiffing on fly balls that hit him in the navel -- makes me sad. If he would change his lifestyle and devote himself to The JAM, he could become an MVJ, instead of lobbying for it during the game."

The two teams then traded runs, with the Blasters scoring on a solo homer by Kevin Gourdine in the third, and the Patches scoring on another RBI single by Jones in the fourth.

The four-run deficit and a general malaise made things look bleak for the Blasters, and their six-year reign of superiority was in substantial jeopardy. But championship streaks of this magnitude are built on grit and determination, and in the bottom of the sixth, the Blasters proved they had those qualities in abundance.

After Dom Campoli and Gourdine led off the inning with consecutive hits, Mike Campoli cleared the bases with a home run to the gap in right-center that split Sherman and Joe Rosen. Sherman was so frustrated by the play that, when he finally got to the ball, he tried to kick it into the adjacent stream.

Tagliaferri and Rob Andrusco then roped back-to-back hits to tie the game at 8-8.

With the score tied, Goodhue, who relieved the ineffective McShane in the fifth inning, fully settled into a rhythm. After holding the Patches scoreless for her first two frames to give the Blasters a chance to rally, she continued to stymie them in the seventh and eighth. During that four-inning stretch, the MVJ pitched to only one batter over the minimum, and she was the beneficiary of many fine efforts in the field.

Goodhue's scoreless streak ended in the top of the ninth, when the Patches plated three runs on a succession of singles by Dever, John Licht (who reluctantly donned a Patches jersey for the first time in history), Sherman, Bath, Ozga and Mike Fornabaio. The Blasters responded with a three run rally in their half of the frame, featuring back-to-back homers from Gourdine and Mike Campoli, and an RBI single by Pher Hale.

The Blasters took the lead for the first time in the bottom of the 11th, when back-to-back triples by Tagliaferri and Andrusco (not a misprint) capped a four-run outburst that appeared to seal the game.

But the Patches, who had victory in their hands such a short while ago, would not go quietly. After a few well-placed hits and an equal number of wacky calls (including the first-ever attempted invocation of the infield fly rule at The JAM and a dangerous line drive by Sherman down the left field line that barely bounced foul), the Patches pushed the tying runs across the plate and had Pete Gerken standing on third base representing the go-ahead run.

Unfortunately for the Patches, who were left on the field for the second time in three years, that was a close as they would get.

With the score tied at 15 entering the bottom of the final inning, Wiessmann and Mike Balducci singled, setting the stage for Goodhue, who proved that she is as capable of delivering at the plate as she is on the mound.

As the Patches' outfielders chased the ball into the gap, Wiessmann rounded third. Catcher Mike Fornabaio desperately called for a throw that would never come as Spellman, knowing there was nothing to be done, walked off the field, passing the jubilant Blasters as they ran toward their MVJ.

"I've spent the last 29 (+1) years of my life searching for my rightful place in this world," a reflective Goodhue said after the game. "I believe my journey came to a glorious conclusion today. Perched atop the mound at Cook Field with George [McShane] whispering sweet pitching coach nothings in my ear, I bocced, bowled, horseshoed and occassionally pitched my way through eight long innings, thereby rendering my arm and rear end so sore that I will not be able to walk properly for a week. The gentle taunting from friends, family and co-workers will be well worth it. Because anything that causes this amount of pain must add up to the best day ever. Go Blasters!"