By Kim J. Harmon

It’s not where you start that matters, but where you end up - and the boys of JP Maguire can singe the lyrics to that little ditty as they celebrate the 2000 Sunday Slo-Pitch Softball League championship they earned with a 22-13 win over Hurd Construction at Dickinson Park.

Maguire entered the post-season seeded fourth with a 7-6 regular season record but eased through the playoffs - right through the winner’s bracket - to the league final on Sunday. While Botsford Drive In (11-2) and Hip-Hip-Huray (9-5) may have finished at the top of the regular season standings, it was the third- and fourth-seeded teams which stood tall at the end, battling it out for the crown.

And with Ken Nawrocki smashing a pair of home runs (5-for-5 on the day) and Greg Gallagher launching a towering opposite field jobber in the top of the sixth, Maguire out-slugged their opponents and denied Hurd Construction the opportunity to defend their 1999 title.

Hurd had reached the finals by way of the loser’s bracket and had to defeat both Botsford Drive In (11-9) and Hip-Hip-Huray (13-12 in extra innings) last Sunday to make it.

Maguire started the slugging in the top of the first, with Jaime Maguire leading off with a single. Then, with one out, Doug Delvecchio, Brennan Fraczek, Nawrocki, Chris Gueli and Chad Eaton all collected hits to put Maguire ahead 5-0.

Hurd got two of those runs back in the bottom of the frame on a double by Frank Lancaster, single by Scott Hurd and triple by Kris Svensson. But Maguire extended its lead to 13-2 in the top of the second thanks to seven consecutive one-out singles and a three-run homer from Nawrocki.

It seemed like an insurmountable lead.

Briefly.

Hurd settled down on defense in the third (they were absolutely plagued, early on, by the rising sun at Dickinson which severely hampered their outfield defense) and allowed just one hit and no blood. In the bottom of the frame, venerable old Hurd mounted a seven-run rally on five singles and a tremendous three-run homer by Bill Girard.

Maguire’s lead had been shaved to 13-9.

Neither team scored in the fourth frame, but Maguire changed that in the fifth as Fraczek and Nawrocki went back-to-back and belly-to-belly with a pair of home runs to extend the lead to 15-9.

But Hurd remained close. In the bottom of the frame, Hurd scored two runs on singled by Frank Lancaster, Scott Hurd and Justin Fraczek - and took advantage of a pair of Maguire errors. After that, with the Maguire lead trimmed to 15-11, Hurd was held in check by the pitching of Gallagher and sound Maguire defense.

Shortstop Mike Porco and second baseman Frank Durante Jr were solid up the middle. In fact, Durante made the most dramatic defensive play of the game in the second inning when he dove full out to his right to knock down a hard smash by Bill Hurd. Durante nearly gloved the ball, but the ball dropped out of his glove as he hit the dirt. Still, he was able to recover and fire over to first for the out.

In the top of the sixth, Maguire extended its lead to 17-11 on a two-run homer to rightfield by Gallagher - a towering smash that dropped just over the fence about 280 feet away. Steve George, who singled earlier in the inning, also scored on the blast.

Maguire added three more runs in the top of the seventh on singles by Delvecchio, Fraczek, and Nawrocki and a triple by Gueli. A run-scoring single by Porco in the eighth and run-scoring single by Fraczek in the ninth gave Maguire a 22-11 lead.

Hurd mounted one final rally in the bottom of the ninth as Frank Lancaster, Scott Hurd, Svensson and Jim Muraski collected four consecutive one-out singles. Svensson’s single scored a run and Muraski’s single scored another. Girard added one more single to keep the flame of hope alive, but Bob McHugh lined out hard back to the box and Gallagher, the pitcher, caught the ball in his hip pocket to secure the championship for Maguire.

Maguire banged out 29 hits, with Nawrocki and Fraczek each going 5-for-5. Mike Pavia and Delvecchio had three hits apiece.

For Hurd, Scott Hurd went 5-for-5 (all singles) and Lancaster went 4-for-5 with a double and three singles. The pair - batting third and fourth in the order - combined for eight runs scored. Svensson and Girard collected three hits apiece.