Entering the 2006 Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League Championship Series as the five-seed, with just 14 regular season wins, the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts figured to have a quick tournament. But after a second round loss to the first seed Bethesda Big Train, the Boys from Blair beat the sun, 100-plus degree heat and the top three seeds in the tournament to win the League Championship. Facing elimination four times, the T'Bolts just kept winning.

Manager Bobby St. Pierre and assistant coach Drew Zachry were nothing short of brilliant in their ability to manage their pitching staff and shuffle a line-up that kept the Silver Spring bats as hot as the game-time temperatures.

After overcoming a 3-0 deficit to defeat the favored Rockville Express, 5-3, on Wednesday night, the Thunderbolts returned home Thursday for the title game, and routed the Express, 13-1, before 265 fans.

Not only did eight of the nine Thunderbolts starters have hits on Thursday, each of those eight had multi-hit games. Nate Toth (Radford) and Joe Maca (Catholic) led the way with four hits each. Mike Sheridan (William & Mary), Justin Handler (La Salle), Alex Udwari (Belmont Abbey), Charlie Lenhard (Akron), Nick Popp (Belmont Abbey), and Tyrone Wethers (New Orleans) each had two hits. Both of Toth's hits were doubles, and Sheridan, Handler, Udwari, Maca, and Wethers also added two-baggers. Popp put the exclamation point on the night with a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning.

Perhaps lost in the offensive explosion were the Thunderbolts pitchers, who were fantastic. Andy Germuth (Mount St. Mary's) started and went five innings to earn the victory. He scattered four hits and a walk and allowed just one run while striking out five. Matt Montgomery (Montgomery College) and Mike Sufczynski (Maryland) were stellar in relief. Neither allowed a hit nor a run, and Sufczynski went the three final innings to pick up a save. Ben Orloff (UC-Irvine) had two hits for the Express, including a double. Ivor Hodgson (Mount St. Mary's) tripled and scored Rockville's only run. He was knocked in by a Michael Gilmartin (UC-Irvine) single in the fifth inning.

DJ Smith (UC-Riverside) was the lone bright spot of a Rockville pitching staff that struggled after a 35 minute rain delay to start the game. Smith pitched the seventh and eighth innings, allowing no runs on two hits with two strikeouts. Starter Justin DeFratus (Ventura) took the loss for the Express.