The Brattleboro River Rats used a perfect suicide squeeze to break a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning and went on to defeat the Putney Fossils 5-1 in Sunday's Connecticut River Valley Baseball League playoff game. Brattleboro's Marty Vallender and Putney's Travis Watson were locked in a pitcher's duel for most of the game. Vallender scattered seven hits over nine innings, allowing one unearned run while fanning six. Watson gave up seven hits over seven innings, struck out two and allowed only one earned run.

Dan Trudeau led off the seventh with a single, advanced to second on a fielder's choice, then went to third on a Vallender one-bagger. Then, with Trudeau breaking from third on the pitch, Will Bissonnette (2-for-4, RBI) took Putney's defense completely by surprise when he dropped a perfect bunt up the first base line. Putney attempted to get the runner at home, but the throw was late and Brattleboro went ahead for good. The Rats pushed one more across in the seventh and two in the eighth to round out the scoring at 5-1.

Brattleboro's Kelvin Delarosa had two hits, including a monster solo home run over the center field fence. Abe Klein and Vallender had two singles each, and Caleb Record doubled to right. Putney's Joe LeBlanc had three hits.

Brattleboro advances to the CRVBL Championship game against the Chester Pirates this Sunday, August 22. Time and location are yet to be determined.

For more information on the Connecticut River Valley Baseball League, visit www.crvbl.org.