Game 8 Report — Tap Out 19, Hootey's 18 (8 innings)

If body language could talk, this is what Hitman Hart's was screaming in aftermath of the Moorman Main Miracle on Thursday night.

Hunched over while trying to treat his ailing back, Hart's body was screaming, "I'm too old for this shit."

In the most dramatic scene since Kirk Gibson's game-winning homer against Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 series, Hart delivered a two-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Tap Outs to a 19-18 victory over Hootey's Bar & Grill.

Hart's heroics had the dozens of fans who showed up for the epic battle reciting Jack Buck's memorable line after that Gibson homer: "I don't believe what I just saw."

Hart's performance was straight out of the Gibson/Willis Reed/Lance Armstrong mold. That bad back has forced him to miss most of the season. However, Tap Out Nation got wind of his impending return during the day on Thursday. In move reminiscent of when Michael Jordan returned to the Chicago Bulls by putting out a simple press release saying, "I'm back," Hart posted this to his loyal Facebook followers:

"Being called out of retirement to play tonight for Tappe's (formerly YOUR Herald-Whig Demons)," Hart wrote. "Fortunately it's 100 in the shade, maybe the back will cooperate."

Like any aging star, Hart made a grand entrance, arriving at Moorman Main in the third inning of the game.

"I couldn't bend over to tie my cleats," he confessed after hitting a triple in his first at-bat.

When Hart arrived, the Tap Outs were mired in the muck. Hootey's had burst out to a huge lead, taking a 14-2 advantage on the Quincy Park District's first-place team in Division V.

Feeling confident about their chances for success against the league's best organ-eye-zation, Hootey's decided to change pitchers in the fifth inning with a 14-4 lead.

Bad move.

The bottom half of the Tap Outs' lineup set the table with players like Nick the Quick, DOB, Zack Attack, Corey Haim and the Hitman himself reaching base to spark a six-run outburst. Three outs away from defeat, the Tap Outs were back in the game.

Jazzy Jeff, the birthday boy, finally started to get some help from the Tap Outs' defense, which was absolutely dreadful in the early stages of the game. The Tap Outs went into the bottom of the seventh trailing 16-12.

They chipped away at the lead as Big John Studd came to bat with two on and none out and the team facing a 16-14 deficit. He laced a shot to left field over the left fielder's head. The ball went to the wall. Knowing Hootey's catcher had struggled catching the ball, DOB, who was the third-base coach, decided to send Big John Studd all the way for an inside-the-park homer, which would have won the game.

Instead, Hootey's pitcher wisely pushed the catcher out of the way and covered home, tagging out John. The play tied the game as the game went to extra innings.

Hootey's got two runs in the top of the eighth, meaning the Tap Outs had to get three to win and keep their one-game lead in the division. Thanks to the Hitman, they're still on top of the most rough-and-tumble division that the QPD has to offer.

With two on and two out, Hitman stepped to the plate. He grabbed at the small of his back as he entered the box. On the first pitch he saw, he laced a shot to straightaway center field. For a second, it appeared the Hootey's center fielder was going to catch it. But as he made a move on the ball, he slipped and the ball sailed over his head to the wall.

Hart, eating up nine feet of dirt with each one of his strides, quickly circled the bases. By the time, the Hootey's folks got the ball, he was already near third base. There was no play at the plate this time, as the Tap Outs prevailed to improve to 7-1 on the season.

The Tap Outs agreed that it was the best comeback in club history. The win set the Tap Outs up for a huge rematch next week with JJ's Catering. JJ's boys are at 6-2, just one game back of the Tap Outs. A Tap Outs win would give them a two-game lead in the division with just three games to play.

The Tap Outs will have to manage without DOB again next week as the all-star catcher will be on vacation. Who knows if Thursday's hero, Hitman Hart, will be recovered by that time?