Our 3-2 record gave us the #6 seed in the top (AAAA) bracket. We faced the #3 Washington Titans.
The Titans opened the scoring in the bottom of the second. A triple to left and a sac fly scored one. After a double and another out, their #9 hitter drilled one to left center that went for an inside the park home run.
We got one back in the top of the third. Clyde Jones singled with one out. Julian Blea, running for Clyde, stole second. Codany Holiday’s base hit put runners on the corners. While Holiday stole second, the Titans put on the cutoff play, but the catcher and shortstop were out of synch, and the ball went into left center, allowing Julian to score.
In the bottom of the third, the Titans got runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Bill Bonekat made a nice play on a grounder to third, and got the out at home. But a two-out base hit scored one. So it was 4-1 after 3.
The Titans opened up the game in the 4th. With one out, they got 6 hits in a row to score 4 runs.
Things got worse in the 5th. Three errors contributed to a 3-run inning for the Titans, making the score 11-1.
We scored 2 runs in the 6th. Singles by Holiday, Bonekat, Denny Brown, and Phil Moses coupled with a few Titans errors did the damage.
The Titans got one of those runs back in the bottom. 12-3 after 6.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Titans loaded the bases with one out. We played the infield and outfield in to cut off the “mercy rule” tenth run. We got a popup to short left field for the second out. On the play, the runner at second was pretty far off second. We tried to double him off, but the ball got away and the runner from third scored.
It was a weird way to end our tournament. 🙂
Our final record was 3-3.
The Titans beat the Terre Haute Volkers in the semi-finals, and then lost to the Ohio Classics in the finals.
Team Photo (click on the photo for a larger version):
Front row (left to right): Jeff Brown, Mike Sasso, Angelo Crudale, Rankin Lyman, Tony Finocchiaro, Codany Holiday, Julian Blea, Bill Bonekat.
Back row (left to right): Denny Brown, Walt Boggan, Frank Milian, George Esposito, Rich Hinkle, Mike Mantia, Bob Bastiaans, Clyde Jones.
Not pictured: Phil Moses
Glad to see the Titans lose!
Sorry I couldn’t join up with you (the whole team) but hoping my wife is better next year where I can help the club and hopefully we all can all pull it together and win a ring. I appreciated reading your updates via emails and it sounds like all in all you guys had a great time. Being able to play and compete on the ballfield, especially at our age, is a wonderful thing. Enjoy the holidays!!!!!!!!