This is what the Playoff Results Page says on the WCASI web site:
So we are now the AIR COMEHEADS!
And indeed, we did COME again!
It was a remarkable weekend. I think the only real (uninjured) runners we had by the end were Pope and Darren and possibly Gene and Charlie. And Chop and me of course but do we count?
A truism - being the home team is overrated unless there are 40,000 cheering fans in the stands. Jumping on the team in the first is a much larger advantage. We were up on the Elite 9-2 in both games that we came out on top. They never recovered in the Saturday game, and even though they were relentless in the Championship game we were able to add on to stay ahead, if not completely comfortably.
The other truism is the ability to add on - in the championship game the eight run fifth inning when we batted around as the best inning of the year, and loomed even larger when they answered with seven.
There were too many highlights to list them all in (much less I can remember) but the one that is burned into my brain actually occurred in the last inning of the game against Advance Construction. It was in the last inning when Advance wanted to make a last run at us. There was a dribbler to short that James barehanded and slung to first on a bang bang play - no way he gets the out if he doesn't bare hand it. We go on to win the tight game to advance (sorry for the pun).
James was all over the place, diving this way and that, and never made a throw that wasn't right in the first baseman's glove whether it was D, Haze or me. And his hitting - he drove in seven of our dozen runs in the first game against the Elite, outscoring them by himself. He added six in the championship game. All told he drove in 16 over the weekend - all with a hobbled leg. Second on that list was Darren (who had clutch hit after clutch hit) with 6. All of James' doubles deep in the center field gap would have been homers undoubtedly if he were 100%.
Next up is Joe. Joe had batters reaching all weekend long. I think he walked one the whole weekend. And I have never seen anyone defend the middle like Joe. The last play summed up his whole defensive game - he had to reach down in a split second to nab the smash, and the Championship was ours. His defense allowed us to put Rover Randy in the shallow outfield. Normally I am not a fan, I'd rather have five infielders, but with Joe on the mound you already have the middle covered. Against the Elite this was particularly effective because they hit a lot of liners in front of the outfielders, who have to respect their power potential. With Randy's range, it gives us another powerful defensive weapon.
The outfield put on a show, Each one of them, Pope, Gene, Lefty and Darren made numerous running catches. Luckily their legs held out, and I am sure they all took it easy today. Pope and Randy in the leadoff spots were running all over the place and scored nineteen of our 51 runs over the weekend. And that doesn't include when they ran for others, so I'm sure they scored half the team's runs. Darren was 5-6 with two outs in the four games. And he's never seen a shallow fly where he didn't want to make a sliding catch.
Haze gets the all around play any and everywhere award. He made plays at first, second, and rover before settling into third base for the Sunday games. He handled everything flawlessly.
Chopper as usual was a gnat in the opposition's ears behind the plate. And he rediscovered his stroke during the weekend, after struggling for a long time. His shot to left center, a two run triple put the stamp on our biggest inning of the year in the penultimate game that put us up 22-7. Even though they gave us a little scare and narrowed it to five runs, they were really through after that.
Charlie showed up just in time and made a few plays at second including starting a double play on a hot shot, and had a few clutch hits. The first baseman doinked a couple but also made a few plays. His play of the weekend was stretching to his full full 5'7" on the ground while holding the bag on an errant throw from third. Unfortunately, when the call was protested, the field ump realized he was so focused looking to see if he held the bag, he forgot to look at the runner and then decided he had already reached the bag and reversed the call.
Obviously Derek played a huge role in the season and on the first day of Playoffs. Larry stepped in when G went down and anchored 2B all season. Chauncey and super sub Rob and Rich before he was hurt all contributed. The team had to get to know each other this season - between the year off and all the new players. But we got it together and in the end the rag tag team came through. It was sweet.
And last but not least - Chuck wins a Championship in his first year as Manager! There was a learning curve but he made all the right moves. And filled in when necessary, and the man can still hit!
It may be our swan song, and/or it may be the last hurrah for some of us oldsters. If so, it is great to go out on top. But if we can recruit a few more Joes and Jameses and Darrens, maybe the Coneheads can come back and defend our crown. It's hard to believe since we don't routinely go 13-1 in the regular season like we used to, but this is our fourth Cotton year in the last six years the league has played. No one else can say that.
Have a great off season and see you at Masse's!
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