There will be much more to report in the coming days, but for now, the league salutes the Sons Of Pitches on their first ever championship in a well earned victory over the Grisslies. A full accounting of the weekend will follow. In the meantime, a few pictures courtesy of Amie Gaudet.
Day 4 - The Night Of The Underdog
Beer Bros. @ Hurtin' Units
The Beer Bros. opened up a 7-5 lead after 2 innings. But the Units fought back to tie the game as 12's after 5. Clutch hitting from the Hurtin' Units top of the order saw them escape with a 15-14 win. But it was a great night for the Beer Bros. in keeping the +\- favourable. Ted Blowes, Jon Douma, Pete Hollmann, Clayton Avery and Gord Dol were all 4/4 in the win.
Sons Of Pitches @ Draft Kings
Playing the #1 seed is no small task, but the Sons of pitches were ready for the challenge. Trailing 6-2 after 3 complete, SOP knuckled down and continued to play inspired defence with cashing 11 run runs over the 6th and 7th innings to earn a 15-10 victory. Chuck (Daniel) Cragg and Rick Richard were both 4/4 in the loss.
Master Batters @ Rusty Rebels
Another spirited game form the underdogs as the Master Batters played stellar defence in keeping the Rusty Rebels from having any big innings. Keeping the Rebels to 9 runs is a huge achievement. Jamie Allan and Dave Fleming were both 3/3 in the 12-9 win. Roger Gaudet was 4/4 in defeat.
Gruesome Devils @ Grisslies
The Grisslies trailed 5-4 to the Devils after 3 innings with fantastic defence being played by both teams. The Grisslies were patient and waited for their spots, counting 7 in the 4th and 6th inning and not needing the 7th to win 19-7. Doug Dwyer, Tito Presenza, and Donato Chiavaroli were all 4/4 in the win. Jens Lepa and Steve Porter were solid 3/3's in the loss.
Day 3 - Everybody Hurts
Dodge City Rounders @ Hot Tub Woody's
The Rounders exploded with a 9-0 lead after one and 1/2 innings and would hold on for a 16-7 win over the favoured Woody's. Glen Tinkler, Tim Osmond (TTB) and Keith Dell were all 4/4 in the win. Meanwhile Steve Wynnyk, Jeff Dancey and Mark Mumma were all 3/3 in defeat.
Tap Masters @ Dusty Cleats
The Taps and Cleats completely screwed the "B" pool by orchestrating a tie. The Cleats managed to send 5 players to the plate in the bottom of the 7th, but couldn't push across the go ahead run. Dan Routledge, Victor Dermott and Chris Pulfer were all perfect at the plate for the Dusty Cleats; while Tim Schrank was without an out for the Tap Masters. The Final Score was 9-9.
Inglorious Batsters @ Hurtin' Units
This game was 9-8 for the Units after 3 innings and looked to be a close, drag 'em out affair. But the Hurtin' Units rolled a 6 run 4th inning and slowly pulled away from the Batsters and secured a 18-11 victory. Peter Hollmann and Clayton Avery were both 5/5 in the win. Brian Richards had a 4/4 night for the Batsters.
Sliders @ Masters Batters
In a defensive affair, the Sliders had a 7-6 lead through 4 innings. The Masters Batters rolled 7 in ht 5th inning and were held scoreless the rest of the way. But it as enough to escape with a 13-8 win. Ryan Feehely, Tristan Emmett and Mark Clapham all had 4/4 nights at the plate for the winners. Craig Huxley was 4/4 for the Sliders.
Dog Catchers @ Draft Kings
The Draft Kings overcame a 6-2 deficit and nudged there way to a 16-10 win. Dave Potocki, Emeil Edwards and Bob Pearce were all 4/4 in the win. The Draft Kings are off to a 2-0 start and are in control of pool "A".
Day 2 - Five Get Over Excited
Dog Catchers @ Grisslies
The Dog Catchers survived a 7 run 1st inning by the Grisslies and came back to 11 to 9 after 5. The Grisslies would close with back to back 7 run innings to seal a 23-15 win. Tito Presenza, Neil Pendleburry and Rick Greenfield were all perfect with 4/4 nights at the plate. Jayso Boucher was 4/4 with 3 runs for the Dog Catchers and also chipped in a spectacular catch.
Sliders @ Rusty Rebels
The Rusty Rebels shut out the Sliders in 3 of the 7 innings and pushed two runs across in the bottom of the 7th innings to get their 7 run differential and a 20 - 13 victory. Les Vajda was 4/4 with 2 runs scored and the Armstrong brothers (Hugh and Glenn) were 5/5 and 4/4 respectively.
Hot Tub Woodys @ Master Batters
The Master Batters scored 6 runs in the 1st inning and were never headed as they cruised to a 21-7 victory over the Hot Tub Woodys. Ryan Feehley, Dave Argue and Jamie Allan were all 4/4 in the win. The Master Batters didn't require the 7th inning.
Gruesome Devils @ Sons Of Pitches
The Gruesome Devils came into this game 0-1 in the playoffs after getting beat up by the Draft Kings on Monday night. They responded with a 7 run top of the first and followed a great pitching performance by Steve DeLand to log a 19-13 win. Steve Porter, Cal Steeves, Dude and Mike Iacoucci were all 4/4 in the win. Winston Gayle responded with a 4/4 night for the Sons Of Pitches.
Tap Masters @ Beer Bros.
The Beer Bros. scored early and often, running up a 12-4 lead after 3 innings and coasting to a 20-9 win over the Tap Masters. Geoff Keogh had a stellar night going 4/4 with 4 runs as he continues to excel on the big fields. Scott Peters had a 4/4 night for the Tap Masters.
DAY 1 - First Blood
Gruesome Devils @ Draft Kings
The Draft Kings gave up 2 runs in the top of the 1st and then made short work of the Gruesome Devils, giving up only 2 runs the rest of the way. Final Score 27-4. Rick Richard and Blaine Richards (Supposedly no relation) were both 5/5 in the game. Rick scored 5 and Blaine 4.
Inglorious Batsters @ Dusty Cleats
They say the playoffs don't really start until the first upset happens. So I guess the playoffs are officially underway. The Batsters played well defensively behind a good pitching performance from Peter Hayward. At the plate, Goodin was 5/5 and Mr September (Gord Roberston) and Alan Lacey were both 4/4 in the win.
One of the stronger pieces of feedback from the August tournament was putting a designated driver option in place for people. For the playoff weekend, Friday, Saturday & Sunday, there will be drivers available to get you home safely, should you require it. Of course, there is no charge of this. Drivers will be available from an hour before the last game of the day starts; up to an hour after it completes. To find out who the DD is or make arrangements for a ride, simply ask at the bar.
Volunteering as a DD: Currently we have 5 of the 6 spots filled and there is a small incentive for your volunteerism. If you're interested in lending your services, please let me know at dwyerdouglas@gmail.com
Other Changes / Improvements for the Playoff Tournament:
- By popular demand, the hot dog cart at C1 will be back on Saturday & Sunday! Thank you to Michael Iacoucci for his kind donation.
- Beer tickets WILL be sold at the cart. Only $20.00 worth of tickets will be sold so come prepared. Change is not made here. Its a one man show and a lot going on, lets keep it simple.
- Hot dogs will be cash only @ $2.00 each. Again, no change, come prepared
- Also, by popular demand, the popcorn machine will be back. It seemed to be a big hit with kids (and certain adults), Thanks to Brian Richards for his kind donation.
- We will once again have de-alcoholized beer at soft drink prices.
- We will once again have veggie burgers (only will be cooked by request .... can't do in advance)
- We have up'd our orders of Smirnov Ice & Radler
- Coffee will be available on Saturday & Sunday morning, free of charge.
- A number of people commented on the value of the bags of chips; however we always sell out. This tournament we're going to try something different and sell big bags of chips and hopefully give people a better bang for their buck.
- We are bringing in one case of Gatorade G2 (1/3 the sugar) in addition to our 7 cases of regular Gatorade.
Explaining Ties
A few questions have come up on ties, so allow me to explain. First off, there is no way to manually update the standings page (which is probably a good thing) so it takes some background jockeying to manage. First off, we have 3 ties in the standings and to the blind eye, they would appear to be handled with different rules, but I can assure you the same process is followed for all. Our ties are:
Grisslies and Sons Of Pitches (29pts); Sliders and Inglorious Batsters (22pts) and Gruesome Devils and Dodge City Rounders (17pts)
Our tie breaker works as follows, assuming two teams have the same number of points, 1) total wins, 2) head to head record 3) runs scored 4) runs against, 5) coin flip
For the playoff round robin 3 & 4 are reversed for tie breakers
So the Grisslies and Sons of Pitches tied. They had the same number of wins. But the Sons of Pitches swept the season series against the Grisslies. Tie breakers 3 and 4 which the Grisslies won were never called into play because they didn't matter.
The Sliders and Inglorious Basters also tied. And the Sliders get the higher seed because they got to the point total with more wins.
And the same with the Gruesome Devils and Dodge City Rounders. Gruesome's extra win negates all other tie breakers.
Playoff Seedings
1st Draft Kings
2nd Dusty Cleats
3rd Rusty Rebels
4th Master Batters
5th Hurtin' Units
6th Sons Of Pitches
7th Grisslies
8th Beer Bros.
9th Hot Tub Woody's
10th Sliders
11th Inglorious Batsters
12th Gruesome Devils
13th Dodge City Rounders
14th Tap Masters
15th Dog Catchers
POOLS
SCHEDULE
The schedule here isn't perfect in that it is by position number rather than team names. If you are the Gruesome Devils, any game that refers to team #12 is you. Over the coming the days I'll add them into the "real" schedule online so that people can actually see when they play by name. Also, If you're currently signed up for email and txt notifications for your games, you will continue to get them for playoff games.
The Schedule is an image of what we used when we previously had 15 teams in the league.
