It’s tourney time! All the regular season games have been played, and now it’s up to our 6 teams to decide their 2023 destiny.
The year’s most impressive team so far have been the Shakers, who won 70% of their games to finish with the top record in the league. They’ll be the team everybody is gunning for, and they’ll have the chance to show their stuff in the very first game of the tournament on Friday night against the Brewers.
The Firemen and Diggers were not far behind first, finishing within a half game of each other. The Firemen grabbed 2nd place with an explosive offence, while the Diggers used the best pitching and defence in the league to claim 3rd. The Diggers start their title defence off on Saturday morning against the Twins, with the Firemen taking the field afterwards versus the Cruisers.
The Cruisers strung together a series of wins late in the season to jump from last place into 4th, and if they can keep their runs against down they can be a dangerous dark horse, as they possess the most potent offence on the island. The Brewers and Twins had a tough go during the season, but did score some memorable wins. And given the format of 3 Round Robin games to decide the Final Four, just one upset can launch an underdog into the coveted knockout rounds of Sunday afternoon.
While the Shakers are top team so far this year, the defending champs are the Diggers, and they will be no slouches once the first pitch is thrown. They put their potential on full display during one of the final games of the year, forcing a mercy against the Cruisers to the tune of 13-3. It was the most efficient game possible under league rules, called after 4.5 innings and just 1 hour and 11 minutes of play. The Diggers opened up a 10-0 lead after 3 innings, with 4 RBI each from Paul Whitecotton and Dan Guillon. Each of them added another RBI in the 4th, and Guillon struck out the final Cruisers batter in the top of the 5th to make sure the night ended early. The two sides will get another crack at each other in the tourney when they do battle in the final game of the Round Robin on Sunday morning.
This was a super fun weekend last year, and is bound to be again. In addition to plenty of action at the ball field, there’s nightly fun at the Pub too. Check it out in our calendar, and see you out at the ball game!
- Reporting from Kat, Cheri, George, & Alex
TOURNEY SCHEDULE
Friday, August 11
Brewers vs. Shakers - 6:30 pm
Saturday, August 12
Diggers vs. Twins - 9 am
Firemen vs. Cruisers - 10:45 am
Diggers vs. Shakers - 12:30 pm
Firemen vs. Twins - 2:15 pm
Brewers vs. Cruisers - 4 pm
Twins vs. Shakers - 5:45 pm
Sunday, August 13
Firemen vs. Brewers - 9 am
Cruisers vs. Diggers - 10:45 am
Semifinal #1 - 12:30 pm
Semifinal #2 - 2:30 pm
Championship Game - 4:30 pm
