I would first like to thank everyone for coming out and making the first ever Mill Creek Park Tournament a success. Without all of the players we obviously would not have been able to make this work as smoothly as we did. So thank you!
The day started out cold and a little wet, as dark clouds hung over the field for the first hour or so providing the occasional sprinkle. However, the games kicked off as scheduled with The Dewskis taking on The Murray Men. Sam DeMarco started things off with a bang as he took the first pitch of the day deep off of Joe Gill for a 1-0 lead. Sammy would strike again in just his next at bat as he once again homered off of Gill to spot The Murray Men a quick 2-0 lead. Sean McNamara didn't allow that lead to last long as he quickly countered with a 3-run shot off of DeMarco. Mr. Gill would than chip in with a couple of home runs of his own driving in 3 more runs to round out the scoring in the days opener as The Dewskis(1-0) beat The Murray Men(0-1) 6-2.
The second day of the game featured Benchwarmers against The Sharknados. The Becnhwarmers would get on the board first as Rob Cooper walked Fabio Nieto with the bases loaded, handing BWR the 1-0 lead. Cooper would make amends in the 2nd inning, striking for a triple after his side had loaded the bases. Although the Benchwarmers would load the based in the 3rd, Arvind Patel would strike out 3 times in the inning to kill the threat. No more runs would cross the plate, with game 2 ending The Sharknados(1-0) 3 and the Benchwarmers(0-1) 1.
Game three would debut Bald By Choice as they took on The Murray Men. In the first, Carl Parker came within a tree limb of kicking things off, only having to settle with for a single. That clearly sucked the life right out of Carl and Bill. And in the bottom half, DeMarco and Bottieri blew this one out, putting up a 7 spot. They would add 3 more in the bottom and that was that as we had our first 10-run rule game of the day. The Murray Men(1-1) 10, Baled By Choice(0-1) 0.
Game 4 was an instant classic as The Dewskis battled Benchwarmers for 6 long innings. It wasn't until the bottom of the 6th inning that Joe Gill broke the scorelessness and came through with the game winning walk off 2 run homer. The Dewskis(2-0) 2 and Benchwarmers(0-2) 0.
The 5th game of the day would also our second encounter with the 10-run rule. Carl and Bill would go hitless in this one as Casavant and Cooper would put up 5 RBI each as this one ended 10-0 after just 2 innings. Sharknados(2-0) 10, Bald By Choice(0-2) 0.
It was again Bald By Choice on the wrong side of a throttling in game 6 as Benchwarmers took it to them. This game would go the distance at least. Arvind Patel would pick up his only RBIs of the day in this contest behind 4 walks and 1 single. Fabio would add 4 additional runs with 2 walks and 2 run double. Bill Houston would pick up his first 2 hits of the day, but again BBC just couldn't string anything together. Benchwarmers(1-2) 9 and Bald By Choice(0-3) 0.
As shutouts were becoming standard procedure, The Murray Men would face The Sharknados in what would surprisingly turn into a blowout game 7. All was calm until the 3rd inning when Sam decided to take over. After homering to start the inning and then forcing in another run by drawing a walk, Sam would then hit the days only grand slam pushing the lead to 6-0. Mr. DeMarco wasn't quite done either as he would add his 3rd home run of the game in the 4th, a 3-run blast that would end the scoring. The Murray Men(2-1) 9 and The Sharknados(2-1) 0.
Apparently 5 straight shutouts weren't enough as game 8 would again have one squad posting the goose egg. The only offense here would come via the bat of Sean McNamara in the bottom of the second inning. A lead off solo shot would put The Dewskis up 1-0 to stay as McNamara and Gill would lock it down on the mound the rest of the way. The Dewskis(3-0) 1 and The Sharknados(2-2) 0.
Moving along to game number 9 on the day. This was a big one as Benchwarmers faced The Murray Men in a game that would basically determine the playoff seeding. The Murray Men entered the game at 2 wins and 1 loss, while the Benchwarmers were at 1 win and 2 losses. A Benchwarmers win would mean a 3 way tie for 2nd place and the seeding for te playoffs would come down to tiebreakers. The Murray Men needed a win to take 2nd outright. This would be another 6 inning marathon. Both sides would squander multiple opportunities to score. In the top of the 6th, the Benchwarmers would load the bases with no outs, only to see Arvind strike out, Fabio ground out, and then Arvind ground out to end the inning. This left the door open for DeMarco to come through. After a lead off single by Sam and a ground out by Steve, Sammy would rip a walk off triple down the left field line. The Murray Men(3-1) 1 and Benchwarmers(1-3) 0.
The opening round robin round would end with a meaningless contest as far as the standing were concerned. The Dewskis had already secured 1st place and Bald By Choice was already a lock at this point to finish out of a playoff spot. The Dewskis would take this one with the final score 7-0. The is also the 8 straight shutout of the day.
At this point we would say good bye to Bald By Choice as they finished the day in 5th place and did not qualify for the semi-finals. Both Carl Parker and Bill Houston gave it their all throughout they day. Neither player caved in at any point as they both displayed tremendous work ethic and desire to compete. While the results did not favor them on this day, Bald By Choice always played hard and despite the record, they can hold their heads high, an maybe squeeze in some practice before the spring.
The first semi-final we pit the 2nd seeded Murray Men against the 3rd seeded Sharknados. Earlier in the day The Murray Men destroyed The Sharknados behind the bat of Sam DeMarco. 9-0. Through their first 4 games The Murray Men were completely carried by DeMarco as he put up 21 of the teams 22 RBI. While The Sharknados were a bit more balanced as Caz had chipped in 5 RBI to Coopers 8. If the Nados had any shot in this one, they had to keep Sam in check as best as possible. Both sides coasted through the first 2 innings, scoreless. In the top of the 3rd, The Sharknados finally broke the seal. Caz and Rob would load the bases with just one out. A walk to Cooper and a single by Caz pushed across 2 before The Murray Men could get out of the jam. Nothing of consequence would happen until the bottom of the 4th. With The Sharknados clinging to the 2-0 lead, The Murray Men would stat a rally. Cooper would walk the bases loaded with no one out. He would get Steve and then Sam to both fly out before allowing a single to Steve that cut the lead to 2-1. The stage was set for DeMarco to continue his big day. Sam would work the count full with 3 men on and 2 outs, the kinda stuff books are written about. As a hush fell over the crowd, Cooper delivered, as sinking curve that cut just under the swing of DeMarco, for the final out and the 2-1 victory. The pre-tournament #1, The Sharkandos had booked their spot in the finals.
The second semi-final would match the undefeated #1 see The Dewskis against #4 seeded Benchwarmers. These 2 sides had already played one for the ages earlier in the day. A 6 inning affair that ended with a dramatic walk off 2-run home run by Joe Gill. While just finished just 1-3, the Benchwarmers only allowed 6 runs in those four games. It was their failure to score in those 3 losses that ultimately did them in. The Dewskis, weren't exactly scoring at an alarming rate either, but they were keeping every one off the board. Having allowed 2 runs to the first 3 batters of the day, The Dewskis went the next 17 innings without allowing a run. Sean McNamara had not allowed a single run all day. Unfortunately for the Benchwarmers, more of the same was in store. Like the first semi-final, this one stayed scoreless till the 3rd. In the bottom, McNamara would take the first pitch yard for the 1-0 lead. In his next at bat, he would do the same, this one bouncing off the top of the fence in left and falling just over for the 2-0 lead. As lights out as Sean was all day on the mound, his 2 runs would see to be all he needed to close this one out in the top of the 4th and secure a trip to the finals. The Benchwarmers had other ideas though and made a push, starting off the 4th with 2 straight singles. McNamara would settle down, striking out Fabio for the first out. Patel would then hit a solid ground ball up the middle that Sean would leave to Joe Gill. It was a good thing he did as Gill fielded the ball and came up firing to the strike chair completing the remarkable double play and ending the game, 2-0.
The final is now all set with The Dewskis taking on The Sharknados. This will be a best of 3 series with The Dewskis holding home field advantage thanks to their #1 seed. When they met in round robin play it was The Dewskis coming out ahead by a slim 1-0 score. Expect this to be a amazing final series. A date has not yet been set, but as soon as we have one it will be posted to this website. Stay tuned as the Fall 2013 Mill Creek Park Tournament is still up for grabs.
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WINNER TAKE ALL!!
