sure, it's early to talk about end of season tournaments before our own season has even begun, but i thought i'd give you all a heads up about a good one, so you can put a star on your calendars.
Central Mass. MSBL, in north central massachusetts, will be holding its fifth annual over-40 "Fall Classic" the last weekend in September. Johnny Cantatore, who manages the leominster diamondbacks and helps run the event, wrote me the other day that plans are underway for this year's games, which are slated for friday, sept. 24th through sunday, sept. 26th.
out of town teams, like any from our area, would not play friday night, johnny said, so the teams could save on overnight expenses. local teams would start the tournament friday night and out-of-towners would start saturday morning. leominster and its neighboring towns, where the games are played, are about 2 to 2.5 hours by car from albany.
last year, the entry cost per team was $450, and should be around that this year. each team is guaranteed three games weather permitting. last season, the league set up a deal with the local sheraton hotel -$95 a room, double occupancy - for tournament players.
the 2009 event had 12 teams and the possibility exists for 16 this year. in the past, national msbl champion boston wolfpack has played in - and won - the tournament.
in his note, johnny wrote, "Our tourney is gaining more momentum with each year. Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd played against us last year & Doug Flutie was expected to play one day, but the game got rained out."
johnny, who has brought his d'backs to our labor day tournament for at least the past three seasons and played my traveling peppers last fall in cooperstown, can be reached by e-mail at JHC929@aol.com.
if you play, it should be a great way to extend your season by about a month or to prepare for the october and november msbl tournaments in florida or arizona.
i hope to take at least one team. it should be fun - and a nice mini-vacation for you and your wife and family. leominster, mass is equidistant - about 70 miles in various directions - from Boston, Cape Cod, Portsmouth, N.H. and Northampton, Mass. - and it's a good time to go: tourist crowds are down and the leaves should be turning.
so keep it in mind.
-mike
-- Edited by mhart on Saturday 20th of February 2010 04:56:05 PM
