The Albany Marlins claimed the championship trophy in the 45+ division, after a two-year hiatus. The first 4 years that the CDMSBL hosted a 45+ division, the Albany Marlins took home the trophy. In 2008 and 2009 the Bristol Baseball Club won the division. This year Bristol did not return to defend, but Chris Arconti and Dave Blake joined the Marlins and helped the home team take back the trophy.
In game one on Saturday, Chris Arconti took the mound against the Maine Indians and limitted them to just 1 run over the first 5 innings. The problem was that the Marlins managed just one run over those same five innings off of the Maine starter, who did a masterful job of mixing speeds and locations. The Maine team plated six runs off of Arconti, in the bottom of the 6th inning, on 9 singles (most of which were ground balls into the hole between short and third. The Marlins used a three-run home run by Ron Lochner in the top of the seventh, to close the gap to 6-4, but that would be as close as the Fish would get. Game two had the Marlins lined up against the Peppers, at the Satellite field. After Marlins starter, Phil Gadomski, got the Peppers out in order in the top of the first, the Fish plated 5 runs in the bottom of the frame on consecutive triples by Mike Kane and Joey Burns, and singles by Dave Blake, Randy Craft, and Ron Lochner. The Peppers showed their spirit by answering right back with seven runs in the top of the second on six hits and three Marlins errors. The Fish would not be denied, as they plated 5 runs in the second, 3 in the third, 6 in the fourth, and 2 in the sixth to take a commanding 21-7 lead. Joe Burns, Tom Maney, and Randy Craft all had three hits in the game. Mash pitched a scoreless third and fourth, and Mike Girard came on to give up just one run in his three innings of work to close out the scoring at 21-8.
The day one results left the 5th seeded Marlins with a big task at hand for Sunday. They would face the 4th seed Yankees at 9:00am, then take on the number one seed Maine in a game that would immediately follow, if they could get by the Yanks. The reward for a double header sweep would be a third game against the 2nd or third seed, starting at 3:00pm at New Scotland.
The day started with a tough game against the Yankees. The Yankees broke out on top in the bottom of the first on a run scoring single by Kevin Jackson. Yankee starter, Pete Westfall would retire the Marlins without harm in the top of the first, but the Fish would plate two in the second. The key hits were a double by Mike Ferraro and a single by Ron McCarthy. The Marlins would go up 5-1, in the top of the third, on a Tom Maney walk and steal, a RBI single by Mike Girard, two Yankee errors, a Mike Kane walk, and a RBI fielder's choice by Mike Ferraro. The lead would grow to 9-1, in the fifth inning, on a double by Randy Craft, a single by Girard, a sac fly by Ron Lochner, and a double by Mike Kane, and singles by Ferraro and Ron McCarthy. The Fish would add single runs in the 6th and 7th on RBI singles by Girard and Phil Gadomski, to make the final score 11-1. Joe Burns pitched a gem, giving up just the one run on six hits and no walks, while striking out 3. The only Yankee extra base hit was a long double in the second inning by Don Dunham.
That win set up a rematch between the Maine Indians (who earned a bye by winning the top seed) and the Marlins. This game promised to be a tough matchup between two teams with good pitching and defense. The Marlins turned the ball over to Steve Lounello, and that proved to be a great decision! Lou dominated the Maine hitters through his 4 innings of work. He gave up just one single and two walks, while striking out four. I believe he also broke three bats! While Steve was mowing down the Indians, the Marlins' bats were busy pounding out 14 hits in the first 4 innings; plating 5 runs in the first, 4 runs in the second, 4 runs in the third, and 1 run in the fourth. With a 14-0 lead through 4 innings, Marlins manager, John Corrigan, decided to give Mike Kane some work, and save a few bullets for Lounello, in case he was needed in the Final. Mike pitched the final three innings and struggled with his command, but finished out the game for the Fish. Mike Girard went 3-4 for his second game in a row, while Mike Ferraro, Ron McCarthy, Phil Gadomski, and Dave Blake added two hits each for the Marlins.
The Fish headed over to New Scotland to see the end of the other semi-final, as Vermont outscored the Blue Jays to reach the final.
Chris Arconti took the hill for the Marlins, with Steve Lounello lurking in relief in case Chris ran into any trouble. That allowed the Marlins to have confidence that they didn't need to score too many runs to take the trophy. It all started well, when Tom Maney led off the game with a single up the middle, and stole second and third. The Vermont starter got the next two Marlins hitters to pop out to short, but Ron Lochner delivered the run with a solid single. The score would remain 1-0 through the next five innings. Chris Arconti would set down the Vermont hitters in order in three of the first five innings, giving up just one single in the second and fourth innings. Meanwhile the Fish were setting the table, but could not add to the lead. It looked like the Marlins would finally get the insurance they were looking for when Tom Maney and Randy Craft led off the 6th inning with singles and advanced to second and third on stolen bases. With none out and runners on second and third, the Vermont pitcher showed his resiliency by inducing Girard to lift a high fly to shallow center and getting Lochner to pop out to the infield. After walking Lounello to load the bases, he got Ferraro to pop out to third, to end the threat. That brought the game to the bottom of the seventh. Chris Arconti struck out the lead off hitter and got the second hitter to ground out to short. Only one out away from elimination, Pardee singled for Vermont and scored when Armstrong drilled a triple to right center field. Mr. Arconti regrouped and got a groundout to get out of the inning, and give the Marlins a chance to win it in extras. Dave Blake led off the 8th with a HBP and was moved to second on a perfect sacrafice bunt by Tom Maney. After a fly out to center by Randy Craft, it looked like the Marlins might get that go ahead run, when Mike Girard jumped on a hanging curve, but the line drive was right at the third baseman, and the inning was over. Arconti, would get some help from a familiar face in the bottom of the eighth. After retiring the first hitter on a pop out, he would field an attempted bunt and throw the ball wildly past first. Dave Blake (playing right field) hustled before he even saw the throw, and was right in position to field the errant throw and fire to second in time to get the runner. BIG PLAY! The next hitter would pop out and we were on to the ninth! The Vermont pitcher made laedoff hitter, Ron Lochner, look silly on his first two deliveries in the top of the ninth. Poor bastard! We, here in the CDMSBL, know that you are in trouble if you throw that third pitch anywhere near the plate to Ron after making him look bad on the first two. Well, the Vermont hurler made a pretty good 0-2 offering (about 9 inches off the outside corner). Not good enough! Ron reached out and covered that pitch, drilling it over the right fielder's head for a leadoff double. Lounello and Ferraro would follow with walks to load the bases with nobody out. Mike Kane stepped up in the pressure spot and drilled a sinking liner to left. The left fielder charged hard to snag it before it hit the ground, but he missed the ball and it got away, allowing two runs to score. John Corrigan would follow with a sacrafice fly to make it 4-1. The next two Marlins would make outs, and it was up to Mr. Arconti to make those three runs stand up. The Vermont team would get a hit from their lead off hitter, but Arconti induced a grounder to second that John Corrigan fielded and fed to Randy Craft, who barehanded it and fired to first, just in time to complete a back-breaking double play. The next hitter grounded weakly to second and the celebration began! Chris Arconti was selected as the tournament MVP, but it was a huge team effort that got the Marlins name back on that trophy, where it belongs! My hat is off to thirteen very talented 45+ ball players, that came together as a team to come out on top of some very tough competition! Your 45+ Labor Day Champion Albany Marlins: Tom Maney Randy Craft Mike Girard Ron Lochner Steve Lounello Mike Ferraro Mike Kane Joe Burns John Corrigan Ron McCarthy Phil Gadomski Dave Blake Chris Arconti
I'm happy for the Marlins..I have played as a Marlin many times over the past several years...but I must add that you guys were definitely aided by being the 'home team' in this tournament. You guys were able to add to fly ins from Connecticut and call upon a local to come pitch for your all star team on playoff day. This squad was definitely not 'your' Marlins team. I wish our starter on Sunday could have been on his 'A' game. I saw the final against Vermont, it was a good game. I find it hard to believe that Arconti was MVP (how did he get selected?). If you remember, the first time through the line up he had our number, but we made adjustments and hit the ball hard against him as the game went on. Best regards, Lenny Fox (Maine Indians)
This wasn't necessarily intended to be the 45 Marlins team ........ it was a group of guys who i have played with over the years .... including my first ever game on the same team as Steve Lounello (he pitched against you guys) who i have played against since little league over 35 years ago! The core of the team are lifelong Marlins, we played in this tournament last year as Marlins and it just seemed the right choice.
As far as the MVP selection i had all of about 1 minute to make my decision and felt that there were so many strong offensive performances it would be tough to single out one guy ..... and his performance yesterday (9 innings - 1 run) in the championship game kept us alive long enough to plate a couple runs. If we had put up double digits (we did every game Chris didn't pitch) I may have selected someone else but i think there was no doubt his pitching in the championship game earned him that award.
I expect the bulk of this team will be back next year
Lenny, Why the sour grapes? The local that you talked about, played in 4 of our 5 games. The only game Steve missed was the first game against you guys, as he had another committment. And since when do we need to have you approve our roster add ons. Chris Arconti and Dave Blake joined the Marlins, when Bristol didn't enter a team, because they respected the way we played the game, in past years when he pitched against us in this tournament. If this was the 4th of July, and this tournament was in Maine, Chris still would have called us. You guys played a fine tournament, but you just ran into a buzz saw in Steve Lounello. It happens. It didn't matter who pitched against us, for your team, you weren't going to score against him and that defense as long as we kept him in the game. I hope you and your buddies enjoyed yourself here in this tournament, and will come back next year. We look forward to the challenge that your team repesents. Have a happy and healthy off season!
Mike, you're right. It is what it is...guess I just felt our troops deserved a little more credit for what we did against Arconti and the Marlins. Again, I'm happy for you guys. I have played as a Marlin in New York!
Lenny, bless your heart for sticking up for us, but our hats really need to be tipped to the Marlins. They played the extra game on Sunday morning and were ready to go at 11:30 when the 2nd game started. Unfortunately, we didn't show up until 12:30.
BTW, the Maine pitcher's name on Saturday was Joe Baum. He really pitched a terrific game keeping the excellent Marlin hitters at bay for all but one out of the game. I also might take a little offense at the suggestion that all of Maine's hits were bleeders between short and 3rd. THAT sounds a little like sour grapes to me.
Again, congrats to the Marlins. They certainly deserved the trophy.
Just wanted to thank all the Marlins and other teams for a great time this weekend. After being diagnosed with front & rear labral tears, a torn infraspinatis (rotator cuff) and arthritis of my pitching shoulder in July, it was nice to be able to throw again in this tournament. While i had the option of also playing in the Cape and in Cooperstown, i will always choose to play in Albany as long as someone wants me because of the good competition, the gambling and the proximity to my home in CT. Just wanted to let Lenny know that i also did not feel that i warranted the MVP award and felt it should go to someone else but John was put under the spot quickly and had to make a rush decision. I will be playing again with the Boston Wolfpack Over-45's in AZ, Vegas and Florida so stop by to say hello if you are out there. Thanks again and see you next year Chris Arconti
Hey hard ball, I said, "grounders through the hole between short and third," not "bleeders". I'm sorry that you guys thought that I slighted you in my post. It was unintentional. I was trying to recap five games in one post, without making it too long, and I was really just trying to accurately depict what I saw. They were all singles in the book, and anyone that can claim he singled off of Chris Arconti in a game of any kind, can hold his head high. Chris is a serious technician on the hill. Even with a damaged shoulder and alot less RPM's on his fast ball than usual, he did a phenomenal job in his two games. As far as the MVP goes: Chris was a good choice, as would any of about five other Marlins (Kane, Burns, Lounello, Lochner and Ferraro come to mind). A pitcher who limits his opponent to just one run in nine innings in the championship game, in his second complete game of 5 games played, certainly doesn't deserve to have his MVP honors questioned here. That is just my opinion! The fact that we had such a hotly contested tournament this year bodes well for the 2011 edition of the Albany Labor Day Tournament. I'm already looking forward to it!
Heres to the champs and those who competed . I spectated and cheered for the underdogs and admired the play of many. That championship game was thrilling. the Vt. team getting out of threats more than a few times. And then tie-ing it at the last possible chance, 2 outs, 2 strikes......rbi triple.....the park went crazy. the eventual champ coming very close to losing a game they seemed to dominate defensively and be always on the verge of opening up with a scoring barrage. which took nine innings to materialize. a testament to a superb Vt. pitching job and some good hustling defense there as well... the foul ball on the fence and the put out of Burns trying to stretch a gapper come to mind.
And Chris Arconti did beg off the MVP, he said & i quote, "this team has all these great players and hitters....and I lost a game...."; Could they have won without him, who knows. But hey good to hear someone without the ego and so thankful for this opportunity.
Lenny you and your Maine boys are a fresh charge for this tournament. Its good for all of us to have such a quality team join us. It was also good to see past tournament champion and many times over national champion Bill Arsenault. I wasn't surprised at all you ran the Albany boys off out of the gate and easily secured the bye. And it is tough to beat the home tournament teams. Tougher to beat them twice.
I hope Lenny and Kevin come back again. You guys are what makes this tournament special and keeps us organizing and looking forward to an 18th year.
Though I do little anymore to help out; this weekend is a point of pride for me. I started this way back as an 4 team invitational (John Corrigan played on a Bethlehem town league team that finished second to our Troy Ale House Yankees) . From this we got MSBL sponsorship and secured regional tournament status in 1995.
And we can brag that despite hurricanes and deluges we always got our tournament in... because we honor your commitments to us when you travel here. Doing the tough work this year was Tourny Director Q. Jenson helped ably and wisely by past director, Kevin Jackson... and doing a lot of leg work, Don Wixon. Also we appreciate the work John Kalinski does to donate his profits for the t-shirts and trophies. (always on time and looking fine, and the blues a good change). I have to mention Darrell Duncan, who donates his time all year for us at Satellite and continues that for us here. I am sure Q had more help with the younger divisions. And Mark Fitch sends out some enthusiastic and seasoned umpires. i know you guys enjoy this as much as we do. Good job boys.
I am pleased so much enjoyment is had , thanks to all who participated, helped out and cheered on. it was a highly successful weekend from 25 to 45. hope to see all next Labor Day.
-- Edited by jreel on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 08:01:57 PM
John, well put! You and the other Albany 'Regulars' know that I will be back for more. I am proud to say that my baseball family stretches from Northern New England to Greater New York and I look forward to playing ball with, or against, all you guys.
I would like to thank everyone who participated in the tourney. In all 3 divisions the competition was amazing and all the games were awesome to play in or watch.
I would like to thank Kevin Jackson for his help guiding me through my 1st tourney. I would like to thank Don Wixon for sitting at the hotel with me friday and saturday night for over 6 hours going over the runs allowed, wins and losses and coming up with seedings. Don is also the t-shirt guru as everyone loves buying them from him. I would also like to thank Tommy smith who helped out with the 35 division with getting scores and selling t-shirts.
Thanks to all who played and helped as its greatly appreciated.
