An undermanned Albany Yankee 45+ Team missed the playoffs in a dramatic fashion when in the bottom of ninth inning in our fourth game a walk off Home Run did us in. We lost several players days before going down..... Tony Parella due to personal reasons, Dave Hartman due to his foreman getting injured and he had no one to cover his business,and finally Joe Correcia diving for a ball in the second inning of our first game injured his shoulder and he was out the rest of the tournament. Three very good offensive players and pitcher which I know would have helped us make the playoffs. I want to thank Mike Girard (Mr. Ironman) who filled in for 2 games which included his third game of the day and he was typical Mike Girard at the plate and at First. He also gave me some innings to give our pitchers some rest and he did a great job shutting hitters down.
I want to thank Andy Sheen who gave us a solid pitching performance in game 2 and helped me trying to keep players in and out of the game. Hitting was our weak spot and players who had previously done well in Florida had a tough week this time which only added with the loss of the three players. Jim Bonaparte had a consistent hitting week with approximately 5 hits and getting on base via walks or just getting hit himself. I was fortunate to pick up a player from North Carolina who became our leadoff hitter and hit 10 for 17 and some steals. And finally yours truly hit 7or 8 for 13 and 5 walks.
I had a nice group of guys who gave it their all but we did not have enough guns to get us over the top. Still, we had a great time and great weather.
