Going into the final day of the round robin, the Braves had an outside chance to make the playoffs. we needed three things to happen: 1) Win 2) Limit the runs against for the Colonels. 3) Either a. Louisville Orioles lose to the Decatur Braves, or b. the Chesapeake Bay Sox lose both ends of their double header.
1) Well, we took care of winning in style. All the bats were sizzling. Every player in the lineup took part in laying a beating on the Colonels with Dave Mitchell hitting three consecutive doubles and Skip Treece and Kevin Jackson having perfect days at the plate. 2) Ted Poleto was sharp for the second time. He gave up one run (unearned) in the first, then shut down the Louisville club for the next six innings. Tj Scorsone came in and nailed down the victory with a scoreless eighth and ninth. The defense was spectacular behind very solid pitching all tournament. This club allowed just 20 runs (9 in game one), which was the third lowest total of the 22 teams in the tournament. 3) For those that say two out of three ain't bad, this doesn't apply here. After doing everything we could humanly do, we had to wait for others to help. Louisville beat Decatur 9-4. That meant we needed to have Chesapeake lose their final two. First the news comes in that they lost their first game. Then, right in the middle of dinner, we receive the phone call to tell us that the Bay Sox had won their final game 14-9. There are a lot of disappointed ball players here, but let me tell you that I am extremely proud of the effort that this team laid out here. Two of the best teams in the tournament are thatnking their lucky stars that they don't have to play the Albany Braves in the playoffs again. One bounce here or there and we would have been 4-1 and making a very serious run at the title. Instead we are just soaking up the sun and suds here in paradise for the last two days. I would go anywhere and play with this crew in any tournament anytime!!! Hopefully we will be back here again soon to do this all over again!
mike - thanks for keeping us all posted. speaking as a reader (and newspaper editor), you did a fine job writing it up, covering all the bases, and conveying a lot of the drama. (in your next career, consider journalism.) next time you go, i hope you do it again - and in fact that other guys on other teams follow your lead. it's so much better to read these stories than the meager postings on the national's website.
the braves' record notwithstanding, it sounds like you guys played very well and the pitching by phil, ted, tommy and ralph in particular was terrific. it was good to read that.
it's also good to hear baseball news, now that our summer fix is gone and our days are getting dark and cold. your dispatches helped fight off both. thanks again.
