Two very tired teams in the midst of great weeks met at Jet Blue Stadium on Friday night. The Cubs and Banana Sharks came of huge upsets in the blazing Florida sun on Saturday afternoon. The Cubs were owners of a 12-7 victory over the Orlando Royals, and the Banana Sharks beat the heavily favored Orlando Royals. Both teams were facing their 8th 9-inning game in just 5 days. Daunting for younger men, even more so for 60-something athletes.
The Cubs sent TJ Scorsone to the mound, who gave them 6 innings, giving up just two runs to start the game. The Cubs squandered that opportunity by only plating 3 runs in their first 6 innings at the plate. The Cubs got 1 run in the second. Dave Mitchell singled, and stole second. Ron Massaroni plated him with a RBI single. They would get 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd on a single and a stolen base by Shawn Martin Jerry Rosen moved him to 3rd on a ground out to 2nd. Girard would plate him with a RBI groundout. Hallenbeck then singled and stole second and was driven home on a 2-out RBI by Dave Mitchell
The Banana Sharks got 1 in the 4th and one in the 6th, to send the game into the 7th trailing by just one run, 3-2. The Cubs keeping an eye to Saturday with a tired pitching staff, tried to milk just one more inning out of Scorsone. The leadoff man got on by a rare Cubs error and Scorsone hit the next batter. A productive ground out moved both runners into scoring position with just one out. A walk then loaded the bases. Ron Massaroni came on in relief, having just pitched 9 innings the day before. The #9 hitter for the Banana Sharks laid a perfect suicide squeeze bunt that agonizingly rolled right on the first baseline, looking like it was going foul but the rolling ball kept hitting cleat marks that kept nudging it so that it stayed right on the line. The game was tied, the bases were still loaded with just one out. The lead-off batter then laid down an even better suicide squeeze bunt, this time more fair. A single later and the visitors suddenly had a 5-3 lead.
The Banana Sharks picked up 3 insurance runs in the top of the 9th inning, and that was a good thing for them, because the Cubs did manage to plate 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th, in a late comeback effort. Darrell Duncan walked to start the comeback effort. Massaroni worked a walk and one out later, Ralph Caputo hit a RBI single. After the second out of the inning, Shawn Martin singled home Massaroni to make it 8-5 with two outs, and runners on second and third. The tying run was at the plate. The Banana Shark pitcher induced a grounder to second and the ride was over.
The week was filled with great pitching and fielding, along with phenomenal hitting. Nothing to be disappointed about. Would it have been great to go all the way?! YES, but we can all be very proud of the ground breaking week we all shared together. You are always left with the what if's, but we didn't leave anything left in the tank. Today we get to lounge in the beautiful Florida sunshine and enjoy each others' company, then it is flying home tomorrow to rejoin our loved one that we missed all week. Thank you Jesus for the wonderful gift that you gave us this week. The memories will last forever!
Well done Cubs. The reports read like a CDMSBL hall of fame roster and it showed on the field. I'm most proud that it was an all Albany squad. This just doesn't happen that much anymore.
Come on home boys , leaves to rake and soon snow to shovel.
Reel CDMSBL president
Two very tired teams in the midst of great weeks met at Jet Blue Stadium on Friday night. The Cubs and Banana Sharks came of huge upsets in the blazing Florida sun on Saturday afternoon. The Cubs were owners of a 12-7 victory over the Orlando Royals, and the Banana Sharks beat the heavily favored Orlando Royals. Both teams were facing their 8th 9-inning game in just 5 days. Daunting for younger men, even more so for 60-something athletes.
The Cubs sent TJ Scorsone to the mound, who gave them 6 innings, giving up just two runs to start the game. The Cubs squandered that opportunity by only plating 3 runs in their first 6 innings at the plate. The Cubs got 1 run in the second. Dave Mitchell singled, and stole second. Ron Massaroni plated him with a RBI single. They would get 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd on a single and a stolen base by Shawn Martin Jerry Rosen moved him to 3rd on a ground out to 2nd. Girard would plate him with a RBI groundout. Hallenbeck then singled and stole second and was driven home on a 2-out RBI by Dave Mitchell
The Banana Sharks got 1 in the 4th and one in the 6th, to send the game into the 7th trailing by just one run, 3-2. The Cubs keeping an eye to Saturday with a tired pitching staff, tried to milk just one more inning out of Scorsone. The leadoff man got on by a rare Cubs error and Scorsone hit the next batter. A productive ground out moved both runners into scoring position with just one out. A walk then loaded the bases. Ron Massaroni came on in relief, having just pitched 9 innings the day before. The #9 hitter for the Banana Sharks laid a perfect suicide squeeze bunt that agonizingly rolled right on the first baseline, looking like it was going foul but the rolling ball kept hitting cleat marks that kept nudging it so that it stayed right on the line. The game was tied, the bases were still loaded with just one out. The lead-off batter then laid down an even better suicide squeeze bunt, this time more fair. A single later and the visitors suddenly had a 5-3 lead.
The Banana Sharks picked up 3 insurance runs in the top of the 9th inning, and that was a good thing for them, because the Cubs did manage to plate 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th, in a late comeback effort. Darrell Duncan walked to start the comeback effort. Massaroni worked a walk and one out later, Paul Cerone hit a RBI single. After the second out of the inning, Shawn Martin singled home Massaroni to make it 8-5 with two outs, and runners on second and third. The tying run was at the plate. The Banana Shark pitcher induced a grounder to second and the ride was over.
The week was filled with great pitching and fielding, along with phenomenal hitting. Nothing to be disappointed about. Would it have been great to go all the way?! YES, but we can all be very proud of the ground breaking week we all shared together. You are always left with the what if's, but we didn't leave anything left in the tank. Today we get to lounge in the beautiful Florida sunshine and enjoy each others' company, then it is flying home tomorrow to rejoin our loved one that we missed all week. Thank you Jesus for the wonderful gift that you gave us this week. The memories will last forever!
Great week of baseball and friendship at the Roy Hobbs World Series and although we were not able to defend our title, we are proud of the effort and the bump up to Quad A. The good news is we now know we can play at that level, and we'll reload for next year!
Happy also for our friends Jack Griffin and Rick Caruso who were able to celebrate a Hobbs Championship as they dominated in the playoffs and took home the AA Championship! Congrats guys!!
