MCSN: August 22, 2009

First fruits

First round playoff recap

Mon, Aug 31, 2009

Bombers' Anthony Halpin watches the flight of one of his hits

It’s all about timing, players learned Saturday. Round One of single-elimination playoffs got a late start, as the previous day’s rain turned Clarendon Park into Softball Swamp. All games were delayed, putting off four teams’ season-ending losses, and giving one team a chance to reveal they’d been waiting for their moment all along.

“Saturday was quite odd,” said Commissioner and Diamond King manager Rob Tong. “The field was more battered by rain than I expected and the Park District grounds crew was nowhere to be found. Thanks, Mayor Daley! Apparently, the city is taking a self-serve approach with our tax dollars.”

MCSN players took matters into their own hands, using squeegee brooms and bags of Turface to get the field in playable condition and pushing all games back one hour. Once play got underway, the stands were filled with players waiting for their games to start, cheering on frenemies on opposing teams, swapping stats and speculations, and turning the playoffs into a true MCSN community event.

The top-ranked Diamond Kings and the #8 seed Mt. Sinai Sluggers opened the festivities with a close game, the almost-upset of the season.

“The adage that it's tough to beat a team three times in a season held true as we only won 9-7,” Tong said.

The Sluggers (0-11) took a 5-4 lead in the third inning and held on until the Diamond Kings (10-1) tied them in the bottom of the fourth. The Kings re-took the lead in the fifth, going up 8-5, thanks to a home run by Ben Thacker. The Sluggers rebounded with 2 runs, but the Kings scored an insurance run and finally slammed the door on the Sluggers in the seventh inning. Tim Kerr, Gary Lockwood and Sam Vega made strong offensive showings for the Kings, and Nancy Neff and Drienne Kerr added consistency by getting on base.

“The crowd was decidedly pro-Sluggers, which was pretty amusing,” said Tong. “The Sluggers showed almost their entire team…I'd even say they're the best 0-10 team Arick's ever been involved with,” Tong said.

Looking to the Aug 29th game against #4 Moody & the Blowfish, Tong is ready for anything.

“Any team with pitcher having a sutured pitching hand and still shutting out the opponent is going to be tough,” Tong said of Blowfish pitcher Phil 'Pa' Nelson.

Next up, the second-seeded Carter Administration also had to come from behind to beat the #7 Smithereens in another close game, this one 12-8, ending the Smithereens' season and hopes for a trophy.

“We came into the game with high hopes of an upset after a resurgence of offensive power from last week's games,” said Smithereens manager Mat Smith.

The Smithereens (2-9) almost did just that, scoring 6 runs in the first two innings and actually holding the lead until the fifth, when Carter Administration (9-2) hits started rolling in. Usually, a goose egg in the first inning spells doom for a team, but the Carter Administration eventually turned the tide.

“Our team showed real heart coming back from a 6-0 deficit,” said Carter Administration assistant to the manager Bill Van Tuinen. “Chris continued to punish opposing pitchers with another moonshot over the fence, [and] our depth and team defense seemed to be the difference in the game.”

In the third game of the morning, and the third consecutive close game of the first round, the third-ranked Bombers needed their last at-bat to take care of business against the #6 seed Battalion, beating them 10-9, and knocking the Battalion (3-8) out of the playoffs as well. Although the game started slow for the Bombers, they bounced back with some key runs in the last three innings, including a home run by Patrick Halpin and a game-saving catch by outfielder Wendy Ploegstra.

“I told my team before the game that we needed to play relaxed and try and get an early lead,” said Halpin. “Instead, we all tensed up and fell behind. Luckily we were able to fight back and win the game.”

On Aug 29th, the #3 Bombers (8-3) meet the #2 Carter Administration, who they’ve been neck-and-neck with in the standings all season.

“We're looking forward to playing the Bombers on Saturday with a team actually composed of the Bombers players.”

- Carter Administration's Bill Van Tuinen on the Bombers

“We're looking forward to playing the Bombers on Saturday with a team actually composed of the Bombers players,” said Carter Administration’s Van Tuinen. “They should be fresh since so few of them have actually played regular season games.”

Halpin isn’t buying.

“We are looking forward to [playing] the Peanut farmers, as they have been complaining all year about how we used subs to beat them in the regular season,” observed Halpin. “[But] the manager and the assistant to the manager usually choke in the playoffs and I’m hoping that this year is no different.”

In the day’s final game, Moody & the Blowfish shut down Inferno 10-0 in the morning's only non-suspenseful
game, and moved on to the second round of playoffs.

With the first round games holding true to form by seed ranking, the second round games on Aug 29th feature some intriguing single-elimination matchups, with Moody & the Blowfish at the Diamond Kings, and the Bombers at Carter Administration; and a Championship match yet to be decided. At this point, there are no sure bets and Saturday is sure to be full of surprises.

“I think the close games this past Saturday, especially amongst the top seeds, have given everyone hope that anyone can still win this thing,” said Van Tuinen.

Good luck to all!