| Ft. Totten - Excitement filled the air as a standing
room crowd of family, friends, other team’s members and a
Mets cheerleader arrived at the field which was decorated with a
“Let’s Go Mets!” banner to watch the Championship
Game between the last two teams standing- the Mets (#2 seed with
a 10-3 reg. season record) and St. A’s (#5 seed out of a field
of 8).
The Mets road through the Playoffs (double elimination) turned out
to be the toughest route of all the teams, having to play seven
games in a row (incl. their victorious Kids vs. Parents game) since
it began.
In the 1st Round they maneuvered past LND team #7. In the 2nd Round
they squeezed out a dramatic 15-14 win over this St A’s team
(the hottest team the 2nd half of the season) which brought them
head to head with the #1 seeded and feared (there’s always
one in the league) Yanks who had only one loss in the regular season–
at the hands of the Mets– and were the only other undefeated
team in the 3rd R. The Mets suffered a 12-5 loss on a sweltering
hot day and now all further games for them would be ELIMINATION.
In the 4th Round they played #3 seeded LND team #8 who they split
their regular season games with. It appears the Mets galvanized
themselves after a sluggish start when in the 5th inning, trailing
7-5, Anthony and Lucus turned in two defensive highlight plays which
ignited the team as they came off the field and carried over the
excitement into a 5 run mercy inning, a 10-7 win and beyond….
5th R– Advance to Championship or go home Game - REMATCH with
the Yanks. In what would have otherwise been a Championship game,
had the Yanks not been upset by St. A’s in their 4th Round
game, they now faced elimination for the first time. Following four
lead changes in the game and the offense and defense firing on all
cylinders, the Mets prevailed with a 9-6 victory.
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Championship Game - Pre-game activities included team
stretching, soft toss hitting, fielding warm ups and of course putting
on their game face– eye black. The Mets won the coin toss
and elected to bat first and close with their defense.
The Mets drew first blood in the second inning where Kyle drove
in Lucus for the games first run. St. A’s came right back
in the bottom half with a run of their own. Then in the top of the
3rd, the Mets got rolling with a big 5 run mercy inning starting
with Billy’s leadoff hit followed with hits by Derek and Chris
to load the bases for the sluggers. Pasquale delivered with an RBI
hit which was followed by back to back 2 run doubles by Anthony
and Lucus. In the top of the 4th, The Mets added a run on Blake’s
RBI double driving in David. In the 5th Derek and Chris, doing a
great job all season in the 1– 2 spots, got another rally
started as each got their third hit of the day. Pasquale drove in
a run with a double into the outfield as Anthony followed with a
sacrifice RBI. Then, Lucus came up to the plate and hit a monster
shot to right field for what appeared to be a 2 run homer only to
have it ruled a triple. Nonetheless, he scored on David’s
third hit of the game.
The Mets hard work at practice kept their offense and base running
on pace with the rest of the League but without question, their
defense- infield and outfield- which solidified in the playoffs
is what put them over the top.
This tough St. A’s team routinely put rally’s together–
often taking advantage of “extra outs”- as they marched
through the playoffs. But, they never came across a defensive effort
like this one as the Mets held them to only one run in the 2nd and
two in the 5th. Outfielders David, Teryl, Kyle, Chris, Billy and
Blake played deep, hustled to the ball and kept just about all outfield
hits to long singles. Infielders, Lucus at first, Pasquale at second,
Peter at SS, Derek at 3rd and especially Anthony at pitcher were
real hungry, gobbling up just about every ball hit.
As the last out was recorded in the Mets 11-3 victory, family friends
and oh yeah- the players jumped for joy followed by a (cold) water
cooler dump on the coach, highlights, trophies, Carvel and everlasting
memories.
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