South Oakland allowed three runs in the top of the first, and fell behind 11-1 before mounting a late rally that fell short. The Grizzlies advance to play the winner of the Cranberry and D2 series. This is the third time in four years the Grizzlies eliminated the Ducks in the post season.

Bauerstown are worthy finalists. Joe did a great job adding pieces to an already good team during their hiatus, and they were ready to play every game. I wish them luck in the finals and in AAA next season. They will undoubtedly get moved up after going 19-3-1, even if they get stunned in the finals.

I will add them to the realignment watch with the other Bauerstown team that will likely move up and take their place next season, which means we will still have to play at that field with no shade in the July heat.

I’m frustrated we couldn’t put a complete performance together in either game, and force a game 3. Maybe we sneak a game if Billy isn’t hurt, and put the pressure back on them in game 3. The league could have re-seeded for the semis, and put this off for a week if we got through Cranberry in a series. It doesn’t matter. Bauerstown was a buzzsaw this year. It’s their title to lose.

I had fun this season. I will come back again next year at age 41 and try again to win one another title. One of these years, we will get the bounces, a good draw in the post season and put it together. Hopefully before we all get old at the same time, we can win one with this group. We did pretty well with the things that were in our control but the mistakes seemed to always hurt, and we didn’t get many breaks. We are really close.

The near misses since moving down a division make it even harder to step away. This team and this league mean a lot to me, and I’m grateful for everyone who played and made it possible to spend another summer playing ball. It’s just a rec league, but it’s our rec league.

I’d like to call attention to outstanding seasons by TJ Morgan and the Blackstone brothers. There were others, but the top of our order was so good when TJ moved up to the second spot. We went on a nice run after a slow start. He could have had three or four home runs this year. Brandon threw a playoff shutout. Stef is my pick for league MVP.

Tom made different mistakes this year as manager than he did last year, which is a big compliment. It’s a mostly thankless job and he led us to a winning record and another playoff win despite suspect attendance for most of the year. He will give out team awards on the blog at some point.

We’ll get em next year.

Quack.