This year was a tough one for the Ducks. Another year where the Front office and the team on the field resembled each other, with losses, and stresses. Over the last two years, our hitting and pitching has not matched up game to game like we need. I think we are moving in the right direction though. For the first time, I feel like in years we had our impact players playing more than three quarters of the games on our schedule, and with our teams median age of like 103, I’ll take it.

                This year we ended at 12-11-1, but with our move to John Herb Field, it felt like we ended a lot better than our record says. I could be wrong, but I do not think we lost a game once we made the move. I know there are some of us that are truly going to miss Spring Hill, myself being one of them. It was shit hole, but it was our shit hole. It’s a bummer that its gone, but hopefully the city does right by the Urban Impact kids and makes it usable for ages up to Pony and Colt.

                I would argue that we have the best arm in the division on our roster, and at least the best arm that didn’t play in a league or NCAA division that shouldn’t have been in our division in the first place.  Our pitching staff dealt with a lot of injuries this year. We lost Casen to an elbow, Christian to his oblique, Josh to his shoulder, and Cups had some elbow issues that had him on the sidelines for awhile as well. Even our last game of the year, Billy was battling through some back pain in hopes of getting us to the Semi-Finals. If we do not have injuries, I think we are giving the top teams a run for their money. With some question marks going into next year. I think one or two more arms puts us near the top.

                Our lineup is dirty. I have no other way to describe it to you, than good luck. We have been shut down by some arms through the league, but if I had to guess, everyone has to think about who to pitch to when it comes time to pay the Ducks. From top to bottom, I take us every single time.  Flip once again had a great year, Kenny soared, I hit well, Dave, our new leadoff/CF was in the fight to be the offensive player of the year for us, and even guys towards the bottom of our lineup were doing their thing. Brandt led the 6-10 slot hitters with 11 RBI, and overall, the bottom and top of our lineup attributed for nearly equal RBI numbers (74-72.) The parity of our lineup is unmatched.  

                Finally, our year end awards. We had so many guys with great seasons its tough to pick. I had to do a calculation, I ran 1 point for Top five, 2 points for Top Three and 3 Points for Top of a category.  

For Pitcher of the year, I used the following categories: (GP, GS, CG, SHO, W, SV, SVO, IP, BF, K’s, WHIP, OBA, and ERA)

#	Player	Top 5	Top 3	1st	Total
10	Billy Welsh	11	11	11	66
27	Brandon Blackstone	11	9	1	32
15	Ryan Myers	6	6	2	24
6	Colin Dougherty	6	4	–	14
9	Casen Wolinsky	8	5	–	18

For Offensive Player of the year, I ran the following categories with a Min of 50 Plate appearances: GP, RS, H, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS.

#	Player	Top 5	Top 3	1st	Total
46	Anthony Defilippo	9	9	5	42
18	David Williams	10	8	3	35
24	Kenny Rayl	10	8	1	29
33	Tom Pulice	7	4	3	24
29	Mark Lombardi	7	2	0	11

Since we didn’t truly have many Ducks Rookies this year, its easier to decide, but at the end of the day, its still would have been the same guy. David locked down CF and the leadoff spot for us, while hitting one of our two homeruns this year.

                We have some work to do next year. Limping into the playoffs in the middle of the pack hasn’t paid off for us. With the roster we have I honestly think we are one or two pieces away from being a true powerhouse.

                RIP to Springhill, and to the Oakland Coliseum, both iconic stadiums for teams wearing the green and gold. Pour one out for them next time you have the chance. Until next year. Quack.