Eight teams
contended for the regular season crown in the 35+ division of the
MABL of Southern Wisconsin, 2014 edition. In the end co-champions
were declared. Last years champions, the Diablos, won their first
four games and moved out to a 10-1 record, seeking a wire-to-wire
championship. The Pirates, however, after dropping their first two
games, gelled around new pitcher Jay White and won ten straight,
including the first of two games against the Diablos, moving into a
percentage points league lead. That lead was short-lived, however,
as the two teams met again the following Friday night to play their
rain-out make-up and Andrey Hansbro staked out his claim as the
league's best pitcher, scattering six hits and shutting out the
Pirates, 6-0. The win clinched at least a share of the pennant for
the Diablos but the Pirates came through the next Friday and with the
Diablos' season over, the Pirates did what they needed to do,
defeating the Rangers in their regular season finale, 6-0, a complete
game four hit shutout for Tim Adamany, and driving across town to
complete a suspended game against the Madison Mariners, which they
won with a four run top of eighth inning. (The game had been
suspended due to time constraints, 12-12 after seven complete.)
Jay
White led the league in wins (9), strikeouts, innings pitched and
complete games; Hansbro led in winning pct. (5-0) and ERA. On the
offensive side, Shane Mesenberg of the Diablos led in total bases and
RBI, Hansbro led in runs scored and Bill Nowak of the Home Brewers
lapped the field in hit by pitches with nine (in just twelve games
played, no less). Tom Kersten of the Diablos led with four home runs
while three players managed three: Luis Tavarez of the Latin Raiders,
Mesenberg, and Matt Kanters of the Madison Mariners.
With the whole
month of September beckoning the teams were then split into two four
team divisions for a round-robin tournament. It had been thought
originally that if the regular season produced one champion and the
tournament another the two teams would be matched in a final,
ultimate championship game. Obviously the regular season
co-champions rendered that scenario moot but the possibility remained
for one of the two co-champions to claim the tournament crown and be
ultimate champions.
True to form the Diablos emerged from
their pool 3-0 but faced not the Pirates (1-2) but the Latin Raiders
in the tournament championship game. 30 mph winds with temperatures
in the low forties forced the postponement of the Friday night affair
to Sunday afternoon ...
The
game began with the temperature a balmy fifty degrees with a steady
wind. Welcome to October baseball! The Diablos scratched out a run
in the bottom of the first when Chad Bieri's single drove home Andrey
Hansbro who had led off with a single. The Latin Raiders came back
strong with a four run second off Hansbro, including a single by
starting pitcher Oscar Gutierrez and an RBI double by Sixto Herrera.
The Diablos chipped away with single runs in the second and third and
took the lead for good with a four run fifth. Shane Mesenberg, Tom
Kersten and Chad Bieri hit consecutive singles in front of Scott
Hmielewski's three run homer. Hansbro, meanwhile, held the Latin
Raiders without a hit for the third through eighth innings, allowing
a run in the eighth built around a pair of walks and a fielder's
choice ground ball.
The Raiders went down swinging in the
ninth with back to back singles followed by back to back walks
producing a run but Hansbro struck out two of the last three hitters
and the Diablos had their tournament championship.
