Tournament wrapup

Teams Beat Mother Nature in 1st Nor'easter Championships

Oct. 1, 2008 – Dave Dowell National Director

By Dave Dowell, Senior Softball News

CAPE MAY, NJ – Thirty-two of the top teams in the Northeast traveled to the picturesque Jersey Shore in late September for the inaugural Northeast Championships.

The competition was exceptional and included one ‘team’ that challenged, unsuccessfully, all of the others: Mother Nature. A modified Friday schedule was required to adapt to over two and a half inches of rain Thursday night, but every team played, in large part due to the exceptional efforts of the Middle Township parks maintenance professionals, a dedicated group that earned their own “All Tournament” designation.

“Almost two years of work went into bringing the best Senior Softball players in the world to Cape May. We’re excited to be a part of the Regional Championship Series and a little bit of rain wasn’t going to stand in our way. I was impressed by the cooperation of the teams as game times and fields moved throughout the tournament, but we were all here to play, and we did.” said Frank Dougherty, Commissioner of the Middle Township Baseball and Softball Association.

Teams were greeted on Saturday by a break in the Nor’easter weather pattern and bracket play began at both the Goshen Davies and Avalon Park softball complexes. Three divisions crowned Champions on Saturday: Frederick Chevrolet (PA) winning the Men’s 50/55-Platinum with an “If” game victory (21-17) over the Sweet Construction 50’s (NJ), Ca$h 4 College 65’s (NJ) winning both games (15-3 and 10-9) in the Best 2 of 3 with the Barracudas (NY) in the 65-AA, and the Syracuse Cyclones holding on in the “If” game to defeat the Ca$h 4 College 70’s in the 70-AAA Best 2 of 3.

Sunday dawned after another major overnight storm, requiring late starts ranging from one to two hours in all divisions as the grounds crews again made the fields safely playable while players informally renamed the tournament as the “Nor’eastern Championships”.

Sunday afternoon’s champions, all receiving 2009 Tournament of Champions bids, were: Gubiotti Insurance (NY) over Shark Sports (NY) in the “If” game (16-14) for the 50-AAA, the Sweet Construction 55’s (NJ) over TNT Sports Club (PA) in the 55-Silver Division (26-14), Double LL Roofing (FL) over the New York Statesmen (17-10) in the 60-Majors, the Ca$h 4 College 60’s (NJ) over the HMR 60’s (PA), 23-22 in the 60-Silver division (both receiving TOC bids in their respective ratings), and the Jersey Jaguars over Hamel’s 65’s (MD) in the 65-Gold Division by a 16-4 final.