There can only be one!!!

Little boy, in a baseball hat,

Stands in a field, with his ball and bat,

says "I am the greatest, player of them all"

puts his bat on his shoulder, and tosses up his ball.



And the ball goes up, and the ball comes down,

he swings his bat all the way around,

and the worlds so still you can hear the sound

as the baseball falls, to the ground.



Now the little boy, doesn't say a word,

picks up his ball, he is undeterred,

Says "I am the greatest, there has ever been,"

and he grits his teeth, and tries it again.



And the ball goes up, and the ball comes down,

he swings his bat all the way around,

and the worlds so still you can hear the sound

as the baseball falls, to the ground.



He makes no excuses, He shows no fear,

He just closes his eyes, and listens to the cheers.



Little boy, he adjusts his hat

picks up his ball, stares at his bat,

says "I am the greatest, the game is on the line,"

and he gives his all, one last time.



And the ball goes up, like the moon so bright,

Swings his bat, with all his might,

and the worlds as still, as still as can be,

and the baseball falls, and that's strike three.



Now its supper time, and his Mama calls,

little boy starts home, with his bat and ball,

says "I am the greatest, that is a fact,

but even I didn't know, I could pitch like that."

The Wild headed into this game as the visitors and riding a 5 game winning streak. They had beaten teams that had finished the regular season 12^th, 6^th, 9^th, 11^th and 8^th.

The Dislocated Joints were also on a 5 game winning streak. They had beaten teams ranked 5^th, 11^th, 10^th, 5^th and 6^th to earn their trip to the final.

Many of the games through the elimination round had been played tentatively. There were a couple of blow outs, but games were pretty much tight and played close to the vest. This game, in my very humble opinion, would be the best game of the weekend. Both teams gave it their all and seemed determined from the beginning to leave it all on the field.

The Wild batted 1^st and quickly tallied 4 runs and set the tone early that their bats were rolling. The Joints did not turtle. They picked up their bats and mercy’d The Wild in 1^st inning. I don’t have inning by inning stats over the course of the year, but getting a mercy inning on The Wild is no small accomplishment.

The game was 7-4 for the Dislocated after the 1^st inning and the crowd, which was ample, was loving every minute of it. There were at least 6 guys from each of the Grisslie and Dodge City teams in attendance, but considering that those two teams had been freshly eliminated, that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. What was GREAT to see was that every team was represented. Even some of the folks that were eliminated on Saturday came back in their team colours on Sunday. That could be because they slept in their clothes, but I prefer to think to was honouring the league and their teams.

The game was a slugfest and a seesaw affair. The lead changed hands several time over the next few innings and was tied at 13 after four innings. There were three innings of ball left for the year and tie game. What more could you ask for? Neither team had any quit in them.

The Joints would score 7 more runs over the next three innings giving them 20. You would think that would be enough, but the Wild managed to score 14 and ultimately won 27-20.

Some highlights for the victors

Steve Brooks He left his Whitney Houston collection in the car and came to play. The defense at 3^rd base was great but most importantly he fooled everyone by driving in a couple of key runs by hitting the ball on the ground!

Peiro Del Greco Let me say that there was a lot of cheering for a lot of people in this game. There were plenty of offensive and defensive highlights to go around. However, the three loudest moments were a) Ed Vonda’s home run b) the final out c) When The Wild were battling back in the middle innings and Peiro delivered a critical line drive passed second base that scored 2 runs and was major component in the game. Peiro has been a trooper all year and is one of those guys that everyone likes to see do well!

Mark Doyle The Wild won in spite of Mark’s play. Probably the only disappointment on the team. Not much of an arm, a suspect bat and a glove with holes. He tries though.

Andy Gee How do you give up 20 run and pitch a good game? Well you start with being Andy Gee. Andy just doesn’t rattle. I’m sure he was as disappointed as anyone else giving up 7 in the 1^st inning but he just never shows it. And he doesn’t take a bad inning to the plate or bad at bat to the field. He keeps the 8 guys behind him in a groove.

Mark Kolsen I don’t know how Mark hit throughout the tournament, only that he didn’t have a great game against the Grisslies. Whatever may have been ailing him was shaken off for this game. He hit the ball hard consistently & fielded great as well.

Jens Lepa Hmmmm, which highlight is more impressive? Is it the home run in the soccer shoes or the Willie Mayes catch in the outfield? I’m gonna go with the catch. Anyone that can do two pirouettes, into a triple axle, go into a death spin and round off into a catch on the warning track should be inducted into some kind of hall of fame.

Brett Mabee Back from missing a significant portion of the season with a wrist injury and played a fair bit of the game at 1^st. The infield was great and Brett was big part of that. Having a middle infielder playing 1^st makes it really tough on the other team. Great job with the bat too!

Kevin Moon Mooner….Maybe it’s the laid back approach or easy smile that makes you surprised when he crushes the ball or robs a sure hit. While there were a number of position changes throughout the game, the Wild looked great with Mabee at 1^st and Moon at 2^nd. As usual his bat was killer.

Anthony Mrasek Tony & Ed were back to back in the lineup. Both hit well but not at the same time. I think when one made an out the other picked up the team with a key hit to drive in runs. The thing I remember about Tony most in the game was a couple of balls hit to him in right-center field that I thought FOR SURE he lost in the sun and it turned out that he either had them all the way and was decoying runners or he found them again at the last second. You can ask Rick Cudnik what its like to play right center at that time of day and he’ll tell you how tough it is….job well done.

Clifford Tucker Cliff too was fighting the tough sky for much of the game in left field. Still, he did a good job keeping the ball in front of him, playing great team ball by hitting the cutoff and not trying to overplay. Like everyone on The Wild, his bat was there too and he ran the bases great.

Ed Vonda In many respects….Eddy had a day to remember. His catch in left field on a sinking liner was a great one and in a 27-20 game, those defensive gems really stand out. However, Ed had a home run and a triple and drove in 5 runs (if my memory is right). Rumor has it that Ed will be back to help the Wild defend. Lets hope!

James (Bear) Wyatt Bear is high on the list of guys that are easy to cheer for. There was one point in the game with runners on 2^nd & 3^rd (or maybe the bases were loaded) and I turned to Doris and said, “they NEED to get Bear here or could be over”. Bear drilled a pitch for a single over third base scoring two.

Mark Doyle Yeah, I was (obviously) kidding earlier. Mark didn’t have a particularly great game in the semi’s where he gave Billy Clouthier a lot of practice playing third. But I don’t know that Mark has had consecutive ho-hum games at all this year. Mark hit both lines offensively with authority. He was driving the ball everywhere and was pretty much impossible to defend. He was a rock at short and he was stinging Mabee’s hand at 1^st all day. The one inning I saw him in the outfield he contributed there too.

In a day full of heroes – pick one, you won’t be wrong.

See you all next month at the banquet and then at the general meeting!