Post by Summer Ball Forever on Aug 2, 2010 12:28:24 GMT -5
The 2010 Southeast Collegiate Baseball League Tournament was filled with some exciting games, some unbelievable plays, and being in the summer, some nasty rain delays.
Overall, the tournament was well attended by fans of all the teams with the attendance in the hundreds for all of the games. As expected, the Bombers brought the most fans to their games, but they were closely followed by the home team Legends and surprisingly the St. Augustine Saints (which had a good turnout). Unfortunately, I honestly believe that the combination of record heat during the day (Friday's Game 1 temperatures reached into the 110's) and thunderstorms during the evenings really put a hamper on what could have been a record crowd for the league.
Now for the games themselves:
Game 1 Friday afternoon between the Bombers and the Saints wasn't even close with Thomasville running away with it 10-3. The game that night was a pitching duel with the Oranges squeaking out the win 1-0 over the North Central Florida Baseball Stars (there's a name for you).
Saturday's action started off with an extremely close game between the Thomasville Bombers and the Florida Legends. After trailing most of the game, the Legends managed to rally to score 4 runs in the top of the 7th to win the game and advance 6-5. In Game 4, the Saints knocked off the Stars 11-4 with a powerful offense. NCF's pitching really struggled throughout the entire game, culminating in a 9-run 3rd inning collapse. Something like 8 or 9 batters were hit during this game. The Legends started Game 5 against the Oranges off strong, rattling off 6 straight hits to jump to an early 5-0 lead before thunderstorms delayed the game in the top of the 2nd. After a couple hour halt, play resumed with the Legends' pitching struggling on the wet field. By the time more thunderstorms moved into the area, the Oranges had already done their damage taking a 7-6 lead in the 4th.
Sunday morning, Game 5 was resumed and saw the Legends make yet another come back to win 13-8. The rest of the day featured the Saints knocking off first the Bombers 5-1 and then the Oranges 6-2 to advance to the championship game.
The championship game between the Florida Legends and the St. Augustine Saints began with the Legends taking a 4-1 lead in the 1st off of a 3-run shot. Then, like the day before, rain moved in forcing the delay of the game. After raining pretty solidly for about an hour, it finally let up and the Legends team began working hurriedly to make the field playable once again. After about an hour and fifteen minutes of raking the field and spreading diamond dust, the task was completed and the game was ready to resume... only that after the entire time, St. Augustine decided to forfeit the game. For a little bit almost seemed unreal with the Legends and fans of both teams standing around confused as to what was happening for several minutes while the Saints team quickly packed up their stuff and left. I must say that it was a very sad way to see such a fine tournament come to an end, especially with both teams having earned their spot in the championship final. Many players and fans were upset that it wasn't able to be decided on the field.
The negative emotions aside, the Florida Legends did nothing but outright earn the 2010 SECBL Championship. Not only did they flat out dominate the league from start to finish, concluding with an 18-4 record, they also entered the championship game as the undefeated tournament team and took a convincing 4-1 lead in the 1st inning of the game.
All in all, it certainly was an interesting tournament and it is my hope that fans from all the teams can look back with several good memories on their team's performances.
Overall, the tournament was well attended by fans of all the teams with the attendance in the hundreds for all of the games. As expected, the Bombers brought the most fans to their games, but they were closely followed by the home team Legends and surprisingly the St. Augustine Saints (which had a good turnout). Unfortunately, I honestly believe that the combination of record heat during the day (Friday's Game 1 temperatures reached into the 110's) and thunderstorms during the evenings really put a hamper on what could have been a record crowd for the league.
Now for the games themselves:
Game 1 Friday afternoon between the Bombers and the Saints wasn't even close with Thomasville running away with it 10-3. The game that night was a pitching duel with the Oranges squeaking out the win 1-0 over the North Central Florida Baseball Stars (there's a name for you).
Saturday's action started off with an extremely close game between the Thomasville Bombers and the Florida Legends. After trailing most of the game, the Legends managed to rally to score 4 runs in the top of the 7th to win the game and advance 6-5. In Game 4, the Saints knocked off the Stars 11-4 with a powerful offense. NCF's pitching really struggled throughout the entire game, culminating in a 9-run 3rd inning collapse. Something like 8 or 9 batters were hit during this game. The Legends started Game 5 against the Oranges off strong, rattling off 6 straight hits to jump to an early 5-0 lead before thunderstorms delayed the game in the top of the 2nd. After a couple hour halt, play resumed with the Legends' pitching struggling on the wet field. By the time more thunderstorms moved into the area, the Oranges had already done their damage taking a 7-6 lead in the 4th.
Sunday morning, Game 5 was resumed and saw the Legends make yet another come back to win 13-8. The rest of the day featured the Saints knocking off first the Bombers 5-1 and then the Oranges 6-2 to advance to the championship game.
The championship game between the Florida Legends and the St. Augustine Saints began with the Legends taking a 4-1 lead in the 1st off of a 3-run shot. Then, like the day before, rain moved in forcing the delay of the game. After raining pretty solidly for about an hour, it finally let up and the Legends team began working hurriedly to make the field playable once again. After about an hour and fifteen minutes of raking the field and spreading diamond dust, the task was completed and the game was ready to resume... only that after the entire time, St. Augustine decided to forfeit the game. For a little bit almost seemed unreal with the Legends and fans of both teams standing around confused as to what was happening for several minutes while the Saints team quickly packed up their stuff and left. I must say that it was a very sad way to see such a fine tournament come to an end, especially with both teams having earned their spot in the championship final. Many players and fans were upset that it wasn't able to be decided on the field.
The negative emotions aside, the Florida Legends did nothing but outright earn the 2010 SECBL Championship. Not only did they flat out dominate the league from start to finish, concluding with an 18-4 record, they also entered the championship game as the undefeated tournament team and took a convincing 4-1 lead in the 1st inning of the game.
All in all, it certainly was an interesting tournament and it is my hope that fans from all the teams can look back with several good memories on their team's performances.