2010 RMSA season is in the books

RMSA DIAMOND DUST, Week 15 (August 12 – August 15, 2010)
By Mike Kohli, RMSA Board Member

[RMSA Diamond Dust is a weekly synopsis of action in the Rome Men’s Softball Association.  It will spotlight feature games and stand-out players from each week’s games]

To those who follow RMSA softball, there are certain teams that come to mind as Tournament Sunday rolls around; those teams that are almost guaranteed to be playing on the final day of the City Championship.  Palisades is one of those teams.  

A model of consistency, the Palisades roster contains just the proper mixture of seasoned older softballers and young green talent year after year.  

Palisades reached the finals in last year’s tournament, running the table until the finals, only to lose two straight to eventual champion, Garage/The Mill.  Typically, the Palisades route to the finals involves a circuitous trip through the loser’s bracket.  That was the chosen path this year as they worked their way through the loser’s bracket, on their way to their first ever city title.  

In a RMSA City Championship Tournament that saw the most competitive field in recent years, a clear-cut favorite could not be determined.  The top six teams in the field combined had three losses in regular season play.  This was anyone’s tournament to win.  

The surprise team of the tournament was the youthful Bottini Funeral Home, many of whom have just finished up their high school baseball careers.  Bottini’s earned their way into the tournament through their league play-in after winning only one league game all season.  Bottini earned a thirteen seed and a meeting against league powerhouse Advanced Auto/Tebb’s in a first round game on Thursday night.  

Bottini’s took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, eventually losing on a walk-off single by the veteran Dave Leonbruno of Advanced, sending Bottini to the loser’s bracket on Saturday.  After quickly dismissing Lee Legion, Bottini went on to eliminate two veteran and high seeded teams in Mattacola Law Firm and Don’s Auto, earning the nickname “Giant Killers” along the way.  

Bottini’s Cinderella run was cut short early on Sunday however, when Western Legion schooled the youngsters in a game of old time RMSA softball.  Western went on to win 17-2 in the elimination game and move on to face Palisades in the loser’s bracket final.  

Performance Wire entered the tournament with a chip on their shoulder as the three seed and quickly went to work stating their case as the best team in the league.  

After dismantling Bravo’s/Wagoner-Hickok 23-0 in the first round; a game that saw pitcher Kris Wutsch allow one hit in facing the minimum, Performance moved on to a winner’s bracket matchup against Mattacola’s on Saturday.  

Performance and Mattacola played one of the best defensive games of the tournament, as indicated by the low final score.  It was obvious that this game would come down to the final at-bat to determine the winner.  Performance, being the home team in this affair would do just that, as John Sharrino plated AJ Spado with a line drive walk-off single to left, setting up a finals preview against Palisades later on Saturday.  

Palisades path was paved by wins over Bostwick Liquors in the first round and Don’s Auto on Saturday morning.  Against Don’s, Palisades used a big first inning to hold on for a 6-4 victory.  The five-run rally was highlighted by Robbie Barrett’s two-run home run.  

Performance and Palisades faced off late Saturday in the winner’s bracket.  Performance flexed their muscles in a balanced hitting attack that saw them win handily 13-2 and knock Palisades into the loser’s bracket.  

Once in the familiar surroundings of the loser’s bracket, Palisades found their stride in knocking off contenders Black River Ale House/D&D Carpets and Western Legion to earn a rematch against Performance.  

After a lengthy rain delay, the finals began with Palisades needing to beat Performance twice to win the title.  

Palisades went to work quickly, scoring seven runs to Performance’s one through two innings.  Those seven runs would prove to be more than enough as Performance could only score three more the rest of the way, losing their first game of the season 12-4 and to the winner-take-all final game.  

The final was a defensive struggle.  Performance took a short-lived 1-0 lead that was quickly answered.  Palisades then went up 4-1 in the sixth inning as Barrett knocked in Jeff Race and Scott Parsons with a triple to left center field.  

Performance rallied in the top of the seventh.  Hot hitting John Sharrino and Jared Tiffin opened the inning with back-to-back line drive singles, eventually scoring on a Rich Artigiani single to pull within one.  Performance couldn’t keep the rally going, however and Palisades went on to win their first RMSA City Tournament Championship 4-3.  

Palisades’ Adam Keller collected six hits in the final two games en route to winning the tournament MVP.  Elder statesman Mike Badolato, a mid-season addition to the Palisades roster, was able to taste his first ever city title after competing for 29 years.