2005 CO-ED SOFTBALL
GRAND FINALE

TEAM by TEAM RECAPS

Click on the team name to jump to their recap

Pony's on Parole    In Every Orphus    CLC    Frankie Say Relax    Chico's Bail Bonds

BEER DUTY - Tournament Champion
"The Champs are Here". A familiar saying describing the Beer Duty franchise. In the past two years Beer Duty has played in eight leagues, and they have made the championship game of those leagues all eight times. Dominance doesn't begin to describe this team. In 42 games in  2005 they went 34-7-1. They scored 610 runs and allowed only 339.

During the tournament they were nothing short of spectacular. In four games they never trailed at the end of a completed inning (20 full innings played). They allowed only 18 runs total in four games, a 4.5 average, and this came against teams that had been averaging a combined 16.5 runs per game. Pony's on Parole had scored 21 runs in each of their three tournament games, in the finals they scored six.

And the road wasn't cleared for Beer Duty either. Along they way they beat the 11th seed [Smell the Glove 5-2], 3rd seed [Game's Cancelled 7-1-1], 2nd seed [In Every Orphus 10-0], and 8th seed [Pony's on Parole 9-2]. Those teams had a combined record of 32-5-1 during the fall season, and two of those five losses came against Beer Duty. So the four teams they eliminated were 29 games over .500 against all other competition.

Beer Duty entered the tournament as the second most decorated team in the draw. They had won five championships (third most all-time), had an all-time record of 74-17-2 and had the second best winning percentage in CSA history among teams with 40 or more games played.

Entering the tournament, their active roster of 14 players appeared in a combined 593 games with CSA in 2005, led by Danny Starrs who played 78 games.

Road to the title
First Round - defeated Smell the Glove 11-6 in seven innings
Quarter-Finals - defeated Game's Cancelled 16-3 in five innings
Semi-Finals - defeated In Every Orphus 20-3 in four innings
Finals - defeated Pony's On Parole 21-6 in four innings

Awards
Tournament co-MVP - Mike Cullinan
Tournament co-MVP - Danny Starrs
Championship Game MVP - Tiffany Allen
All-Tournament First Team - Mike Cullinan - Pitcher
All-Tournament First Team - Danny Starrs - Left-Centerfield
All-Tournament Second Team - Tiffany Allen - First Base
All-Tournament Second Team - Dave Brown - Third Base

PONY'S ON PAROLE - Runner-up
A team dichotomy like no other. The franchise doesn't have enough players in common to qualify for affiliate status with any other franchise, but the active roster contains players that give the team more experience than all but one team in the 19 team draw.

The 14 players on the active playoff roster played a combined 653 games in CSA in 2005.

So when those factors are weighed in it is no surprise that the team was an eighth seed and it is also no surprised that they made the finals. What was a surprise is how they got their. In the regular season Pony's on Parole suffered only two defeats, both at the hands of Beer Duty, their championship game opponent.

Pony's did have an ace on their side along the way. When you have all-world pitcher Todd Walker anchoring your team, you can never be considered an underdog. Todd is considered the front-runner to be voted the CSA Pitcher of the Year (CSA's version of the Heisman trophy). His exceptional game management skills made the path for Pony's on Parole a rather easy one. But when your team has the good fortune of being the home team in all three games on the way to the finals, something is up.

In the tournament their opponents combined record was 30-11-1, with two of those wins coming at their own expense.

In the first round their opponent just rolled over and they smoked ninth seeded The Nasty Bunch 21-0. In the quarters they faced one of the two Cinderella's of the tournament, 16th seeded Frankie Say Relax, and after a freak injury, they turned a close game into a rout. Then they got the other Cinderella, 13th seed CLC, in the very next game that night. Pony's was warmed up, CLC was ice cold, and Pony's got out to an early lead and hung on to advance to the finals. It was in the finals that they got the bill for all that early good fortune. Without two superstars, Todd, and leftfielder Emily Haught, the team was lost. A critical error in the first inning of the title game was all that was needed to dash Pony's on Parole's hopes of capturing the grand championship.

Road to the finals
First Round - defeated The Nasty Bunch 21-0 in three innings
Quarter-Finals - defeated Frankie Say Relax 21-9 in five innings
Semi-Finals - defeated CLC 21-14 in seven innings
Finals - lost to Beer Duty 21-6 in four innings

Awards
All-Tournament Second Team - Emily Haught - Leftfield
All-Tournament Second Team - Kevin Granetto - Rightfield
All-Tournament Second Team - Todd Walker - Pitcher

IN EVERY ORPHUS - Semi-finalist
In Every Orphus proved they are a big time team, they just weren't battle tested and when they faced off with another big time team, they weren't able to overcome the experience advantage that Beer Duty had over them in the semi-final showdown.

Orphus has made quite a rise in 2005. In the spring league they were American Tower and were an average team in the Monday night recreational league. In the late spring league they were In the Earhole and some personnel changes made them a much more competitive opponent in the Monday night recreational league. In the summer they became In Every Orphus and even more personnel changes made them a dominant Monday night recreational team. This fall they finally moved to one of the more competitive divisions and they proved they can be still be a dominant team.

During the fall season, In Every Orphus was the only team to complete the regular season unbeaten and they were number one in the "GF" polls for the first four weeks. When the final poll was released Orphus was 2nd and was considered one of the favorites in the "Grand Finale" tournament.

They opened the draw with what looked like an easy match-up, but with a four week layoff, Orphus was very rusty and had a difficult time with the 15th seeded Italian Kitchen team that they had massacred during the regular season. They managed to find the offense late and ended up winning comfortably, 17-7. The win sent them to the quarter-finals and to the unofficial Tuesday night championship game. Facing Peachtree Zoners, the seventh seed, and the team that finished second to Orphus during the regular season, In Every Orphus showed their dominant form.

They batted around in the first, second, and third innings, and easily dispatched the Zoners, 19-3. This set up a final four showdown with the benchmark team of the past two years, sixth seeded Beer Duty.

The match-up was for a spot in the championship game and had other additional intrigue. Orphus was looking to become the first team since Ballbusters in November of 2003 to defeat Beer Duty in a playoff game that wasn't the finals. Beer Duty was looking to prevent Orphus from breaking their record long winning streak of 21 games. Orphus entered the game with 19 consecutive wins.

The game started out like it would be a good showdown of high powered offenses, but a big power display by Beer Duty in the top of the second inning blew open a tight game and Orphus could never recover from the powerful blow. Orphus could not manage to score another run and fell to Beer Duty 20-3.

Although In Every Orphus finished the fall season with a painful loss, the success they had in 2005 can not be overlooked. They will definitely be hungry in 2006 and will be one of the teams to beat.

The path they took
First Round - defeated Italian Kitchen 17-7 in six innings
Quarter-Finals - defeated Peachtree Zoners 19-3 in four innings
Semi-Finals - lost to Beer Duty 20-3 in four innings

Awards
All-Tournament First Team - Matt Candler - Third Base
All-Tournament First Team - Shawna Norton - First Base
All-Tournament First Team - Aaron Henderson - Outfield
All-Tournament Second Team - Jill Gore - Second Base

CLC - Semi-finalist
Just one thing to say, watch out for this former recreational league team in 2006. They definitely served notice in the "Grand Finale" tournament that they are for real and will be tough to beat.

The seeds for the tournament were based on what you did as a team and not what you could do as a team. Because of this, CLC was underseeded and taken way too lightly. If not for unlucky circumstances, they could have very easily made it to the championship game.

In the first round CLC drew the fourth seed, Peaked in High School. The dynasty. Peaked is in the top three in all major statistical categories, including being number one in wins and runs scored. Peaked is the only franchise in CSA history with over 2000 runs scored. CLC on the other hand is brand new and in their very first season with CSA. The active roster for CLC played an aggregate total of 182 games with CSA in 2005, only one tournament team had less playing time in 2005.

None of that mattered, after a couple of mistakes in the first inning short circuited a CLC rally, they blew open a game that was tied at three after one inning. A twelve run second inning propelled CLC to a 31-3 victory over the team that won the Wednesday night regular season division title. The 31 runs represents the third most runs ever scored in a CSA playoff game and the 28 run margin is the second largest in playoff games.

Just to make sure they were no fluke, CLC would have to prove themselves once again. This time in the quarter-finals against another one of CSA's all-time teams, fifth seeded Chico's Bail Bonds. Chico's is second to Peaked in High School in many of those major statistical categories, including wins and runs scored. They have also played the second most games all time.

And once again, none of that mattered. CLC followed their same pattern and took a close game, tied at three at the end of two innings this time, and blew it open. A six run third inning gave them a lead they would never relinquish. They were up 9-6 going into the fourth and after loading the bases with two outs, they proceeded to score 17 runs and blow the game wide open.

Chico's was shell shocked and CLC advanced to the quarter-finals with a 26-6 victory.

For a little statistical perspective. In the first two rounds CLC outscored their higher rated opponents 57-9. During the fall season those two teams had a combined record of 12-3 and all time the combined record is 216-82-4 (a .722 winning percentage) [Peaked is 113-36; Chico's is 103-46-4]. The two highest scoring teams in CSA history had combined for 4057 runs scored.

After the win over Chico's, CLC was flying high and was on fire. Unfortunately for them they had to wait around in the cold for their next opponent. The other quarter-final match-up between Pony's on Parole and Frankie Say Relax was a much tighter game and ran extra long because of a freak injury. CLC's game against Chico's ended at 7:42pm and they did not take the field to take on the eighth seed Pony's on Parole until 9:21pm.

Compound that fact with an odd twist of fate that left CLC at a decided disadvantage. Five of the starters for Pony's on Parole play for Chico's Bail Bonds (the team CLC had just beaten). So they had to play cold, against a team that featured several players they had already played against. CLC gave a valiant effort, but they couldn't overcome an early deficit they dug for themselves and they were eliminated 21-14.

In the tournament, CLC had the highest scoring average, plating an average of 23.7 runs per game. They also had the biggest average run differential at 13.7 runs per game.

The path they took
First Round - defeated Peaked in High School 31-3 in four innings
Quarter-Finals - defeated Chico's Bail Bonds 26-6 in four innings
Semi-Finals - lost to Pony's on Parole 21-14 in seven innings

Awards
All-Tournament First Team - Denny Crane - Shortstop
All-Tournament First Team - Nicole Barber - Outfield
All-Tournament Second Team - TJ Harley - Outfield

Frankie Say Relax - Quarter-finalist
This was the tale of two seasons for Frankie Say Relax. They started out 0-5 in the Wednesday night league, playing five teams that all automatically qualified for the "Grand Finale", including the number 1, 4, and 5 seeds. They were averaging almost 17 runs a game but were allowing almost 20 a game.

Then one key personnel move helped change the entire season. CSA director Leland Dombrowsky joined the team with three games left in the season and took over as the starting pitcher. This allowed the team captain and Wednesday night league MVP Colin Gallagher to go back to leftfield. This change allowed all the players on the field to shift to more natural positions and the results were undeniably positive.

In the very first game with Leland on the mound FSR rallied with four runs in the seventh inning for a 6-6 tie. Well at least it wasn't a loss and the defense was starting to come around. The next game was a rough one, but a four run rally in the bottom of the seventh produced the first win of the season, 17-16 over Bottled Beer. After losing the final game of the regular season it didn't look good for Frankie Say Relax, finishing in 10th place out of 11 teams with a 1-6-1 record.

But that was just the warm-up, the real show was about to begin. And that show was something special. The defense finally started to click and the offense was electric. FSR was dynamic in five official (and one unofficial) "playoff" games.

First they would have to navigate through the Wednesday night play-in games. The first game was a rematch with Fighting Amish and it wasn't much of a match at all. Five runs in the top of the first were followed by 10 runs in the top of the second and the score was 15-0 before the Amish knew what had hit them. FSR cruised to a 18-9 victory. The next game was tainted by controversy and when it was all said and done, Frankie was awarded a forfeit victory against Red Door Tavern. But that didn't mean much because FSR would have to run another gauntlet. This time they were in the "Interdivisional Section" of the "Grand Finale" tournament. There four teams would playoff for the 16th and final spot in the main draw.

Frankie was seriously undermanned, but following the lead of captain Colin Gallagher, they decided to take it, by force. With only eight players in the first game, FSR was absolutely dominant in dismissing Grizzly Cubs. The final score of 18-6 doesn't tell how truly dominating FSR really was. Grizzly Cubs didn't score until the third inning and they plated the last four runs in a meaningless fifth inning. FSR was now one step from the main draw. This time they would be facing off with Red Door again and another game filled with controversy and animosity. Only this time, Frankie left no doubt. The score was 17-1 after two innings and would have been a lot worse if not for a bonehead running mistake by Leland. The final score of 25-10 wasn't indicative of how well FSR played. The runs they allowed at the end were for the most part cosmetic, because the issue was never in doubt.

Frankie Say Relax entered the main draw on the strength of a doubleheader sweep where they outscored their opponents 43-16 and of those 16 runs, 13 were scored when FSR already had a lead of over 10 runs.

What is the prize for this remarkable run, it is the top seed in the tournament of course. FSR drew More Cowbell just one night after the sweep and Frankie Say Relax picked up right were they left off. A five run top of the first set the tone and by the time the game reached the middle of the fourth inning, FSR led 16-2. Cowbell made a valiant attempt at a comeback, cutting the lead to 16-13 entering the sixth inning, but Frankie Say Relax responded in a way they had not all season. FSR scored eight more runs in the final two innings and only allowed one meaningless run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Frankie Say Relax continued its magical run with a 24-14 win over the top seed.

It was in the quarter-finals that the magic ran out. Playing without shortstop Lane Young, who was named to the All-Tournament team, Colin was forced to shift players around and FSR just had too many players out of position. Even with that, Frankie was hanging right in with the eighth seed Pony's on Parole. And just when Frankie was setting itself up to pull off another upset, an unlucky bounce sucked the life out of the team. Nikki Law, who had been playing third base all season was shifted to second base for this game. She was perfectly positioned to field a sharp groundball and get the force at second when the ball took a wicked hop and hit her directly in the face. The game was delayed for 20 minutes and Nikki had to sit out the rest of the inning. It was in that inning that Pony's on Parole took a lead they would never relinquish. Ever the warrior, Nikki returned to the field the next inning and had a key two run single as well. However, the injury shook up the team and they weren't the same after it. Leland, who had been battling all game, began to struggle mightily, and what had been a close game got out of hand in the fifth inning. FSR fell 21-9 and was eliminated one step short of the Final Four.

The loss can not diminish the incredible turnaround the team made after a rather difficult start. Over two seasons in 2005, the team was 2-11 before starting on a streak at the end of the season that saw them go 6-2-1.

In the "Grand Finale" Frankie Say Relax was very exciting. Five players made the all-tournaments teams. FSR scored the most runs of all the teams in the official draw, 76, and averaged the third most runs scored of any team that played two or more games, 19.0.

The path they took
Interdivisional semi-finals - defeated Grizzly Cubs 18-6 in five innings
Interdivisional finals - defeated Red Door Tavern 25-10 in four innings
First Round - defeated More Cowbell 24-14 in seven innings
Quarter-Finals - lost to Pony's on Parole 21-9 in five innings

Awards
All-Tournament First Team - Leland Dombrowsky - Pitcher
All-Tournament First Team - Jenn Elwell - Catcher
All-Tournament First Team - Hayes Moody - Second Base
All-Tournament First Team - Colin Gallagher - Outfield
All-Tournament Second Team - Lane Young - Shortstop

Chico's Bail Bonds - Quarter-finalist
Chico's came into the fall season winners of back to back league championships. They won the Spring and Summer Wednesday night leagues. In the fall season they started to struggle and after starting the season 4-0, they lost two of their last three games. This included a season ending loss to More Cowbell with the regular season division championship at stake.

Even the end of season struggles and the three week layoff couldn't stop Chico's in the first round. They entered the "Grand Finale" as the fifth seed and in the first round they faced a familiar foe, 12th seeded Batting for Beers. It was the 19th meeting of the two storied CSA franchises. Chico's has pretty much owned the match-up the last few times and this game was no different. It was close early, tied at five in the middle of the third, but once Chico's jumped back out to a lead, BFB folded and Chico's cruised to a relatively easy 19-7 win.

The win advanced Chico's to the quarter-finals, where they were going to face the 13th seed, CLC. CLC had just dispatched the fourth seed Peaked in High School in totally dominating fashion.

Chico's came into this game with thoughts of facing it's sister team, Pony's on Parole, in the semi-finals. They also were only eight runs shy of 2000 as a franchise, although it is not known if they knew that.

The game started out close, but disaster struck for Chico's in the third and fourth inning. In the third they gave up six runs and fell behind 9-6 after three. That was nothing compared to the fourth inning. With two outs and bases loaded, no runs had scored for CLC, then a simpler grounder was hit to third, but no one went to third for the force out and all the runners were safe. This opened the floodgates to a 17 run inning. That spelled doom for Chico's, who was unable to recover any life after that. The final score was 26-6.

The loss does not diminish another dominant year for Chico's Bail Bonds. In 2005 they won two league championships and had an overall record of 24-4-2. Oddly it was the second straight year that Chico's finished with a loss in December by more than 20 runs.

The path they took
First Round - defeated Batting for Beers 19-7 in five innings
Quarter-Finals - lost to CLC 26-6 in four innings

Peachtree Zoners - Quarter-finalist

Game's Cancelled - Quarter-finalist

Smell the Glove

The Nasty Bunch

Tough Times

Italian Kitchen

Peaked in High School

More Cowbell

Batting for Beers

Last Call

Red Door Tavern

Grizzly Cubs