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<\/a><\/p>\nThe Sox celebrated their first playoff win in two seasons (missed playoffs last year) by finally planning the 2012 SweatSox Golf Tournament, with a tee-off scheduled for exactly 12 hours after the Hyjinx ended.\u00a0 Since this was put together at the last-minute, we didn\u2019t have time to recruit teams, so the 2012 tournament was played using individual stroke play rules.\u00a0 Shoutout to Cory Bond who won by 14 strokes over the next best finisher.<\/p>\n
Game 2 of the Winchester series took place in Winchester, where the SweatSox have had unprecedented success this year (2-0).\u00a0 After Josh \u201cMr. Winchester\u201d Ramage came down with the Winchester flu, causing him to stay home and miss his start, the Authority turned to John Groves to lead the SweatSox to the semi-finals.\u00a0 OMG responded to this opportunity by giving up a HR on the first pitch he threw.\u00a0 As expected though, OMG settled down then threw 5+ innings of 0 run ball before turning it over to Eric White, who had gotten the SweatSox the lead with a 2-run HR, for the save. With 2 wins, and now a save\u00a0& HR\u00a0in 3 appearances in Winchester this year, Eric will now forever be known as: Professor Winchester!\u00a0 SweatSox win 4-1, and advance to the semi\u2019s!<\/p>\n The Apr\u00e8s Baseball Hyjinx gave us this unfortunate image will forever be burned into my memory, not that there\u2019s anything wrong with that:<\/p>\n With Cardinals taking care of business against the Mudd in 3, and a Cornwall River Rat upset of the Gryphons, the stage was set for the SweatSox to take on the two-time defending champion Athletics, who had just come off beating Barnes (Expos) twice in the quarterfinals.\u00a0 The SweatSox and Athletics have only met once in the playoffs, way back in 2008: It was a 2 game sweep for the SweatSox, with Mark Dorrington and Cory Bond throwing back to back shutouts.\u00a0 Many NCBL historians say that playoff series was what forced the Athletics to recruit harder, faster, strong players, which turned them into the Tier 2 powerhouse they are today.\u00a0 And now these two teams meet again, 5 years later, with a trip to the finals at stake.\u00a0 We\u2019ve come full circle\u2026<\/p>\n Game 1 featured a pitching matchup of Dorrington vs the SweatSox Killer Kevin Lamarche.\u00a0 With the game tied heading into the 3rd, the Sox broke the game open with 3 runs thanks to RBI\u2019s from Denver Hunt (1) and Cory Bond (2).\u00a0 The SweatSox would go on to score 5 more runs, but those runs in the\u00a03rd would prove to be all we needed for the Game 1 win.\u00a0 OMS goes the distance, but gave up a run in the 3rd, ending the SweatSox shutout streak of the Athletics in the playoffs at 16 innings.<\/p>\n The Apr\u00e8s Baseball Hyjinx, hosted by our great lefty, featured the first ever official OM circle:<\/p>\n We also had a Fruit-RollUp-Off, Lady and the Tramp style.\u00a0 First matchup, two ladies:<\/p>\n Second matchup: Two tramps:<\/p>\n Finally, what Hyjinx would be complete without\u00a0two guys checking out Two Girls One Cup for the very first time:<\/p>\n Game 2 of SweatSox-Athletics took place at Heritage, with the Athletics sending former Tier 2 MVP Dustin Paquette to the mound.\u00a0 We countered with Eric White, making his first ever Tier 2 playoff start after spending most of his NCBL career down in Tier 3, something we tried to keep hidden from the A\u2019s but to their credit, they did their research on him.\u00a0 THC gave up 3 runs (2 earned) in the first two innings, and settled down the rest of the way but the damage was already done.\u00a0 SweatSox lose 3-0, series tied 1-1.<\/p>\n The Apr\u00e8s Baseball Hyjinx was hosted by the Blair Road Royal Oak, where Denver decided to apply for employment by showing some initiative.\u00a0 Unfortunately, he didn\u2019t have a valid passcode.<\/p>\n In an effort to expand his silverware and condiment collection at home, the Shostappa got creative with his exit strategy:<\/p>\n Then, just before calling it a night, the Shostappa decided to take seat in a motorized wheelchair.\u00a0 Oh how the tables would turn just a few weeks later\u2026<\/p>\n With the bright lights, a loud crowd, and a 3 man umpire crew, the stage was set for the most intense game beginning to end the SweatSox have ever played.\u00a0 Before the beginning though, there was a warmup; and the key to a good warmup is a good team stretch:<\/p>\n With a trip to the finals on the line, it made sense that both teams sent pitchers to the mound who have pitched in big games before, two pitchers who together once represented the NCBL in a tournament down in a United State of America, and two pitchers with such opposite styles from each other, you just knew it was going to be epic: John Groves vs Eric Boisvert.<\/p>\n For the first 5 innings, the fans in the stands were treated to some amazing baseball, with incredible clutch defensive plays by both teams keeping the score 0-0.\u00a0 In the\u00a06th though, Boisvert got into a bit of trouble and had to be replaced by Dave Farquharson, and with runners at 2nd<\/sup> and 3rd<\/sup> withtwo outs, Cory Bond stepped up and got the SweatSox on the board with a 2 run single to LF.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Tier 3 gave those two runs back in the bottom and we were all square at 2 heading into the 7th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n After getting shutout in the top, the SweatSox had their backs to the wall in the bottom on the 7th\u00a0when the Athletics had the series-clinching run on 1B with 1 out.\u00a0 OML had seen enough, and made the call to bring the GLE out of his bullshit retirement to save the day.\u00a0 2 batters, 2 outs, we\u2019re going to extra innings.<\/p>\n OML led the\u00a08th off with a walk, and got to\u00a02nd after the Bus Cop was hit in the head.\u00a0 We later learned that this was NOT retribution for the Bus Cop hitting all 15 Athletics in the head a couple of years ago; so Mark, they\u2019re still coming for you!\u00a0 When Kent Johnston couldn\u2019t execute on his own rule, and Cory flew out to the OF for 2 quick outs, we thought we\u2019d have to try to hold-on for a\u00a09th inning, but back to back errors by the Athletics got Lett & Bond home and the SweatSox had a 2 run lead!\u00a0 All Cory had to do was get 3 outs before 2 runs scored and the SweatSox would advance to the finals:<\/p>\n Cory was on the mound\u00a0when the SweatSox made it to the Tier 3 finals, so it’s fitting he was on the mound 8 years later when the SweatSox made it to the Tier 2 finals:<\/p>\n The Apr\u00e8s Baseball Hyjinx was a special one, not because we were going to the finals, but because we had our first ever SweatSox TwerkOff (Bridget wins by default):<\/p>\n The rest of the night was a blur, thanks to Silas and his friend Jose:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n