{"id":252,"date":"2013-09-21T18:17:49","date_gmt":"2013-09-21T22:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/?p=252"},"modified":"2023-05-09T20:38:05","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T00:38:05","slug":"we-at-the-ship-now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/21\/we-at-the-ship-now-what\/","title":{"rendered":"We At The Ship, Now What?"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE GREEN OUT<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Getting to the Ship wasn’t easy.  First, we battled the Winchester Sox, who are no strangers to winning in the playoffs, making the Tier II Finals in 2 of the past 3 seasons.  Got through that series in 2 games.  Then, we faced off against the two-time defending champion Ottawa Athletics, who were the heavy favourites after going 3-0 against us during the regular season.  We gave it absolutely everything we had, culminating with an extra-inning win in arguably the greatest game front to back we’ve ever played.  We were equally impressive in the ensuing Hyjinx, leaving many players hoping we hadn’t blown our proverbial load with 3 to 5 games left in our season.<\/p>\n

Before we could find out what we had left in the tank, we needed an opponent.  When we won our semi-final series, the Cornwall River Rats and Ottawa-Nepean Cardinals semi was still going on, with the River Rats taking the opener 9-3.  Cornwall wouldn’t end up needing a 3rd game, winning 2-0 at home three days later to punch their ticket to the Ship.<\/p>\n

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With the matchup set, the SweatSox found ourselves in an interesting position.  After missing the playoffs last year, we definitely had the mindset all season that we were underdogs with nothing to lose; and we were winning.  If the Cardinals would’ve taken care of business in the semi’s, we could’ve kept up that charade, after all we lost the season series 2-1 and were outscored 12-8.  Against Cornwall though, we were 3-0 (including 2 road trips to Cornwall), outscoring them 10-3.  We then started hearing rumours that the River Rats were shorthanded, missing at least their Pitcher of the Year nominee to higher education.  Finally, we began hearing from other teams, before the series started, congratulating us on winning the Championship, with messages to the effect of “you might win in 4, if you happen forfeit a game”.  While we certainly didn’t believe for a second it would be easy, one thing was perfectly clear: we were the FAVOURITES<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

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After days of schedule negotiations and weather delays, it was finally time to play ball.  Game 1 featured the SweatSox Opening Day starter Josh Ramage vs Tyler St. Denis, who had started for Cornwall in all of their 3 regular season games against us.  Fast forward to the bottom of the 7th, where the SweatSox were being shutout 3-0 with just 3 hits.  The Bond Brothers each reached base to start the inning, and both would end up scoring before an out was made.  In fact, the SweatSox had the bases loaded, with nobody out, down just 1 run…<\/p>\n

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So Game 1 didn’t exactly go as planned, but we still had a Hyjinx to partake in.  It wasn’t long before someone went to the bathroom (see, no pictures!) and brought back some of the helium balloons that were floating near the Annual Sportsplex Automobile Liquidation Sale Bonanza area.  Did somebody say HeliumOff?<\/p>\n

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