Presenting the new Northwoods League champions . . .

Woo hoo!

We won! It was an amazing game, but yes, the short term would be "we are the champions."

They scored no runs until the last half of the game, where they unfortunately tied with us, 3-3. Everyone on the team was playing excellently (there were some errors, but no more than usual). Justin Bach played third base since Joey Lieberman had departed, and he was surprisingly good for a change, he even got a hit at one at bat.

First base had some troubles (literally). It was damaged somehow early during the game, and they spent a few minutes trying to fix a bent peg or something. They replaced the base and play continued, but it was stopped again a little while later to fix the base or adjust it or something.

That wasn't the only difficulty. The umpires made another stupid call, even worse than the third base one. They called a Mallards runner safe, claiming Shaun Williams' foot was off the bag, when it was clearly on the bag! Our coach appealed it, but to no avail.

Our players are so civil, though. There was one player on the Mallards who had to be restrained by his team mates to prevent him from going after the umpire after a called third strike. None of our players so much as tossed their helmet into the ground. Lots of broken bats though.

The Mallards played well and were truly worthy opponents. When we were tied up at the top of the eighth, I was worried we'd go into extra innings. A nice walked-in run helped give us the edge for the top of the ninth.

Shaun Williams was on base (first base in fact) at the end of the eighth. Instead of letting another pitcher take a batter or two in the ninth, he went into the dugout, pulled on his cap and glove, and went onto the pitcher's mound to go into the game cold, after standing on base! Absolutely amazing. And he pitched better than yesterday. Not as many strikeouts, but still an unbelievable arm!

Those guys are going to get so wasted tonight/this morning . . . well, they deserve it. They are the champions. And I hope those who can come back next year do so, because I'd love to see them again.