After cruising through pool play, the Albany Eagles were challenged by two quality teams in JOBL and El Cerrito Red but were able to come away with a much deserved third championship in a row. The Eagles are now undefeated in their last 15 games.
Arlo Rudy led off three games with home runs and added a number of other big hits, including a walk off rbi triple in the 7th inning of the final. Matthew Mino was consistently on base and solid in the field. in the finals he threw out a runner at home and third and applied a spectacular diving catch and tag to nail a would-be base stealer. Alex Rowland came up big hitting in the three spot, leading the team in batting average. He also proved over-powering on the mound with nine innings of quality work. Jack Johnson provided much thunder, including a 3 run bomb in pool play. He was also nails behind the plate, completely neutralizing the opponent's running game.
Emmet Smay proved to be the most versatile Eagle, playing five different positions, including big innings behind the plate and on the mound. Alex "Stretch" Oyle gobbled up everything at first base and contributed big hits and innings on the mound. Nick Kubler was solid defensively and with the bat, but his biggest play was a heads up back-up play where he came up firing to second base to cut down a runner attempting to take an ill-advised extra base. Daniel Dempster contributed on the mound with several quality starts, then added some thump with the bat, starting a two-out rally with a line drive double in the gap during the finals.
Liam Pauley came through with big hits time and time again, including an rbi single up the middle to drive in the first run in the championship game. Eagles captain Julien Scribner found his stroke during the tournament, and broke open the semi-finals game with a loud triple to the fence in right center field. Ben Kleven was amazing on the mound throughout the tournament. His three shutout innings in the finals kept the Eagles in the game, and his 7th inning single set the stage for the dramatic ending.
