Lots to talk about…
THURSDAY: We had our fate for the playoff seedings in our hands. 2 wins OR a win and an Expos loss meant we clinched a 5 seed in the tournament (a much easier road). We played Thursday like a playoff game, batting only 9 and giving them our best shot. Lucas pitched a solid 5 innings, and held Willimantic to 3 runs. The Knights offense kept pace with Willimantic through out the day. Justin Kilker’s aggressive baserunning (slightly crazy, but very effective) helped manufacture a run early. After Lucas couldn’t go anymore, we started to warm up Mitch Hummer to come in relief, but unfortunately an injury stopped him from being able to throw… so we quickly pulled Eddie Dickman off first base to warm up. Eddie came in and dominated the first inning he threw, striking out 2. In the bottom of the 6th, with the score tied at 3, Scott Dickens came to the plate with 2 on and a pulled in infield. He proceeded to slap a base hit through the left side between 3rd and short to score. This could have been the winner if we could hold Willimantic for one more inning. In the top of the 7th, the heart of Willimantics order were able to battle Eddie for a couple baserunners, and scored one runner on a base hit to center to tie the game at 4. Eddie proceeded to retire the side without any more damage. In the bottom of the 7th, Dickman came to the plate. In an earlier at bat Eddie crushed one off the top of the wall that came back in play and he got a standup double. In the 7th, their outfielders were giving Eddie plenty of room and he proceeded to dump a little fly ball in front of the deep center fielder for a base hit. Two batters later, Paul Franceschi came to the plate, with Eddie still on first. Eddie took off from first to steal second, and on that pitch… Paul pulled a ball down the left field line that fell in fair. Eddie already stealing 2nd had a great jump, and Scott Dickens waived him around 3rd to slide face first into home to score the winning walk-off run, and beat the Willimantic Ridges. A great and exciting game… and hopefully we can continue this play through the playoffs.

I posted lots of pictures in the Gallery section from Thursdays Muzzy game… check them out.

Later that night after we celebrated with our food in the locker room and a couple of us had a few drinks at Sabino’s, I got some more good news. The Tri-County Expos had lost their season finale to the Glastonbury Pirates 6-1, which meant we the Knights had clinched the 5th seed in the playoff bracket. This was the best possible outcome for the night, and meant we could relax the next day since that game would not affect tournament pairings.

FRIDAY: With our fate already sealed, Friday was a fun day at the ball park. Everyone batted, played where they wanted in the field, etc. We still were trying to win, but if we didn’t… no big deal. Scott Dickens started the game on the mound and threw 2 decent innings. Emergency call up Mike Krenicki came down to throw 2 lefty-curve ball filled innings. Chris Taylor came in and threw 2 innings of spotting fastballs and knuckle balls, and Ernie Meza closed out the last inning of the night as it started to get dark. On the offensive side, Paul Franceschi continued to hit well, Earl Oakes stroked the ball deep to the outfield every time up, but only got 1 double, and Chris Dickens had a clutch base hit that finally got the Knights on the board. We ended up losing 8-3 to the last place East Hartford Angels who used a regular lineup and threw the guy who had faced us 2 previous times, but not worries… it was all in good fun.

I posted a few pictures in the Gallery section of the Friday fun game at BEHS… check them out.

PLAYOFFS START TOMORROW… 8pm Monday at Rotary Field in South Windsor
(directions in the directions link and I will email google map directions.)
We play the Willimantic Ridges in the second game of the night (in a rematch of Thursday’s walkoff win).
Please check out the schedule page that has been updated with all the Tournament bracket schedule and pairings.
All games are either 6pm or 8pm under the lights.
Remember, if bad weather, the games are pushed back the necessary amount of spots (either a full day or a time slot)
Plan of playing even if the weather is questionable.

We will need all our players, so please come down and be ready to contribute.
If you aren’t in the game yet, cheer on your teammates, and stay ready… you could go in at any time.
Lets all be very vocal and positive and jump on the Willimantic pitcher.
I really think we could win this whole thing this year if we play hard, play smart, and give it our all.

See you at the field.