It was another great week to be a Boston sports fan as the Boston Bruins won their first Stanley Cup in 39 years last Wednesday night. It was the sixth major sports championship celebrated here in the city since 2004. An amazing stroke of good fortune for sports followers. The majority of our M Street players took part in the festivities that followed in and around the city but still managed to make their team's games. Some even played with added enthusiasm and a renewed attitude that said "if the Bruins can do it, so can we."

On Tuesday, Jason Atton and the Stats Bar & Grille squad were trying for a big upset in becoming the first team to hand Shennanigan's a loss this season. They fell behind early but never gave in before falling to the defending champions, 9-2. The middle game saw Mike Doran and the Cornerstone Pub handle the Swingers, 18-3. The evening closed with the Stingers crushing the Cranberry Café, 19-7. The Stingers sure seem like the team to beat in the Feeney division as they have led since day one of the season.

With the Bruins playing their now historic game seven on Wednesday night, the league only had one game on the schedule and that was played between Pat's Tattoria! and the Dorset Club. Pat's made quick work of Dorset as they handed them a 13-0 whipping. At 3-4, Pat's could easily be 6-1 and in first place as they lost three games by the slimmest of margins.

Knowing the Stanley Cup was in the city, the players took the field on Thursday with an added bounce in their step. The early game saw the Sidewalk Café edge the Playwright, 17-10. Danny Ekasala (4 hits) and Tim Walsh (4 hits, 4 RBI) led the hit parade for Sidewalk while Joe Broderick (3 hits) led the way for The Playwright. The night closed with Telegraph Hill winning their eighth game in a row as they nipped the Masterbatters, 12-7.

The week closed on Friday with five makeup games being played on the two fields. In the early game on N Street, Below Average Joe's ended Telegraph Hill's undefeated streak with a hard fought 11-9 win. This one came down to the last at bat as Telegraph had the tying runners on base but couldn't get them in. The late game saw the Sidewalk Café locked in a slugfest with Stats Bar & Grille. A late surge made the difference though as Sidewalk avoided the loss and held on to the 21-17 victory.

Over on the M Street diamond, Shennanigan's handed the young Quencher Tavern squad a beat down that they may have a difficult time recovering from, 20-0. Shennanigan's talented offense was firing on all cylinders tonight which gave Quencher and their pitcher, Jimmy McNiff, more than they could handle. They're going to have to regroup as they have a tough stretch of games coming up the first week in July. The middle game saw Pat's Trattoria! pick up their second win of the week when they trounced the Swingers, 23-10. The win moved Pat's to within a half game of playoff contention. The week closed with the Nexus squad outslugging the Ole Rebels, 18-14. This was a great sign for Nexus as this was by far their most productive game at the plate. Hopefully, their offense will continue to improve as the season moves along.

This past weekend several league members traveled to Webster, MA for a USSSA modified "B" pitch tournament. Jimmy Pinkston, Mike Hoadley, Joey Venuti, Pat Pickup, Steve Stalcup, Joe Cavaleri, Rob Moriarty, Scott Brady, Steve Couturier, Dennis Hajjar, Jim Innocent, Brad Morrill, and yours truly all competed on several different teams and represented the league very well. In the end, it was a team from NH (Jubb) who knocked off Shawno's 6-3 in the final.

The league plays on the M Street Softball diamond Monday through Friday with games starting at 6pm, 7:30, and 9pm. Come to the park and catch a game or two while seated in our recently constructed viewing stands. Speaking of catching a game, it was great to see long time M Street fan Billy O'Neil in attendance. Have a great week everyone and we hope to see you at the park.