As of this writing the Sam Moran Club was holding on to first place with the Sidewalk Café trailing closely behind. The two teams were scheduled to play a key game on Tuesday with first place hanging in the balance. Murphy's Law had a lock on third place and the Quietman Pub and Seapoint Restaurant were within a game of each other in fourth and fifth respectively.

After starting the season at 1-6, the Seapoint Restaurant has amazingly turned their season around and has gone 10-1-1 since. The streak includes two wins over rival Sidewalk Café and an impressive win over Murphy's Law. Seapoint is getting great pitching out of Jay Malley who is backed by an offense that is providing timely hits. Seapoint's outfield contingent of Joe Pano, Mike Prendergast, and Mike Whitney are finally showing that they are amongst the best ever in league history. Coach Brian Ahearn is excited about his teams' turnaround and likes his chances in the playoffs.

Something must also be said for the resiliency that the players of Molly Darcy's have shown this year. After losing the first fifteen games of the season, Molly's finally put their A-game together and went on a three-game unbeaten streak to finish the year. The league recognizes the fact that it is very difficult to continue to compete when winning is scarce but Molly's continued. Here is a "well done" to coach Tony Moran and all of the Molly Darcy's players.

In other news, a league umpire was involved in two on field incidents last week. The hard working umpire, who is known in the league as Jones, had a very tough week to say the least. On Monday, a player attacked Jones personally by calling him some ugly names that will not be repeated here. The player was subsequently thrown out of the game and out of the league. Then on Thursday, Jones was struck in the shoulder by a batted ball and had to be removed from the field by an ambulance. The blow was so severe that Jones lay motionless on the field for several minutes. When the paramedics finally raised Jones to his feet the classy fans attending the game gave him a loud standing ovation that will be remembered and talked about here for years to come. The league commissioner would like to give those fans a big THANK YOU! Jones suffered a bruised shoulder that after a couple of days of rest and ice packs is feeling much better.

And finally, the playoffs will start on Monday with two games (7:00 P.M. & 8:30) and will run through the week as necessary. The first round is a best of three game series with the winners advancing to the semi-finals. With the tight race and competitive season this year, each series should be exciting and fun to watch. Come to the park and cheer on your favorite team as they try to take the first step in winning the league championship.