by Evan Guy
28 March 2308
Season Pass Tournament Concludes; Echo Lake Takes Title
The #2 Echo Lake Harbormen of the Vim! League won their second-straight Season Pass Tournament and third overall, defeating the NWL's #13 Dark Bloodworms, 10-2, in the final game. The Harbormen won the tournament in 2307 as the #7 seed, defeating #10 Quantum in the winner-take-all final, 7-4.
Cory Slone pitched 7.0 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts. Trombone Jones pitched the final two innings for the Harbormen.
Several players batted well for Echo Lake, racking up 15 total hits in the ballgame off Dark starter Hardware Flott and reliever Sky Farwalk. Witcher Craft led the way for the Harbormen, going 4 for 5 with two runs scored. Chris Knickerbocker doubled twice and Jason Eisch homered.
The Bloodworms only managed six hits with a third coming from Allen Burmaster, including an RBI. Nick Lowe's RBI double accounted for the other Dark run.
Echo Lake, the #2 overall seed as the runners-up in the 2307 Season Pass Series, went undefeated in the tournament. They defeated #15 Wild 8-1, #10 Cranberry Isle 10-3, #6 Dalton Farm 5-3, #13 Dark 3-1, and then #13 Dark again, 10-2.
The Bloodworms advanced through the Winner's Bracket through a series of upsets, all as the road team. They beat #4 Far Harbor 10-7, #5 Victory 11-8, and #1 Cherry 8-6 before losing to the Harbormen. They then had their one and only game as the home team, defeating #7 Orange, 3-2, to advance back to the championship. Dark would have needed to defeat Echo Lake twice.
Teams are now set for the 2308 season with the Vim! League teams making brief stops in the Boston area before returning to Mount Desert Island in early April. Both leagues begin their Spring Training schedule on Monday, April 13.