Brooklyn Repeats with 13-7 Triumph

When the six club tournament field was announced for the MAVBBL Championship at Fort DuPont in Delaware everyone knew it was six really good 19th century base ball clubs.  What they didn’t know was how good the games were actually going to be.  On a dreary day in Delaware City, the six clubs assembled to crown the league champ in a season that started in the beginning of April.  In the first game, the heavily favored newly crowned Maryland State Champion Chesapeake City Cecils did not have a very good game defensively and were dropped 10-4 by the host Diamond States.  In the other first round match, the Gothams and Fair Plays went back and forth until Talbot added 2 runs late to advance to the semi finals 16-14.  In the semi finals, the found their old nemisis, the Elkton Eclipse.  In the first inning the Fair Plays struck first with a run before Elkton came back with 4 in their half of the frame.  In what looked like it may be a blow out or at least a high scoring affair, the Eclipse held on to advance to the championship with a 7-5 victory.  They would take on the Brooklyn Atlantics who needed extra innings to get by the upstart Diamond States to reach the championship. 

To defeat the Atlantics a club needs to not give the club from Brooklyn more than 3 outs an inning, and unfortunately, the Eclipse gave away more than the 3 hands dead each inning but in a well played match, the Eclipse were no match for the defensive gems that the Atlantic threw at them as Brooklyn came away with a 13-7 win to win their second straight title.  The Atlantic had a 5 week layoff and while they looked rusty at times, showed enough strength to outlast the field to take home the championship again.  Great job by the Diamond States in hosting this year’s event!