The Talbot Fair Plays made the long trip to Mumford, NY once again to participate in the National Silver Ball Tournament at Genessee Country Village & Museum.  They were eager to repeat as champions after sharing the title last year with Flemington.

In the first match of the day Talbot was matched up against the local FlowerCity club.  After trailing for the first 2 innings the Fair Plays began to string together hits and put runs on the board.  The game stayed close until the Fair Plays broke things open in the 7^th and came away with a 22-12 victory.

The second match of the day had the team from Maryland against the Live Oak Nine.  After holding Live Oak scoreless for much of the game the gentlemen from New York finally pushed a run across in the 8^th.  This would be the only run they would tally as Talbot came away with a strong 19-1 win.

In Saturday’s late game the Fair Plays were met by the Victory BBC, a formidable and competitive club that always brings out their best for the tournament.  Four previous meetings between the clubs have been split, with Victory winning in 2008 and 2010 and Talbot winning in 2011 and 2012.  After trailing for the first 3 innings the Fair Plays started pounding away and built what turned into an insurmountable lead.  The Fair Plays prevailed 23-5 in the match that left Talbot at 3-0 for the day and in great position to make the finals on Sunday.

Sunday morning’s match saw the Fair Plays opposed by the local Spring Creek squad who sported an unblemished regular season record before stumbling in their opening game of the tournament.  The Spring Creek team was motivated in knowing that a victory over Talbot would almost assure them a spot in the championship game.  The Fair Plays struck early with 5 in the first and 5 more in the second and never looked back, completing their road to the finals with a 22-4 triumph over the Spring Creek team.

This set up a rematch against the Victory BBC in the finals as Victory won their Sunday morning match to qualify.  After going scoreless in the first frame the boys from Talbot batted around in the second, plating 7 runs.  From there the rout was on as the Fair Plays scored often and by the end of a long afternoon the team had secured the Silver Ball championship, putting an exclamation point on the tournament with a 30-5 win.  It was a great team effort as all team members that made the trip contributed heavily to the mighty offensive output and played outstanding defense.