2016 Northern Virginia Pirates Claim First Title in DCMSBL 45+ Division

DCMSBL 45+ Division

Northern Virginia Pirates 3, Aparicio 9 White Sox 2

Top Row R-L: Charley Woolridge, Frank Cappello, Jay Dennis, Greg Hymel, Anthony Paige, Tim Sullivan, Robbie Guenther, Fernando Villegas. Bottom Row R-L: Mike April, Rick Weissenstein, Dave Feinstein, Mike Jayner, Dave Treherne, Rey Andrade, Mario Silva, Garland Cooper. Not pictured: Barney Owens, Pete Jones. Quentin Smith

‘Pirates Claim Their First Title in DCMSBL’

Submitted by Tim Sullivan, Pirates manager

The NoVA Pirates defeated the Aparicio 9 White Sox in the championship series to collect their first DCMSBL title. The Pirates made it to the finals but beating the five time defending champion Potomac River Bandits in the semi-finals to set up the three game series with the White Sox. The White Sox defeated the Pirates in both regular season games so the finals were expected to be tightly contested.

In game one, the Pirates jumped out early with an eight run third inning keyed by two hits and two RBI from Coach Tim Sullivan. The White Sox put a couple of runs on the board to close the gap to 8-5 but Quentin Smith came in in relief of Jay Dennis and shut down the comeback. Dennis, Rey Andrade, and Sullivan all had three hits in the win, and Michael Jayner made several spectacular plays on foul balls to record big outs for the Pirates.

Game two saw a pitching duel between the Pirates Mike April and Joe Leginus of the White Sox. The Sox jumped out early on a Tim Steffan solo home run and RBI single by Mark Bissett to stake the Sox to a two run lead. Sullivan drove in Rick Weissenstein and later scored on a single by Mario Silva to tie the game at two after six innings. Mike April went seven strong innings to keep the Pirates in the game and Dave Treherne threw three scoreless innings to set the stage for the bottom of the tenth inning. The Pirates Greg Hymel led off with a single and stole second base. Two outs later, Anthony Paige battled through a 12 pitch at bat to work a walk to extend the inning. Charley Woolridge then drove a two strike pitch into center field, scoring Hymel from second and giving the Pirates their first championship.

Sullivan and Rey Andrade led the Pirates in hitting during the year, batting .548 and .454 respectively. Barney Owens, April and Dennis led the pitching staff, holding the opposition to 16 runs in four games during the playoffs.

“We persevered this year,” said Coach Sullivan. “Our pitching staff battled through injuries and we had some games where we didn’t hit or field well, but we got hot at the right time.”