2017 Diamondbacks Capture 35+ Crown in Southern Maine Men’s Baseball League
Southern Maine Men’s Baseball League 35+ Division
Diamondbacks 19, Nationals 2 (game two of series)
’14-3 Season Total Team Effort’
Submitted by Steve Cascio, Diamondbacks Team Administrator
The Diamondbacks beat their longtime rivals The Nationals to win the 35+ Southern Maine Men’s Baseball League 2017 Championship. The Diamondbacks leaned on exceptional pitching from the power arm of Bret Urban and the Greg Maddux like pitching of Christian Smith coupled with an explosive offense to outscore their opponents 29-4 in the playoffs.
The D’Backs offense proved relentless all season led by longtime SMMBL RBI king Ed Simmons and Kevin Cashman (who says lefty’s can’t play anything but 1B!) provided the D’Backs plenty of middle of the order pop driving in 21 and 20 runs respectively. Steve Cascio (.485), Mike Foshay (.458) and Bret Urban (.455) paced the offensive attack both at the plate and on the base paths combining for 38 SB’s on the season. Simmons, Cashman, Cascio, Foshay and Urban could be found amongst the league leaders in almost all offensive categories.
Not to be outdone, the D’Backs defense played exceptional baseball all season. Newcomer Jim Beers was stellar behind the dish as the everyday catcher and his strong arm gave base runners something to think twice about on the base paths. Veterans Doc Proctor and Micah Sawyer did what they always do contributing on the mound, in the field and at the plate. Brian Bachman proved invaluable moving all over the infield playing great defense and doing his best Don Baylor impersonation by leading the league in HBP! Drew Niles continued to flash the leather in the field showing why the Florida Marlins drafted him in 1998, there’s no better shortstop in the SMMBL!
On the mound the triple threat of Urban (0.61), Smith (1.00) and Proctor (1.08) were the league leaders in ERA and split the load evenly shouldering 25+ innings on the season.
Over the course of a very strong 14 win, 3 loss season, The Diamondbacks proved that position flexibility, depth and having a great group of guys battling for one another can make all the difference – every player contributed! Last but not least, the trio of Andy Bouchard, Mike MacDonald and Ronnie Bates battled through an assortment of injuries but did the little things to add to the team’s great camaraderie.
The D’Backs are looking forward to the opportunity of defending our championship in 2018 and want to thank the Nationals, Tigers, Astros, Mariners, Mets, Braves for a great season!