2018 Birmingham Bandits Make it Nine Titles in 11 Years in Central Alabama 35+

Central Alabama MSBL, 35+ Division

Birmingham Bandits 7, Red Sox 3

‘Bandits Dominate with Nine Titles in Eleven Years’

Submitted by John Alfano, Bandits manager

The 2018 Birmingham Bandits returned to their winning ways after losing the championship in 2017 for only the second time in the past 11 seasons. In the 2018 tourney after a first round bye the Bandits won a second round walk off 3-2 when Cary Lott led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a solo bomb on the first pitch. The Bandits then beat the Braves 7-5 before taking the championship 7-3 over the Red Sox.

In the championship win the Bandits Nathan Bland gave up three runs in the first inning before recording the first out then proceeded to shut out the Red Sox for the remaining nine innings, recording 11 K’s in the victory. Down 3-0 in the bottom of the second the Bandits Greg Hammond got the scoring started with a one out solo blast over the left field wall. In the third inning, after three straight singles by Rob DeArman, Scott Dorough and Mike Monroe the Bandits scored four runs capped off with an RBI single by Daniel Sims. The Bandits then added insurance runs in the seventh on a 2-RBI single by Jay Grayson to put the game away. “The league this season was much more competitive and the fact that we lost last year made this championship a little sweeter.”