2017 Rainiers Post Astonishing Playoff Run in Puget Sound Senior Baseball League

Puget Sound Senior Baseball League 35+ Teton Division

‘From 7-10-1 Regular Season to Title Game’

Submitted by Corey Richardson, Rainiers manager

The Rainiers were a 2017 expansion team in the PSSBL 35+ Teton Division. 2017 was a season to remember for the Rainiers as they finished the regular season 7-10-1 as the sixth seed and surprised everyone by making a run to the championship game in their inaugural year. As the new expansion team, the Rainiers players were all new to the PSSBL and new to each other. For a bunch of old guys who had not played ball in quite some time, and compounding playing together for the first time, it was quite a feat to make it to the championship game and fun to be a part of.

The Rainiers had quite the up and down regular season. Some days they looked like a well oiled machine, and other times it looked like the team was a broken down VW bus on the side of the road with a flat tire and no spare. Team chemistry, personalities, friendship, competitiveness, frustration, compassion is what made this team become a force to reckon with in the Teton league.

The Rainiers faced some tough competition in their 2017 playoff run. They had to face the Crawfords (5-time Teton Division champions) twice with both games being tight low scoring close games with the Rainiers coming out on top. The Rainiers also had to face the Barons(back-to-back 2016 & 2017 Teton Division champions) twice. The Barons took the first game from the Rainers knocking them down to the losers bracket. The Rainiers bounced back beating the Crawfords for the second time in the semi-final to make it into the championship game. The old guys were tired and just ran out of gas losing to the Barons in the championship game finishing in second place.