2022 50+ American
Mustangs Baseball Club 15, Atlanta Guardians 0
‘Mustangs Win 50+ American Title for Second Time in Last Three Years’
Submitted by Manager Rick Clough and Bench Coach Carlos Perez
The Mustangs Baseball Club Organization has a tournament motto: ‘To win every game in the round robin of tournaments may be a form of perfection, but to win at the end of the tournament week is to be champions.’
Never has that been truer for our team than at this year’s 50+ division of the Fall Classic. The Mustangs had a rough week in the round robin with them losing two games and tying one after giving up the lead in the late innings. But, it taught the team to better respect their opponent and to acknowledge the level of competition in these MSBL national tournaments. Once the team finally woke up, they went on to win their last round-robin game and their semifinal and championship game by a combined score differential of 45-0!
The veteran leadership of Mustang manager Rick Clough, Chris Dunn, Wilson Reyes, and Steve Hutchinson rallied the team by keeping them focused on playing one game at a time to get out of the slump. Former professional players Scott Pagano, Tony Moore, Anthony Blackmon, Vince Towns, and Carlos Perez provided lots of firepower to drive in the runs. Jose Delgado and Jose Vazquez locked down the left side of the infield on defense while Derick Smalling led the team in batting average and OBP.
Dave Kaufmann played tons of innings in left field and stole ten bases for the week. Joe Flanagan and Rudy Cesario held down the plate all week as they split the catching duties and Dave Porta chipped in a strong pitching performance in the round-robin as he pitched through injury. The Mustangs named Carlos Espada the tournament MVP because of his outstanding play and hustle.
Although the team did not play as well as it had hoped for, the Mustangs come to play in every tournament because we love the game. We are grateful that we have MSBL so we can continue to play, and we are thankful that we have formed a baseball brotherhood that will give us memories for a lifetime.
To have the team end the week on top, Lincoln Moquette and Vince Towns pitched back-to-back shutouts in the semifinal and championship games respectively to cap off the week.