Well the Fat Lady was hitting the high notes on Friday! Without four of our Team Captains Jim Woodcock, John Costa, Lynne Missin and Clay Lingo in the pit, the Playoffs were an evening of high drama and upsets.

 

The evenings first game was a duel for last place and the dreaded Wooden Spoon. Once again Winning Colors with Michelle the Italian back in town rolled some beautiful balls, but typically were only able to score one point at time as the Ramones, with Carla, Chris Cattich and substitutes Deborah Garcia and Rupert, successfully knocked their potential extra points into the back wall. Fabulous accuracy by both Carla and Deb set the Ramones up for a 12-7 win and a fifth place finish for the season.

 

The second match of the night was between our Second and Third place teams, Checkered Napkins and Trinity Plus. Coach Conor lead his original team of Moshia, Sheryl and Matt against the Captainless Checkered Napkins in what started as a rout with Trinity up 10-2 very early in the game. But Checkered Napkins with Chris Cattich substituting for the missing Jim Woodcock quickly pulled themselves together and fought back with their usual competitive spirit and nearly tied the game. Unfortunately their rally was just a bit too late and Bobby, Kris and Jim Leon  finally succumbed to the relentless Celtic drive 12-10. It was quite a moment when first year Captain Conor Pullman and his team realized they will be playing in the Championship match.

 

Our final match up of the evening pitted John Costa’s first place Mangiamos against Rupert’s fourth place BBCs. Unfortunately unlike the lucky Trinity Plus, having their original team altogether didn’t do the trick as Captain Rupert leading Ted, Susan and Barb displayed nowhere near their usual level of skill. The Mangiamos with Jack, Kay and substitutes Matt Coates, Jim Leon (both doing double duty) continued their relentless drive and secured their well-earned spot in the Championship round with a 12-3 win.

 

The Championship Game, Award Ceremony and Victory Dinner will be held Friday September 6. Hors d’Oeuvres and Cocktails (Champagne?) at 6:30 and Game at 7pm. At the conclusion of the game we will have the Award Ceremony. Please send RSVPs by Friday August 30th.

 

Our final regular season game concluded August 9th. It was the most competitive night yet, and we all heard the lion roar when John Costa and his Mangiamo’s destroyed the perfect record of the King Jim Woodcock and the Checkered Napkins.

However, we all know the show isn’t over until the fat lady sings and anything can happen during the playoffs. Tonight Game One will kick off promptly at 6:30 between our 5th and 6th place teams, the Ramones and Winning Colors, with the loser earning this season’s Wooden Spoon.

 

Results of the final League games are attached below.

 

Final Standings, Regular Season

If the win loss record is the same, standings are determined by Total Points Scored (TPS)

#6WINNING COLORS – 1 win, 4 loss TPS 38

#5RAMONES – 2 win, 3 loss, TPS 48

#4BBC’S – 2 win, 3 loss,

#3 TRINITY PLUS – 3 win, 2 loss,

#2 CHECKERED NAPKINS – 4 win, 1 loss, TPS 52

#1MANGIAMO – 4 win, 1 loss TPS 59

 

 

6:30 pm- Team 6 Winning Colors plays Team 5 Ramones – the loser is awarded the Wooden Spoon, game begins at 6:30 sharp!

7:15 pm- Team 3 Trinity Plus plays Team 2 Checkered Napkins – winner advances to Championship

8:00 pm- Team 4 BBC’s plays Team 1 Mangiamo – winner advances to Championship

 

The Championship Game, Award Ceremony and Victory Dinner will be held in two weeks, Friday September 13.

 

Tonight is the final game in our regular season play. And we will be starting at 6:30 . Dress warm, it has been unusually cool here in Novato. Our dinner theme is Mediterranean Nights.

 

Following are the results from Round 4 and the standings.

 

Going into our final game the standings are:

 

WINLOSS

 

Checkered Napkins40

Mangiamo31

Trinity Plus22

BBC’s13

Ramones13

Winning Colors13

 

 

Well we all tried hard, but despite my repeated warnings and an incredibly valiant effort by the Ramones, the Checkered Napkins were once again victorious. That game was an epic battle, back and forth and back and forth, point by point, the Ramones led by Clay Lingo and assisted by Deborah, Chris Cattich, Taylor and the stalwart Carl ocassionally tied Jim Woodcock’s Checkered Napkin’s, with the amazing Kris Costa, Bobby and Jim Leon. Though the Ramones never took the lead, they were never far behind and in the end, were barely defeated losing by only 1 point.

 

The Checkered Napkins are going into tonight’s game with a perfect record. There is just one more chance and the pressure is on John Costa and his Mangiamos, Mary Alderete, Jack Campbell and Kay Missin. Until Round 4, the Mangiamos also retained a perfect record, but it was destroyed when Winning Colors finally came alive and won their first game of the season. Once again it was a closely fought match with constant need of the tape measure and a more than a few courtside discussions. However, Lynne Missin inspired her girls, Chris, Leslie and substitute Jasmine to play to their full potential and with a score of 12-11  the Mangiamos were defeated by a single point.

 

The final game of the night was barely different than the first two, with both teams the BBC’s and Trinity Plus holding matching records leading into game 4 it was a battle of equals, once again fought point by point until the conclusion. Conor’s Trinity Plus teammates, Matt, Sheryl and Brad, won 12-10 over the BBC’s captained (harangued) by Rupert and ably supported by Ted, Susan and the ever competitive Barb.

 

First game tonight is  Checkered Napkins playing Mangiamo, promptly at 6:30