Cappy's Crowned Champs in 4-1 Victory

Wednesday night was an electric men's softball match-up in Newport. Aside from the swarming bugs, which made it feel like the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees of 2006, the game was all a fan could ask for.

The home team, Aquidneck Island Plumbing, faced off against Cappy's for the Newport Men's Softball League championship. After suffering a beat-down 12-0 on Monday to lose game one, Cappy's rebounded Tuesday with an astonishing come-from-behind win in the final inning, to tie the series 1-1. Brian Viera, who has shown an outstanding ability to paint the strike zone, continued his display of precision and accuracy again Wednesday night, never surrendering a walk in the series. 

Throughout the game, cheers and jeers came from all directions, as every player knew what was at stake. It was clear that this was not merely a softball game to these men. Their passion for winning was clear. From heckling the opposition, to feuding over close calls with the umpires, one could have confused this formidable softball game as more of a battlefield.

To begin the game, Cappy's and AIP were shut down the first two innings. The defensive prowess of both teams gleamed of brilliance early on, keeping the game a 0-0 lock. Cappy's would be the team to strike first, in the top half of the 3^rd inning. An early, and somewhat surprising error, by AIP in the inning allowed the first run to score after a single and a sacrifice fly. After another single by Bobby Mitchell, Cappy's would push across one more to take a 2-0 lead.

James Quinn was able to stay hot after his game-winning hit the previous night, going 2-2 with two runs and leading Cappy's to what was looking like a promising finale. After a Quinn single in the 5^th with one out in the inning, Mitchell ripped a double in the gap to score another, concluding a two-run inning and taking a 4-0 lead.

AIP could not find a hole in the Cappy's defense, which was key, all series long. Previous games this series have suggested that the team who committed fewer errors has ultimately won the game. AIP struggled in the 4^th and 5^th innings, allowing three runners to reach base via error, all of which produced a run. Although AIP could not muster anything together, they found a stroke in the bottom of the 6^th and managed to get one run home on a Zach Grassi double to left. AIP consistently found base runners early in the inning, but simply could not string enough together. Grassi though, was again very solid at the dish, collecting two infield hits and an RBI double his first three plate appearances. 

With AIP heading into the home half of the 7^th down 4-1, they would try to squeeze some late offense out, getting a man on first with one out, but that was evidently meaningless as two ground-outs and a fly-out would crown Cappy's the 2010 Newport Men's Softball League Champions. Art Bell was announced as the series MVP who, after getting lit up in game one, settled down and only allowed three earned runs through his next 13 innings.