Saugerties Athletic Association

SAA Men's Softball Weeks # 18 & # 19
A Division Championship Series
Ron Brown belts pair of HR's
in Series Opener
Playing in his final series as he prepares to move out of town, Ron Brown let his bat do the talking as he helped to power Stella's Station / Angela's Pizza to an opening game win over Exchange/Naccarato/Vic's
 in a best of 3 A Division Championship Series.
Brown drilled 4 hits which included a single, double while also connecting on a pair of home runs to drive in 7 of his teams 11 runs. Jed Sagazie notched 3 hits and Brian Lindhorst added a home run towards the victory.  In a game that saw 5 different lead changes, Exchange/Naccarato/Vic's looked to change the score again in their favor in the bottom of the 6th. Trailing 9-8 they put the tying and go ahead runs on as the first 2 batters reached with no outs. The next batter hit a one hop smash to third which Stella's turned into a round the horn inning ending triple play to squash the threat.
Brown's 7th inning 2 run homer proved to be the game winner as winning pitcher Rob Elmendorf turned away a late rally to claim the win and series lead.

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Stella's Station / Angela's Pizza cap season
with Division Championship
Stella's Station / Angela's Pizza (formerly Sue's Restaurant) wrapped up their 3rd consecutive
S.A.A. Mens Softball A Division Championship beating Exchange/Naccarato/Vic's 8-3 to win
the best of 3 series 2 games to none.
Winning pitcher Drew Wood helped his cause with a 2nd inning 3 run homer giving Stella's an
early 7-0 lead never to look back. An inning later  "Downtown" Ronnie Brown added a solo shot, his third home run of the series, to cap the scoring for this years Champs.

League Note: With his moving to a new locale, it'll be different next year not to see Ron Brown who has been a mainstay behind the home plate area of the Cantine sofball scene for many years both as a
SAA player and umpire.
Good Luck Ronnie Brown.
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B Division Championship Series
Killer Bees "Sting" HV Construction
Bob Gehring Septic captures B Division Crown
Moving up to play their first year in a division that can offer tough competition on a weekly basis, last years "C" Champs Bob Gehring Septic Killer Bees felt confident they could compete enougn to make the playoffs and an eventual title run.
After suffering 4 straight convincing losses early on and seeing their playoff hopes diminish as their record dropped to 2 wins and 4 losses near the midpoint of the season, the Killer Bees aiming to quiet their skeptics set out to make their playoff run.
Given the history of this team and with a quiet confidence in their ability the Killer Bees came out of their nest to win 6 of their 7 remaining regular season games, good for a 8-5 record and a 4th place finish (based on tie breaker rules) to qualify them for a playoff position.
Picking the right time of the year to peak, the Bob Gehring Septic Killer Bees continued their season long march toward the division title by stinging powerhouse American Conference Champ Main St. Restaurant 18-4 in the opening game iof the playoffs.  Moving on to the semifinals they upended the tough A Pro Pest Control team 9-5.  Down by a game after a lack of effort in the opener of the best of 3 Title Series, the Killer Bees with a total team effort of aggressiveness, timely hitting and a strong pitching effort by Jay MacDonald the Killer Bees swarmed all over National conference Champion Hudson Valley Construction for a doubleheader sweep by identical 10-5 scores ending their season on a high note, achieving their goal, and delivering the their tremendous fan support base the S.A.A. Men's Softball B Division Championship.
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C Division Championship Series
Home Runs power Bannen Landscaping
to Division Title
Backed by the power of 3 home runs, (which accounted for 9 of their teams 10 runs), and a game saving catch, Bannen Landscaping & maintenance defeated Manorville Mill 10-8 to claim the
S.A.A. Men's Softball 2010 C Division Title.
Manorville grabbed an early lead on a Kevin VanWagenen 2 run homer (his first of 2).
Bannen didn't get on the board until the top of the 3rd, scoring 6 times, highlighted by a long grand slam home run from Mike Hendricks and a 2 run blast by winning pitcher Frank Short.
Manorville closed the gap to 6-4 in their next at bat as Ryan Whitaker delivered a 2 out base hit plating 2 runs.  The two teams then exchanged a run each in the 4th. After the first 2 batters started the top of the 5th off with base hits, George Augustine Jr. blasted a 3 run homer sending Bannen out to a 10-5 lead.
manorville got a run closer as Ryan Whitaker came thru with another 2 out hit.
In the meantime pitcher Kevin drescher held the landscapers scoreless the next 2 innings. Thats when the game got interesting. With their last at bats, a pair of walks along with some timely hits "the Mill" pushed across 2 runs to close the deficit to 10-8. With the bases loaded and down to their final out,
Charlie Stracuzzi hit what looked to be at least a game tying or possible game winning hit down the
left field line, only to have leftfielder Brett Bannen make the game saving dive and catch to secure the crown for the landscapers.
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D Division Championship Series
Late Rally earns Tina's Dinosaurs Divison Title
Just as dinosaurs were dominant millions of years ago, the modern day Tina's Dinosaurs proved their dominance as they defeated Bright Horizons Construction 7-5 to sweep the best of 3 series 
2 games to none and capture their second straight S.A.A. Men's Softball D Division Championship.
The Dino's took the early lead scoring 2 first inning runs on 2 out RBI singles by Dave Coon and
Norm Watson.   Bright Horizons pushed a run across to cut the score in half in the bottom of the inning.
Mike Trees tied the score with his own 2 out 2 RBI single for Bright Horizons.
The teams remained tied until the 5th when Doug Kimbler belted a 2 out double knocking in a pair of runs to put Bright Horizons on top 4-2. After each team exchanged a run in the 6th, Bright Horizons took a 5-3 lead into the final inning. With 1 out Tina's began to mount a rally putting 2 runners on with 1 out when it began to rain hard enough to halt play. When play resumed Tina's continued their rally with 3 more base
hits which would include a key triple by Chris Coon, and a single by Joe Fabiano Jr to cross the
plate 4 times to take a 7-5 lead. Rex Kiniry in relief of starter Drew Pinkham tossed a scoreless 7th to
 secure the Division title. 
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E Division Championship Series
Simulaids Wins Division Championship
The first two games of this years E Division Title Series between season pennant winner Cliff Tienken Plumbing and runnerup Simulaids couldn't have been any closer. With both games being back and forth affairs and both ending on the last play of the game, the final game figured to be more of the same.
In the deciding and final game of the series, Simulaids took control right from the start and never looked back as they easily defeated Cliff Tienken Plumbing 14-4 to win the SAA Men's Softball
E Division Championship.
Launching an aggressive 21 hit attack Lance Rell started off the scoring with a long 1st inning homer.
Four more consecutive hits followed producing 2 more runs and a quick 3-0 lead.
After holding Tienken scoreless, the first 4 batters led off the top of the 2nd with hits eventually
plating 3 more runs and a 6-0 lead.
Tienken got a run closer as they pushed one across in the bottom half of the inning.
The Simulaids offense led by a triple from RJ Butler pounded out another 5 hits scoring 5 more times for a 11-1 lead to basically seal the game and the Division Title.
Credit the consistent pitching of Mike Rell who while bending at times never broke. Mike also added 3 hits to help his cause.  Also delivering 3 hits each towards the win were Keith Donah (2-1B, 2B);
Pat Reynolds (3-1B); and Mike Sullivan (3-1B).
Both teams will be honored for their season accomplishments at the SAA Night of Champions on
Thursday September 9 at the Cantine Field Large Pavilion. 
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