Fall Ball Playoffs!
Playoff week was another glorious weather week in a row, making up slightly for the 3 weeks of rainouts at the beginning of the season. The day featured beautifall weather starting with a frosty, chilly morning in the 30's during warmups and in the 60's in the late innings against a deep blue and cloudless sky.
The regular season champs Batmen hosted the #2 seed Spears in the championship game at Landers Field in South Hadley, while the Diamond Dawgs hosted the Millers at Mitchell in Holyoke battling for 3rd place.
In both games, the visiting teams came out victorious!
Congratulations to the Spears for winning the 2026 Fall Ball Championship, and the Millers for winning third place.
Thanks to the following people for all the behind the scenes work providing us another great season playing the game we love:
League Commissioner Mo Partee
Treasurer Scott Dunaisky
Batmen Manager Andy "AK47" Klepacki
Diamond Dawgs Manager John "Sully" Sullivan
Millers Manager Chris "Chaka" Scanlon
Spears Manager Micah Winston
All the players, umpires and fans!
Game writeups to follow.
The 2026 TNB 50+ Fall Ball tournament wound down with a thrilling Final, featuring the first place Batmen hosting the second place Spears. Batmen manager Andy Klepacki hoped to avenge his Sons of Pitches loss last fall to Spears manager Micah Winston's Hortons, while the Spears were hoping to avoid a 3 game sweep by the Batmen. The Spears jumped out to a 5-0 lead but the Batmen closed to within 5-4 before the Spears bats broke it open in the last 2 innings, while Tom Salvini pitched 4 scoreless innings. The Spears scored 5 unearned runs on 4 Batmen errors, and also benefitted from 2 rally-killing baserunning blunders as well, while playing solid defense - allowing only 2 unearned runs.
The Batmen sent Ken Sloat to the mound to face the Spears. Struggling with a small strike zone, he put Micah Winston and Stevie LaCroix on with walks, and with 2 outs, John "Ski" Malikowski's grounder to SS was thrown away allowing Winston to score for a 1-0 lead. Spears ace Bill Evans also had a hard time with the miniscule zone, walking the first 2 hitters, Don Edwards and Greg "G-Bomb" Elbaum, but escaped the jam when Tim Bombard lined a ball to LF that Mike Martindell grabbed on a hop and threw to 3B Malikowski for the out, Ski got a force out unassisted off the next batter, and then Nolan Anaya reeled in a soft liner that looked ticketed for right field at first glance, but was deadened by the cold morning air.
In the 2nd, the Spears plated 4 unearned runs. With 1 out, Matt Witek and Anaya reached on infield errors. Mitch Gaslin then smacked a ball to RF that Sean Hurley made a nice running grab on, but Jack Eisenstadt took a pitch off his forearm and then Martindell's blast to deep LF bounced off the LFer's glove for a 2-run error. Micah Winston followed with a 2-run double to right-center on a 3-0 count. Bill Evans then singled, but Sloat escaped by getting the dangerous LaCroix to ground to 1B.
The Batmen took advantage of some sloppy Spears D in their half to bring the score to 5-2. Jerold Duquette led off with a line single to RF, Steve Wall blazed a single to LF with 1 out and then Miguel Ringler reached on an E4. Paul Kaplan drove in 1 run with a fielder's choice to 2B and then Hurley blooped an RBI single to shallow LF. Tony Maspo then singled to RF but Hurley took too wide a turn around 2B and LaCroix gunned the ball to SS Winston who easily tagged him out.
The Spears went scoreless in the 3rd, with CF G-Bomb nicely chasing down Ski's drive to CF for the first out, and after an Eli Pacheco single, Sloat got 2 easy groundouts. The Batmen closed the gap to 2 by plating a run in their half. With 1 out, G-Bomb walked and Bombard singled, and then Klepacki smacked an RBI single with 2 outs.
In the 4th, the Spears put 2 runners on with no outs - Witek via a walk, and Anaya via a single, but Gaslin's can of corn to RF dropped in, and Anaya, who had to hold up to see if it was caught, was easily thrown out at 2B on a throw from CF Chad Walker, and then Sloat got out of it with a K and a comebacker. The Batmen scored for the 3rd inning in a row when Sloat walked, Steve Wall laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, fielded nicely by Witek, and then Ringler smashed a double to the left-center gap. After a strikeout, Hurley laced his 2nd hit of the game, this time to RF where Tom Salvini threw it to Evans and his relay home to Witek beat the pinch-runner by a step to preserve the 1-run lead.
Needing some insurance, the Spears got it. Winston led off with a single to CF, and Evans ripped a single to RF. LaCroix singled to load the bases, but Ski's hard grounder was fielded nicely by SS Klepacki, who stepped on 2nd and fired to 1st for the double play, with Winston scampering home. However, Pacheco smashed an RBI single to LF for a 7-4 lead. Evans put up a zero in his final inning on the mound. LaCroix made a nice running catch in shallow CF for the first out, Edwards singled, and then G-Bomb smacked a ball to CF which LaCroix threw to 2B for the force out, but it was dropped for an error. Bombard's grounder to Winston at SS forced Edwards at 3B and then Evans got the dangerous Walker to ground out to 1B.
G-Bomb took to the hill in the top of the 6th and recorded an easy 1-2-3 inning, handling 2 balls himself. Tom Salvini was handed the ball for the Spears and allowed a line drive single to Klepacki but Duquette's bloop to CF was fielded on a bounce by Winston who fired to SS Evans at 2B to force Klepacki who had to hold up half-way pending the bounce. Sloat then walked but Salvini got the next 2 outs on a K and a fielder's choice.
G-Bomb allowed only a walk to Martindell in the 7th amid 3 more groundouts but Salvini pitched a 1-2-3 inning with LF LaCroix making another great running catch on an shallow ball, this time from Hurley.
The Spears tacked on an insurance run in the 8th. Evans led off with a gapper to RF that CF Walker fielded quickly and gunned to SS Klepacki who slapped the tag on the sliding Evans for the first out. LaCroix then rocketed a double to deep RF and with 2 outs, Pacheco again delivered an RBI single. With only 6 outs to spare, the Batmen set the table for a big inning. With 1 out, G-Bomb singled, Bombard reached on an error, with G-Bomb taking 3B. Bombard then advanced on a passed ball and Spears Manager Winston elected to issue an intentional walk to Walker to load the bases. His gamble was rewarded when LF LaCroix grabbed Klepacki's short fly ball on a full run and threw to 2B to double off Bombard who was running on the hit.
In the top of the 9th, the Spears put another nail in the coffin by scoring 2 more runs, all with 2 outs. Gaslin singled, Eisenstadt drew a walk, as did Martindell, and then Winston grounded a single through the hole in the left side and Evans drove in another with a hit before G-Bomb fanned LaCroix on a full count, 8-pitch at bat. Chasing 6, the Batmen needed a rally, but Duquette hit a line drive right at Salvini's face that he instinctively grabbed, Sloat hit a come-backer for the 2nd out, and Salvini earned his 2nd save in a row by fanning Ringler on a nasty slider to seal the victory (fulfilling an ominous pregame prediction by Field Umpire Eric Bennett).
Top hitters
Spears - Micah Winston (3-4, 2B, BB, 2R, 3RBI); Bill Evans (4-5, R, RBI), Stevie LaCroix (2-4, 2B, BB, R); Eli Pacheco (3-3, BB, 2 RBI)
Batmen - Andy Klepacki (2-4, RBI), Sean Hurley (2-3, RBI)
Pitching
Spears - Bill Evans (5IP, 10H, 4R, 2ER, 3BB, 3K, W); Tom Salvini (4IP, 2H, 0ER, 2BB, 2K, S)
Batmen - Ken Sloat (5IP, 5H, 7R, 2ER, 4BB, 3K, L); Greg Elbaum (4IP, 10H, 3R, 3ER, 4BB, 2K)
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