2002 Tournament Recap
New Years Tournament
We start off the season with our 1st tournament win vs the Blue Sox in Championship games This would be the 1st of many meetings with the 'Canes new rival.
Wiffle Up Indoor Branford CT March 2nd
This was our 1st look at the Wiffle Up tour and maybe our last. This is without question one of the most uncompetitive formats we've seen. We start off with a tough 2-1 loss in extra innings to the Blue Sox and then end up 1-2 with another hardluck extra inning loss.
NEWA Northborough May 4th
Unscuffed balls and pitching speed limits looked to be too much as we get rocked in our 1st game 10-0 in this format. The Canes go 1-2 in the opening round and we just wanted to get out of there as we had a lot to learn to perform in this tourney. Somehow we found a way to pitch and got better as the day went on. We ended up losing in the Semis to Doom 5-2 or should I say Tom LaCascio. We finish 3rd with a 2-1 victory over another rival JJ Wild.
Hockey Town May 26th
After a come from behind win by the Mad Dogs knocked us out of playoffs last season we were on a mission in the spring. Mission accomplished as we finish off an unbeaten season at 15-0 and collect our 2nd title of the year.
USPPBA NCQ June 22nd
Our quest for a National Championship started in Rehoboth. We would go 4-0 in the round robin and make the playoffs as the #1 seed. We face the Blue Sox and Rob takes the Canes out of it early walking in 4 in the 1st. We end up in 3rd.
USPPBA NCQ August 3rd
Our 2nd of 3 USPPA qualifiers and once again we would meet up with our rivals the Blue Sox. We make it to the playoffs again and lose another tough one 1-0 in what is becoming a onesided rivalry. Once again we finish in 3rd.
NEWA Sharon August 17-18th
Rob and Kec would be joined by Joe Love from the Royals. We go 5-0 on Saturday outscoring our opponents 17-1 and enter Sunday as the #5 seed out of 75+ teams. We get bounced in the 1st playoff game 2-1 on a 1st inning HR. We're starting to get the hang of this format though.
USPPBA NCQ August 24th
We start off with our #1 foe, Blue Sox. We finaly get to Ryan and win with a Chris 3 run HR in extra innings. We would face the Sox again in the finals and Chris would shut them out and we take our 3rd title of the year.
USPPBA Finals September 14th
Coming off our victory in the last NCQ with 2 victories over the Blue Sox we were feeling pretty confident. After beating the Royals 3-0 we lose another tough one 3-2 to former National Champs In The Box. Everything falls apart against the Royals in our next game and Joe hits a grand slam that proves to be the winner.
NEWA Warwick September 21st
The last tourney before our Hockey Town league starts and we really wanted this one. As usual we never do things the easy way. After 2 1-0 losses we would have to run the table for this one. This was a complete team effort. If it wasn't everyone pitching in it was 1 person having a great game. Joe and Chris continue to pound opposing pitching. Rob nearly runs out of gas in the Championship game but the Canes hang on for a 2-1 come from behind victory and capture our 3rd tourney and 4th title of 2002.
2002 Season
This was our 1st season in organaized tournament play. We entered in 9 tourneys in all making 6 final 4 appearances, placing 3rd three times and winning 3 tournaments. Our overall record is 34-12 on the season and we should finish the year ranked in the top 10 in the nation.
The one record we're most proud of is our 3-0 mark in championship games, 4-0 if you include our Hockey Town playoffs. One interesting thing. In 6 tournaments that the Hurricanes and Blue Sox appeared in, one of us won all six. Usually it was by beating the other somewhere along the way.
Wiffle Up Indoor Branford CT March 2nd
NEWA Northborough May 4th
Hockey Town May 26th
USPPBA NCQ June 22nd
USPPBA NCQ August 3rd
NEWA Sharon August 17-18th
USPPBA NCQ August 24th