Bragging rights were well earned by an eclectic group of ballplayers.

The mixed slow pitch team "Base-ic Pitches' is the prime example of why getting back into sport as an adult can be a great thing.

Shauna Champagne, Co-Captain shares if you were betting man you would have never put your money down on the Base-ic players. "We are a first-year team and we're kind of a hodgepodge. We've got a couple young players in their twenties but the majority of our players, I would say, are fourty plus. There's a couple of us in our thirties and some into their late fifties so we are an odd looking team for sure. We all just wanted to get out, have some adult time, get physical and so we put together this baseball team and we were nothing short of terrible." 

 

The last seeded team to make it into the slow pitch Championship tournament the Base-ic Pitches record was 7W 6L 1T. Champagne says they were the bottom of the eight teams going in and after losing their game Friday night (September 7) it was clear they would probably remain in the last place position. 

Whether fear of elimination or the Base-ic Pitches just grew tired of defeat, by Saturday morning Champagne says something switched and they started playing some amazing ball and making ridiculous catches. "We have this guy who is one of our older gentleman's who plays right field and he's got a little bit of an issue with his leg and he was like Pillar out there."

Winning both their games Saturday the Base-ic Pitches would win two more games Sunday morning, convincingly, to advance to the Championship Game.

The Cinderella story did not stop there, though. In order to win the Championship, they would have to beat the top team of the tournament twice in the double-elimination tournament. "By the time we got into the championships, the team that we were playing had not lost yet so we beat them the first time and squeaked by them by two runs and then we had to beat them again to win; so we turned around and just destroyed them, we won by a lot."

Playing seven games over the weekend, Champagne says no one believed their underdog team could come out on top. "No one believed it and the other teams that were being put out, just couldn't believe we were still there."

The random group of 21 ballplayers gives hope to other adults who think I am too old, too out of shape, or just too far gone to be able to get back out on the field and enjoy the game. "It's never too late to have fun and that's what sports are supposed to be. It is something that you enjoy and it's not too late to give up on something you love and get back out there. We had a lot of laughs, made fun of ourselves and had a good time with it because that's what it's supposed to be." 

Coming back next season, the Base-ic Players will be out with a vengeance.