Skip's Corner...The Birth of a Champion

This is the very first of many installments of the musings of Skip McCarty, the Manager of this year's Yawkey Baseball League champions, the East Boston Bluefish...

The Birth of a Champion....

The feeling of glory from winning a championship has come and gone, but its never a bad time to go back and reminice.

The road to a championship began four years ago, back in 2005, when the Bluefish entered the Yawkey League. We knew that the league would be a whole lot tougher than where we came from, but came prepared for battle, both for year number one and beyond.

One of the first things I wanted to do was to assemble a coaching staff, because, playing as often as we had, I was hoping to get more than just my own input in molding a championship caliber team.

Out of the clear blue, Larry Charbonneau e-mailed me. This was a former MABL manager asking me if he could come on board to help out. He also brought along with him some very important players with him. A magical three-pack of Nichols College baseball stars, namely 2008 Playoff MVP Chris Santosuosso, Chris Demers and Sean Glavin. These guys have been with the team since the very beginning and eventually play a huge part for the 2008 championship team.

Larry's recruiting would prove to be invaluable, especially prior to the 2008 season. We also brought with us a few MABL veterans to help deepen our bench, including utility man Mike Lembo and jack of all trades Anthony Leonelli. These guys would be heard from again in 2008. They, along with Bluefish MABLers Jeremy Creveling and Al Becker, amongst others, would form the Bluefish of 2005.

The team played well in its inaguaral season, going 22-9-1, includings wins against the top three seeds during the regular season. A #5 seed was the reward in the playoffs, with a chance to face the #4 seed, the Brighton Brewers (then known as the T's Mariners).

A highly competive 5 game series was to follow. But, it was the Brewers coming out on top, with a walkoff 1-0 victory in game 5, even though Chris Demers took a no-hitter into the seventh inning.

2006 and 2007 brought two more playoff appearances, including a semi-final defeat to those same Brewers, setting the stage for 2008.

(Next week) The final puzzles are put together for the 2008 season.....