Playoffs... Week 1

They entered the playoffs at the third and fourth seeds. But as we head to the second and final weekend of the 2008 Sun-Sentinel softball season, the Real McCoys and the Boss Players seem to be The Teams Nobody Wants To Play.

The McCoys, seeded third, enter Sunday’s action at Holiday Park after scoring 36 runs in their two victories this past weekend. The Boss Players won two of three games, but as it the code, the John O’Connell family keeps family business, such as numbers, in-house. So the scores of their victories are unavailable. Or maybe the run totals were too high to calculate. With softball bats lying around, no one will argue.

But the two hot teams are joined in the Final 4 by a team that has won 10 straight after losing its opening game, and by the team whose coach, Robert Smith, is on the D’Oliveira Cup as the 2007 champion.

Such playoff intrigue.

This weekend offers interesting contrasts. The losers’ bracket game between the Boss Players and We B Zellin’ at 9 a.m. offers a contrast in style: O’Connell shuns the spotlight; Smith can’t avoid it. Besides holding softball court at his Sun-Sentinel desk almost daily, Smith might be the most ubiquitous character at any game. He has been known to call time in the middle of a game to position cars parking in the lots behind the outfield fences.

But understand this: visible or invisible, both teams are very dangerous.

The winners’ bracket game at 10 continues a long-standing rivalry between McCoys coach Mike McCoy and Jaded coach Ed Giuliotti, whether it’s softball or favorite AFC East teams. It’s fitting this game is taking place at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale. The last time a Sun-Sentinel league game was played there was the championship game in 1992. The coach of the winning team was current McCoys third baseman Garry O. Brown. Brown’s third baseman? Giuliotti.

Week 1 recap:

Play-in game: In the league’s first-ever play-in game featured a pregame Japanese mound ceremony by Bail Bonds assistant coach/first baseman Rich Biebrich, who announced his retirement from softball (again). Something tells us McCoy might arrange an offseason sitdown. Despite strong defense by Angie (don’t call me Angela) Brennan and Adam Cooper pitching what Bail Bonds coach Sean Piccoli called “his best game ever in the league,” the Bail Bonds fell to In The Red 12-6. Mike Keenan was the winning pitcher, and may have reinvented himself by accident as he was forced to the mound for the first time a few weeks ago after Jorge Montero went down with a season-ending injury.

Playoffs Week 1 Continued...

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