Well, it wasn't so much a fall as it was a mid-air explosion with burning pieces crashing to the earth in a mass of fiery carnage.

The 9:20 start for game 3 just seemed a little early for the old Beat and the bats and gloves weren't quite awake yet. The Beat committed 11 errors and gave up 23 runs to the first place Excalibur while being held scoreless. The Beat managed 8 hits over 5 innings but couldn't make it twice through the batting order before the mercy rule hammer fell on a 23-0 drubbing. Excalibur, a collection of local tourney ringers and clearly the SWC favorite, turned in 18 hits including 2 homers and 2 doubles and hit .474 as a team. 

At 1-1-1, the Beat sat back to watch Kuronami (1-1) play the Dogs of Summer (0-2). A Dogs victory would put the Beat in the second semi against Bushwackers; a Kuronami victory meant the Beat would face off once again against Excalibur.

Guess what? Right....

This time the Beat put up their best offensive numbers of the tournament hitting .500 as a team. However the hits were spread out and opportunities lost. With the Beat up 1-0 in the second, runners at second and third and no outs, the Beat failed to convert. Excalibur answered back with one in the bottom to tie then the Beat took the lead 2-1 in the bottom.

Then Excalibur headed back to the dugout and said "enough of this, let's hit around." Well they did...twice. When the dust had settled, Excalibur had put up 17 runs on 17 hits in one inning. The Beat was suddenly down 18-2. Downtrodden and humiliated, the Beat went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 4th.

In an attempt to regain some momentum, the Beat set down Excalibur 1-2-3 in the 4th also, then posted 3 runs on a string of hits and a 2-RBI clutch single by Pete Wenner making the score 18-5. But in the bottom of the 5th Excalibur strung enough hits together to take the score to 20-5 and post their second consecutive mercy-ruling over the shell-shocked Beat.

After the game, Derek Rey and Kevin Austin were voted the team tournament All Stars. Beer bitches for the tournament: Jacque (game 1), Greg (games 2 & 3), MSG (game 4).

Tournament Final!

Believe it or not, last year's champ Kuronami took the tourney championship again with an 11-6 victory over Excalibur in the championship game (we must have worn them out with all that running around the bases). Here are the final standings: