| Kaminski's Land
Sharks, Budney's Tavern prevail |
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| You have to give a lot of credit to the Kaminski's Land Sharks and Budney's Tavern softball teams. |
| Not only did they
come to Mercer County and win two tough brackets in The Trentonian/Perrine Buick Pontiac
GMC Softball Tournament, but they proved to be class acts all the way. Playing out of Cherry Hill, Kaminski's Land Sharks went 5-0 to capture the always strong Class Super E bracket. Budney's Tavern, meanwhile, is from South River and it also went undefeated en route to the A Flight championship of the Class E bracket. "This was just really enjoyable,'' said Land Sharks' player/coach Tony Wilson. "The teams we played were a great bunch of guys and everything was handled well. "This is the only tournament we play in. I guess we overachieved ourselves, but the team stepped it up and came through.'' Kaminski's had taken control of this bracket with a tight victory over Mercer Safe & Lock of the Hamilton B League Saturday night. The Cherry Hill team only had to win one game yesterday and it kept right on rolling by beating Harm's Construction of Freehold in the championship game, 13-7. "I've been playing in this tournament for a long time, but this is just the second year for the Land Shark,'' said Wilson, whose team finished third in Super E last year. "We played consistent ball all the way.'' A first-year entry, Harm's Construction reached the final with a 17-12 victory over Mercer Safe & Lock in the losers' bracket final. The fourth spot went to Ryder's Lane Exxon of Sayreville while PCT from Riverdel and Gersh's Place/Bill's Olde Tavern tied for fifth. A big game in the losers' bracket found Harm's knocking off Gersh's in a wild 24-23 thriller. "This is the first year in the tournament for this team,'' said Harm's Construction player/coach Kyle Kane. "We have a good team and played well. We were down 10 runs in the first game today (against Gersh's), but we played hard the whole way.'' Making its first Trentonian Tournament appearance, Budney's Tavern beat Horner Brothers, 4-2, in yesterday's winners' bracket final in the A Flight of Class E. Budney's then defeated Plastic Concepts, 11-3, for the championship. Budney's isn't a real high powered team, but plays the game right and was strong in the field. Ironically, the losers' bracket final came down to a pair of Mercer Continental League teams and Plastic Concepts got the upper hand there with a victory over the third-place Horner Brothers. Kalmar of Belmar came in fourth after four straight victories in the losers' bracket. Morrisville Tavern and Jo-Jo's Tavern finished tied in the fifth spot. |
| ŠThe Trentonian 2001 |
