At the end of the regular season, AASL has single-elimination playoffs
to determine a league champion.
2000: Media Bridge beat Last Chance (now known as Misfits) in a disputed championship game.
2001: Sit 'n Bull (now known as Misfits) beat O'Brien's Pub in the final game.
2002: Sit 'n Bull beat Raging Inferno (the 7th seed entering the playoffs, now known as Infernos) in a high-scoring, dusty affair.
2003: Rockets defeated Sit 'n Bull under the lights at Elm and made the front page of the Acton Beacon!
2004: Sit 'n Bull defeated the Rink Rats for their third AASL Championship!
2005: Sit 'n Bull held off the Bombers for their fourth overall title and sixth-straight championship appearance.
2006: Rink Rats bring home the trophy with a win over Rockets!
2007: Rink Rats earn back-to-back championships with a win over Rockets!
2008: Rink Rats three-peats with a 12-6 win over Colonial Spirits, a 9th seed who made it to the final game!
Bracket
Game Summaries
First Round
O'Brien's Pub 7, Bombers 4: Bombers took an early lead on a triple by Keith C. but O'Brien's kept it close until Bombers has "one of those innings." Elm Street field barely held up and was squishy in places but the teams managed fine considering...
Misfits 11, Acorn Park 1: Acorn Park kept it close through 4 with Misfits clinging to a 2-1 lead. Misfits opened it up in the 5th ("one of those innings...") with Mark B. hitting a grand slam.
Rink Rats 16, Nightmare on Elm Street 9: Teams had to clear the field at NARA after the umpire halted the game because of lightning, following the ASA "lightning rule" directive. The teams continued the battle afterwards and completed the game.
Hackers 15, Wheeler Wrecks 1: Hackers came alive at bat and scored multiple runs in multiple innings. The game was mud-shortened at 5 innings as a brief but drenching rain caused unsafe field conditions around 6:50 PM.
Rockets 6, Crow's Nest 4: The drizzle at Elm had stopped by about 7:10 and teams cleaned up the field to make it safe to play. Crow's Nest opened the game with two runs in the first and held Rockets 2-2 through the first few innings. Rockets opened up to 6-3 and Crow's Nest got runners on and scored a run in the 7th but it wasn't enough.
Colonial Spirits 10, Infernos 9: It was a close game – lots of hitting by both teams, great defense by both teams, super pitching by both teams, but Colonial Spirits played just a bit better and won by 1 run.
Swarm 15, Mt. Calvary Cavaliers 0: Swarm opened with 8 runs in the first, 4 in the second and tacked on a few to close the game out in 5 innings. Swarm cut down the MCC threat with a relay CF-SS-C to get Aaron sliding in on a run from second. We played the rest for fun and MCC came back with 2 runs (I think) in the 7th on a triple and some good baserunning.
Second Round
Colonial Spirits 9, Squeeze Play 5: colonial Spirits opened up an early lead and Squeeze Play couldn't mount a comeback.
Misfits 7, O'Brien's Pub 2: Pub held a 2-1 lead through most of the game but Misfits opened it up with 2 3-run innings and held tight on defense.
Rink Rats 12, Rockets 10: Rink Rats built a lead bit by bit and Rockets staged a late-inning comeback but fell a few runs short.
Swarm 14, Hackers 8: Hackers opened with 3 in the first, but Swarm stormed back with 7 and built the lead, holding on during a Hackers minor rally in the 7th to win.
Semifinals
Colonial Spirits 6, Misfits 2 (score appx.): Didn't see the game but from what I heard, Colonial Spirits put up pairs of runs in three different innings and the Misfits bats weren't cranking out their typical hits.
Rink Rats 17, Swarm 2: Some times teams have "one of those innings"...it started in the Swarm's second defensively, losing a 2-0 lead to a 5-2 deficit, then again in the 6th, giving up about 10 runs to invoke the slaughter rule. Swarm batted in the bottom of the inning but went down 1-2-3 and ended the season on a terrible note. Rink Rats hit the ball where they wanted easily, and Swarm couldn't adjust to stop the attack.
Teams
In 2008, AASL is back to a full-league playoff structure. Westies forfeited their spot in the playoffs due to other commitments, so all other teams move up as necessary to seeds 1 through 15. Playoff seeds are determined by winning percentage in the regular season, shown in the standings.
Seeds are ordered by winning percentage.
If two or more teams have the same winning percentage, head-to-head results among all teams with that winning percentage will determine better seed.[In 2008, Squeeze Play and Swarm tied for first place in winning percentage.]
If two teams have the same winning percentage and the same head-to-head record among that group, individual head-to-head records will determine remaining seeds. [In 2008, Squeeze Play vs. Swarm was rained out.]
And, if all else fails, the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner will toss a coin (an 1879 tarnished silver Morgan dollar) to determine seeds, with the alphabetically first team being heads and the alphabetically last team being tails. If the Swarm is one of the teams affected by the coin toss, we'll seek out an impartial coin-tosser and venue. [On August 7, AASL held the Not Your Average Joe's AASL Coin Toss and Squeeze Play, calling tails, won the toss and is the top seed in the playoffs. Swarm is second seed. Swarm and Squeeze Play captains and AASL Commissioner Rich Gottesman were present. Thanks to Jeff for picking up the tab!]
Umpires
In the playoffs, AASL uses ASA certified, paid umpires at home plate for each game. They use ASA rules, modified with AASL rules. Specifically, with ASA certified umpires, the infield fly rule is in effect. See AASL rules for reasoning and clarification. The umpires make all the calls behind the plate as well as in the field. Your base coaches need not act as umpires in the playoff games, though you still need coaches to help your runners. Umpires are provided by the Greater Lowell Softball Umpires Association (GLSUA) who have done a fabulous job for us since our 2001 playoffs!
Rainouts
Rain? Never...especially not this season...If a game is rained out, we will try to post information online and alert captains as we have done during the regular season. Games will be made up in the first available slot. Commissioners will schedule these as necessary with regard to progressing the playoff bracket. In most cases, we hope this is in a slot that doesn't yet have teams scheduled, however, we may need to bump a second-round game to accommodate a rained out first-round game. If anything happens, we will alert captains, post on the site, etc. Games will remain on Mondays through Thursdays (no playoff games on Fridays through Sundays).
Contacts
Both Rich (AASL Commissioner) and Matt (AASL Assistant Commissioner) are around, so please contact Rich (rich@actonasl.com or 978-808-0766) or Matt (matt@actonasl.com or 617-877-3961).
Rules/Fine Print
Games must start at the appointed time, with a 5 minute grace period only. Note at NARA, games are scheduled to start at 6 PM (to avoid potential darkness - we had one long, dark game in 2003), however it is likely that Pop Warner football will need to adjust their practice area to yield to our field permit, so some time may be necessary to coordinate that.
There will be no time limit on the games, with some notable exceptions:
For 6 PM games at Elm, the game will be played to completion, even if this passes 7:45 PM.
For 6 PM games at NARA, the game will be played to completion unless an ASA umpire calls the game because of darkness. If a game is called because of darkness, we must stop the game and continue it on the next available game slot from the point of stoppage. This is likely the same night as the winner's next-round playoff game.
For the 7:45 game at Elm, the inning in progress if we pass 9:30 will be the last inning that night. Lights must be off at 9:45 PM. If a game is called because of this curfew, the game will continue in the next available game slot from the point of stoppage.
See AASL rules for player eligibility requirements. In a nutshell, a player is eligible if (a) he/she has filed a waiver with the Rec Dept and is listed online on your roster and (b) that player has participated in 5 regular-season games. Opposing captains or league management may ask for proof from other teams that both criteria are met, which will include rosters supplied by AASL and scorebook review if necessary.
All league rules (except as noted above) apply during playoff games.
