Saturday afternoon's 15-2 loss at the hands of Bernard was a tough one to swallow for a Key West team that enters Sunday's EIHL championships as the No. 2 seed. The Ramblers will look to quickly forget that drubbing as postseason play gets started on Sunday. The No. 2-seeded Ramblers (32-10) take on No. 3 Cascade at 12 p.m at Petrakis Park.
Ryan Kelly will take the mound for Key West. The right-hander, who has played college ball at Clarke, has been near perfect in his appearances so far. The Ramblers will rely on Kelly to help get them back to the lofty status they enjoyed at the beginning of 2011. Key West won two of the first three semi-pro tournaments (EIHL Preseason and Farley), but have struggled in recent tournaments as the team's pitching depth has been depleted.
The Ramblers 14-1 start set the bar at a near unattainable level, making an 18-9 stretch and no tournament championships since June 18 feel like somewhat of a letdown. But being disappointed about the most successful season in team history makes little sense.
The Ramblers' 32-10 mark in 2011 has set a new team record for victories in a season, also good enough to break the franchise's best single-season win percentage. This year's edition of the Ramblers has also set a new team-high for home runs (18) and has seen Dan Spain (.374 BA), Chris Briggs (.384 BA) and Cory Davidson (.356 BA) post all-league-type seasons at the plate. Throw in the contributions of Tim Carty, Sean O'Connor, Jared Munson, Ben Cottrell, Matt Knabel and company, and you get one of the best teams in the area.
Now that nucleus has its sights on the franchise's first-ever EIHL Championship. Should the Ramblers prevail over Cascade in the semifinals, they will play in the championship on Sunday at approximately 4 p.m. versus the Dubuque/Farley winner.
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