Pawtucket Jr. RBI on to Cincinnati
Cancelled championship games mean pool play winners go to World Series
PAWTUCKET – This was not the way RBI Northeast Regional tournament director Luke McLaughlin wanted the event to end.
The top two teams in the Senior Division – host Pawtucket and Paterson, N.J. – were set to decide who would travel to the RBI World Series in Cincinnati as the regional representative inside the cozy confines of McCoy Stadium at 12:30 p.m.
Before that, the Junior Division qualifiers – including Pawtucket and the Jackie Robinson All-Stars of New York City – would settle the same issue on the diamond.
Mother Nature, however, threw everything out of whack. Due to the near non-stop rainstorms plaguing the area during the morning and afternoon hours, McLaughlin was told to pull the plug on both.
“The man from Major League Baseball Inc.’s RBI program, David James, explained we’d have to move to Plan B, where the two teams with the best pool-play records would be deemed the champion,” McLaughlin explained. “That means the Paterson Seniors will go to the World Series, as it was 3-0 in pool play, and the Pawtucket Juniors earned the right due to their record.
“We exhausted every option we had,” he added. “After we learned McCoy wasn’t an option, we went to Slater Park (Ted McConnon Memorial Field), and that was under water. Because the softball final was being played at Brown (University’s diamond), and they got that in (it didn’t involve a local representative), we tried to see if their baseball field would be available, but they shut the complex down.
“So we went over to Tomlinson Field, but we stepped on the infield and there were three inches of mud. We actually went over to La Salle because it has artificial turf, but that was too wet as well. RBI officials could only do it (Monday) because it’s the deadline for this particular regional.
“Tom Bilodeau coaches the senior kids, and he was upset, especially for the 18-year-olds, because this is their last year of eligibility; they can’t play next year (because of age restrictions). He felt really bad for them.”
McLaughlin claimed Pawtucket RBI Junior Division manager Matt Bergeron felt even worse, despite the fact his kids earned the bid.
“They’re going, but it’s only because of the weather,” McLaughlin said. “He wanted to play the game as much as anyone; it’s the only really fair thing. He felt the Jackie Robinson kids got (a raw deal). Of course, you want to solve it all on the field.”
Bergeron admitted he felt bad upon discovery, just before 4 p.m., that the tourney had ended prematurely.
“Of course, I’m happy for our kids, but it would’ve been nice to play it,” he stated. “This was our third straight year of hosting the regionals, and we’ve been fortunate to win the Junior championship all three.
“We were running around all day trying to find a suitable site where both games could be played,” he added. “We notified our guys by group text that there would be no game, but we haven’t seen them yet. We were too busy running around.”
The Northeast champions will play a minimum of three games at the RBI World Series, which will be contested at the Cincinnati Reds’ Great American Ballpark home.