Playoffs underway in Ashton

 from Eric Rosenquist

Playoffs are underway in the four-team Ashton Men's Fastball league, with the best of three "A" final and "B" final series starting this Thursday.

The preliminary round of the playoffs use a curling-style page playoff format where the top 2 teams get a double life to reach the "A" final. Those games took place over the past two weeks.

The Brewers and the NAPA Shockers finished the regular season with identical 8-4 records, and split their season series 2-2, but the Brewers ended up finishing first due to a better run differential in the head-to-head games between the two teams.

The 3rd place Ashton Farmers and 4th place A's both had a chance to make it to the "A" final, but needed two straight wins to get there. The Farmers won a tight 9-8 game on August 18th to keep their hopes of getting to the "A" final alive, with a bases-loaded two-out hit in the bottom of the 7th cashing in the winning run. The loss put the A's in the "B" final.

In the 1st vs 2nd game on August 18th, the Shockers defeated the Brewers 12-4, sending the Shockers to the "A" series and setting up a match on August 25th between the Brewers and the Farmers to see who would face them. The Farmers ended up edging the Brewers 6-3, putting them in the "A" and the Brewers in the "B".

The "A" final gets underway this Thursday at 7PM with the Shockers home to the Farmers. The "B" final follows at 9PM with the Brewers hosting the A's. All games take place at the ball diamond at Ashton Park just off Flewellyn Rd.