{"id":3529,"date":"2022-09-02T20:03:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T20:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emcher.com\/emchioi\/?p=3529"},"modified":"2022-09-08T14:34:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T14:34:30","slug":"2022-glass-city-apba-baseball-tournament-gcabt-vii-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emcher.com\/emchioi\/2022-glass-city-apba-baseball-tournament-gcabt-vii-recap\/","title":{"rendered":"2022 Glass City APBA Baseball Tournament (GCABT-VII) Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 7th Annual 2022 Glass City APBA Baseball Tournament (GCABT-VII) was played on Saturday, August 27th at the Maumee Elks Club in Maumee, OH. 36 optimistic Coaches\/Teams started the day with the title on their eyesight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 144 divisional games, 2 single elimination playoff rounds (6 games), and then a full best of 3 Championship series, veteran and APBA HOF, John Duke, and his 1949 Boston Red Sox, claimed the title against a young, energetic Eric Zawadzki and his 1985 NY Mets squad, winning the series 2 games to 1. Eric is the 14-year son of the Greater Michigan TD Rich Zawadzki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Presenting the 2022 GCABT-VII Championship trophy to 2-time APBA National Convention winner and APBA Hall of Famer, John Duke.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Red Sox won the first game 4-1. The Mets claimed game 2, 5-4. And in a dramatic finish with the tying run on 2nd in the bottom of the 9th, the Red Sox hung on for the win, 5-4. Down 5-2 in the bottom of the 9th and with 2 outs, the Mets clubbed 2 HRs to make it 5-4. The next batter doubled to set up the dramatic finish. However, it was not to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were 5 divisions, 3 with 8 teams and 2 with 6 teams. After the divisional play was completed, the 5 division winners along with the 3 next best teams (wildcards) moved to the championship bracket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quarterfinals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

#1 seed 1932 Philadephia A’s (Rich Zawadzki) eliminated playoff veteran John Roels and his #8 seed 1994 Clevland team, 6-5. I do believe a walkoff HR won it for the A’s.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

#4 seed 1985 NY Mets (Eric Zawadzki) nipped #5 seed 2021 Toronto (Mike Coon, Jr.) by the score of 4-3.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This set up a semi-final matchup of Father vs. Son.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

#3 seed 1961 Detroit (Darryl Langenderfer) lost to eventual champion #6 seed 1949 Boston Red Sox (John Duke), 6-1.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Rich Zawadzki and John Duke both ended up with 7-1 divisional records, but Rich claimed the tie breaker by beating John in their divisional game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2 seed 2021 LA Dodgers (Michael Hernandez) fell to a hot hiting Albert Pujols and the #7 2003 Cardinals (Dave Chestnut), 8-5. I believe Pujols hit 3 HRs in the game.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Semifinals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

John Duke’s Red Sox easily dispatched the hot-hitting Cardinal team with a 10-1 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the other semi, one guaranteeing that a Zawadzki would be in the finals, Son bested Dad, 4-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Final bracket sheet for GCABT-VII. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other Notables<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All the divisional winners were 6-2 or better. There were 8 teams vying for the final 2 playoff spots. Run Differential was used as the tiebreaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had coaches from PA, IN, MI, IL, KA, OH, SC, and AZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regional Tournament Directors who attended: Rich Zawadzki, Jeff Boeding, John Roels, Rob Spatz, Jack Dolan, Darren Schulz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family combos:
The Smith Brothers – Jeremy and Chris
Darren and Logan Schulz
Rich and Eric Zawadzki
Norm and Zach Zavela
Bob “Pops” and Rob Spatz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No date has been confirmed for next year’s event, but most likely it will be August 26th, 2023. No theme has been determined yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are 6 videos in a playlist of the day and some of the final action. Click on the bars in the upper right-hand corner to select them individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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