Price’s left no doubts as to who the best team was in this weekend’s 2nd Annual JJ Nicastro Summer Madness One Pitch Softball Tournament.
Price’s a team that used to play in Gloucester’s Sunday morning league and now plays as a team in Peabody, ran the table with a 5-0 record to take the tournament championship. Price’s clinched the title with a 13-9 win over the Gorillas, another team that plays out of Peabody, in the tournament final.
With the tournament shifting to wooden bats two years ago teams had to change their style of play. No longer can teams rely on pure power. Price’s, however, still put forth a relentless offensive attack that featured mostly singles with a few extra base hits sprinkled in.
The tournament final saw Price’s, a team composed of a mixture of Gloucester and Peabody residents, rip more than 20 hits en route to the win. An eight run bottom of the third inning ended up being the difference.
Bobby Duncan was named tournament MVP for Price’s, Gloucester natives Jay Brown, the team’s captain, Dan Gove and Tom Conrad also had strong tournaments.
Price’s got to the finals by defeating Softy’s Crew in the winner’s bracket final Sunday morning before defeating the Gorillas in the championship game.
The Gorillas, who lost a game on Saturday, had to battle through a long and tough loser’s bracket to reach the final. Softy’s Crew, another team from Peabody, came away with a third place finish with a pair of Gloucester teams right behind them.
Hampden Hill, who hold multiple one pitch titles, finished in fourth with defending champion BENCO, who also won the Fall Classic in 2011 along with the Summer Madness tournament, finished in fifth.
All proceeds of the event went to the JJ Nicastro Foundation, a foundation that raises money to help high school students pay for athletic user fees and awards scholarships to outgoing senior student athletes.
