2009 Design League Season in the Books.
How many ways was this the strangest Tournament Day in recent memory? Started with a dire early week forecast that burned off to pure sun as the week progressed. A forfeit on Tournament eve and then another on Tournament Day caused the play to be (4) 3-team brackets... and about that... the Leagues sincerest thanks to REX Electric & FTG for playing 4 games... and especially to Goettsch and Gettys Group who weren't supposed to play 4 games... but did so anyway as a result of the forfeits without the slightest complaint... And then we had the Mexican Chamber of Commerce Parade and the Keltic Festival to listen to, and at the end... throngs of U2 fans heading to Soldier Field for the kick-off of that bands North American Tour. Many Tournament participants were holding tickets by my count... So for me, it was one of those great late-Summer Grant Park days that make the Design League the coolest league around...
On the field it was the Ruder Group that was making all the news. They of course entered the Tournament undefeated with eyes on duplicating the wire-to-wire performance that Goettsch put on last year... but they ended up dropping their first game of the day to 14th seeded REX Electric 3-2, which is a serious speed bump if you aspire to a Championship. From there they beat 8th seeded P&W before becoming REX Electric fans as they needed REX to hang at least 3 runs on P&W to gain a runs allowed advantage. REX ended up scoring 4 runs, which meant that Ruder Group was still alive... but they still needed to play REX a second time and hold them to 1 run or less over a 6 inning game to advance... Ruder Group ended up getting it done in a resounding 18-0 romp... and all that anxiety early appeared to spell out doom for challengers that came late as Ruder Group rode a decisive 10-2 win over Clune and an even more decisive 15-1 win over Power Construction to their first Championship after 7 years in the League. I'm really happy for them... a great bunch that I've gotten to know well over the years... a team that's evolved, added and subtracted from their roster but built up around a core group of players that play the game really well together from having done it for so long... and now they have a chunk of Design League history... Congratulations to the Ruder Group.
So having said all that, Ruder Group made the Final Four courtesy of 2 runs allowed. If they had failed to do that, 8th seed Perkins&Will would have advanced leaving 4th seed Clune the only top 4 seeded team to make the Final Four... That's never happened in Design League history, which is what makes Ruder Group's Championship story a testament to a League based on runs allowed. A teams fate is tied to its ability to play defense. If P&W beats 14th seeded REX 7-1 instead of 7-4... Ruder Group is dead in the water and I'm writing about a different Champion right now. Any given Saturday, anything can happen.
Too many rainouts this year for sure... disappointing as it was the first year I was ever able to squeeze 17 game days out of the regular season schedule... but it just turned out to be Wednesdays and Thursdays that took all the water this year... next year will be better... Hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves anyway.
This season felt like a transitional year to me. We went from 16 teams and an 11 team waiting list... to 14 teams and no waiting list. the devil only knows what next Spring holds in store... but hopefully every team that was on the diamonds today will be back to do it again... I know I will... in the meantime, have a great off-season and thanks for a great year!
Open Call for New Teams
If you know of any potential teams that may have an interest for the 2010 Season, by all means guide them to this website and get them in touch with me here... With the way things have gone... we should be looking for potential teams starting now... Last years downturn took us by surprise... but there has got to be more teams out there that just need to be found... sub-contractors, partner companies, friends from other firms? Come one, come all...
CDL Defending Champions - Ruder Group
Ruder Groups road to the Championship was smooth as silk save for the speed bump that was REX Electric. A tip-of-the-hat to REX for gaining some notoriety in an otherwise dismal statistical year... But Ruder Group posted a combined season record of 16-1, allowing 55 runs and scoring 210... a truly great team that have expelled the Championship monkey from their backs.
Back Row (left to right); Ben Bitner, Matt Ruder, Neill Malone, Eddie Connealy,
Chris Popio, Peter Rumpf
Middle Row; Nate Melotte, Jim Maggio, Liam McManus, Allan Mellske, Jackie Tarulli-Fisher
Front Row; Kenny Williams, Jeff Johnston, Joe Wilson, Cristin Clifford, Suzanne Croke
Not Pictured; Jenelle Ruder, Tim White, Heather Yario
