It was a highly competitive season. The Black Rock Dodgers were the talk of the first part of
the season, as they led the league through Week 14. They faded in the second half and finished
in seventh place. East Aurora had a solid season and took the pennant, finishing 2 games ahead
of the Red Sox. Sox manager Dexter Martin made a triumphant return to the WNYSOMBL,
surprising many by finishing in second place.
Ed Taylor's Rose Danders had yet another successful regular season. They finished in third
place with 50 wins. St. Catharines manager Todd Lafontaine was surely the rookie manager of
the year, guiding his charges to fourth place. Tonawanda, the league's best hitting team, tied the
Storm for fifth place.
Bronx finished the season in an eighth place tie with defending champion Hershey and rode
Kevin Brown to victory in a one game playoff. For the first time in league history, the defending
champions didn't even make the playoffs in the following season.
There were upsets in 2 of the 4 first round playoff series and one "almost" upset. Black Rock
stunned Boston and Hagerstown defeated St. Catharines in a high scoring 7 game series. The
eighth place Bronx swept the mighty Indians, but the series was voided. The Stukas made the
Grave mistake of using of an ineligible player. Given a second chance, the Indians cruised to
victory. Steubenville kept the Tarantulas' hitting in check and escaped the first round.
In the second round, the Indians continued to roll, defeating the Dodgers in 5 games.
Steubenville and Hagerstown had a memorable 7 game series that was won by the underdog
Storm.
So the finals were set. Pennant-winning East Aurora, who had won 8 of 9 playoff games,
would face fifth place Hagerstown. The Storm were down in both of their playoff series,
but pulled each one out in 7 games.
For coverage of the World Series, click here.
