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The Stamford Phillies hoped to be playing for the championship in the Fairfield County Men's Senior Baseball League this weekend. Instead, the team will settle for a shot at the 28-and-over league's President's Cup. Stamford takes on the Bridgeport Brewers this weekend at Stamford's Cubeta Stadium in a best-of-three series.
The President's Cup is for teams that finished fifth through eighth in the league. Stamford went 11-9 during the regular season to finish fifth. The Brewers (8-12) finished seventh. Game 1 in the best-of-three series is Saturday at Cubeta at 9 a.m. Game 2 is Sunday at 9 a.m., with Game 3, if necessary, to follow.
"We're a little disappointed we didn't get into the championship bracket,'' said manager Al Cheng, who started the team eight years ago with Joe Paccione and Kevin Clark. "We're happy that we have something to play for this weekend."
The Phillies needed to work to survive in the semifinals. The Westport Cardinals won the opening game of the series, 7-4. Stamford bounced back to win a doubleheader last Sunday, 11-3 and 9-0, behind the pitching of John Cunningham and Paccione. Paccione threw a complete-game two-hitter in the deciding contest to send the Phillies into the final. "Westport's a good team,'' Cheng team. "On Sunday, we got lucky. The bats came alive."
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