Back-to-Back World Champs!

You may not know it, but The Mariners recently won back-to-back titles! Well, the Puget Sound Mariners, that is. The Puget Sound Mariners are part of the Puget Sound Senior Baseball League, which is one of the largest amateur baseball leagues in the U.S.

Earlier this month, the Mariners once again won titles in the ‘Age 65 & Over’ division in the Men’s Senior Baseball League World Series in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Puget Sound Senior Baseball League is comprised of over 1,000 players forming 68 teams in 10 different divisions across King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties.
The organization’s newsletter described the exciting championship day like this:

The Mariners lost to the Dragons earlier in the week during the Round Robin in an 18-15 shootout, so the re-match was expected to be anybody’s game to win.

As predicted, the title tussle was very close for the first seven innings, with the Mariners holding a narrow 4-3 lead. The Mariners pushed across two runs on four hits in the top of the eighth. Building on a 6-3 lead, the M’s took advantage of several hits, walks, and Dragons’ miscues to add four more tallies in the ninth.

Rick Filush was masterful on the mound picking up the win for the Mariners in a complete-game effort. He scattered eight Dragons hits while striking out two. Filush finished the week 1-1 with a 2.60 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP.

Offensive stars for the Mariners in the title game included Wayne Ottum, who went 2-4 with a Sac Fly, three RBI, and two stolen bases, Lonnie Bloom, 3-5 with one Run, Wes Lewis, 2-4, one walk and two RBI, and Rocky Nordness, 1-3, two walks, two stolen bases, and three runs scored.

Nordness and Filush were named Co-Most Valuable Players for the week. Offensively Nordness produced a slash line of .480/.581/.720. In addition to his prowess at the plate, Nordness went 2-0 on the mound with a 1.29 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. In addition to his great work on the bump, Filush added to the cause on offense with a .450/.538/.650 slash line. 

Other major contributors for the Mariners included Sam Ceci, who hit .542, and Randy May at .471. Glenn Kost provided more support with a .412 average along with Craig Armstrong who hit .375 for the week.

Puget Sound Senior Baseball League (PSSBL) divisions are organized based on age and skill level, ranging from advanced to recreational. Although the minimum age is 18, one of the divisions is exclusively for ‘Age 50 & Over.’ Two other divisions feature players ‘Age 60 & Over.’ Approximately 300 participants over the age of 50 are still playing hardball, including more than 200 in the 60+ category.    

Formed in 1989, 2023 will mark the PSSBL’s 34th season of operation.  Games are played at high quality fields throughout the area, including Bellevue College, Bannerwood Park and various school district and park district diamonds.  The season runs from early May to Labor Day with local playoffs scheduled in September.
 
The PSSBL is affiliated with MSBL National, the organization that spearheaded the late-1980’s movement of adults getting back to playing baseball.  Each fall, MSBL hosts a national World Series across a number of age categories. Games are played at Major League facilities in the Phoenix, Arizona area.

Over the years, quite a few teams representing the PSSBL have won national championships. Recently, the Age 65 & Over Puget Sound Mariners scored back-to-back World Series titles, winning in 2021 and again in October, 2022.  Each Mariner player was awarded a World Series championship ring.
 
The league is always looking for new players, especially in the ‘50 & Over’ and ‘60 & Over’ age groups. Online registration begins in February and open tryouts are conducted in March. Information about the 2023 season will be available after the first of the year at https://pssbl.com.
For more information, visit https://pssbl.com.

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