Somerville Alibrandis capture second Masters championship
The 2020 MSBL Masters season was supposed to be a revenge tour for the Somerville Alibrandis, after getting swept in the second round of the 2019 postseason. Then COVID-19 hit and those plans were put in doubt.
Along with the other team managers in the league, Somerville's manager Mike Powers, had his work cut out for him. Because of the pandemic, Powers had to navigate around the loss of some key players and was also responsible for enforcing new league protocols, while waiting to learn if his team would have access to their home field or if they would have a season at all.
Powers, last year's Manager of the Year, used his experience to help overcome those obstacles and eventually lead his team to a league-best 7-1 record, earning the No. 1 seed in the postseason.
The team had a dominant offense during the regular season, led by five players with an OPS over 1.000, including JP Songin, Chris Dean, John Jones, Dave Mitrou and Mike Navarro. They also led the league with 65 runs scored. Combine that with a pitching staff who gave up the least amount of runs in the regular season (29), backed by Jon Miarecki (3-0, 3.68 ERA), Dana Levensaler (2-0, 2.00 ERA), and rookie Billy Brooks (1-1, 3.78 ERA). Veteran Dan O'Neill also pitched in, picking up the team's 7th win of the year to close out the regular season at 7-1, securing the No. 1 seed and home field throughout the playoffs.
In the opening round of the 2020 postseason, the No. 1-seeded Somerville was impressive in a two-game series sweep over the No. 8-seeded South Shore Giants (2-6), by a combined score of 18-6. Brooks and Levensaler picked up the wins in Games 1 and 2 respectively.
In the Semifinal round, the series was pushed to a deciding game 3, where Somerville fought hard and eventually put away a very tough Milton Breakers (4-4) squad with a 12-0 decisive victory. JP Songin picked up the win in Game 1 with a complete game 7-hit shutout, allowing no walks while striking out two. Not to be outdone, Levensaler had his own dominating performance in Game 3, also going the distance with a 4-hit shutout, allowing just one walk while striking out four. Brooks was the tough-luck loser in Game 2, where the Breakers took advantage of some misplays and went on to win 4-3. Del Prete earned the win in Game 2 and posted a 2-0 record in the postseason with a 0.857 ERA. Somerville would advance to the Finals for the second time in their 7-year history, with their last appearance dating back to 2016, when the franchise won their first Masters Title.
The 2020 MSBL Masters Finals, also a best-of-three series, was a rematch with the defending champion Bistro 781 Bulls, who swept Somerville 2-0 in the 2019 Semifinals. The Bulls earned the No. 2 seed after producing a 6-2 record in the regular season, fueled by MVP-candidate Steve Busby, who led the league with a .625 Batting Average and 1.657 OPS. The Bulls pitching staff posted an ERA under 3.00 and was undefeated in the postseason heading into the Finals, after sweeping the first two rounds of the 2020 postseason.
In Game 1, the Bulls held a 3-0 lead late, but couldn't hang on as the Somerville offense rallied to a 5-3 win. Somerville's Chris Deane and David Mitrou each added a pair of hits and SS Mike Navarro had a huge 2-run double in the bottom of the 6th to put Somerville in the lead for good. Brooks (Win) and Songin (Save) combined for the win.
Game 2 was a different story, as Somerville plated five runs in the first four innings and took a 6-0 lead that they would not relinquish, including 2 monstrous HR's, one by 1B John Jones (2-run shot) in the 3rd and the other by LF Steve Walsh (solo shot) in the 4th. Somerville would win Game 2 of the series by a final score of 6-1, taking home the 2020 MSBL Masters Division Championship for a second time (2016, 2020).
Levensaler once again pitched well, going 6 strong and allowing just 1 run, before giving way to Songin who closed the door in the 7th. For their efforts in the Finals, the MVP from Somerville is John Jones and the MVP Pitcher is Dana Levensaler.
A special thank you to the Boston MSBL and the league board members (Jeff Coveney, Brett Rudy, Kyle Breidenstine, Scott Isaacs, Tom Dowey) for all of their hard work during the pandemic. Putting the season together and finishing it without incident was incredible and they deserve a ton of credit. Also, a special thank you to the City of Somerville Rec Dept. (Jill Lathan) and the DPW crew (Ben Waldrip) for getting the fields prepped for each game.
A tip of the cap to the Bistro 781 Bulls on a great season and their second straight Finals appearance.
