The Southernmost Bocce League held its playoffs last weekend. The top five teams from each night (Monday to Thursday) compete in a single elimination bracket-style playoff for the Key West League Champion.
The sixth place team from each night is entered into the Big Pine Championship. At the end of each season, Big Pine sends down its top four teams to compete in the cross-Keys playoffs.
The semifinals pitted the Wednesday night team, Tropical Movers, against the Monday night team, Esky Rods. Tropical Movers worked their way through two Monday night teams before finally being stopped by Esky Rods.
Tuesday night’s Keys Island Runners (last year’s champions) took on Long Hair Don’t Care, another Monday night team, in the semifinals. Keys Island Runners defeated Long Hair to face Esky Rods in the finals.
The first game of the finals was a hard-fought battle, with Keys Island Runners winning 16-14.
In the second game, Esky came out firing, beating Keys Island Runners 16-5.
The third game was again a tough battle, with both teams playing to their advantages. Keys Island Runners came up victorious 16-10.
The weather was great all weekend. League officers and players prepared plenty of food and kept the teams well-hydrated. There were wings, steaks, burgers and hot dogs with all the fixings, along with potato salad, pasta salad, coleslaw, chips, watermelon, soda, water and beer.
As always, the season and its finals provided plenty of good music, competition and a little chatter between good shots. Stay tuned for dates for the much-anticipated bocce awards ceremony.
