MMSL 2010

The Original Peacocks of WRC-NBC 4 won their third straight Metropolitan Media Softball League title Saturday with an 11-3 win over Comcast SportsNet at Cabin John Regional Park.

With the victory, WRC makes league history, becoming the first MMSL team to capture titles in three straight years.The last teams to try were the 2002 Gazette, which finished fourth, and the 2008 Gannetoids, which didn’t make the playoffs.

WRC blew open a close game in the top of the 5th in patented style — doing one of those little things to plate a run and start a rally. That happened in this instance when a Comcast outfielder caught a sinking liner in short centerfield. It was a stellar grab, but he was slow to get up and get rid of the ball, which WRC SS Ryan Kiernan seized upon to tag up from third base and race home, just beating a throw that sailed in to the right of homeplate.

The Peacocks never looked back, riding Darren Ziegenbein’s stellar pitching.

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No. 1 seed WRC won three games Sunday to take firm command of the 2010 MMSL playoffs and stand on the verge of making league history.

No team in the Metropolitan Media Softball League has won three titles in a row, and the Original Peacocks staked their claim to greatness with its tried-and-true playoff formula: timely hitting, airtight defense and the expert pitching of ace Darren Ziegenbein (who was named the winner of the Dale C. Solly Award for Sportsmanship and Camaraderie). They gave up a combined four runs in three games while plating 21.

Standing in their way, and certain not to go down without a fight, are No. 2 seed USA Today and No. 3 seed Comcast SportsNet, who will face off next Saturday morning at 9 a.m. for the right to take on WRC at 10:15.

Should the loser’s bracket champ knock off the Peacocks, the two will meet again at 11:30 as part of the MMSL’s double-elimination format.

The prediction going in was that this year’s tourney would be heavy on the chalk, and that prediction was realized with the top three seeds advancing. The lowest seed to storm the top half of the bracket was No. 6 National Press Club, the last team to be ousted when it lost to the SportsNuts 15-3.

Much more to come in the days ahead, but here are today’s scores in the meantime:

Game 1: ABC News 7, Washington Post 2

Game 2: Allbritton 5, Associated Press 3

Game 3: WRC 12, ABC News 2

Game 4: Comcast SportsNet 8, National Press Club 6

Game 5: USA Today 15, WTTG 3 (5 innings)

Game 6: WTTG 13, Washington Post 7 (WaPo eliminated)

Game 7: Associated Press 4, ABC News 1 (ABC eliminated)

Game 8: National Press Club 11, WTTG 7 (WTTG eliminated)

Game 9: WRC 5, Allbritton 2

Game 10: USA Today 6, Comcast SportsNet 2

Game 11: Comcast SportsNet 2, Associated Press 1 (AP eliminated)

Game 12: National Press Club 12, Allbritton 6 (Allbritton eliminated)

Game 13: WRC 4, USA Today 0

Game 14: Comcast SportsNet 15, National Press Club 2 (5 innings - Press Club eliminated)

Here are five burning questions as we head into the 2010 playoffs at Cabin John Regional Park:

1. What if it rains?

Ugh. After the season we’ve had, it’s kind of unbelievable we even have to entertain this question. But we do, since Accuweather is forecasting storms overnight Friday and possibly into Saturday. The wild card here is that Cabin John does its own field spotting and makes its own Go/No Go call, so we’re at the mercy of the park’s grounds crew.

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