SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The unlimited arch North Beach/Joe “D” league held in San Francisco was won this year by Larocca/East Bay Legends. East Bay ended up with a 7-1 record during league play, taking first place. Second place was held by Gino & Carlo Heroes with a 5-3 record.

Both teams met for the SF Hard Top Winter League Championship, and it was a lopsided result. The Heroes had won their playoff game 12-10 against the defending champs, North Beach. The Heroes had strong hitting from Eric Westmorland, Rich Navarro, Will Kraus and Adam Grasso to take the victory. They pulled out to a 12-3 lead with good pitching by Rudy Jauregui, then in the last inning North Beach came back and almost snatched the win. Harry Gong made a nice play at shortstop with two outs and the game-tying run at the plate. The game ended with a nice scoop by first baseman Chris Gaggero and the Heroes went to the finals.

The Championship game was basically over after the second inning as East Bay scored six runs in the first inning and 15 runs in the second and went on to a 25-6 win. Strong hitting from Mike Rennels, Doug Cherry, Willie Gomez and Tony Marelich and the pitching and hitting of Wayne Watkins was just too much for the Heroes to overcome.

East Bay also won the pre-season tournament over the Heroes as well, so it was a sweep of titles for them this year.