Brian did not quit, but the message was received loud and clear by everyone on the team. We weren't what we used to be, and we never would be. But we were still competitive, and there was no reason we couldn't enjoy the competition and the comaraderie that we had always had with AWA softball. Players' attitudes became more relaxed, and coincidentally, the quirky bounces that seemed to be dooming AWA to defeat week after week now started going in our favor.

Mark Christie was supposed to be out for good three years ago when he suffered his third knee injury. But there he was, making a head-long diving catch of a fly ball with two out in the seventh inning to preserve a 19-18 upset win over powerful Rockhurst Painting. And then there was venerable Tom Sukup, who would finish up the '94 season as the team's Most Valuable Player, hitting a personal best six home runs that were the result of a series of quirky events triggered by well-placed pot holes, colliding outfielders, and right fielders with tangle feet. We had never seen anything like it.

The team recovered to go 4-6 in the spring. In the summer league season, AWA sat at 3-5 with only two games remaining. With very little hope for making the playoffs, AWA upset highly-touted Top Ten 13-8 and then crushed the Outsiders 12-2 to finish the season. By a series of tie-breakers, we were given the final spot in the summer playoffs.

Despite having to meet the mighty Unknowns in the first round, the team was not looking for the roof to cave in. The Unknowns were 10-0 for the season, including a 20-14 victory over AWA. Recent history revealed that we had little chance to win this game. But that didn't matter, as we looked forward to taking on this juggernaut.

And AWA nearly pulled off the major shocker, taking the Unknowns through nine rugged innings before falling to the eventual champs 10-9. Instead of expecting to lose, we almost found a way to win. And everyone on the team felt the energy that had been missing for the most of the last two seasons. Maybe we weren't going to be able to knock off the big boys with any regularity anymore. Maybe we would never win another league championship. But we were going to have a hell of a good time trying.

The injury bug bit the team badly at the start of 1995, as stars Greg Brown, Bruce Christie, Al Brown, and Joe Sammut all went down with injuries. With the heart of our batting order all but ripped out, the team struggled to a 3-7 spring league record (3-11 overall). But the team wasn't getting blown away either, and the guys knew that once our big sticks were back in the lineup, AWA would be in the thick of things again.

The second half '95 saw the return of AWA's big-name players, as well as Mike Applegate's turn as the team's #1 pitcher. A rejuvinated AWA team went bat crazy on offense, averaging better than 17 runs per game while reeling off victory after victory. In one incredible game late in the year, AWA blew away a bewildered Show Some Sack team by a 33-1 count! The team finished the summer with a league best 9-1 record.

Brian Christie had the season of his life in '95 -- winning the team Triple Crown, and the Gold Glove, while batting an unbelievable .747 for the year. Brian handily won the team Most Valuable Player award at the end of the year. But our best player, having his best season, found himself out of town for the playoffs.

We drew talented Top Ten in the first round, which wasn't good news. AWA's only loss in the summer league season was a tight 9-8 decision against these guys. In the playoff game Top Ten scored early and often, opening up an 11-0 lead before a power failure shut down the lights in the second inning. After an hour wait our hopes for cancellation of the game were dashed when power came back on.

It was too much of a deficit to overcome, and Top Ten hung on to win the game 17-10. It was bittersweet ending to a really good season, and even though he wasn't there, Brian was good-naturedly tabbed as the goat. But it was all great fun and what the heck, we reasoned, there was always next year. And another round of beers was poured.

The 1996 roster was shaken up with Al Brown and Mark Christie out for the season with injuries, and old favorites like Steve Barrett, Ken Morse, Sherman Applegate, and Matt Granville taking themselves off the field for good in retirement. But Dave Jackson unretired after one year on the sidelines, and the roster was bolstered by the immense talents of veteran softballers Steve Wilson and Randy Carter, who were now on board full time. Steve assumed the role as the team's new #1 pitcher.

AWA started slowly in '96, losing the first two league games of the spring season. But the new chemestry began to take hold and the team won six of the next seven. We still had not secured a playoff spot, however, as we still needed a victory in our last game against friendly rival Second Wind to have a chance. In order to secure all the tie-breakers, AWA needed to beat Second Wind by at least four runs. As fate would have it, the team that would benefit from AWA's failure was Second Wind.

But AWA was on a roll, and the team won the game 11-7 to claim the last playoff spot by the narrowest of margins. We knew we weren't the best team in the league this year, but anything can happen in the playoffs.

As our reward for making the playoffs, the team drew the powerful Brewers as its first round opponent. The Brewers owned the league's best record at 9-1, which included an impressive 18-8 regular season victory over AWA. The game began inauspiciously as the Brewers opened up a 10-3 lead in the second inning. But pitcher Steve Wilson shut down the Brewer bats from that point on, and AWA's hitters began chipping away, finally taking the lead after five innings, and then hanging on for the huge 11-10 victory.

In the championship final against the Badgers, AWA overcame an 8-5 deficit with a five-run sixth inning, with Greg Brown's two-out two-run single providing the ultimate margin of victory in AWA's stunning 10-9 triumph. The team's seventh league championship was truly one we never expected to see, and the celebration was particularly noisy that night.

The summer season was affected by more injuries, and perhaps a little bit of an emotional letdown, but at season's end AWA owned a very satisfying 15-10 record. The offense set a new team record as we batted .500 as a team.