Might someone outside of Ohio win it all this year? Well, the only team not the Cleveland club to actually do so, the Olympics of our nation's capital, take the lead by the first of July:
Meanwhile, Newark looks to keep the American Cup in New Jersey:
In the AmCup quarterfinals, the Middletown Mansfields and the Elizabeth Resolutes were each three outs away from the semifinal, but -- not so fast! Atlantic scored two runs in the top of the ninth to edge Middletown, 4-3, while Nationals' Andrew Gibney's two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth to knock out Resolute by the same 4-3 score.
In the semifinal, six errors proved costly for Washington as Brooklyn qualified for their first American Cup Final with a 4-2 win.
The Final was a thriller, too: Atlantic was (say it with me now)
three outs away from the Cup with a 7-6 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. But shortstop Andrew Gedney, the hero of Brooklyn's quarterfinal win over Elizabeth, committed two costly errors to allow George Bunting and Bill Putnam to reach safely. (Gedney, normally a second baseman, came in for Jim Snyder in the sixth and delivered two hits of his own.) Pidgey Morgan delived a double to tie the game, then Dan Reese won the Cup for Newark with a seeing-eye single.
Eureka!
