The 24th annual Centennial Cup Final kicked off in front of a packed crowd at Marks' Park in (er, just outside) Fall River, Mass. The Marksmen proved to be on target in the opener, with Elmer Flick driving in three runs in a 8-3 win. In Game 2, starters Clem Kimerer of Fall River and Joe Blong of Forest City battled for eight innings, tied at one. In the last of the ninth, Marksmen pinch hitter William Choquette singled and stole second, but was erased on a bunt attempt by Bill Niles. But Josh Crowley followed with a double, and pinch-runner Edward Daley came all the way around to score the winning run, and giving Fall River a 2-0 series lead.
Once the series headed to Ohio, however, it was a different story. In the third game, John Healy shut down the FR offense on nine hits, while battery mate Mike Grady homered and scored three runs in a 7-3 decision. The next day, Kimerer and Blong hooked up again, with the scored tied at 3-3 going into the last of the ninth, backup catcher Tom Dolan drew a walk, was bunted to second, advanced to third on a single, then scored on another safety by Jimmy Sheckard, evening the Cup Final at two. In Game 5, though, it looked like FR would break serve, scoring four times before CFC could even come to bat, and were leading 6-2 going into the last of the seventh. After the seventh-inning stretch, though, Forest City woke up, scoring five times, keyed by Chris Fulmer's two-run double to give Cleveland the lead, 7-6. FR threatened in the eighth, but CFC held on to take a 3-2 lead in the Final.
Back in Rhode Island, the Marksmen again hit the target in the first inning: five times, no less, as Dave Orr and Elmer Flick slapped back-to-back triples. Forest City scored three times on five singles in the eighth to cut the lead to 6-4, but FR's Dave Orr struck back with a three-run blast in the bottom of the frame, and the Marksmen won, 10-4, to force a seventh game.
