The Elite Eight
John Humphries
The Robson Ranch Bocce League completed the spring session with another exciting Championship Tournament. This event capped off the fifth season for the growing league.
The top four teams in each of the divisions entered the playoffs and were seeded in the single elimination event. As in the case of last fall’s tournament, the highest two seeds in the Sweet 16 matches fell to the long shots! This year third and fourth seeds only made it into the Elite 8. Rat Pack, the fifth overall seed fought its way into the Championship match and defeated Grande Palle in a three-game match. The Consolation match saw Wise Guys knock off Vini Vici Bocce to claim the third-place prize.
Prizes, in the form of gift cards to the Grill, were awarded to the best three teams from each of the four divisions as well as the losers in rounds one and two, with the “big” bucks going to the Final Four competitors. The champions regained the title that they lost last season to Bada Bing Bada Bocce. The Wise Guys fell a bit short this year after being our champions for both of the first two sessions.
With completion of the season comes the formal announcement of the addition of two more divisions for the fall! These teams will play on Tuesdays and will add 20 more teams to the league. Our league is currently using portable courts fabricated from PVC pipe and, with the membership at nearly 700 players, hopes are that we will get permanent courts in the near future.
There are a few spots available for league play which is scheduled to start up again in August. Anyone interested in more information about the Bocce League, please contact Frank Cianci at [email protected].