The end of the line: CCSA finals. Had you asked me at the beginning of the season whether or not this team was going to make it all the way, I'd have answered no given the new influx of player. However it seems the exact opposite happened, and the good chemistry between the younger and older players were certainly a significant contributing factor in the team's success.
Standing in their way though would be the Beatitudes, the veteran team from a few weeks back that has consistently been finishing in second place the last few years. Standing behind Ekklesia though would be the massive ET community, many of whom came out to support their beloved team (as illustrated in the photo below).
In the interests in speeding this up though, I'll spare the gory details and just go on to say that Ekklesia got pulverized. The team managed to hold their own the first two innings - long enough for the first score update via twitter had them in the lead - but failed to produce any significant results during the mid-game. A late-game surge did occur with Ekklesia managing to string together a couple of runs together, but by then it was too little too late, as the Beatitudes had already built up a considerable lead. Below are a few additional frames from the third-base line, where I camped for most of the game.
If you ever look at most second place teams in the sports world, you'll often be met with an array of disappointed faces and tears. Not the case with Ekklesia. On the contrary, if you showed up to the field right as the game ended and only had the fan reaction to gauge off of who won, you might've thought that Ekklesia had finished on top.
Despite the loss, the Ekklesia fans erupted in a series of loud cheering and chanting that seemed to go on forever. Hugs, waving arms, high-fives. All from a community brought together via their support for one another. The cheering and such eventually also culminated in a makeshift mosh-put near the dugout.
I barely had time to even fire off a team photo. LOS issues were preventing good ol' CLS from working out, so I had one severely underexposed photo to work with of just the team (hurray post processing), before the fans literally charged home plate en masse. Below is the result. Organized chaos, but to be honest I don't think I'd have it any other way.
And yet, after all was said and done. There lay an empty field. Albert Kong and I were the last ones to leave. Another season over, as we left the lights at Wigmore Park one last time for the summer.
