Emerald Island Shillelaghs

EMERALD ISLAND – With the start of the 2016 Holiday League season around the corner, the 2015 champion Emerald Island Shillelaghs will unveil a new logo to commemorate their improbable Holiday Series victory. Fans from Greensboro to Cloverfield still speak with hearts aflutter about “Potter’s Play,” the wild Game 7 finish that brought home the crown.

The Shillelaghs 2015 Holiday Series Championship logo

“Honestly, lads, I still don’t quite recall what happened,” says the play’s titular hero, impish third baseman Potter Gould. “But everyone back home is still buying me pints at the pub, so I guess it turned out all right.”

Emerald Island held a tenuous one-run lead with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Bourbonville Krewe’s deadly Masher Moreaux stepping to the plate. Moreaux scorched a line drive down the third base line that had Series-winner written all over it. Gould, playing in on the grass for a possible play at the plate, had no time to react to the screaming horsehide.

Slamming into the bill of Gould’s cap and splitting it right down the middle, the ball then rolled directly down his nose and into his glove. Gould quickly touched third to double up Mickey Malheureux before casually tagging out Skippy Boudreaux, who got hung up between second and third. An unassisted triple play!

Translated into the common language enjoyed by denizens of the Emerald Isle, the story goes like this:

‘Twas the luck o’ the Irish that won it,
And young Potter Gould who had done it.
With three runners on base,
He caught the ball with his face,
And the Shillelaghs are champs, doggone it!

The Shillelaghs open the 2016 season on April 4 at the North Pole, helping open the Reindeer’s new Nicholas Field. The home opener is set for April 8 at Blarney Park against the Grindston Hard Hats.

Official Shillelagh championship merchandise and new team apparel is available in the team store at Blarney Park.

All content © 2016 Hartwell Studio Works
Special thanks to me boyo Steve Leonard, the official writer of all things Holiday League!