Harwich Dethrones Bourne For First Cape League Title Since 2011

BOURNE – One of the most improbable turnarounds in the Cape Cod Baseball League’s 101-year history is complete.

Despite being one of the league’s worst teams back in July, the Harwich Mariners were crowned Cape League champions after earning a 4-3 victory over Bourne on Monday night at Doran Park.

With a 4-3 lead intact, Harwich closer and Boston native Kevin Zarnoch (UMass Lowell) tossed a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth inning to secure the title as the black night sky over the field broke open and rain began to fall.

It was a fitting way to cap off the summer, as the Harwich players celebrated while the rain poured down and washed away the two-time defending champion Braves’ dreams of completing a dynasty.

“This is a special group,” Harwich manager Steve Englert said. “Sometimes you can get in a little funk and the handling of the adversity can sway a little bit. But it didn’t affect these guys, they had a next-game mentality and just kept moving on.

“I’m extremely, extremely proud of these guys.”

The win snapped Harwich’s 13-year title drought. It’s the sixth time the Mariners hoisted a championship to end the summer, and third since Englert, a Boston native, was hired in 2003. The longtime skipper led Harwich all the way in 2008 and again in 2011.

“It’s so hard to win in this league and go all the way, but these kids just fought all year,” Englert said. “It’s cliche, but they are grinders. Even though we got into that skid, they just kept plugging away. I told them, ‘Just get in [to the playoffs] because something special can happen.’

“You could just see it. They wanted to stay, nobody wanted to leave and that’s a big part of it.”

Harwich catcher Macon Winslow (Duke) gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead Monday night with an RBI single off Bourne starter Ethan McElvain (Vanderbilt) in the second inning. Wilson Weber (Oregon State) drove in a run with an RBI double in the third before coming around to score on an RBI single by Cade Kurland (Florida) that gave the visitors a crucial 3-0 lead.

Bourne rallied to cut its deficit to 3-2 in the fourth following a two-run triple by David Lewis (Virginia Tech) off Harwich reliever Danny Macchiarola (Holy Cross). Cam Maldonado (Northeastern) extended the Mariners’ lead to 4-2 with an RBI double that scored Winslow in the seventh, and Bourne answered to make it 4-3 after Lewis drove in another run with an RBI single in the eighth.

In the ninth, Zarnoch was perfect in his closer role. He got Garrett Michel to fly out to begin the frame before striking out the next two batters — Camden Kozeal and Ethan Conrad — to secure the win.

“That feeling is addictive,” Zarnoch said of the final out. “That feeling is different. That’s where I try to usually stay cool and calm, but when that final out comes it all pours out. Especially tonight.”

Weber was named the Cape League Playoffs Most Valuable Player after hitting .400 with eight hits, three doubles, six RBIs and three runs scored in five postseason games. He was a late-summer addition for the Mariners who joined the team right before the playoffs began.

“I’ve been here about three weeks and it’s been awesome,” said Weber. “I came up here and they were losing a little bit, but sure enough, once you win one and then two in a row, you realize that’s all it takes to come together and win. We started getting hot and got hot at the right time.”

Weber said receiving the commemorative bat that is awarded to the MVP is special, but the memories he’ll cherish the most are those he made with his teammates.

“Obviously it’s an awesome award and it’s cool to have, but the memories of being up here will last a lot longer than the bat,” he said.

The road to glory wasn’t easy for Harwich, which snuck into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed in the East after overcoming a tumultuous 2-17 start to July that included nine- and seven-game losing streaks. The Mariners upended Chatham in a single-elimination Divisional Round playoff before sweeping top seed Y-D in the best-of-three East final.

Bourne forced a winner-takes-all Game 3 with a 7-1 win in Game 2 on Sunday in Harwich after dropping Game 1, 7-3, on its home field on Saturday. Many expected the Braves to cement their place in history as one of the only Cape League teams to win three consecutive titles after they hoisted championship trophies with wins over Brewster in 2022 and Orleans last year.

“It doesn’t really matter who you beat, but they are a really good team,” Englert said. “Scott [Landers] has done a really good job the past few years. Everyone was a good team — Y-D was a very good team and Chatham was a dogfight — it doesn’t really matter as long as you come out on top.”

As the players celebrated on the pitcher’s mound in the minutes following the game, Englert brought his team together to express his love for them once more.

“Worst to first!” he passionately shouted at his players. “I’ll jump off the Sagamore Bridge for all of you!”