The 69th season of the Rancocas Valley League was played this summer and it featured a dramatic conclusion in the championship round. The Cinnaminson Reds came back from a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five series to defeat the Vincentown Merchants by a final count of 3-2.
The title win marked the 18th in the history of the Reds, one of the winningest teams in the RVL. The 18 titles are the most in league history for one team.
After a dominating regular season in 2014 in which the Reds went 23-4-1, Cinnaminson played to a record of 20-17-1 in 2015. The Reds played in the championship round in 2014, falling to the Burlington Mets 3-2.
The 20-17-1 mark was good enough to get Cinnaminson into the playoffs and earn them a four-seed and a first-round matchup with the Riverside Patriots.
The Reds had to come from behind to win all three playoff series; 2-1 over Riverside, 2-1 over Burlington and 3-2 over Vincentown.
Reds manager Brett Miller said that the league knew how talented Cinnaminson was and that the record didn’t show their talent.
“Everyone knew the kind of talent we had on the roster. There was a good two and a half week stretch where we didn’t play well in every facet of the game. We were essentially the same team as last year except that Frank Sirolli was hurt and Dan Gavlik joined the police academy, so he was not there this summer. Nobody ever overlooked us.”
“Even the last month of season we were playing better, but not to our capabilities,” Miller said. “They (the players) don’t necessarily go through the motions. They know how to turn it up an extra notch come playoffs because no one wants to go home the next day. They know when it really counts.”
This season marked the first time since the RVL went to a best-of-five championship round that a team won three straight games in the series to either sweep or come from behind to win.
Miller said, “I wasn’t surprised by it, but I knew we had a shot. The odds were against us. I’ve been there for the last six titles and Greg and Geoff Gilbert have been there too. This is the most satisfying one because of us being down each round to come back and win.”
Cinnaminson’s John Dockins was named the RVL MVP, which is a combination of regular season and playoff performance. Dockins finished 2015 with a .413 batting average, 28 runs scored, 18 RBIs and an on-base percentage of .484.
Another key contributor to the Reds title run was Ryan Martin, who picked up the victory in game five against Vincentown. The cutoff for acquiring players eligible to play in the post-season is July 4. Martin joined the team just in the knick of time this season. Martin hadn’t pitched in close to a year, but threw three strong games for the Reds in the playoffs.
“He is a bulldog and will help us out a lot next year,” Miller said.
When asked about the domination of the league by the triumvirate of Cinnaminson, Burlington and Vincentown, Miller offered this take:
“It has to do with these are three teams that have been around the longest. The older players who used to play in the league, they point their kids in our directions. We have players who love the game enough to keep playing after college so they network because they want their team to succeed. Nobody has tryouts. Networking is how we get the best guys you can get. The top teams have constant funnel of good young talent coming in each year.”
