SAVANNAH, GA – It just wasn’t meant to be this year.
The Marlins fell 13-3 to the Savannah Bananas in the deciding Game 3 of the 2021 Petitt Cup Championship Series on Saturday night in Savannah, coming up one game short of the three-peat in the Coastal Plain League.
“So proud of these guys and just so proud to coach them,” Marlins head coach Jesse Lancaster said. “All the Savannah players and coaches were raving about how hard it was to beat us, and that’s testament to how much they invested into this season and how much they cared. It’s a long summer. It would’ve been easy to just throw it in, but they did the opposite. This is a special, special group of guys that really bonded together and came together to try and win something, and I’ll miss being around them every day.”
The Bananas got a lot of runs, and they hit two three-run home runs. The Marlins only got two hits the whole game, a triple by Josh Jones (Mount Olive) and a single by Jack Harris (Newberry).
The Fish finish the 2021 season with a 32-16 record. They won the 2nd half of the East Division and swept the Peninsula Pilots in the Eastern Divisional Championship Series to reach the Petitt Cup Championship Series.
Five Marlins said their final goodbyes to the organization Saturday night, including Harris, Hunter Shepherd (Catawba), Zack Smith (Mount Olive), Eric Miles (Presbyterian), and Joe Mason (Mount Olive). All the other members of the 2021 team are eligible to return in 2022, if it works out that way between them and the organization.
The Morehead City Marlins thank all the players, coaches, staff, and especially the fans for making 2021 a fantastic comeback year for the organization after missing the 2020 season due to the pandemic.
We will see you in May of 2022!