Gaze Real Estate
Elected : USSSA New York Hall Of Fame in 2015
Inducted : 2016, Rochester, NY
Gaze overcame an early scare from Buckroe of Hampton Va. and then advanced, undefeated (7-0), to capture the first Men's C World Tournament.
It was played at Scottsville Athletic Park in Rochester, Gaze Realty defeated La Russe of Pittsburgh in the finals by an 8-4 score for the first Class C crown. Gaze scored seven straight victories in the Labor Day Weekend tournament to out distance the rest of the 64-team field. Price's Restaurant of Vinton, Va. was third, Blue Grass of Townson, Maryland fourth and Cadalac Club of Royal Oak, Michigan was fifth. Max Robertson, the Gaze outfielder who hit .727 in the tourney, walked away with the MVP trophy. He was joined on the All Tournament team by teammates David Thomas with a .556 batting average and the tourney pitching leader, and also Bobby Webster, a .521 hitter.
Gaze opened the tournament with a 21-9 win over the Cardinals of Louisville Ky. as Thomas collected 5 hits in the opener, Harry Tufano added 4 hits and Max Robertson, Rick Page and Frank Connell had three each as well as Robertson hitting a home run.
Then came the closest game for the champions. With Gaze Realty behind in the final inning, pinch hitter Jimmy Gaze tripled to knock in the tying runs. Buckroe, which finished 14th despite the early setback, walked Tufano and Thomas to try and set up a double play. However, it was for naught as Robertson delivered a deep sacrifice fly and Gaze made a head first slide, ahead of the throw at the plate, for the winning run. Page blasted a 325 foot homer in the contest.
Connell homered and Gaze had a triple in the win over Pack Horse and Tufano and Thomas turned four big double plays that helped in a 6-2 win over Willowbrook of New York. Tufano collected three hits and had a hand in the twin victories.
Webster, Connell and Page all had three hits in a 14-2 victory over Namosa of Wisconsin. Robertson added his second homer of the event.
In a real shoot-out, Robertson collected 5 hits, including a double in Gaze's win over Price's, the third place finisher.
A pre-tourney favorite, because of the power of Jackie Hurd, who led the tournament in home runs, and Jim Childress, Price fell to the 27-hit attack by Gaze. In the championship game, Gaze picked up a run in the first on a single by Thomas and double by Robertson. Gaze put the game away in the seventh with three runs.
Tufano batted .538 for the winners and catcher Kevin Ryan had a .500 batting averages for the tournament winners.
