RANGERS MANAGE ONLY A TIE IN ATLANTIC CITY NABA EVENT

If they were playing blackjack, the Florida Rangers would have busted in the NABA's Atlantic City Labor Day weekend tournament. The Rangers, led by manager Leo Merced teamed with a half dozen players from te Hudson Valley (NY) Yankees. In their three A division games up north, the Rangers managed only a tie, or in casino jargon, a "push". That came on Saturday when they held the Philadelphia A's to an 8-8 deadlock. On that same day, they lost to the Pole Tavern Titans 12-11. On Sunday, with a very slim chance of making the playoffs, the Rangers were beaten by the top seeded NY Metros 8-3. There was some consolation for the Rangers in that that all three teams the Rangers played wound up with unbeaten records in pool play, and that the one team they tied, the Philadelphia A's were in Monday's championship final against the Monmouth County (NJ) Thunder, which ousted the Metros in Sunday's playoff. Monmouth County went on to capture the title. The Rangers' roster included these Palm Beach league players---The roster included Rangers' players Kelvin Jimenez, Junior Reyes and Anthony Munson, Kenny Rua (Royals), Tom Brodrick and Mike Alfinez (Cubs), Emilio Vargas (Cardinals) and Marcel Castaneda (Beach Bums). In the 18AA division, the Labor Day finale matched the Roberto Clemente team and the Virginia Beach (VA) Spiders. Virginia Beach claimed the crown on Monday. Despite their disappointment, the Rangers intend to enter a team in the NABA's Florida World Series at the Roger Dean Complex in Jupiter in November.