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	The Gold celebrating after taking the 2002 Emperors Memorial Day Tournament

Fourteen teams signed up to participate in this year's competitions. Organizers decided that instead of placing all teams into the same group, they would create two divisions. Seven of the local Bronx based teams composed the "home" division and seven other teams, from Florida, Puerto Rico and other far off places like Brooklyn and Manhattan, were considered the "visitors." Whether it was jet lag, home field advantage or simply the strength of the players, the home teams ran away with the early games and therefore were eligible for the elimination round on Monday.

Tournament Round - Top 8 Teams Advanced to Playoffs

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	Raul Morales provided the first run, and only run the Gold would need to take the final's against the Bronx Knights

The playoffs began Monday morning with several tight, low scoring games. In the first set, the Gold defeated the Bronx Bandits 1-0 on a solo homerun by Raul Morales and the Bronx Knights defeated the Latin Dukes 2-0. The Bronx Emperors then squeeked by the Angels 1-0 and in the tournaments biggest upset the 8th seeded Deltona Rockets took out the tournaments top seeded team, the Youngbloods, 1-0.

In the semi finals, the Gold trounced the Rockets 13-1 and the Knights beat Emperors 2-0. This set up an interesting match as the Gold and the Knights were the two teams that Steve Mercado had recently played for. In addition, the Gold had defeated the San Diego Knights (a team that contained some of the same members as the Bronx Knights of this tournament) in the 2001 Labor Day tournament. The game had some elements of a rematch.

Unfortunately for the Knights, the Gold were just two hot. Another solo blast by tournament MVP Raul Morales and a couple of quick rund provided more than the Gold would need for a convincing 3-0 win.