The NY Storm won their first-ever NYCMBL championship this weekend, claiming the Double-A crown with an 8-4 win over the Bronx DBacks on Aug. 25.

John Lanahan came away with the win, throwing five innings of four run ball against the hot-hitting DBacks and doing his part at the plate, drilling a bases-loaded triple to extend the Storm lead to 6-0 in the top of the fourth inning.

Despite logging just five innings of work in the regular season, Lanahan – the team’s third baseman – proved his worth as a capable hurler in the playoffs, winning two Game 3s for the Storm.

“There’s not enough words to say what he was able to do,” said Storm skipper Anthony Pardo. “But in this league, if you can throw the breaking ball for strikes, you can be effective. He did a great job.”

The Storm’s win over the DBacks capped off a true Cinderella run. At 10-15 on the regular season, the Storm narrowly earned the eighth seed in the Brooklyn/Queens division, but defeated the top-seeded Baisley Pirates, second-seeded Mud Hens, and sixth-seeded BQE in order to advance to the NYCMBL Championships, where they downed the top-seeded DBacks (16-6).

“I think we had something to prove,” said Pardo. “I know teams looked at us and thought that, with the talent we had, regardless of the seed, that we were better than our record indicated.”

The Storm were also buoyed by the postseason performance of ace Mike Pena. In the regular season, the right-hander pitched to a 2-5 record with a 2.94 ERA. In the playoffs, however, Pena posted a sterling 5-0 record – including a Game 1 championship series win over DBacks’ ace Victor Padilla – and didn’t allow more than two runs in any start.

“Mike was definitely a leader for us,” said Pardo. “He was pitching on adrenaline, and I think guys followed his lead, making sure they left it all out on the field.”

For Pardo and the Storm – longtime Metro Leaguers – the victory was especially sweet given the team’s history of early postseason exits.

“We had a joke, and we said we didn’t want to be the Norv Turners of the league, one-and-done,” said Pardo. “This was just an amazing journey for all of us.”