The Salty Beaches capped a high-scoring season with a 20-14 win over the Golden Girls in the championship game of the inaugural Summer Snaps women’s flag football league Wednesday night at Blocksidge Field.
Heavy rain and lightning delayed the Coastal Cup playoffs by 45 minutes, forcing fans to evacuate the bleachers and prompting organizers to shorten games from the usual 40 minutes to two 15-minute halves.
The playoffs opened with the quarterfinals, where Kiss My Pass defeated Redrum and Purple Reign topped Midnight Blitz. In the semifinals, the top-seeded Salty Beaches beat Kiss My Pass, while the Golden Girls advanced past Purple Reign.
That set up a marque matchup in the final.
“This was the number one and the number two seed going into this, so we kind of knew it would wind up with these two teams,” said Kristen Cusic Doerrer, co-founder of the league. “The offense on Salty Beaches is really good. One of our commissioners is the quarterback. That’s Katelyn Leonard.”
Leonard led the Salty Beaches to a league-best 4-1 regular season record and the most points scored in the league, finishing 17 ahead of the nearest team. Coached by Alberto Garcia, the team overcame the Golden Girls, who finished 3-2 in the regular season.
The league, open to women ages 30 and over, follows a five-versus-five, no-contact format and was inspired by the Massflag League. Games were officiated by Swampscott High School football players.
“We’re grateful that they came on and helped us this season,” Doerrer said.
Doerrer said the idea for Summer Snaps took off faster than expected.
“(We) decided we were going to just see if there was interest in town to do a summer women’s league,” she said. “And before we knew it, we had like 75 women signed up. We had six teams, and it just completely took off. It was competitive from the start, but super fun. A lot of us didn’t know each other. Some of us did know each other, and it was just really fun to get out there and kind of have a night for the ladies in town.”
The six-week season wrapped up Wednesday night, with the winners receiving championship rings. An end-of-season awards ceremony will be held at Fisherman’s Beach on Sunday, Aug. 24, at 4 p.m.
Looking ahead, organizers hope to start earlier and expand the schedule.
“We might make a longer season or add more games,” Doerrer said.
Kiss My Pass quarterback prepares to attempt a pass || Quinn Hitchcock Members of the Purple Reign and Midnight Blitz shakes hands after their quarterfinal matchup || Quinn Hitchcock The Golden Girls snap the ball || Quinn Hitchcock A Golden Girls player carries the ball || Quinn Hitchcock 
The Coastal Cup Playoffs Championship Rings || Kristen Cusic Doerrer
