April Tournament Recap
So, it's been over a week since the April Tournament concluded and I feel now is as good of a time as any to recap the events that unfolded. We were expecting more teams this time but instead we had the same amount of teams as we did in the preseason tournament, which was five teams. The winners of the preseason tournament, The Sheavers (captained by Josh Hager), were not in attendance this time so they could not defend their title. Returning was Sit On My Base (SOMB), Smokin' Bases (who went by Life House last month), Make Wiffleball Great Again, Beaver Fever, and a new team - Ballarinas.
Sit On My Base were back and very aggressive on defense. My guess is that they were a little sour from finishing runner-up last month. They played hard the entire tournament with hopes of finally taking a title. Rick Patterson seemed to find a way to somehow throw a no-hitter against Beaver Fever in a round-robin match. We haven't kept pitching stats so far this year, because....come on, it's slow-pitch. We expected slug fests but a no-hitter was not one of them. So hopefully it was an isolated incident. The team hit incredibly well, out-hitting everyone and finishing the day with a .664 average. They hit a combined 52 home runs and the closest other team was Smokin' Bases with 29 home runs. They made some impressive defensive plays as well but if they keep hitting the way they did this month then they can sit down in the outfield and make half-ass plays because they'll have some BIG leads that their opponents will have to work hard to over come. SOMB made it all the way to the final (again) but fell 10-6 to Smokin' Bases. Their big opportunity is player attendance. Justin Fairman didn't play in the first couple of games and Jeremy Ray had to leave early again and miss the last couple of games. If they ever play with a full-strength roster, they just might finally hold a trophy in their hands.
Smokin' Bases are a team that impressed last month under the name of Life House. Ian Handy, the team's captain, got a taste of wiffleball last year as a late season addition to the Plain White Tees roster. He assembled a crew that finished third last month. Many predicted SOMB to win April but seeing this team steal the show wasn't a complete surprise. They can hit the ball hard and don't make many mistakes on defense and they are in sync with base-running. Add all that together and you get a lot of wins. When they faced SOMB in a round-robin game they suffered their only loss of the day 13-6, which solidified many predictions that SOMB would win out. The team hit a combined .588 average with 29 home runs and 64 RBIs. Chad Lynch is leading the team to victory with his monstrous batting stats (.655, 12 HRs, 24 RBIs). They don't quite devastate their opponents as much as Sit On My Base does, but they score when it matters. But this team made some phenomenal plays in the outfield that gave them the edge in the championship, something that really could be the 'X' factor in games to come.
Make Wiffleball Great Again started out as a joke. The name is a satirical play on words about a notorious presidential candidate. They did fairly well this time around whereas in March they performed terribly. This team is real hot/cold with their offensive performance. One minute they're hitting back-to-back home runs, then the next they're hitting routing ground outs. Fielding errors is the major opportunity with this franchise. For instance they held Smokin' Bases scoreless through 3 innings during the round-robin games but a few silly fielding errors gave their opponent some serious momentum which led to a 7-run onslaught that decided the game. This team needs to be more consistent at the plate and stay warm in the outfield if they are hoping to make it to any title games. But it's tough to say if they care about that. This team is constantly talking smack among themselves and their opponents, dancing, joking, and coming up with more satirical banter - such as their "Build A Wall" play. Regardless of any success or failure they may find this year, they will definitely be having a good time.
Beaver Fever is Greg Sowards's revival project of his original franchise that he started when this league was founded in 2012. In the league's inaugural year, his team won the championship and the following year his team finished with a .500 record. This incarnation of the team, however, has yet to replicate that success. In the preseason tournament last month they won only one game, eliminating MWGA from the single-elimination bracket. During April they won absolutely no games. They only scored 11 runs and allowed 76 runs. Giving up runs is just part of the game now with the change to slow-pitch, but if they don't start putting some numbers up on the board they should not expect to win many games. They have the right people to hit some homers but if they don't get some people on base beforehand they're not going to get any comfortable leads. They also need a fifth teammate. Matt Thornton was their original fifth man but he has yet to appear. James Clagg joined them last month and performed extremely well but did not return in April, which no doubt affected the team's performance. But this team needs to hit the ball better just in case that fifth member never shows up. And I think they have what it takes to put the appropriate amount of runs on the board if they dig deep enough.
Ballarinas are the newest franchise to join the league and they started with a bang with a six inning match against MWGA that led to the league's first tie (final score 16-16) and won only one game the rest of the day. They didn't hit very well but their defense is phenomenal. The hitting will come in time and I expect to see this team in the finals in future tournaments if they improve at the plate. They were only outscored by 11 runs total in this tournament and that's a gap that can easily close now that they've been introduced to the game. I've seen many teams start out in this league over the years and many of them have profound struggles at first but this team has enormous potential if they persevere.
Sheavers were not present at this tournament but I don't want to ignore them here. They absolutely dominated the preseason tournament and I think that they are going to have their hands full in May with some of these improving teams. Smokin' Bases are not the same team they were a month ago (not to mention that Ian Handy has figured out how to throw a knuckleball). Sit On My Base is surging with this new lineup (and rumor has it Jeremy Ray will be there from start to finish next month). Make Wiffleball Great Again has pioneered some bizarre pitching deliveries and have potential to become a home run hitting factory to rival other teams. Beaver Fever can always catch a team off-guard. Will Sheavers be able to repeat their amazing performance from March? A player like Boomer Meade is someone who's going to be turning a lot of heads if he picks up where he left off. Stats were not kept in the preseason but from what I recall, the whole team hits incredibly well and are good fielders but with other teams improving, I'm expecting some phenomenal slugfests in May against this team. I think this team could win another title before the season is done. But with the era of fast-pitch over, I don't see any team oppressing the rest of the league the whole year as in past seasons. Those days are over.
Statistics, highlight videos, top plays video, standings, pictures, and podcast sections have all been updated! Click HERE to view game results, score sheets, and game video. Click HERE to view pictures taken of the tournament by Emilee Greathouse.
The next tournament is May 21st and we are always accepting new teams and individual free agents that we can place on teams. Register now!
