Team Tuesdays: Poca Great Aunt Pearls

Gather 'round, children and I'll tell you a tale! This week we're looking at the tenacious Poca Great Aunt Pearls. I'll be honest, this team scared me initially when I was seeing how they were coming together on the Hot Stove this past winter. But, one of the themes this season has been 'seeing is believing' when it comes to rosters. The start of the year at Spring Training showed great promise for the team as they featured many familiar names and faces from the former Sit On My Base squad such as Andrew Westcott, Brian Ball, Scotty Westcott and team manager - Jeremy Ray... which is where I will begin my analysis of the team.

WV Wiffleball is it's own little world, not one known for exactly being a hot bed for wiffle activity over time (you can read more about this in a different article of mine, Then & Now: a history of WV Wiffleball leagues). But in this little world there have been some names that have become synonymous with the sport in this state and Jeremy Ray is one of them. His rise in recognition did not take long. He made his debut in the league in 2014 as a rookie on Sit On My Base and the team rode his arm all the way to the championship where they lost in a heartbreaker to the Honey Badgers in a close game. After that, he proved to be a reliable arm in the rotation for the league's tournament team, the Brew Jays, at the NWLA Tournament where he made a name for himself on the national level. Since that time, he's been what many consider the face of WV Wiffleball.

Ray was part of the small team that was put together for the London Wiffleball Tournament in summer of 2022 where the decision was ultimately made to put the league back into action and he immediately got to work on getting his team together and he looked in familiar places and to familiar faces. I'll spare the breakdown of the Hot Stove acquisitions of the team and get right to the breakdowns of performances of who has performed on the team this year, which will take some time... and I'll be blunt - it's been a revolving door of players outside of Jeremy Ray this year. I don't say that to be critical. Some of this is to be expected as the franchises are getting founded and established while the league is getting back into the swing of things. It's something I look to improve as we go into next season.

In the season opener, Andrew Westcott (Ray's most familiar teammate) made his sole appearance of the season when the Pearls played their series against the Huntington Aces. Westcott, who is best known as the league's reigning HR king, had a much more tame performance at the plate and hit .143, 1 HR, 1 RBI and 3 K's. However, he did immediately take advantage of the steals rule and snagged two bags! What was even more surprising than his anemic offensive production was that he was tardy and only played in the final two games of the series. Had he shown earlier, would he have warmed up and caught fire? We'll never know. Westcott never returned for the rest of the season and his stats for that series remain as his season stats and a far cry from where he usually closes at the end of a season. We can only hope to see him return in 2024, where he would doubtlessly show improvement on those numbers with more plate appearances. Since his falling off, there's a new career HR king (Jeremy Ray)... will Westcott return to reclaim his crown?

Wyatt Zuspan was another teammate that has only shown on opening day. He's better known for his career with the Mothmen performance, both in the league and on the NWLA tournament team. But in his singular appearance this season, Zuspan proved to be vital in the lineup, hitting .368 with 5 HRs, a triple, 4 walks and only struck out 3 times out of his 23 at bats. He was equally impressive on the mound, picking up wins in both of his starts, 11 Ks, 4 BBs and a 1.80 WHIP. He did give up 9 Earned Runs to give him a 4.50 ERA but he did pitch against the offensive firing squad known as the Aces so... not bad. Zuspan's signing was a bombshell Hot Stove announcement in the pre-season but the Pearls were unable to reap the full benefit of him being on the roster as his participation quickly waned in the wake of him bringing in a newborn son early in the season. I hope to see him make a return next season because I enjoyed seeing him step out of the Mothmen shadow.

Another familiar name on the roster is Brian Ball. Early in his career he'd quickly made a name for himself as a phenomenal fielder but over time he's turned into a solid power hitter, reliable relief pitcher (when he gets the opportunity) and the highest-IQ base-runner the league has ever seen. He is also responsible for some of the most memorable home run robs and dazzling outfield grabs in league history. Ball has been on previous teams of Ray's before so him being a part of the Pearls was a natural choice as he can fill any role he's asked to perform. Keeping to theme, Ball has also only been able to play in one series and his absence has been noticeable. He hit .480 with 6 HRs, 10 RBIs, 7 BBs, 4 Ks and 31 total bases. This offensive explosion was no surprise, but what was a shock was that he didn't steal a single base. He had some luck on the mound as well, picking up a win with 4 Ks and 4 BBs.

Jason Eaches has been the most recurrent player on the roster outside of Ray. HIs performance has been phenomenal, probably in part because it simply has to be. When you're playing as a duo against a full team, there's no alternative but to be lights out. Eaches is new to the sport and has hit .540 with 8 HRs, 17 RBIs, 8 BBs & 6 Ks. He's 1-1 on the mound with 7 BBs, 8 K's and a 2.14 WHIP. Jason played in the season opener and didn't return until the last series of the season and didn't miss a beat. Had he played more, he could have easily been a contender for rookie of the year. Instead, I'd be delighted to see him return in 2024 and compete for other even more impressive accolades... because I think he may have quite the career ahead of him.

There have been a couple other players that played in one series but I will only focus on one (as the other appears to have been an isolated debut with no likelihood of return) and make mention of Cade Thomas. If you've read this far, you'll have noticed that the team has struggled with roster attendance this year. When the team was having their worst struggle of it, Ray employed the assistance of his step-son Cade and he made a go of it. Thomas has been seen around the field since Spring Training (and even in past seasons) so it was a treat to see a 2nd generation wiffle baller on the field. Poetically enough, the series he played in was on Father's Day weekend.

At the beginning of the season, the Poca Great Aunt Pearls appeared to maybe be a fully staffed power house on paper. But it appears a serious case of 'life' has gotten in the way of some of that and Ray has been navigating the challenges throughout the season. I'm sure it hasn't been easy but I'm excited to see what will become of this franchise as we look ahead into the next season. The playoffs are still around the corner and this is a team that I wouldn't count out, they fought til the end of the regular season and jockeyed for position in the standings and could still work to play spoiler in the post-season.