On what turned out to be a beautiful Saturday in April, 8 teams took to the fields for the Spring 2014 Mill Creek Park Wiffleball Tournament. In all, 27 games were played, across 2 fields, over 8 hours. When all was said and done, it was The Runs who came out on top, defeating the defending champions The Dewskis, 3-0.
Things got kicked off with tournament favorite, The Dewskis taking on Fall 2013 runner up Steve Casavant and his Iron Pigs on the Mill Creek Park field, while the DeMarco lead, The Murray Men faced off against newcomers, the Turtleheads, on the newly created Pool field. It would be evident early on these 2 fields would yield much different results. The Dewskis would take the first game by a 1-0 score, winning only via a walk-off walk. On the Pool field, it was The Murray Men taking the honors in a closely contested 7-6 contest, consisting of 9 home runs between the 2 sides.
Ten more balls would clear the fence during the next game on the Pool field, as eventual Champion, The Runs would crush returning side, the Benchwarmers, 13-4. While once again on the MCP field, the only offense would come via the walk as The Man Hammers would walk in 6, handing Pulp Fiction the easy win.
As 5 more dingers were taking place in The Dewskis 4-3 win over Pulp Fiction on the Pool field, the MCP field was again playing stingy with the scoreboard. The Murray Men would claim the second walk-off walk of the day as they defeated The Runs, 1-0.
At this point is was evident that these 2 fields were very different. Through the first 6 games, the Pool field was outscoring the MCP field, 37-8.
In what was clearly an aberration for the Pool Field, the match between The Man Hammers and Iron Pigs would finish just 2-1 in favor of the Pigs. All three runs still came via the homer. Over at the MCP field the Turtleheads were able to shut down Fabio and the Benchwarmers by a 4-1 count, highlighted by a wall crashing catch by Greg Crysler for Turtleheads.
Moving into the 3rd round of the round-robin play, The Man Hammers would pick up their lone win of the day at the expense of the Benchwarmers, 11-8, as 9 more home runs would delight at the Pool field. The Man Hammers would only score 13 runs all day, 11 in this game alone. The Dewskis continued to take care of business over at the MCP field, defeating The Murray Men by a score of 2-1 in one of the days marquee match-ups.
Eventual champs, The Runs, would fall to 1 win and 2 losses in their 3rd round game against the tournaments surprise team, Pulp Fiction, by a final score of 9-2. It was during this match-up that we were treated to the only testy encounter of the day as a clearly frustrated Scott Mesloh and confident newcomer Mike Deusinger exchanged some words. Interestingly enough, that may have been the moment that lead The Runs to turn things around, as they would not lose again the rest of the day. The MCP field would see the Iron Pigs hold on to defeat Turtleheads, 3-1, as Joe Reed finally came to life.
Spurred on by their second straight loss, The Runs would wake up over on the MCP field, nailing The Man Hammers, 8-0, to kick off round 4. The Dewskis would up their record to 4-0 as they held off Turtleheads by a count of 5-3. The 3 runs were the first allowed by McNamara on the day.
The Benchwarmers would pick up their first win of the day, in dramatic fashion, against Pulp Fiction. After going down 0-3 early, Fabio would knot things up in the top of the 3rd behind a towering 3-run blast. The teams would then need extra innings to settle this one due in part to a grand slam saving catch by the hands of Fabio that kept the team knotted up. It was once again the Benchwarmers lone offensive threat, Fabio, who would come through, delivering a run scoring triple. Arvind Patel would lock things in the bottom of the 5th, claiming the victory. In the action on the Pool side, The Murray men would bounce back with a decisive 8-4 win over the Iron Pigs, behind the bat of Sam DeMarco.
The first part of the round 5 games would produce 2 of the most interesting contests of the day. Over at the Pool field, we would see our 2nd extra inning affair as the Iron Pigs clashed with The Runs. The Pigs would lead this one 4-3 heading into the bottom of the 4th inning and on their way to what would have been a pivotal win for them and at the same time a devastating loss for The Runs. Joe Reed, however, was unable to close the door, allowing a 2 out, game tying, home run to Scott. After leaving 2 base runners stranded in the top of the 5th, the Iron Pigs would let it all slip away as Casavant would allow a walk off home run to Scott in the first at bat of the inning. The Runs 5, Iron Pigs 4. It was this single game that may have completely determined the days final results. It would have pushed The Runs to 2-3 and the Pigs to 3-2 and possibly reconfigured the entire playoff picture. Meanwhile on the MCP field, it was The Dewskis laying and egg to the Benchwarmers in the days biggest upset, 2-0. It was the first ever loss for Gill and McNamara in tournament play and it showed everyone else, if the Benchwarmers could beat them, then anyone had a shot.
Turtleheads young slugger Peter Pabon would put on a show against Pulp Fiction in the next game on the Pool field. He would shell out 7 home runs for 11 RBI, carrying his team to a much needed 13-8 victory, keeping their slim playoff hopes alive. Over on the MCP feild, it was DeMarco again coming through with 2 solo shots to propel The Murray Men to a slim 2-1 victory over The Man Hammers. The Hammers made a push in the bottom of the 4th as Matt Formato hit one out to cut the lead in half with no outs. However Sam was able to force 3 straight fly outs to pick up the save.
Moving on to the 6th and final round of the round-robin portion of the day, things were really starting to take shape. The Dewskis and The Murray Men were both leading the way at 4 wins and 1 loss. The Runs controlled their destiny at 3-2, after escaping defeat in a thriller. Jumbled up and fighting for that fouth and final playoff spot were Pulp Fiction, Iron Pigs, Turtleheads, and Benchwarmers, all at 2-3. The only team heading into the final round without a shot a making the playoffs was The Man Hammers and they had the pleasure of taking on The Dewskis in their final game of the day. Alas, it was another disappointing result for The Hammers as The Dewskis took out some frustration on them with a convincing 6-0 decision. It was over on the MCP field that another very important game was taking place as Pulp Fiction took on the Iron Pigs. With both teams coming in at 2-3 and a possible playoff spot on the line, this one was huge. It was Mike Deusinger who set the tone early for this one with a grand slam in the top half of the first, staking Pulp to the early 4-0 lead. Reed and Casavant would strike back quickly though with 3 solo shots in the bottom half to pull within 1. Pulp would keep on pushing though, adding 3 more in the top of the 2nd, expanding their lead back to 4. But again, the Pigs answered right back with 3 runs coming from a Casavant dinger. at 7-6 Pulp,we moved into the top of the 3rd, where it was Matt Byrnes' time to shine as he pushed the lead up to 3 with 2 solo shots. It was here that the Pigs backs may have broken, try as they may they just never got it going again and their playoff hopes would die a 9-6 death. With the tie-breaker being run differential, Pulp Fiction had pretty mush assured themselves of a playoff spot with this win.
The round-robin would come to a close with 2 very important games. However important, neither game was ever in doubt. The Murry Men quickly locked up the 2nd seed as Sam and Steve ran off a string of 5 straight solo home runs off of Patel right out of the gate, before DeMarco would add one more before the inning was over. With all their momentum from the big win over The Dewskis snapped in an instant, the Benchwarmers never even put up a fight and dropped this game, along with their playoff hopes, 7-0. The final game pit The Runs vs. Turtleheads. The Runs at 3-2 were in control and needed simply to win to secure a spot. While Turtleheads, at 2-3, needed to pull off an impressive win to hope to jump in on tiebreakers. But it was The Runs, still feeding off the epic come from behind, extra inning win over the Iron Pigs, that would take this one in a rout. The game would end after just 2 innings, as Scott and Terry both delivered 4 homers in route to a 14-2 demolition.
The playoff were now set. First place, The Dewskis would take on 4th place Pulp Fiction on the MCP field in one semi-final and 2nd place The Murray Men would face 3rd seeded The Runs on the Pool field. Unfortunately, we had to say good bye at this point to 4 teams that fought hard but just fell short. Finishing in 5th place the Turtleheads, in 6th, the Iron Pigs, in 7th, the Benchwarmers, and in 8th place, The Man Hammers.
Many thought going into these semi-finals that we would see some of the best games of the day, however, that was not the case. Both The Dewskis and The Runs, cruised into the Championship game via the 10-run rule. McNamara and Gill each struck for 2 home runs and combined for 12 RBI in the decisive 12-1 win. It was an unfortunate way to end the day for Pulp Fiction, who surprised many with stellar offensive ability and a steady mound presence. On the Pool field, Terry and Scott continued their offensive dominance with 7 home runs and an easy 10-0 win over The Murray Men. For Sam and Steve, it was another disappointing semi-final loss after having dropped the Fall 2013 semi-final as well.
In a change from the Fall 2013 Tournament, the Spring 2014 games would come to a close with a one game final as opposed to the best of 3 series. Coincidentally, the Championship game would pair up 2 teams that did not meet in the round-robin portion of the day, the top seeded The Dewskis and the 3rd seeded The Runs. The Dewskis entered the finals as the defending tournament champions, backed by stellar pitching and solid team defense, looking for the repeat. The Runs came in riding a superior offense amazing defence and 2 straight 10-run rule wins.
Making sure to take control right from the get go, The Runs jumped right on a couple of hanging curveballs from Joe Gill, leading off the game with a homer each from Mesloh and Pfeifer. Three flyouts and a walk was all The Dewskis could manage in the bottom of the first. McNamara would keep the lead at just 2 with a quick 1,2,3 top of the 2nd, but again The Dewskis just could not get anything going in the bottom half. Gill would hold the powerful The Runs scoreless in the top of the 3rd, but yet again, The Dewskis failed to cash in after putting 2 men on. In the top of the 4th, The Runs would pick up 1 insurance run behind a Scott HR, the first run scored off Sean on the MCP field all day long. Scott Mesloh would again shut down The Dewskis in the bottom of the 4th, picking up the save dethroning The Dewskis and securing the Championship for The Runs, by a final score of 3-0.
It was an amazing day! Every single player played their asses off and competed in every at bat and for every out. While we do not have any official awards, unofficially, the player of the day would have to be Scott Mesloh of The Runs. With 19 home runs and 25 RBIs, Scott was insane! The most improved player from the Fall 2013 tournament was definitely Fabio Nieto of the Benchwarmers. Fab struck for 10 homers and 18 RBIs, up from 0 home runs and just 5 RBI in the previous tournament. The days Cy Young would go to Sean McNamara as he allowed just 4 runs through his 8 games played along with 18 strikeouts, 8 more than any other player. With the good awards, there must also come the bad. The most disappointing player of the day had to be Arvind Patel from Benchwarmers. While he did chip in with 6 K's, he contributed nothing on the offensive side of the ball. Patel was the only player on the day without a single HR or RBI...yikes! Other very impressive performances were turned in by RBI leader Terry Pfeifer (28 RBIs-14 HR), Peter Pabon (24 RBIs-15 HR) and Mike Duesinger (26 RBIs-11 HR).
Thank you to everyone who made this such a successful event. For being just the 2nd edition of the Mill Creek Park Wiffleball Tournament, we could not have asked for anything better. I can not wait until we can do this all again for the Fall 2014 edition. For now, congratulations to the Spring 2014 Tournament Champions, The Runs! A job well done!
