As only 5 days remain before tournament day, we look to preview each of the teams taking part in the Fall 2013 Mill Creek Park Wiffleball Tournament and provide a pre-tournament ranking. We are counting down from 5 to 1, today #4, with the pre-tournament #1 on coming Friday. Yesterday Bald By Choice came in at #5.
The #4 spot in the pre-tournament rankings goes to Benchwarmers, Fabio Nieto and Arvind Patel are both prominent members of the SWBL. However, prominence does not always equal greatness. In the case of Mr. Nieto, the numbers are there to support his stature as an elite player but its his consistency and lack of presence in 2013 that could be one of his biggest downfalls. With only 2 games to speak of in 2013, Fabio did manage 1 home run, 5 RBI and 0 strikeouts. Going back to 2012 he put up some impressive stats with 14 dingers, 37 RBI and 5 K's in just 10 outings. Problem being that those numbers come from over a year ago and teaming up with Patel, Nieto is going to be counted on to carry the majority of the offensive load. For Patel, the numbers speak from themselves. In his 22 career SWBL contests Arvind has produced just 1 HR and 15 RBI, with that lone shot coming way back on August 15th, 2012. Patel's best bet may be to work the counts to his favor and hope to poke some timely base hits that set the plate for Nieto. On the mound the pair both have to hope to keep composure as they have been know to allow some big innings when their control escapes them. There is also a little bit of history here. Back in 2012 they paired up twice to go 0-2 with only 1 run for and 12 against. Couple those stats with a rift that may already be forming between the 2 as Fabio seems to have chosen a bowling league in favor of the Patel run Solix volleyball team. Even so, expect the Benchwarmers to fight for that last playoff spot with Bald By Choice, making the Round 3 match-up between the two squads gigantic.
