While it has been a few crazy weeks leading up to the 3 installment of the Mill Creek Park Wiffleball Tournament for this writer, things are finally starting to come together. The field of teams returns to its original format of five, down from 8 in the spring. While the number of teams may have decreased there is surely no drop in talent. The defending champion and the original champion both return to fold. The rest of the teams are composed of 2 returning sides and one all new collaboration.
Both The Benchwarmers and The Dewskis are returning to the tournament for the 3rd consecutive time. The only 2 tems to participate in all 3 installments thus far. The Benchwarmers, Arvind Patel
& Fabio Neito, finished 4th in the Fall 2013, qualifying or the playoff as the 4th and final seed and losing to eventual champion, The Dewskis. In the Spring 2014 games, they exacted some form of revenge by defeating The Dewskis in round-robin play, however, they finished a disappointing 7th and missed the playoffs. They
look to have a bounce back tournament in what could be the teams last go around if they fail to improve. The Dewskis, Sean McNamara & Joe Gill, enter their 3rd
tournament having won the Fall 2013 tournament and finished 2nd in the Spring 2014 event. Pitching has never been an issue for The Dewskis, so it is clearly their bats that will need to wake up if they are planning a 3rd straight trip to the finals.
The Man Hammer and The Runs come back for their second taste of Mill Creek Park Tourney
action. As it was, the Spring 2014 Tournament was a completely different experience for these 2 teams. The Man Hammers, Matt Formato & Nick Spindler, struggled early and often to generate offense, scoring more than 1 run in only 1 of their 6 games, the teams lone victory. If they are looking to have a shot, hitting will
need to be better. The Runs, Scott Mesloh & Terry Pfeifer, were at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, winning the Spring 2014 Tournament. The Runs can hit, that's for sure, putting up an impressive 37 runs in the spring. On the other side, they only gave up 9. Making it hard to pick against a repeat.
The final team entering the Mill Creek Park Tournament for the first time is Fear the Beard. Expected to be a solid pairing, Rob Cooper and Greg Crysler came together almost by accident.
Cooper, formerly of Sharknado, missed the Spring 2014 tourney and was without a teammate for this Fall. While Greg, formally of TurtleHeads also found himself with out his partner. It only made sense to try and get these two together. Both players are excellent on the mound and dangerous at the plate and expected to contend.
The Fall 2014 Mill Creek Park Tournament is all set for Sunday, October 26th at 9am.
