We Are the Champions!!!!

This year’s WMSPL championship was a rematch of 2015. Storm came into the game on a roll having played some of its best baseball of the season on both sides of the ball throughout the tournament.

Storm absolutely destroyed Surge in the morning game. They put up 16 runs in the first inning and never looked back. They kept the pressure on, en route to a 33-8 victory.

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Surge	0	1	0	3	4	0	X	8
Storm	16	2	8	5	2	X	X	33

Next up was Hanet. Hanet is a traditionally tough defensive team. Storm started strong, though, and was able to put up 4 runs in the first, and 5 in each of the 2nd and 3rd to get out to a nice lead. Hanet was able to keep Storm to only 5 runs through the final three innings, but the damage had already been done as Storm held on to a 19-12 victory.

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Hanet	0	3	0	2	4	3	0	12
Storm	4	5	5	0	2	3	X	16

Who better to play in the championship than their nemesis – Bradley? 2015 and 2016, Bradley is the only team Storm does not have a winning record against. Storm simply struggles when it comes to this team.

Fortunately for Storm, Bradley changed their name. They became Snap-on. While Storm struggled against Bradley in the past, they had no real history against Snap-on!

Seriously though, Storm came into the game with a plan. Storm had historically chased numerous bad pitches when facing Bradley’s pitcher, but today they decided to stay patient. This paid off in a big way in the first inning as Storm had six walks in the first inning. Add to that some key hits from Al, Greg and Brad, and Storm was able to jump out to a 7-0 lead. Bradley made a good attempt at a comeback in the 3rd and 4th innings as they drew to within three runs, but Brad hit a big 3-run home run that helped put Storm up for good.

Storm defense was good across the game to keep Bradley in check. Just about everything hit on the ground was an out, and anything with any lift was caught in the outfield. Bradley was pretty much forced to drive a ball into a gap to get a base runner, because Storm wasn’t giving them many freebies.

The bottom of the 6th was a big inning for Storm. Greg, Mike, Jeff and Brad started with four consecutive hits, and Storm went on to score four runs in the inning. This turned out to be crucial as Bradley had a little gas left in their engine. They put up a couple of runs, and then the game appeared to come to an end. Trev, of Bradley, hit a fly ball to left. Both James and Kevin called adamantly for the ball, and then the only sound everyone heard was a massive THUD! as both players fell to the ground. It had appeared that Kevin had caught the ball, however, as he lay on the ground, the ball rolled out of his glove and on to the warning track. This allowed Bradley to score two more runs.

The following batter hit a short pop fly that looked like it would fall in, but appropriately for Storm’s first championship (as Storm), Joey called the ball off the crack (do these bats crack?) of the bat and closed ground to make the catch.  STORM HAD WON!!!

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Bradley	0	0	4	4	0	0	3	11
Storm	7	0	4	0	0	4	X	15

Special mentions:

While Kevin was having trouble remembering things, and reading, and basically forming coherent thoughts, he claimed he was okay after the collision. James was also okay after the collision.

After missing Saturday, Greg came in on Sunday and picked up right where he left off in the season as a steady contributor and leading the team in batting average through the playoffs.


Late in the season, Brad had struggled at the plate and talked about sacrificing a goat. We’re pretty sure he upped it and went to human sacrifice because he also hit well above his regular season pace, including a home run and six RBIs in the championship game. Thankfully both of his children were seen during the weekend.

Playoff Leaders:

Average: Greg - .818, Joey -. 778, Jeff and Brad - .706
Hits: Joey – 14, Bob, Duran, Jeff, and Brad – 12
HR : Bob, Lance, Brad, Jeff, and Kevin – 2
Runs: Jeff – 12, Bob and Duran – 11
RBI: Brad – 16, Lance – 14, Jeff – 12
2B: Bob and Joey – 4, Mike – 3
3B: Duran -2, Chris and Dave – 1
Slugging Percentage: Brad and Jeff – 1.176, Joey – 1.167
On Base percentage: Greg - .818, Joey - .800, Jeff - .722
OPS: Joey – 1.967, Jeff – 1.898, Brad – 1.882

Note: Chris had a solid Saturday, but did not play in even half of the games and did not qualify for team leaders for percentage based statistics. He, as well, hit above his season pace.

It was a special weekend for Storm, and it truly was a team effort. Every single player contributed positively. Every player made a good play in the field and eleven different players finished in the top 3 in an offensive category. This depth is the reason that Storm has finished first or second in the overall league standings each of the past five seasons, and the reason Storm was able to win the President’s Division, the mid-season tournament, and the playoff tournament this year. While it is great for the league to have had nine different playoff champions in the last nine years, Storm is hoping to break that trend by repeating next year!