We Are the Champions Again !!!!

In what was the most exciting day in Storm baseball history, and possibly the history of the WMSPL, or maybe even the history of recreational baseball, or possibly even the history of baseball itself, Storm won the championship game, by coming from behind in their 3rd straight elimination game.

Storm and Hanet had played many tight games throughout the year, including a 9-9 tie, so it was expected that the final matchup between the top two regular season teams would be amazing, and it did not disappoint.

With eliminated players from many other teams watching (and cheering for Hanet), Storm took to the field to defend its championship.

The entire game, like much of the day, was a back and forth affair, with Hanet jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning, powered by two home runs. Storm then quickly responded with a 4 run bottom of the 1st, conserving their home runs by hitting four singles and a double.

In the 2nd, Storm kept Hanet off the board, and then added four more runs to take an 8-3 lead. Bob jacked a 2 run homer, and then Duran, Joey and Al got hits before Jeff capped the inning with an RBI single. It seemed as if Storm was about to pull away.

Hanet then proved why they were the 2nd ranked team in the regular season. Instead of being phased by Storm’s inning, Hanet came back with another strong offensive outing of their own. They put up four runs in the top of the 3rd powered by yet another home run. Storm was able to keep them off the board for the next three innings, though, and in the bottom of the 6th put in 3 more to take a 12-7 lead. Storm knew from experience, that 5 run leads are tenuous, and experienced it from the other side as Hanet scored 7 runs in the top of the 7th inning, hitting yet another home run.

It was all coming down to this. Storm had already had a last inning come from behind win against the Falcons and had come from behind after an early deficit against the A’s. Could they do it one more time? Did they have any more gas in their offensive engine?

It didn’t look like it at first. Al grounded out to start the inning. Then Lance drove one deep over the fence, but that only brought Storm to within one. Jeff hit a single, and then Brad doubled to put the tying run on 3rd base. Brian singled to score Jeff, and the game was tied. Mike, who had demonstrated some heroics in the game against the Falcons was in another position to be the hero, and he did not let the team down. He hit a deep fly ball which scored Brad and the game was over! Storm had won. They have become the first repeat winners since Greenthumb’s reign from 2005-2008. Congratulations!

HR's: Bob (1), Duran, (1), Lance (1)

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Hanet	3	0	4	0	0	0	7	14
Storm	4	4	0	1	0	3	3	15

Storm delivers A+ performance!

Storm played another tight playoff game against the A’s. The A’s scored three in the top of the first, and Storm was unable to score until the 3rd inning when they got 3 to tie the game. Storm then got two in each of the 4th and 5th to take a 7-3 lead, but in the top of the 6th, the A’s scored 4 to tie the game up. After a lead-off out in the bottom of the 6th, 9 consecutive Storm batters reached base (7 hits and 2 walks) as Storm scored 7 to take a commanding lead. They then held on in the top of the 7th and won 14-7. It was a great game, but it wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the other two games Storm played on elimination Sunday.



HR's: None

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
A’s	3	0	0	0	4	0	0	7
Storm	0	0	3	2	2	7	x	14

Storm storms back!

In what was the most exciting game of Storm’s season (until the championship game two games later), Storm and Falcons played a very tight back and forth match that ended in extra innings.

The teams played extremely tight defense in the first two innings, as nobody scored. Then in the 3rd, the Falcons exploded for six runs. Storm was not to be outdone, though. Brad started the 3rd with a walk, which was followed by five consecutive hits, a sac fly by Joey (that was over the fence and was a spectacular catch by Barry), followed by a homer by Al, and then two more hits before the inning ended with Storm scoring 8.

The game then returned to its defensive ways as the Falcons only scored 1 in each of the next two innings, and Storm scored nothing in the next two innings. That meant that the game entered the sixth inning tied at 8. The Falcons then had another explosion and scored six runs giving them a 14-8 lead going into the bottom of the 6th. Storm managed to get 3 back with a couple of singles, and then a very interesting defensive decision by the Falcons. With two outs, and Mike at the plate, they decided to move their right fielder into a rover position, leaving almost all of the right side of the outfield open. Mike then put a two-run triple into right field and brought Storm back within striking range.

In the top of the 7th, however, the Falcons were able to put in 2 more runs to cushion their lead to five. Bob led off the inning with a single, followed by Duran who also singled. Joey then hit the ball even farther than his previous home run attempt, and kept it out of the outfielders gloves by hitting it off of a tree. Al, Lance, Jeff, Kevin and Brad all singled to put the tying run across and get the go-ahead run to 3rd base with nobody out. Brian then popped out to first. Mike hit a hard grounder to short that turned into a force out at home, and Kenny popped out. That meant the game was going to extra innings.

The extra frame started with a runner on 2nd according to international rules. The Falcons were able to get that run across, but no more, and so Storm came to the plate in the bottom of the 8th down one. They had the top of the order starting off again, and Kenny on 2nd. Bob came through with a big single, but then Duran struck out, leaving the tying run on 3rd. The Falcons then decided to walk Joey to try to get a force at every base and potentially get a ground ball double-play to end the game. Al accommodated by hitting the ball on the ground, but the Falcons were unable to field it to record any outs, and the game was tied again. Then things got really interesting. Lance hit a screaming line drive splitting the outfielders and scoring the go ahead run; however, in their joy of the moment, both Al and Lance neglected to run. The entire Storm bench screamed at them to run and touch the bases before the ball as thrown in and they were forced out. They eventually got there and Storm won!

HR's: Joey (4), AL (1),

	Boxscore
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
Falcons		0	0	6	1	1	6	2	1	17
Storm		0	0	8	0	0	3	5	2	18

Storm Surges to Quarterfinals

Storm started strong again in the 2nd game of the round-robin. For the second time in the day Storm batted through the entire order in the first inning. Storm then scored in every inning for the rest of the game, and did a pretty good job holding Surge back to win 20-9.

There were a few interesting moments in the game. The most interesting of which was a ball Bob hit to the fence, where he decided he was going to hit an inside the park homerun no matter what the runner in front of him did. When Mike stopped at 3rd, Bob kept coming forcing Mike to keep going. Mike was easily thrown out at home. For reasons absolutely nobody can explain, Bob had continued to round 3rd himself. When Mike was thrown out, Bob stopped halfway between and started laughing, not realizing that Mike was only the second out of the inning. He was then thrown out trying to go back to 3rd, once he realized the situation. Let’s just say Bob’s Burgers was open for business again at the barbecue!

Notable Boxscores:

Joey – 4/4, 4 2HR, 4 runs, 4 RBI

Al – 4/4, 2 runs, 2 RBI

Duran – ¾, 3 runs, RBI

Greg – 3/3, 2 runs, 3 RBI

Brian – 2/3, 1 run, 2 RBI

HR's: Joey 2 (3)

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Rebels	0	0	4	0	3	1	1	9
Storm	7	1	2	5	2	3	x	20

Storm Starts Strong

On a warm summer morning in late September, Storm took to the field to defend its WMSPL Playoff Championship title. The game started well with three quick outs defensively. Then the Storm bats went to work. Storm batted through the order plus one, and scored 9 runs in the first frame including a two-run homerun by Joey.

Storm kept the pressure going with another perfect defensive inning in the 2nd, followed by three runs offensively. Unfortunately, in the top of the 3rd, the perfect game came to an end, but the rest of the game was about as good as one can expect in Men’s Slo-pitch. Storm defeated the Rebels 17-5.

Notable Boxscores:

Joey – 4/4, HR, 3 runs, 4 RBI

Jeff – ¾, 2 runs, 2 RBI

Duran – 2/3, 3 runs, 1 RBI

Greg – 2/3, 1 run, 3RBI

HR's: Joey (1)

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Rebels	0	0	0	2	0	2	1	5
Storm	9	3	0	3	2	0	x	17

Regular Season Wrap-up

Storm’s name was appropriate this season as their biggest obstacle was not another team, but Mother Nature herself. When the weather decided to cooperate, Storm had a fantastic season, finishing in first place and leading the league in runs for and against.

The other story was five forfeits. Storm led the league with 709 runs. If they had the opportunity to play those five other games, they might have broken the league single season record of 799. Storm only needed 90 runs, and was averaging 21.5 runs per game throughout the season, so it is within reason that they would have broken that record.

Storm also allowed the fewest runs against. In this category, the forfeits might have helped. Storm allowed only 341runs for an average of 10.3 runs per game. With 54 runs fewer than Hanet, had Storm played all five games and only allowed their average, they still would have ended up with  fewer runs allowed than Hanet, but you can never know for sure how those five games would have played out.

This was also a season with the potential to break Storm season records. In the end, only one record fell. Duran broke Joey’s single season triples record. On the final day of the season, Duran hit a triple in each game of a double-header to break the record.

Joey, himself, had the chance to break some records but fell short. He fell one double short of tying Bob’s single-season doubles record (Joey 26, Bob 27), two hits short of tying his own single-season hits record (115 this year, record 117).

Individual records broken:

Lance – AVG. - .669, OBP - .664

Dave – Walks – 10

Duran – Triples – 13, HR – 9, RBI – 89,

Al – Hits – 92

It was another great regular season for Storm, and the hope is that the quality and consistency of play will translate into another successful playoff tournament!

Storm illustrates why they finished in first place

Sports Illustrated Play entered the game with a 9 game winning streak and had an offense that was described by the umpire before the game as practically unstoppable. Except Storm stopped it.

Storm started the game weakly by scoring only 1 run in the first two innings; however, in the 3rd, Storm put 8 runs in led by Duran’s record breaking triple and a string of 9 consecutive hits. After that, Storm’s defense took over and kept Sports Illustrated Play to minimal runs and nothing in the final two innings.

This game is most noticeable for seeing one of Joey’s records fall. Duran hit his 13th triple of the season, surpassing Joey’s mark of 12 from 2005.

Notable Boxscores:

Bob  3/4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 runs

Duran 3/4, 2 RBI, 2 runs, record setting triple

HR's: Bob (16)

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	0	1	8	0	3	4	0	16
Sports Ill	1	0	3	3	2	0	0	9