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!

Bradley Beats Storm (Again)

Storm’s struggles against Bradley continued on a hot late afternoon in August. Storm’s defense played very well. Lance made a nice grab in the outfield and then a nice pick-up on a hard grounder at third. James, Duran, and Mike all also made nice outfield catches. Ironically, possibly the two best Storm defensive plays were made by Storm catchers for Bradley. Dave made a nice stretch in the 1st inning to complete a 3rd to home double play for Bradley, and Jeff made a nice stretch at home in the fifth to catch Kenny at home. This may have been the key play of the game as the score was 7-5 at the moment, and Kenny’s run would have brought Storm to within one with a runner on 2nd, but instead the inning came to an end.

The real problem for Storm was the bats. The umpire said, “I’ve never seen you guys hit this poorly.” Storm seems to have trouble against Bradley’s pitcher, and the defense was solid as the 3rd basemen and shortstop made some nice plays. Storm only managed to get five runs, which must be a season low (though I didn’t actually look at every score to verify this). Storm also only managed 12 hits, which is fewer hits than they usually score runs. Only Al seemed to have no trouble as he hit a three run blast (his 8th homer of the season) and added another RBI later for a 4RBI night. He accounted for 80% of Storm’s offense.

Up Next: Storm tries to rebound against Surge who is fighting with Bradley for 6th place overall.

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

Bradley Curse Continues

Storm struggled early at the plate, as they were unable to score in the first three innings against Bradley. Bradley didn’t exactly break out as they scored only 6 runs across those three frames, allowing Storm to stay in the game. After a six-run fourth, Storm was back in the game. A four-run fifth brought Storm to within two of the lead. Storm then trailed by four as they headed to the bottom of the seventh.  After Brian got out, Bob and Duran singled, and Joey tripled to bring Storm to within two. Lance then launched a ball over the fence for what should have been a game tying two-run home run, except Storm was already plus-two and so it was a very painful out. Greg then ended the game on a pop-up as Storm fell just short.

In the past two seasons, Storm have only lost 9 games and four of them have come at the hands of Bradley. Bradley certainly seems to have Storm’s number.

Highlights:

Joey attempted to single-handedly kick start the Storm offense with 2 home runs, a triple and an incredible 8 RBI.

HR: Joey 2 (21), Lance (8)

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Bradley	2	4	0	4	2	3	1	16
Storm	0	0	0	6	4	2	2	14

Storm Rallies over Bradley

It was a very tight game with Bradley. After the first four innings, the game was tied 5-5. Storm took the lead in the 5th, and absolutely exploded in the sixth to take the lead and not look back.


The highlight of the game was definitely Duran’s cycle.

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Bradley	1	0	4	0	1	0	0	6
Storm	2	0	1	2	3	6	x	14

Storm, Bradley Slugfest

Last year was a great year for Storm, but there was one team that seemed to have our number. Last season we lost more games to Bradley than to the rest of the league combined; therefore, it was nice to start the season series against them with a win. It was definitely a slugfest, with the balls flying off the bats, but Storm came out on top 23-13. Joey’s two home runs were a definitely great moments, but the absolute highlight of the night had to be Kenny’s 2nd at bat. Kenny was swinging for the fences; unfortunately, he didn’t make contact with the ball. Nor did the ball make contact with the mat. Kenny struck out on three consecutive swings, on pitches that would have been balls. Oh my God they struck out Kenny! On another note, Greg has been christened with a new nickname: Handsome!

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Bradley	4	4	0	2	1	2	0	13
Storm	5	2	0	6	5	5	0	23