2023 WMSPL Tournament Wrap up

It was a fun, busy weekend that left Storm with many aches and pains. As the team dwindled, Storm was reliant upon some call overs from other teams.

Huge shoutout to the original players sent over by the Bonecrushers. Mike, Chad, and Garry all played well. Chad had the 3rd highest average for the team in the tournament (.682), and Garry had the second most RBIs (12). They also played solid defence.

Resty joined from The Crew after Storm eliminated The Crew and played solid 3rd base while adding consistent offence. And finally, Ben joined Storm to help out after the Great Catcher Controversy of 2023 when Triple Play refused Storm a catcher in the championship game.

As for Storm regulars? Well, Joey and Bob had the best stats on offence. Upon review of scoresheets, it appears that Joey may have hit for the cycle in the Expos game, and was a triple shy of the cycle again in the Triple Play final. Bob hit solidly all weekend.

As for the rest of the team… it wasn’t ideal. Lance popped out to the catcher…twice. And struck out looking. Al tried to make Lance feel less bad and also popped out to the catcher. Jeff started  the tournament on fire going 7 for 10 in the first three games before going 1 for 8 in the semi final and final. Mills was struggling with timing all weekend, often swinging at the last second and with mostly his arms. Storm didn’t hit the way normally do and it caught up to them in the championship game.

It maybe is a good sign that so many players can underperform and Storm can still get to a championship game. Storm is going to have to see if they can overcome injuries to the majority of their young core. Is this the year that having the highest average age in the league will finally catch up to Storm? Only time will tell.

 

Catcher Controversy Mars Championship Game

 Storm seemed to have been playing a game of And Then There Were None as they lost a player after each game. They picked up Resty to replace Mike Coulas and were able to continue, but were short one for the championship game. The friendly tournament took an unfriendly turn as Triple Play refused to provide Storm with a catcher for the championship game. It started with the suggestion Storm should forfeit. Then they decided they would throw the ball back, but not make any plays. The point ended up being moot as Ben from the Isotopes left his post game relaxation to join Storm for the final game.

Corey Hart might wear his sunglasses at night, but apparently Jeff doesn’t wear his sunglasses on sunny Saturday afternoons. A pop fly slightly behind second that he appeared to be tracking he lost in the sun and ducked for cover instead of trying to catch it. This aided Triple Play to a six run first. 

Storm would struggle to score for most of the game. In the top of the fourth, they scored five and drew to within one run. But… in the bottom of the fourth, they gave four back. They never recovered from that and lost.

It wasn’t an ideal ending to the tournament.

Triple Play    20   -   StormCrushers  10

Storm Storm's Back

Storm scored three in the first, but gave the Expos six back to fall behind. Storm forgot how to hit in the next two innings managing only one run. A decent fourth saw Storm put up three runs to make the game close. It was 9-7 when they completed their at bat. The Expos put up one more.in each of their next at bats.to increase their lead to 11-7. Storm finally remembered how to hit in the last inning and scored 10 runs to come back to win.

StormCrushers    20   -   Expo's  10

Stormcrushers crush A-crew

 Storm played a solid game against the A's- Crew combo. Storm started strong with 6 runs in the first. They didn't even make an out. The well went dry in the second.  Lance made the first out on a pop fly to Doug at catcher, followed by Al doing the same thing an inning later. 

Storm kept a steady stream of runs in the 3rd and 4th before exploding for 7 in the 5th,  capped off by Garry's 3 run home run. 

Storm held on to win and advance.

StormCrushers    19   -   A-Crew  2

Stormcrushers win, but suffer crushing loss of first place

 Stormcrushers put up a solid effort against Triple Play. It was a tightly contested defensive match in the first with each team scoring only one. In the bottom of the second, Storm scored six on singles. It's a good thing Storm got to the maximum, because Lance stared longingly at strike three saying, "I didn't think it would hit." In the end it didn't matter as Storm maxed out their offensive potential in the inning. 

Storm seemed to have used up all their offense in that inning, however, as they would only score one run across the next three innings. Triple Play scored one to bring it to an 8-7 game creating a lot of tension. 

Storm remembered how to hit enough two score two more opening up a three run lead, which Storm was able to hold on to. However, the win put them in a three way tie with Triple Play and Broadway. The first tie breaker was runs against, which meant Storm was two runs shy of first place with an at bat left. The first two batters got out, but Storm managed to get the two runs they needed on base before being retired. Storm settled for second and would face the long road to the championship to have any chance to win.

StormCrushers    10   -   Triple Play  8

Stormcrushers Drop Broadway Mashup

 The Stormcrushers started slowly and had a couple of bad innings which led to defeat. The game started as a defensive battle with Stormcrushers and Broadway swapping deuces and Storm holding Broadway to a solo in the second. Broadway opened things up in the third with a five run inning. Stormcrushers settled down in the 4th, holding Broadway to no runs, but were unable to put up any runs themselves in the 4th or 5th. It was the bottom of the 5th when the Stormcrushers’ dreams were crushed. After recording two quick outs, Stormcrushers struggled to close out the inning, and Broadway hummed along to the tune of six runs with the inning only ending on a play at the plate as Mitch tried to run an inside the park grand slam. 

The Bonecrushers held up their part of the bargain as Garry hit a two run dinger, Chad ran the bases well, and Garry and Chad hardly let anything drop between them in the outfield. Storm struggled to generate much offence and had some rough moments in the field. Lance did make a bare handed catch at catcher, but it wasn’t enough to overcome some of the extra outs Storm gave Broadway.

StormCrushers    10   -   Broadway  15

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Stormcrushers	2	2	2	0	0	4	0	10
Broadway	2	1	5	0	6	0	1	15

WMSPL Tournament: Final - Sometimes starting to score in the 3rd isn’t enough

In the regular season this year, Storm has struggled in the first two innings on both sides of the ball, and then started playing for real in the 3^rd. It’s a strategy that worked out alright as Storm entered the tournament undefeated, but it seems the Storm has gone to that well too many times.

Storm managed to score just one run in the top of the 1^st inning. Broadway did not seem to have the same issue with the balls Storm had been having. Broadway batted through the order and then some, with mostly solid hits and put up 12 runs in the bottom of the 1^st inning. Storm was motivated to respond with a big inning. Unfortunately, they went down in order in the 2^nd.  Broadway added three more runs in the 2^nd. Down 15-1, Storm decided that maybe they should start hitting. It was the 3^rd inning after all.  Storm put up 7 hits in a row with 11 hits in the inning and managed to score 10 runs. They were back in the game! Storm managed to keep Broadway off the board for the next three innings, and managed to get the score to 15-14 going into the bottom of the 6^th. Unfortunately, Broadway’s bats couldn’t be held down any longer and they added four runs to create a five run cushion going into the 7^th. Storm made it interesting in the top of the 7^th by loading the bases, but they couldn’t cash in any runs. 

Final score: 19-14

Tournament Leaders:

AVG. (Minimum 8 at bats): Kevin - .667, Jeff - .647, Kenny - .600

RBI: Joey – 11, AL - 8, Dave – 5

Runs: Duran – 8, Jeff and Lance – 6

Hits: Jeff – 11, Kevin – 10, Kenny – 9

HR: Lance, Joey, Craig -  1

2B: Kenny – 3, Duran – 2, Jeff, Kevin and Al – 1

3B: Duran – 1

OBP: Kevin and Jeff - .667, Kenny - .600

SLG.: Kenny - .800, Duran - .750, Kevin and Joey - .733

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	1	0	10	0	1	2	0	14
Broadway	12	3	0	0	0	4	x	19

WMSPL Tournament: Game 3 - Storm sweeps round robin

Storm thought they’d finally figured out the white ball. They managed to string together seven hits for five runs in the first inning. Then they went down in order in the 2^nd. Lance smacked a home run in the 2^nd because he can. Of course, it was a solo. He then blamed Duran for ending the previous inning. The 4^th saw Storm put up another goose egg. In the 5^th, Storm got consecutive singles to start the inning, and they both turned into runs.  Storm added two more in the 6^th and 3 in the 7^th on their way to sweeping the round-robin and advancing to the championship. In this game Brian tried to dispel the rumor that he likes soft white balls by going hit-less.

HR's: Lance

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	5	0	1	0	2	2	3	13
Brew Crew	3	0	0	3	0	1	0	7

WMSPL Tournament: Game 2 - New balls create new style of play

Two of the league’s highest scoring teams faced off on Saturday morning, but with the new ball, they looked more like youth baseball house league. The ball is hard to square up, and even when it is squared up, it turns to mush. It seems like everyone is having trouble hitting the ball. Everyone except Brian that is. Brian is hitting 1.000 in the tournament, so his vote will likely be to switch to these balls.

The game was very close and exciting. It was 2-0 for Storm going into the bottom of the 4^th inning when the Falcons finally figured out how to hit the mush ball and put up four to take the lead. That lead would hold until the 6^th, when Storm realized the ball could be hit and put up four runs of their own to take the lead. That would be it for the scoring. 11 out of 14 half innings saw no runs scored. And the game was played in 55 minutes.

HR's: None

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

WMSPL Tournament: Game 1 - Storm Starts Strong

There are a lot of new things being tried out in the tourney. Wooden bats, white balls, new rules. Some things don’t change, though. In the top of the 1^st inning, Duran, who claims his leg hasn’t healed, scored from second on a sac fly to the outfield. That helped get Storm up 2 runs.

Jeff took the mound and decided he’d try out the new pitcher hit by the ball rule, by getting hit in the chest by a hard grounder. The verdict was that the ball still hurts even if the batter’s out.

Storm’s offense didn’t really take off. The white ball doesn’t carry as well and needs to be squared up to travel hard or far, but Storm consistently put up runs in every inning, while the defense was solid keeping the A’s off the board in four out of seven innings. Craig tried his best in the 3^rd to prove home runs could be hit with the white ball, hitting a ball home run distance that was foul. Then in the 5^th he kept it fair and hit a homer. That, of course, caused Joey to say, “anything you can do, I can do better,” and in the 6^th Joey launched a grand slam to cap off a 6 run inning that put the game out of reach. The game ended just before the skies opened up.

HR's: Craig, Joey

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	2	1	1	1	2	6	3	16
A’s	0	0	2	0	1	0	1	4