The Wiff is Life League's all star team, the WILL Waves, traveled to Morenci, Michigan last weekend (July 13-15) to compete in the NWLA National Tournament. This second year of competition at the national level went much better than year one. The WILL went 5-0 in the double elimination bracket to be crowned the 2018 NWLA National Champions. The Waves started their successful weekend on Friday when the league had representatives in the Home Run Derby and the All Star Game. Tim Marra was the participant out of the WILL for the Home Run Derby, he went threw two rounds successfully before being bounced in the semifinals to the eventual champion, Kyle Tomlinson of WSEM. To the All Star Game, Jordan Castelli represented the WILL and he did so very well. He hit a game tying home run for his team, Team Phillips, when they were down to their final out. Team Phillips went on to win the game in extra innings and Castelli was named the All Star Game MVP.
Saturday morning brought some lows to the WILL Waves weekend, as they went through their pool of AWAA, from New York, SWBL, from Missouri, and ISWB, from Indiana. In pool play the WILL battled each game, but the tough pool got the best of them. The Waves tied the Blue Kamikazes of AWAA, 1-1. Then in game 2 they battled defending runner up Skibbe Wiffle Ball League Cardinals, but fell 4-2. To round out pool play the Waves fell apart against Indy Southside losing 11-4. A bunch of walks and the Waves getting no hit plagued their last pool play game and the WILL team went into bracket play with a 0-2-1 record and as the 14 seed.
Bracket play begins, the Waves at number 14 out of 16 were bound to turn around the weekend and treat it all as a new season. Game 1 saw the OCWA Freaky Franchise squad on the other side of the field. It was a back and forth game until the 4th inning, when the Waves erupted for an 8 run inning and took the lead over the number 3 seed in the tournament. Austin Berger relieved starter Jordan Castelli, who went 3 strong innings, on the rubber. Berger closed the game out amongst hundreds of "let's go!" chants and the Waves moved on to the second round of the winners bracket. Final score was 10-8, WILL over OCWA. To the fifth and final game of Saturday, the WILL men took on the Mothmen out of Huntington, WV. The game was battle of back and forth offenses with both teams pounding the ball offensively. There were a couple off field distractions, nonetheless Nate Morris got the opportunity to step up and he did. Going into the 6th, and final, inning of play the game was tied 9-9. Morris then hit a huge 3 run home run, the door was then shut on the Mothmen, and the Waves advance to Sunday having clinched top 6 already, final score was HWL 9 and WILL 13. The Waves went to sleep Saturday, in a great position to succeed on Sunday. The momentum continued for the Waves on Sunday morning. HRL out of Minnesota was the number 2 seed in the bracket and was the WILL's first opponent on Sunday. As we all know, the seeds do not matter anymore, for the Waves came out firing behind two 3 run homers by Nate Morris and one home run by Castelli, combined with a 6 inning performance by Berger, sends the Waves into the winners bracket final with a 10-3 win over HRL. Now the Waves have clinched a top 3 finish in the NWLA Nationals, nonetheless they are not done yet. Griffleball, out of Indiana, is the next opposition for the Waves run. Griffleball is also an underdog that captured a couple upsets on their way to this game. The winners bracket final was back and forth and arguably the hardest fought game of the tournament. Another Morris home run and a Licht double secured the runs for the WILL team, Graziani came in late innings, in relief of Castelli and Keelon who combined for the first 5 innings, to shut the door and send the Waves to the NWLA National Championship, with a 9-7 win. This win was huge for multiple reasons, including WILL now had an hour break before the Championship, while the team they will play is still playing, the Waves also now would have to lose twice and only have to win once for the Championship. The opponent is a familiar one, Griffleball who beat AWAA was the victor of the Losers Bracket. WILL came out early on a Graziani homer and a Davey single followed by a handful of walks by Griffleball, giving the Waves an early lead. The early lead was all that Austin Berger would need, as he went all 6 innings for the win. With that, the WILL Waves were crowned the 2018 NWLA National Champions with a 7-2 victory over the GBL Legends.
The WILL would like to thank the NWLA host committee and all the people involved with the NWLA Tournament that help make the event a success every year! Also, to all of the donors to the WILL Waves, we could not have done it without you and we are forever grateful for your support!
Until next year, LET'S GO WAVES!