The “outsiders” of team EHP, went on a roll defeating five straight opponents en route to a 2018 Fall Wiff is Life League (FWILL) Tournament victory. Chris ‘Red’ Sarnowski put together the squad of four. It included his father Chris and brother Tyler along with Gino Joseph and himself, going from left to right in the photo above. EHP defeated the Beavers in the championship twice, for they came from the losers bracket and faced off against the no loss Beavers.
EHP faced the Barton Bombers and Beavers in the pool play round, and loss both in close fashion. Game one, against the Bombers, was the first of the whole tournament and a well played game by both sides ended with the Bombers winning by one run, 4-3, via a big three run homerun. To round out the pool play, EHP took on the Beavers. In another hard fought game EHP ended just on the losing end. The Beavers won it on a walk off home run by Rob Licht. A 0-2 start to the newbies, was not the end of the world and they wiped the slate clean to start the bracket play.
The seedings come out, and EHP gets the 5 seed with the 0-2 record and -2 run differential in pool play. In the 4v5 matchup they take on the Beavers once more. In yet another back and forth game, EHP loses 9-7 and heads to the long path of the losers bracket early. In the first elimination game of the day, EHP was in another close battle with the Turkeys, until they explode in the 4th to stretch the lead, as they end up taking home their first victory of the day by a score of 10-2. Red Sarno took over in these late games and kept the opposing batters off balance and to very limited runs. The next two wins were to put them in the championship. They beat the offensive powerhouse, Dawgs, 6-1 and Don’t Stop Ballieving in a pitcher's duel, 2-0. Gino Joseph was the power bat along with Chris ‘Red’ Sarno. Father, Chris Sarnowski, added some timely hitting to the mix to turn the lineup over.
Into the championship, EHP faces off against the Beavers for the third time of the tournament. The fourth seeded Beavers won the winners bracket and needed to be defeated twice to be knocked out of the double elimination bracket, meanwhile the fifth seeded EHP only required one loss and the Beavers would win the tournament. In the first championship game, EHP and the Beavers were knotted at zeros for the first 2 innings. In the top of the third, Red started things with a single and after couple errors the EHP players filled up all the bases. Gino Joseph stepped in to hit an RBI single, scoring the first run of the championship. Chris Sarnowski and Red each added RBI singles themselves to score runs two and three. The fourth run of the inning was scored by Chris, when Red ran off a ghost runner at second base after his RBI single. The Beavers bats were quiet, while EHP threatened again in the fourth but Licht got himself out of the jam unharmed. Red shut down the bats of the high powered Beavers for the 5th and final inning, to force the if necessary game by a score of 4-0. In the winner take all game, Rob Licht toed the rubber again for the Beavers and Red again for EHP. The Beavers started the scoring early with a lead off triple by Rob Licht and a one out RBI single by Adam Carosone. EHP answered to tie the game, 1-1, but the scoring play occurred when the livestream cut out. The pitchers lead the way for the remainder of the game, with both sides getting sporadic hits, but not putting together a run. In the bottom of the 5th, EHP caught themselves their first break of the tournament, when Gino Joseph reached to second base on fly ball that was misjudged and dropped by the Beavers left fielder. Chris Sarnowski followed with a single, making runners at first and third. Red sealed the deal with a walk off groundout, as Gino Joseph made it to the line before the out was recorded.
A recap of how every team did this past FWILL Tournament and photos from the day will be up in the coming days. Be sure to follow the WILL on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (@wiffislife) to stay up to date on the latest news around the league. The WILL YouTube channel is also active, so be sure to subscribe and be on the lookout for highlights from the tournament.