The Wiff is Life League’s third tournament of the year, the Summer Showdown, took place this past Sunday. Five teams faced off in a medium pitch heavy event. At the end of it all the Big Baller Shot Callers won it all behind captain Rob Licht, Chris Sarnowski, his father, and newcomer Cole Lanni.
The day began with pool play, which featured each of the five teams against each other once. The teams were then seeded one through five, with the fifth being eliminated from contention, and the top four playing a single elimination bracket for the title. The seeding going into bracket play was 1. Big Baller Shot Callers 2. Ninjas 3. Noodles 4. Plungers 5. Slugs.
Bracket Play
Championship: Big Baller Shot Callers (1) - Noodles (0)
The championship game of the Summer Showdown was not the most exciting of the championships this year. Nonetheless, defense and pitching led the way. Cole Lanni tossed a two hit shutout, with four strikeouts, to guide the Big Baller Shot Callers over the Noodles. Rob Licht scored the lone run of the game in the first inning, he reached on a leadoff walk, then tagged up from first on a Cole Lanni pop fly to right field. The Noodles attempted to peg Licht on his way to second and missed, resulting in the ball going to the center field fence, and they were unable to get it back in the infield before Licht made it around to score. TJ Schoenfelder pitched a solid game for the Noodles, but got tabbed with the loss. Matt Cottrill (Noodles) and Licht (BBSC) each had two hits, to account for four of the five in the game.
Semifinal 2 vs. 3: Noodles (2) - Ninjas (1)
Matt Cottrill and Kolton Black went deep in back-to-back at bats in the top of the fifth to propel the Noodles over the Ninjas and secure a spot in the championship. The Noodles had ten hits in the game, but couldn’t capitalize on anything until the fifth inning home runs. Matt Cottrill led the way, going 5-for-6 with the homer and a double. TJ Schoenfelder tossed the win, and Steve Keelon got tabbed with the loss. Mike Sullivan went 4-for-6 with a double in the defeat.
Semifinal 1 vs. 4: Big Baller Shot Callers (4) - Plungers (3)
Jake Davey hit the very first pitch of the game out of the park to put the Plungers out in front 1-0 early. He struck again in the top of the second with a two-run shot to make it 3-0 Plungers. Rob Licht answered in the bottom half to bring BBSC within one run (3-2) on a two-run homer. BBSC drew walks in the third to tie the game at three. The game stayed knotted at three into two extra innings, when Rob Licht led off the bottom of the seventh with a home run to end the game. Cole Lanni got the win on the rubber, while Alex Miles suffered the tough luck loss.
Big Baller Shot Callers
Chris Sarnowski threw his lone fast pitch game of the day in their opening game against the Slugs, to get them out on the right foot early. Sarnowski hit two home runs in the 4-0 win, as well. Cole Lanni joined the team for their second game, which was against the Plungers. The four man team didn’t last long, as Father Sarnowski pulled his quad when he legged out his second single of the game. Lanni and Sarnowski each homered in the 4-3 win, which they tied up on a Plungers error in the fourth. A 13-3 route of the Noodles, set up BBSC for a one seed match up with the Ninjas to end pool play. Sarnowski and Licht each hit homers to get the scoring going against the Ninjas, but the Ninjas tied it up in the second. Cole Lanni was able to get a single to right field to fall just inside the foul line to win it for BBSC and secure the top seed.
WILL rookie, Cole Lanni was a key player in his debut. He hit .519 in his five games and blasted four home runs, while getting the job done on the rubber as well. Lanni threw in three games, and went 3-0. He struck out 10, with a 1.76 ERA, and a 0.82 WHIP. Rob Licht led the squad in long balls, with 6, and hit .500 on the day. Chris Sarnowski led the team in OBP at .594, while hitting .440 with five homers. Father Sarnowski went out on top with a 2-for-2 outing in his final game, making him 2-for-7 on the day. Lanni threw the final three games, but all members of BBSC saw time on the rubber at the Summer Showdown. Chris Sarnowski threw six innings with nine strikeouts, and picked up the lone save in the WILL so far this year in their second game. Rob Licht tossed a 2-0 record, over four innings of work, in which he allowed three runs on three hits. Father Sarnowski threw the first three innings of their pool play match up against the Plungers before blowing his quad out, he allowed three runs on four hits, and struck out one.
Ninjas
The Ninjas started the day with just one hit in their tournament opening loss to the Slugs, 1-0. A bounce back eight hit, 7-0, win over the Noodles put them in business for the day. A tough battle in the third game ended with them coming out on top of the Plungers 3-2, setting the Ninjas up for an opportunity for the top seed in their pool play finale against the Big Baller Shot Callers. Justin Davey tied things up in the second with a three run home run, but BBSC was able to walk it off (3-2) on a bloop single to right field.
Offense was supposed to be the Ninjas strong point coming into the Summer Showdown. They only had two home runs, and hit just a couple ticks over .300 as a team. Mike Sullivan did his part, and led the trio with a .429 average. Steve Keelon went 6-for-18 (.333), all six of his hits were singles. Justin Davey was the league leader in hitting coming into the day, but dropped way down the list after a .174 mark at the Summer Showdown. Keelon ate up all 22 innings for the Ninjas, and had an impressive 1.82 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, but his offense didn’t help much, putting his record at 2-3.
Noodles
The Noodles surprised many people on Sunday. It all started with a 2-0 win over the Plungers, Kolton Black knocked the teams lone hit in the game out of the park to put them ahead in the last inning. The Ninjas got the best of the Noodles in game two, 7-0, but they bounced right back with a huge win over the Slugs. TJ Schoenfelder homered twice in the 12-3 route of the Slugs, which secured them a spot in the bracket. The final pool play game went the way of the Big Baller Shot Callers, 13-3, Schoenfelder doubled and homered in the defeat.
Schoenfelder was the workhorse on the rubber, throwing all 28 innings for the Red and White. He struck out 11, and had a 3.93 ERA alongside a 1.86 WHIP. In the box each of the three Noodles came up big at different times. Matt Cottrill led the team in average at .483, and had an on base percentage of .559. Schoenfelder blasted three homers to lead the squad, and hit .344 on the day. Kolton Black had two game winning home runs, one in the opener and the other in the semis. He ended with a .233 average.
Plungers
The Plungers played in close contests all day long, but couldn’t find themselves at the right end of it for the most part. The opener went to the Noodles (2-0) on a fifth inning two run homer. In game two, the Ninjas fought off the Plungers, 3-2, and BBSC did the same in game three (4-3). In a win and get in game against the Slugs in the pool play finale, they did just that. Miles and Bursic combined for a no-hitter in the mercy rule 11-1 win. Offensively the Plungers exploded for 9 hits, including five homers to send themselves to the bracket as the four seed.
Jake Davey led the offense for the Plungers, going 11-for-22 (.500) with a tournament best seven home runs. Alex Miles belted two home runs and hit .375, while also being the main pitching arm for the Plungers. He threw 21.2 of the 24 innings the team played. Miles struck out 11 and posted a 2.77 ERA, but walks were his downfall, as he allowed 19 free passes on the day. Reed Bursic hit for a .211 average and pitched 2.1 clean innings against the Slugs, allowing no hits or runs. Matt Morgan hit the Plungers other home run, and hit .125 on the day.
Slugs
The first game, a 1-0 win over the Ninjas, showed that the Slugs were poised to make some noise at the Summer Showdown, but that went downhill quickly. BBSC rolled past the Slugs, 4-0, behind Sarnowski fast pitch. Then the Slugs got rolled over by the Noodles, 12-3 in the third game. With a chance to make the bracket on the line, they got plunged. The Plungers put four up in the first and never looked back in an 11-1 win, eliminating the Slugs from the tournament.
The statistics page for the Slugs doesn’t make it look like it was a medium pitch heavy tournament. The trio combined for a .159 average, none of the players hit over .200. Tim Marra led the team at .187. Marra and Nate Morris each had one home run, Morris hit .125. Austin Berger was 2-for-12, but led the team in on base percentage, at .412. From the rubber, Morris assumed most of the duties. His defense was not the most helpful, as he gave up 19 runs, but only eight of them were earned. Berger threw one game, against the Noodles, and surrendered eight runs on nine hits.
Up Next
One tournament remains for the WILL this summer, the Season Finale Tournament is set for July 19th. Sign up today, using the link at the top of the page.
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Visit Lovie's Frosty Twist on South Main Street in Houston for ice cream this summer, tell 'em the WILL sent you!
