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| This one was a slow one, thankfully from both sides of the field. Neither team really hit their stride, but we did take advantage of several two run homers and eventually pulled away and held on to win 11-3. Jeremy Hochstetler remained perfect on the day, going 4-for-4 as did Joe Horvath (3 HR, 8 RBI's) and Tim Austin. Game 3 vs. Hustlers The next game would guarantee our team a shot at returning Sunday as the top two teams in the winners and the top two team in the losers bracket would come back to play in the morning. But we needed to work first. Hustlers won the ASA National Championship about a month ago and went on to finish second at the ASA Hooters World Championship in Oklahoma City. In Owensboro, Kentucky at the NSA "B" Worlds, Street Kids drew Hustlers first on that day and came back to stun them with a thrilling 30-29 win. Hustlers knew that I am sure, and with both teams undefeated so far, something had to give. This game would be another down to the wire games, and even though both teams didnt really get their offense going, it would be Hustlers that would outlast SKS, winning by one run, 17-16, avenging their one run loss in Owensboro. Leland Schmucker led the way in the loss with four hits but this one was tough. We were now in the losers bracket of an 18-team Super World tournament. There were no weak teams anywhere. The best B teams in the country were here and we would need to claw our way back and not give up. Game 4 vs Creative Design The loss dropped the Kids into the losers bracket against the winner of Reds Boys and Creative Design. Creative outlasted Reds, thus sending them home and were ready for SKS. Just like earlier, this game would be a close one. The Kids scored early, putting up seven runs in the first. Creative spread their runs out throughout the game but after a four run sixth and some great defense, the Kids would outlast Creative once again, beating them 18-16, sending them home. Game 5 vs Wildman (Sunday) The win over Creative on Saturday night bought the Kids a chance to return to the final four on Sunday morning. The four that remained were us and Wildman in the losers bracket and Hustlers and B&J Logging in the winners bracket. The way B&J were playing, they were looking to capture that magic they found (at the hands of us) in Owensboro when they stole.. err.. won the World Championship. While Hustlers and B&J battled it out on one field, Street Kids and Wildman slugged it out on the other field. This one was ugly... neither team could find a way to get some runs going, as both teams seemed bothered by the rising sun over the right center field fence. In the top of the third, Wildman took a 7-1 lead but SKS clawed back, scoring two in the third and five in the fourth. After a four run fifth and two more insurance runs in the sixth, it was some great defense again along with some great pitching by Faron Miller that would lead the Kids to a thrilling 14-10 win. Terry Patesel, Leland Schmucker, Faron Miller and Nick Bishop all had three hits for the victorious Kids. Game 6 vs B&J Logging Moments after Street Kids beat their fellow Northern Indiana friends Wildman and sent them home, Hustlers defeated B&J Logging, giving Hustlers a trip to the finals and B&J a trip to our diamond for a fight with SKS. Lol. We all wanted this game bad, maybe even more than the next game because we knew that B&J did not get our best when they double dipped us in Owensboro to take the World Title home to Illinois (man that hurt just typing it again). After scoring one run in the first on a home run by Joe Horvath, the Street Kids team unloaded in the second, scoring 10 runs and taking an 11-4 lead. B&J would not go away, as they kept coming back, but we kept pulling away, scoring two in the third and six more in the fifth. We would not score anymore in the game, which if you were reading this for the first time, would think that was bad, but the defense was stellar and we held on to beat B&J 19-13 and advance to the championship against the unbeaten Hustlers! Wow! That win was bittersweet for all of us and as we took the walk to the other field where Hustlers were waiting, you could see the smiles on everyones faces! We felt like we got a little something back, not our world title of course, B&J earned that when they beat us in Kentucky. But it meant a little something to send B&J home. Game 7 vs Hustlers - Championship Finals Street Kids Softball was in the championship game of the Super "B" World Series. With the way our offense played - up and down and inconsistent all weekend - I didnt think we would be here. But this team has so much heart and they showed it. They never gave up all day Saturday and in both games on Sunday to get to this point. I was so proud of my teammates and friends. But now it was time to go to work. Street Kids won the flip and were home team, so Hustlers batted first and scored four runs, but we were able to answer back with four of our own, highlighted by a two run single by first baseman Steve Schroeder. Hustlers went quiet in the second and Street Kids opened it up, scoring seven runs, highlighted by a massive three run home run by Joe Horvath. In the top of the third, though, Hustlers responded, scoring six to bring it to within one, 11-10. SKS failed to score in the bottom of the third and Hustlers took over, scoring seven in the top of the fourth and took a 17-11 lead. Down by six, the Kids needed a rally to get back into this one. They scored two in the fourth to cut the lead to four and after both teams went quiet in the fifth, Street Kids came out with a big sixth inning, scoring five runs, without using a home run. They took a slim 18-17 lead into the seventh, hoping their defense could hold off Hustlers and get the win, forcing the "if" game. Hustlers reeled off four straight hits and that lead to two runs which gave them a 19-18 lead going into the bottom of the seventh. If Street Kids was going to pull this one out, they needed to score one to tie it and two to win it. We had a home run to hit, so with Leland Schmucker leading off the bottom of the seventh, I called time and told Leland to swing for the home run, but dont get under it. I told him to hit the ball square with everything we had. If it went out, we at least tied the game, if he got on base, thats fine too. Leland launched his fifth hit of the game into the grass beyond the 325' mark on the left field wall to tie the game. So with no one out and no home runs to hit, we would have to manufacture one run to win the game. After two quick outs, we began to rally. Fred Schmucker came up with the biggest hit of the season to date, doubling to left field. We now had the winning run at second base so Hustlers pitcher intentionally walked Faron Miller to have a force out at any infield bag. That brought up second baseman Nick Bishop, who was 3-for-4 in this game already. With the speedy Fred Schmucker at second, all we needed was a base hit through the infield. Well thats exactly what we got. Nick came up with a HUGE single that scored Fred from second and gave the Kids a thrilling come from behind win! As you can see from the video you most likely watched, I happen to flip on my iphone and captured this amazing moment on video. We were pretty excited to say the least. And that moment at the end of the video will be a moment I will cherish all through the offseason, watching the team I built celebrating the biggest game of our lives. Game 8 vs Hustlers - World Title Game That last game was, as umpire Terry Sherrill said, one of the best games he has ever been a part of. But our work was not done yet. We were now completely even with Hustlers, a team that looked shocked at what just happened. Brandon Dillon, a former SKS player who picked up with Hustlers midway through this season, said later "to be honest with you, I didn't want to play Street Kids because I saw the way they were playing and knowing what happened in Owensboro, I thought this was theirs. Like it was Karma." The NSA season began for Street Kids Softball on cold day in March in Indianapolis when the Kids won the annual Battle for the Bucks tourney. That was the first of nine tournament wins the team would experience in 2011. Beginning with that tourney in March and taking us right up to the "if" game of the Super World Series, the SKS team played in 17 tournaments. In all but one of those 17 tournaments, the Street Kids Softball team made it to the championship game. "No matter what happens in the next hour against Hustlers, no one can take that away from you, TJ," Mike Hagy of NSA told me just moments before the final game. He was absolutely right. But I figured, we're here, why dont we just go out and double dip Hustlers and take the title home... :) But.... that would not be the case today. Hustlers put up 10 runs in the first three innings and after four held an 11-6 lead. In the top of the fifth, we went quietly, and in the home half of the fifth, Hustlers went to work. The first three batters reached based before the next guy flew out, scoring the second run of the inning, but the next guy singled and that set up the lead off batter to crush a long three run homer. Hustlers now led 16-6 and a few moments later and a couple of hits more, Hustlers scored two more and won the game and the super world title, 18-6. Second Place... the story of our season It was hard to watch Hustlers celebrate on the field, but at the same time I now know why some major league managers make their young teams watch the other team celebrate. So they can know what thats like. Problem is, we have seen too many celebrations. We have experienced too many second place finishes. My wife has watched me come home with too many runner up trophies. A small part of me was happy for Brandon Dillon, who everyone knows is one of the nicest albeit quietest guys in the game. But to watch another team celebrate once again while we clinched our second place plaques, was very difficult. In the end, I was forced to look at the bright side. What a season of tournament ball we had! As I stated earlier, 17 tournaments, and only one time (ASA National in Oklahoma City) did we fail to reach the finals. We won nine tourneys, made lots of friends and put away one of the best seasons in the history of our game. When I wrote that story this winter about rebuilding this team with character and heart, I never knew what I would be looking in October of 2011. If you told me then that at the end of 2011 the SKS team would have reached the finals in 16 out of 17 tourneys including the worlds and super worlds I would have laughed at you. Hard. Thats Resmondo numbers. That's the kind of stuff elite major teams with budgets, airline tickets, paid players and people with their own name on their bats achieve. Not a team that just a few short years ago was playing around the .500 mark in Class D Indiana. I made a promise to myself that I would change the image of SKS and I feel that WE as a team did that. The Amish brought not only a hard work ethic to our team, but a different side of life that we never knew about. Veteran Terry Patesel, who has been with SKS on and off for 10 years, finally joined us full time this season and his leadership and respect have changed the way our younger players play. Steve Schroeder may be the most respected and admired player in the entire state of Indiana, and not only did he help mature one of the best up and coming pitchers in the game in Faron Miller, but he helped nurture me other players like Jason Jeffery, who took his game from a good player status to an All Star and one of the best tourney players in the state this year. Jeffery will tell you that himself, that if it were not for Schroeder, he would not be as good as he was this year. Schroeder also helped me to look at things differently on the way I ran this team. And we cannot forget about the haughty Joe Horvath. Lol. At 41 years old, Joe still plays the game better than most 21 year olds. Don't believe me? Just ask him. :) Its been a great year, and even though we came away with just one post season title (ASA "B" State), I could never be more proud of a group of men than I am of this team. We stood by each other through ups and down, never went on our own, never blasted another teammate and always kept our cool, even when losing bad. We were all brought together to do something good, and we did. We won. I told my daughter Isabella that last night when I got home. She said "Daddy, I thought you said on the phone you lost." I turned to her and said calmly "Bella, sometimes when you lose, you still win." Thanks to all those that called, sent text, emails and Facebook messages with the kind words. Some were even unexpected, which meant even more. But lets not turn this into a "see you next year" story... we still got the rest of fall league in Elkhart and one more small tourney for breast cancer awareness to play in! Goodnight folks! TJ |
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