Going a Perfect 7-0, Street Kids Win Fourth
Straight Dome Championship
Straight Dome Championship
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| Despite it being caught off the wall, Jake Underwood crushes a line drive to center at the Dome on Saturday. To view the video, you must have Quicktime installed on your computer. It is free, and can be downloaded at www.Apple.com/quicktime. |
Jackson, MI 2/28/09
The Street Kids/Suburban South/PAS
softball team traveled to Jackson, Michigan
this weekend for their second tournament of
the season in the Dome, where they won
their first tourney of the 2009 season back
in January. This time, the competition would
be much better.
With six teams listed in the event, tourney
director Rob Leete set the format with five
round robin games, where only the top four
teams would advance to a Final Four style,
single elimination format. With this new
format, it meant that teams needed to win as
many games as possible, hoping for a high
seed.
Along with SKS, the other five teams were:
Great Lakes Softball, Detroit's Own,
Detroit Suburban (no affiliation with
Suburban/SKS), New Blood and Trads
219. Great Lakes was a compilation of
players playing NSA Class C, led by former
Plumbers and Pipefitters player Brad Cody.
Detroit's Own is a USSSA Class B team
from the Detroit area. Detroit Suburban was
a USSSA Class C team, obviously from
Detroit. New Blood is a Class D team from
the Indianapolis, Indiana area and Trads
219 is a Class B NSA team from Highland,
Indiana. New Blood might have been a little
underclassed for this tourney, but played
very well at times, showing they had the
tools to hang with upper teams.
In the first game, SKS played Trads, a team
they will figure to see many times this
season, so despite the indoor showdown, it
was still a match up that both teams were
excited to finally have. Trads took
advantage of some initial sloppy defense on
the part of SKS, and actually led 15-7
heading into the bottom of the last inning.
But the Street Kids would rally for eight
runs to tie the game, highlighted by a three
run home run by Nick Bishop, a three run
home run by Carl Underwood, and two
clutch rbi hits by rookie Scott Martin and
Jay Jeffery. In extra innings, SKS held
Trads scoreless then loaded the bases with
one out before Lanny Fisher ended the
game with a walk off grand slam, giving the
Kids a thrilling, come from behind win,
19-15.
In the second game, SKS played New
Blood and showed some excellent defense
en route to a 13-0 win. In the third game,
Street Kids defeated Detroit's Own, 9-1
and in the fourth game, SKS defeated Brad
Cody and Great Lakes Softball, 23-10. In
that game, Lanny Fisher and Mark
Hershberger combined for eight hits.
With the number one seed still in doubt, the
SKS team played Detroit Suburban, who
was 3-1 in round robin games and a defeat
of SKS would give them the number one
seed. But Street Kids came out strong,
putting up 10 runs in the first two innings on
their way to a 14-7 win, and a first place
seed.
In the semi final match, the Kids squared off
against Trads 219. Despite scoring nine runs
in the first two innings, the game was
actually close and the Kids only led 9-6
heading into the final inning. With the time
limit quickly approaching, the Kids put up
one more run and after the third out, the
Kids hustled onto the field for defense as
the Trads team was walking off the field.
According to the Dome time limit rules, no
new inning can start if the buzzer goes off,
and all players from the visiting team must
be off the field prior to the alarm going off.
Unfortunately for Trads, the alarm went off
as they were sprinting off the field,
preserving the Kids 10-6 win.
"I was kind of weird how the game ended,
but thats the rules," said Fisher after the
game.
In the championship game, which began
around 3:30am, SKS squared off against
Detroit's Own, who had the confidence,
being a Class B USSSA team, but not
enough offense as the Kids cruised to an
easy 10-2 win, giving them there second
Dome championship of 2009 and their
fourth straight Dome championship, dating
back to 2008.
"We have a really, really good team," Fisher
said during the break between the fourth
and fifth round robin game. "As long as we
play smart and play well as a team, we can
do some serious damage in 2009."
After a two week break, Street Kids (10-1
overall this season) will travel to Cincinnati,
Ohio for the first actual opening tournament
of the 2009 season.
The Street Kids/Suburban South/PAS
softball team traveled to Jackson, Michigan
this weekend for their second tournament of
the season in the Dome, where they won
their first tourney of the 2009 season back
in January. This time, the competition would
be much better.
With six teams listed in the event, tourney
director Rob Leete set the format with five
round robin games, where only the top four
teams would advance to a Final Four style,
single elimination format. With this new
format, it meant that teams needed to win as
many games as possible, hoping for a high
seed.
Along with SKS, the other five teams were:
Great Lakes Softball, Detroit's Own,
Detroit Suburban (no affiliation with
Suburban/SKS), New Blood and Trads
219. Great Lakes was a compilation of
players playing NSA Class C, led by former
Plumbers and Pipefitters player Brad Cody.
Detroit's Own is a USSSA Class B team
from the Detroit area. Detroit Suburban was
a USSSA Class C team, obviously from
Detroit. New Blood is a Class D team from
the Indianapolis, Indiana area and Trads
219 is a Class B NSA team from Highland,
Indiana. New Blood might have been a little
underclassed for this tourney, but played
very well at times, showing they had the
tools to hang with upper teams.
In the first game, SKS played Trads, a team
they will figure to see many times this
season, so despite the indoor showdown, it
was still a match up that both teams were
excited to finally have. Trads took
advantage of some initial sloppy defense on
the part of SKS, and actually led 15-7
heading into the bottom of the last inning.
But the Street Kids would rally for eight
runs to tie the game, highlighted by a three
run home run by Nick Bishop, a three run
home run by Carl Underwood, and two
clutch rbi hits by rookie Scott Martin and
Jay Jeffery. In extra innings, SKS held
Trads scoreless then loaded the bases with
one out before Lanny Fisher ended the
game with a walk off grand slam, giving the
Kids a thrilling, come from behind win,
19-15.
In the second game, SKS played New
Blood and showed some excellent defense
en route to a 13-0 win. In the third game,
Street Kids defeated Detroit's Own, 9-1
and in the fourth game, SKS defeated Brad
Cody and Great Lakes Softball, 23-10. In
that game, Lanny Fisher and Mark
Hershberger combined for eight hits.
With the number one seed still in doubt, the
SKS team played Detroit Suburban, who
was 3-1 in round robin games and a defeat
of SKS would give them the number one
seed. But Street Kids came out strong,
putting up 10 runs in the first two innings on
their way to a 14-7 win, and a first place
seed.
In the semi final match, the Kids squared off
against Trads 219. Despite scoring nine runs
in the first two innings, the game was
actually close and the Kids only led 9-6
heading into the final inning. With the time
limit quickly approaching, the Kids put up
one more run and after the third out, the
Kids hustled onto the field for defense as
the Trads team was walking off the field.
According to the Dome time limit rules, no
new inning can start if the buzzer goes off,
and all players from the visiting team must
be off the field prior to the alarm going off.
Unfortunately for Trads, the alarm went off
as they were sprinting off the field,
preserving the Kids 10-6 win.
"I was kind of weird how the game ended,
but thats the rules," said Fisher after the
game.
In the championship game, which began
around 3:30am, SKS squared off against
Detroit's Own, who had the confidence,
being a Class B USSSA team, but not
enough offense as the Kids cruised to an
easy 10-2 win, giving them there second
Dome championship of 2009 and their
fourth straight Dome championship, dating
back to 2008.
"We have a really, really good team," Fisher
said during the break between the fourth
and fifth round robin game. "As long as we
play smart and play well as a team, we can
do some serious damage in 2009."
After a two week break, Street Kids (10-1
overall this season) will travel to Cincinnati,
Ohio for the first actual opening tournament
of the 2009 season.
