Underwood Returns to Lineup With a
Bang; Kids Roll to 4th Tourney Win
Bang; Kids Roll to 4th Tourney Win
| This portion of Street Kids Softball is brought to you by: |
Mishawaka, IN-
Carl Underwood made his long awaited return to the Street
Kids lineup just in time.
The 50-year old veteran slugger went 14-for-16 including a
team leading six home runs and 20 rbi's to help lead the
Street Kids/Easton/PAS softball team to win the 2008 MSA
Championship in Mishawaka, their fourth tournament win of
the 2008 season. He also added a double and two walks in
only five of the seven games. He was named tourney MVP.
"With my work schedule, its been hard to make games," said
the powerful Underwood, who has been working 14-16
hours a day for seven days a week for about a month. "It
felt good to get back on the field with the guys."
Terry Patesel made his 2008 debut with the Kids (30-5 overall) and the 42-year old showed no signs of
slowing down, going 18-for-25 at the plate.
"I always enjoy playing with the Kids," said the veteran former world champion. "I'm glad I could get down
here to Indiana (he's from Kalamazoo) and play with my brother (Joe Richard) and my friends."
Street Kids won for the fourth time in six tournaments this season. They won their first two events in
Jackson, Michigan and won a tournament in Warsaw, Indiana in late March. They will return to the field
this coming weekend to defend their championship at the 2nd Annual Al Fisher Memorial, held in honor of
the late Al Fisher of Buchanan, Michigan.
In the MSA Championship, all 16 teams played on Saturday in pool
play, where they were scheduled to play three games each. The teams
will then be seated according to their record for the single elimination
portion of the event on Sunday. The Kids opened against Outsider
Softball and despite a slow start to the game, exploded for 13 runs in
the top of the seventh inning to win 24-4. Jamie Everett had five hits
including a home run and five rbi's, while Jake Underwood and his
father Carl, both had four hits each. The younger Underwood homered
and doubled, while the elder homered twice and drove in seven runs.
The second game pitted the Kids against Team Worth, a very good
team that they will see several times this season, but in this game, the
Kids scored a season low four runs and lost 8-4. Jake Underwood homered and drove in two runs but
Worth played great defense and took advantage of a few SKS errors and squeezed out the victory.
In the final game of pool play, SKS played Midwest Sales, a good young team, but the Kids put up nine
runs in the top of the first inning, and it would prove to be enough, winning 17-8 and finishing with the
number two seed from their pool. Jamie Everett had four hits, including two home runs in the win.
On Sunday morning,
SKS opened the single
elimination tournament
against Grace Community Church, who featured a few veteran players and some good young players as
well. The Kids were
without pitcher Lanny
Fisher, who had a
previous engagement.
This game would not be
one of the Kids best, but
you would not think so
by the final score. Both
teams battled back and
forth; Grace put up seven
runs in the first two innings
but the Kids answered
back with 10 in the
second. The game went
back and forth until the
sixth inning when Grace put 12 runs on the board to take a 27-21 lead. But thats when the Kids bats got
hot, putting up 12 of their own in the bottom of the sixth and holding off to beat Grace, 33-27 and send
them home for the day. Terry Patesel had five hits, including a home run and five rbi's, while Carl
Underwood also had five hits, including two key home runs. Joe Richard added four hits and drove in three
runs in the win.
The next round game featured a rematch against
Outsiders, but the Kids defense was red hot,
twice working out of a bases loaded, no-out jam
and went on to win 15-0 in four innings. Jake
Underwood had three hits, including a home
run to help in the win.
The semi-final game pitted another rematch, this
time against Midwest Sales, who just came away
from upsetting a powerful Team Worth to make
it to the final four of the tournament. But Street
Kids proved to be too much, putting up 10 runs
in the first, cruising to a 15-4 win, and advancing
to the championship game. Lanny Fisher had
three hits, including his fourth home run of the
season to aid in the victory.
SKS was now in the title game, and awaited the winner of
AMD/Dicks (formerly PNA) and Niezgodski Plumbing, a
team made up of several good players from Mishawaka.
AMD, a very good tournament team, lost by one run on a
controversial call and Niezgodski advanced to the finals
against Street Kids.
The championship was set as the Kids were set to square off
against Niezgodski, but Niezgodski just could not get anything
going against the great SKS defense. The Kids scored in every
inning, putting up seven runs in the top of the sixth inning, and
along with the Kids holding Niezgodski hitless for 10 of the final
13 batters, the Kids went on to win easily, 22-6, and win their
fourth tournament of the season.
Tony Hardiman had five hits, including a double and two triples,
while the brother tandem of Terry Patesel and Joe Richard each added three hits a piece in the victory.
Jake Underwood finished with five home runs, giving him a team high 16 for the season, while Shane Varga
reached base 15 out of 22 plate appearances, showing signs of returning to his form of last season, when he
won the batting title.
Overall the Kids had a team on base percentage of .617, not where they need to be to win some bigger
tournaments, but enough to win this weekend. When some players struggled, others stepped up to carry the
load.
After the Al Fisher Memorial this coming weekend, the Kids will travel to Kalamazoo for a big Class B/C
NSA NIT tournament, where they expect to see some of the best teams from Northern Indiana and middle
to lower Michigan.
Carl Underwood made his long awaited return to the Street
Kids lineup just in time.
The 50-year old veteran slugger went 14-for-16 including a
team leading six home runs and 20 rbi's to help lead the
Street Kids/Easton/PAS softball team to win the 2008 MSA
Championship in Mishawaka, their fourth tournament win of
the 2008 season. He also added a double and two walks in
only five of the seven games. He was named tourney MVP.
"With my work schedule, its been hard to make games," said
the powerful Underwood, who has been working 14-16
hours a day for seven days a week for about a month. "It
felt good to get back on the field with the guys."
Terry Patesel made his 2008 debut with the Kids (30-5 overall) and the 42-year old showed no signs of
slowing down, going 18-for-25 at the plate.
"I always enjoy playing with the Kids," said the veteran former world champion. "I'm glad I could get down
here to Indiana (he's from Kalamazoo) and play with my brother (Joe Richard) and my friends."
Street Kids won for the fourth time in six tournaments this season. They won their first two events in
Jackson, Michigan and won a tournament in Warsaw, Indiana in late March. They will return to the field
this coming weekend to defend their championship at the 2nd Annual Al Fisher Memorial, held in honor of
the late Al Fisher of Buchanan, Michigan.
In the MSA Championship, all 16 teams played on Saturday in pool
play, where they were scheduled to play three games each. The teams
will then be seated according to their record for the single elimination
portion of the event on Sunday. The Kids opened against Outsider
Softball and despite a slow start to the game, exploded for 13 runs in
the top of the seventh inning to win 24-4. Jamie Everett had five hits
including a home run and five rbi's, while Jake Underwood and his
father Carl, both had four hits each. The younger Underwood homered
and doubled, while the elder homered twice and drove in seven runs.
The second game pitted the Kids against Team Worth, a very good
team that they will see several times this season, but in this game, the
Kids scored a season low four runs and lost 8-4. Jake Underwood homered and drove in two runs but
Worth played great defense and took advantage of a few SKS errors and squeezed out the victory.
In the final game of pool play, SKS played Midwest Sales, a good young team, but the Kids put up nine
runs in the top of the first inning, and it would prove to be enough, winning 17-8 and finishing with the
number two seed from their pool. Jamie Everett had four hits, including two home runs in the win.
On Sunday morning,
SKS opened the single
elimination tournament
against Grace Community Church, who featured a few veteran players and some good young players as
well. The Kids were
without pitcher Lanny
Fisher, who had a
previous engagement.
This game would not be
one of the Kids best, but
you would not think so
by the final score. Both
teams battled back and
forth; Grace put up seven
runs in the first two innings
but the Kids answered
back with 10 in the
second. The game went
back and forth until the
sixth inning when Grace put 12 runs on the board to take a 27-21 lead. But thats when the Kids bats got
hot, putting up 12 of their own in the bottom of the sixth and holding off to beat Grace, 33-27 and send
them home for the day. Terry Patesel had five hits, including a home run and five rbi's, while Carl
Underwood also had five hits, including two key home runs. Joe Richard added four hits and drove in three
runs in the win.
The next round game featured a rematch against
Outsiders, but the Kids defense was red hot,
twice working out of a bases loaded, no-out jam
and went on to win 15-0 in four innings. Jake
Underwood had three hits, including a home
run to help in the win.
The semi-final game pitted another rematch, this
time against Midwest Sales, who just came away
from upsetting a powerful Team Worth to make
it to the final four of the tournament. But Street
Kids proved to be too much, putting up 10 runs
in the first, cruising to a 15-4 win, and advancing
to the championship game. Lanny Fisher had
three hits, including his fourth home run of the
season to aid in the victory.
SKS was now in the title game, and awaited the winner of
AMD/Dicks (formerly PNA) and Niezgodski Plumbing, a
team made up of several good players from Mishawaka.
AMD, a very good tournament team, lost by one run on a
controversial call and Niezgodski advanced to the finals
against Street Kids.
The championship was set as the Kids were set to square off
against Niezgodski, but Niezgodski just could not get anything
going against the great SKS defense. The Kids scored in every
inning, putting up seven runs in the top of the sixth inning, and
along with the Kids holding Niezgodski hitless for 10 of the final
13 batters, the Kids went on to win easily, 22-6, and win their
fourth tournament of the season.
Tony Hardiman had five hits, including a double and two triples,
while the brother tandem of Terry Patesel and Joe Richard each added three hits a piece in the victory.
Jake Underwood finished with five home runs, giving him a team high 16 for the season, while Shane Varga
reached base 15 out of 22 plate appearances, showing signs of returning to his form of last season, when he
won the batting title.
Overall the Kids had a team on base percentage of .617, not where they need to be to win some bigger
tournaments, but enough to win this weekend. When some players struggled, others stepped up to carry the
load.
After the Al Fisher Memorial this coming weekend, the Kids will travel to Kalamazoo for a big Class B/C
NSA NIT tournament, where they expect to see some of the best teams from Northern Indiana and middle
to lower Michigan.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|