Owensboro, KY 9/18/11
by TJ Jorgensen
What a weekend…
So many thoughts have gone through my mind over the past 24
hours after that last game against B&J Logging. I feel like Marv
Levy and SKS are the Buffalo Bills of softball. Lol. Instead of
writing this article from the perspective of a sports writer,
especially because I did my best to take readers that were
following along game by game through the experience with us, via
Twitter and Facebook. At one time on Sunday, we had 342
people constantly hitting “refresh” on the SKS main page where
the Twitter feed is located. I promise that we appreciate those that
followed along on our quest for the world series title, despite the
disappointing finish.
For those that want to go through every inning of all six games we
played this weekend, CLICK HERE to visit the Street Kids Fan
page on Facebook. For the rest that followed along, and knew
what happened in every inning of every game, I will give you the
condensed highlights. :)
We opened against the newly crowned ASA National Champions
Hustlers Softball, which featured former SKS player Brandon
Dillon. This game was really exciting to be a part of, as SKS
started slow, but luckily Hustlers did as well. Great defense by
both teams made this an extra special contest. As the innings wore
on, the offense heated up on both sides. By the seventh inning, the
Kids were down 29-24, and needed a rally. Terry Patesel started
the inning off with a single, and Jeremy Hochstetler followed. After
Joe Horvath drove in a run with a sac fly, and Jason Jeffery
grounded out to second for the second out, we were down to our
final out and down four runs. But we refused to give up. Leland
Schmucker hit a two run homer to bring the game to within two,
and we didn’t want to use our last home run, as that would give
Hustlers one back in the bottom of the seventh.
Scott Martin and Tim Austin followed Leland’s blast with singles
then Tony Hardiman drew a walk to load the bases. Then Fred
Schmucker drew an RBI walk to cut the lead to one. Then Nick
Bishop – who had a great day – came through with a clutch, two
run single to give the Kids a 30-29 lead. Terry Patesel lined out to
left to end the inning and now it was up to the defense to hold this
slim lead.
With only one of our two pitchers in Owensboro this weekend
(Steve Schroeder could not attend due to family obligations), and
Faron Miller being pinch hit for in the game, we were unable to
bring Miller back into the game, so we were left with an issue.
Thinking fast, I knew that Jay Jeffery and Nick Bishop have
pitched for us before in league, so with Tony Hardiman, an
infielder, in the game already as he pinch hit for Miller, I placed
Tony at third, moved Tim Austin from third to second and let Nick
Bishop close this one out for us. Nick has a unique knuckleball that
just floats and many one guy actually referred to his style on
Saturday as “church league knuckler” by the way he just tossed it
up and it bounced around. Lol. Bishop got the first batter to fly out
to Horvath in right and the second batter to ground out sharply to
Leland at shortstop. Bishop allowed the next batter to reach base
on a walk and that brought up #11, who had gone 4-for-5 in the
game so far, including two home runs. But this time, Hustlers had
no home runs to hit, but that didn’t stop this guy from blasting a
long, walk-off home run to right field! The walk off was in favor of
the Kids, however, as it went for the third out of the inning, as we
held on to win 30-29.
Fred and Leland Schmucker each had six hits in the win while
Jeremy Hochstetler, Scott Martin and Nick Bishop all added five
hits each to give the Kids our first win of the World Series.
The next game was against Reds Boys, who just made quick work
of Creative Design to advance to the second round. We had some
revenge in store for Reds, as they were the team that double
dipped us at the NSA State Championship just a few weeks
earlier. We beat Reds earlier in that tourney, but they came back
to take two from us and our state title, so we wanted to show them
they did not get our best games that day. We came out fast and in
a furry! We scored six in the first, eight in the second and with our
defense only allowing one run, we had Reds Boys against the
ropes, as they were now chasing 15-1. Entering the bottom of the
third, we said we wanted to give them all we had and our goal was
to leave them on the field, and that’s exactly what we did. Street
Kids scored seven more times to force the mercy rule and end the
game 21-1. Seven of the 10 batters in the lineup had three hits
each, while the other three guys still went a respectable 2-for-3.
We batted a robust .794 in that game (27 of 34) and only played
three innings.
Now understand something… our team has the utmost respect for
Reds Boys. These guys are one of the best teams in the Midwest
and they go about their work without talking trash, playing dirty
and they do it having fun with guys they have played with for many
years. But we were out to win that game with a statement. We
accomplished that and were very happy to move on to the next
round.
In the next round, we were pitted against WTP/Shenanagins of
Wisconsin, a team we faced last year in Minnesota at the ASA
National Championships. Shenanagins just finished beating John
Snyders and were looking forward to playing SKS again, and even
asked about our exciting outfielder from the ASA Nationals a year
ago. I reminded him it was Scott Martin and yes, he was right over
there. As I pointed to him, Scott was in the middle of a loud "let's
play some ball boys" from the top of his lungs while slamming his
hands on the dirt. Lol. WTP was excited to get to this point, but
with the way we were playing, it would not have mattered who
took the field against us.
Street Kids came out hard and fast, scoring 16 runs in the first two
innings and never looked back on their way to a 29-5 win and a
trip to the winners bracket finals. That very same Scott Martin led
the team with five hits, including a home run and four rbi's and
Jeremy Hochstetler, Joe Horvath, Jay Jeffery, Leland Schmucker
and Nick Bishop all added four hits each in the win.
Sitting in the winners bracket finals was Hub City/Berties, who
beat Softball Fans, B&J Logging and Plumbers and
Pipefitters/Suburban to earn their trip this far. Berties - just like
Hustlers - just came off winning the ASA National title as well
(different region) just two short weeks ago. So they were looking
for that same magic to carry them to another title, but to do that,
they would have to get by SKS, and we were hungry for our third
straight trip to the finals of a world or national tournament. The
excitement was built up for a while, but this one would be all Street
Kids.
It would the middle to bottom of the order that would carry the
load for us in this game as the 5-10 batters in our lineup combined
to go 26-for-28 against Berties and that would be enough to lead
Street Kids to a thunderous 28-9 win and a trip to the finals of the
World Series. Out of the 10 batters in our lineup, seven of them
had at least four hits. Leland Schmucker - who went 18-for-19 in
four games on Saturday - had five hits, along with Faron Miller,
who also had five hits and pitched outstanding for most of the
tournament.
As we left the ballpark Saturday night to get rest at the hotel and
prepare for Sundays championship game, the Kids had some
stunning numbers:
Fred and Leland Schmucker combined to go 33-for-36 on
Saturday.
Nick Bishop - who played flawless defense and really has stepped
up as one of the best second basemen in the Midwest - went 15-
for-17 on Saturday.
In four games on Saturday, we scored 108 runs in just 18 innings,
an average of six runs every inning.
Of the four games, Street Kids beat three of the four at least 19
runs.
We defeated two newly crowned ASA National Champions.
We got a little revenge on the NSA "B" Indiana State Champions,
who just a few weeks earlier double dipped SKS in the finals of
the state tourney.
But Saturday was over, teams were left to slug it out and find out
who would earn a chance to play Street Kids in the finals.
Whoever it would be, would have to beat this same team that was
averaging 27 runs per game TWICE. Many people at the park on
Saturday night said SKS looked unstoppable. Even an NSA
official said "this one might be quick on Sunday." But this is why
the games are played.
B&J Logging would be the team to come out of the losers bracket
to play SKS in the finals. B&J just beat Plumbers and then Berties
to get to the finals and knew they would need some more
firepower to defeat SKS twice. They were up for the challenge.
But so were we. Or so we thought. Prior to the game, one of our
players who was a part of the 2009 "B" World Series finalist team
that lost to Laser Show reminded everyone it would not happen
again. In 2009, SKS reached the finals of the world series, only to
be double dipped by Laser Show for the title. In 2010, SKS made
it to the finals of the ASA National Championship in Minnesota,
only to lose to a red hot Pope Transport team. So as the saying
goes, "third times the charm". But it would not be that easy.
Street Kids started very slow in the first game against B&J, but
thankfully, B&J did as well. This one would go back and forth but
a seven run fourth inning, followed by a six run fifth inning opened
the game up for B&J until we stormed back with five runs in the
sixth. Heading into the top of the seventh inning, B&J led 20-17.
We only managed one solo home run and that was it as we lost for
the first time in the tournament, 20-18, forcing the "if" game.
The tough part about "if" games is the pressure is no longer on the
losers bracket team. With the momentum shift, WE now had the
pressure to hang on and win the world title. In order to do so, we
would have to find that special something that enables SKS to beat
two ASA world champions and an NSA state champion on
Saturday. We would have to figure out what made us average 27
runs per game on Saturday. We needed that same feeling we had
on Saturday to be with us on Sunday. But that feeling is something
that would never return.
Unlike on Saturday when the middle to bottom half of the lineup
carried SKS, in this game, the middle to top would step up in the
"if" game. B&J had a few big innings, including an 11 run second
innng and a six run fourth inning. The Kids offense was spread out,
scoring six in the first and five in the fourth and four in the fifth. The
Kids had the hammer, so they would get last at bats so after six full
innings, Street Kids took the field in the top of the seventh with a
slim 21-20 lead, thanks to a big two run single by Joe Horvath.
Even though B&J had a home run to hit (actually two, but if they
hit more than one, they would give one back to us, so their goal
was to use one), I was beaming with confidence because our
defense had been nearly flawless all weekend. Our infield played
better than we had all year and the outfielder made great plays all
weekend. After a single and a walk, pitcher Faron Miller got the
number three hitter to fly out to center and the number four hitter to
fly out to left. The lead off batter, who singled earlier was able to
move up to third base on the fly out. With two outs and the Kids
leading 21-20, Faron got the first pitch to fall for a strike. At this
point, I am now biting my nails knowing we are one strike away
from our world title. But on the very next pitch, the big #44
crushed a line drive home run that gave B&J the lead. They would
put on a few more and now lead 26-21.
We had one shot left. We needed to score five to tie it and six to
capture the crown. Jeff Crawford lead off with a triple to right, but
Tim Austin grounded out sharply to third, thus preventing
Crawford from scoring. Faron Miller came up big with an rbi
double then he was followed by a Fred Schmucker single. With
runners on first and third, one run in and only one out, Nick Bishop
came to the plate. The winning run was only a few batters away,
so we just needed to buy a few more hits, and we had an out to
work with. Bishop hit a hard ground ball that looked to make it
through the infield, but the second baseman made a great stop and
made the attempt to turn the game ending double play. They got
Fred out at second, but had no chance at Bishop at first. Faron did
score from third on the fielders choice, so with two out, the Kids
were down by just three. We had the top of the lineup due up,
with the tying run on deck. But any chance we had at a comeback
- at winning a world title - was vanquished when Terry Patesels
screaming ground ball was fielded by the second baseman, who
was playing in short right field to take away any gapping ground
balls, who threw to second for the force, and giving B&J Logging
a thrilling, double dip world title.
As we stood there on the field watching B&J players hug one
another in excitement, all we could do is stand there and realize
that we just had our world title taken away. Did we give it away?
No. We didnt play our best on Sunday, but we did score 18 runs
in the first game and 23 in the second. Also we didnt get blown
out. We lost by two runs and three runs. More importantly, we lost
to a team that played better.
Congratulations to all-world selections Jeremy Hochstetler, Scott
Martin, Fred Schmucker and Leland Schmucker. But as a team,
we did really well this weekend. We picked each other up, our
chemistry was awesome, our defense was stifling, and our offense
was great - albeit except for the two that mattered the most.
Congratulations to B&J Logging. You guys deserved it, and even
though the pain of what happened Sunday is still with us (I still
havent slept, and three guys I talked to today still cannot get over
it), it will reside. For four games on Saturday, we played like world
champions. But when we needed to play our best, B&J Logging
did us one better.
_________________________________________________
by TJ Jorgensen
What a weekend…
So many thoughts have gone through my mind over the past 24
hours after that last game against B&J Logging. I feel like Marv
Levy and SKS are the Buffalo Bills of softball. Lol. Instead of
writing this article from the perspective of a sports writer,
especially because I did my best to take readers that were
following along game by game through the experience with us, via
Twitter and Facebook. At one time on Sunday, we had 342
people constantly hitting “refresh” on the SKS main page where
the Twitter feed is located. I promise that we appreciate those that
followed along on our quest for the world series title, despite the
disappointing finish.
For those that want to go through every inning of all six games we
played this weekend, CLICK HERE to visit the Street Kids Fan
page on Facebook. For the rest that followed along, and knew
what happened in every inning of every game, I will give you the
condensed highlights. :)
We opened against the newly crowned ASA National Champions
Hustlers Softball, which featured former SKS player Brandon
Dillon. This game was really exciting to be a part of, as SKS
started slow, but luckily Hustlers did as well. Great defense by
both teams made this an extra special contest. As the innings wore
on, the offense heated up on both sides. By the seventh inning, the
Kids were down 29-24, and needed a rally. Terry Patesel started
the inning off with a single, and Jeremy Hochstetler followed. After
Joe Horvath drove in a run with a sac fly, and Jason Jeffery
grounded out to second for the second out, we were down to our
final out and down four runs. But we refused to give up. Leland
Schmucker hit a two run homer to bring the game to within two,
and we didn’t want to use our last home run, as that would give
Hustlers one back in the bottom of the seventh.
Scott Martin and Tim Austin followed Leland’s blast with singles
then Tony Hardiman drew a walk to load the bases. Then Fred
Schmucker drew an RBI walk to cut the lead to one. Then Nick
Bishop – who had a great day – came through with a clutch, two
run single to give the Kids a 30-29 lead. Terry Patesel lined out to
left to end the inning and now it was up to the defense to hold this
slim lead.
With only one of our two pitchers in Owensboro this weekend
(Steve Schroeder could not attend due to family obligations), and
Faron Miller being pinch hit for in the game, we were unable to
bring Miller back into the game, so we were left with an issue.
Thinking fast, I knew that Jay Jeffery and Nick Bishop have
pitched for us before in league, so with Tony Hardiman, an
infielder, in the game already as he pinch hit for Miller, I placed
Tony at third, moved Tim Austin from third to second and let Nick
Bishop close this one out for us. Nick has a unique knuckleball that
just floats and many one guy actually referred to his style on
Saturday as “church league knuckler” by the way he just tossed it
up and it bounced around. Lol. Bishop got the first batter to fly out
to Horvath in right and the second batter to ground out sharply to
Leland at shortstop. Bishop allowed the next batter to reach base
on a walk and that brought up #11, who had gone 4-for-5 in the
game so far, including two home runs. But this time, Hustlers had
no home runs to hit, but that didn’t stop this guy from blasting a
long, walk-off home run to right field! The walk off was in favor of
the Kids, however, as it went for the third out of the inning, as we
held on to win 30-29.
Fred and Leland Schmucker each had six hits in the win while
Jeremy Hochstetler, Scott Martin and Nick Bishop all added five
hits each to give the Kids our first win of the World Series.
The next game was against Reds Boys, who just made quick work
of Creative Design to advance to the second round. We had some
revenge in store for Reds, as they were the team that double
dipped us at the NSA State Championship just a few weeks
earlier. We beat Reds earlier in that tourney, but they came back
to take two from us and our state title, so we wanted to show them
they did not get our best games that day. We came out fast and in
a furry! We scored six in the first, eight in the second and with our
defense only allowing one run, we had Reds Boys against the
ropes, as they were now chasing 15-1. Entering the bottom of the
third, we said we wanted to give them all we had and our goal was
to leave them on the field, and that’s exactly what we did. Street
Kids scored seven more times to force the mercy rule and end the
game 21-1. Seven of the 10 batters in the lineup had three hits
each, while the other three guys still went a respectable 2-for-3.
We batted a robust .794 in that game (27 of 34) and only played
three innings.
Now understand something… our team has the utmost respect for
Reds Boys. These guys are one of the best teams in the Midwest
and they go about their work without talking trash, playing dirty
and they do it having fun with guys they have played with for many
years. But we were out to win that game with a statement. We
accomplished that and were very happy to move on to the next
round.
In the next round, we were pitted against WTP/Shenanagins of
Wisconsin, a team we faced last year in Minnesota at the ASA
National Championships. Shenanagins just finished beating John
Snyders and were looking forward to playing SKS again, and even
asked about our exciting outfielder from the ASA Nationals a year
ago. I reminded him it was Scott Martin and yes, he was right over
there. As I pointed to him, Scott was in the middle of a loud "let's
play some ball boys" from the top of his lungs while slamming his
hands on the dirt. Lol. WTP was excited to get to this point, but
with the way we were playing, it would not have mattered who
took the field against us.
Street Kids came out hard and fast, scoring 16 runs in the first two
innings and never looked back on their way to a 29-5 win and a
trip to the winners bracket finals. That very same Scott Martin led
the team with five hits, including a home run and four rbi's and
Jeremy Hochstetler, Joe Horvath, Jay Jeffery, Leland Schmucker
and Nick Bishop all added four hits each in the win.
Sitting in the winners bracket finals was Hub City/Berties, who
beat Softball Fans, B&J Logging and Plumbers and
Pipefitters/Suburban to earn their trip this far. Berties - just like
Hustlers - just came off winning the ASA National title as well
(different region) just two short weeks ago. So they were looking
for that same magic to carry them to another title, but to do that,
they would have to get by SKS, and we were hungry for our third
straight trip to the finals of a world or national tournament. The
excitement was built up for a while, but this one would be all Street
Kids.
It would the middle to bottom of the order that would carry the
load for us in this game as the 5-10 batters in our lineup combined
to go 26-for-28 against Berties and that would be enough to lead
Street Kids to a thunderous 28-9 win and a trip to the finals of the
World Series. Out of the 10 batters in our lineup, seven of them
had at least four hits. Leland Schmucker - who went 18-for-19 in
four games on Saturday - had five hits, along with Faron Miller,
who also had five hits and pitched outstanding for most of the
tournament.
As we left the ballpark Saturday night to get rest at the hotel and
prepare for Sundays championship game, the Kids had some
stunning numbers:
Fred and Leland Schmucker combined to go 33-for-36 on
Saturday.
Nick Bishop - who played flawless defense and really has stepped
up as one of the best second basemen in the Midwest - went 15-
for-17 on Saturday.
In four games on Saturday, we scored 108 runs in just 18 innings,
an average of six runs every inning.
Of the four games, Street Kids beat three of the four at least 19
runs.
We defeated two newly crowned ASA National Champions.
We got a little revenge on the NSA "B" Indiana State Champions,
who just a few weeks earlier double dipped SKS in the finals of
the state tourney.
But Saturday was over, teams were left to slug it out and find out
who would earn a chance to play Street Kids in the finals.
Whoever it would be, would have to beat this same team that was
averaging 27 runs per game TWICE. Many people at the park on
Saturday night said SKS looked unstoppable. Even an NSA
official said "this one might be quick on Sunday." But this is why
the games are played.
B&J Logging would be the team to come out of the losers bracket
to play SKS in the finals. B&J just beat Plumbers and then Berties
to get to the finals and knew they would need some more
firepower to defeat SKS twice. They were up for the challenge.
But so were we. Or so we thought. Prior to the game, one of our
players who was a part of the 2009 "B" World Series finalist team
that lost to Laser Show reminded everyone it would not happen
again. In 2009, SKS reached the finals of the world series, only to
be double dipped by Laser Show for the title. In 2010, SKS made
it to the finals of the ASA National Championship in Minnesota,
only to lose to a red hot Pope Transport team. So as the saying
goes, "third times the charm". But it would not be that easy.
Street Kids started very slow in the first game against B&J, but
thankfully, B&J did as well. This one would go back and forth but
a seven run fourth inning, followed by a six run fifth inning opened
the game up for B&J until we stormed back with five runs in the
sixth. Heading into the top of the seventh inning, B&J led 20-17.
We only managed one solo home run and that was it as we lost for
the first time in the tournament, 20-18, forcing the "if" game.
The tough part about "if" games is the pressure is no longer on the
losers bracket team. With the momentum shift, WE now had the
pressure to hang on and win the world title. In order to do so, we
would have to find that special something that enables SKS to beat
two ASA world champions and an NSA state champion on
Saturday. We would have to figure out what made us average 27
runs per game on Saturday. We needed that same feeling we had
on Saturday to be with us on Sunday. But that feeling is something
that would never return.
Unlike on Saturday when the middle to bottom half of the lineup
carried SKS, in this game, the middle to top would step up in the
"if" game. B&J had a few big innings, including an 11 run second
innng and a six run fourth inning. The Kids offense was spread out,
scoring six in the first and five in the fourth and four in the fifth. The
Kids had the hammer, so they would get last at bats so after six full
innings, Street Kids took the field in the top of the seventh with a
slim 21-20 lead, thanks to a big two run single by Joe Horvath.
Even though B&J had a home run to hit (actually two, but if they
hit more than one, they would give one back to us, so their goal
was to use one), I was beaming with confidence because our
defense had been nearly flawless all weekend. Our infield played
better than we had all year and the outfielder made great plays all
weekend. After a single and a walk, pitcher Faron Miller got the
number three hitter to fly out to center and the number four hitter to
fly out to left. The lead off batter, who singled earlier was able to
move up to third base on the fly out. With two outs and the Kids
leading 21-20, Faron got the first pitch to fall for a strike. At this
point, I am now biting my nails knowing we are one strike away
from our world title. But on the very next pitch, the big #44
crushed a line drive home run that gave B&J the lead. They would
put on a few more and now lead 26-21.
We had one shot left. We needed to score five to tie it and six to
capture the crown. Jeff Crawford lead off with a triple to right, but
Tim Austin grounded out sharply to third, thus preventing
Crawford from scoring. Faron Miller came up big with an rbi
double then he was followed by a Fred Schmucker single. With
runners on first and third, one run in and only one out, Nick Bishop
came to the plate. The winning run was only a few batters away,
so we just needed to buy a few more hits, and we had an out to
work with. Bishop hit a hard ground ball that looked to make it
through the infield, but the second baseman made a great stop and
made the attempt to turn the game ending double play. They got
Fred out at second, but had no chance at Bishop at first. Faron did
score from third on the fielders choice, so with two out, the Kids
were down by just three. We had the top of the lineup due up,
with the tying run on deck. But any chance we had at a comeback
- at winning a world title - was vanquished when Terry Patesels
screaming ground ball was fielded by the second baseman, who
was playing in short right field to take away any gapping ground
balls, who threw to second for the force, and giving B&J Logging
a thrilling, double dip world title.
As we stood there on the field watching B&J players hug one
another in excitement, all we could do is stand there and realize
that we just had our world title taken away. Did we give it away?
No. We didnt play our best on Sunday, but we did score 18 runs
in the first game and 23 in the second. Also we didnt get blown
out. We lost by two runs and three runs. More importantly, we lost
to a team that played better.
Congratulations to all-world selections Jeremy Hochstetler, Scott
Martin, Fred Schmucker and Leland Schmucker. But as a team,
we did really well this weekend. We picked each other up, our
chemistry was awesome, our defense was stifling, and our offense
was great - albeit except for the two that mattered the most.
Congratulations to B&J Logging. You guys deserved it, and even
though the pain of what happened Sunday is still with us (I still
havent slept, and three guys I talked to today still cannot get over
it), it will reside. For four games on Saturday, we played like world
champions. But when we needed to play our best, B&J Logging
did us one better.
_________________________________________________
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