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Street Kids Make Good Showing in Kentucky

Team goes 2-2 in World Softball League Class C Division

 

By Billy Hayes

 

Fort Mitchell, KY

 

The first real tournament of the year for the Street Kids Softball/Tanel360 team was a respectable showing.  The Kids went on the road for the first time this season to play in the World Softball League’s Annual “Bash for Cash” in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.

 

Hampered by a last second “no-show” by Dean Schmidt, the kids got a sparkling performance from his replacement in the lineup, Scott Goodwin, who met the team at their hotel at 2am Saturday morning. The players did well performing in less than ideal conditions with the temps dipping down into the 20’s with strong winds making it feel like it was December, and not March.

 

“It was cold,” stated manager TJ Jorgensen, who had his own personal problems throughout the weekend. “I know that this was our first tournament of the year, but I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be THAT cold, but Sunday did end up nice.”

 

Jorgensen, who spent Saturday afternoon and all night in a Cincinnati hospital for an out of control abscessed tooth which lead to a severely swollen face, was optimistic of the weekend.

 

“Given the situation, being our first tournament of the year, I thought we did well,” Jorgensen added. “We hit over .700 as a team, and a couple of guys did exceptionally well. We made a few untimely errors, and the field conditions were terrible, but hey…it’s March.”

 

Several players had great performances this weekend.  Among them, Goodwin, who batted .875 with an OB % (on base percentage) of .882 - both team highs - Brian Lange, who hit .846 with an OB% .867, and only made two outs the entire two days and played near flawless defense, and Joe Horvath did well with and .833 batting average, and an OB% of .842 to go with 14 RBI’s.  Tony Hardiman and Joe Richard also had a great tournament, as did Shane Varga and Nick Bishop. To view the complete box score, click here.

 

Game one saw the Kids (9-6 overall this year) come out with a “guns-a-blazin” offensive output, with the traditionally slow starting Kids banging out a 10 spot in the first inning.

 

“It showed how important this tournament was, we didn’t go out late on Friday night, and the team really took a businesslike attitude into Saturday morning,” stated utility man JR Shapiro.  “It gives us a good base to start with, knocking out 10 in the first inning was important to setting the tone early.”

 

With the offensive output early in the game, the Kids kept pouring it on and ended up winning the first game 31-19.  Leading the charge in the first game with five hits was Hardiman (including a home run), also contributing four hits each were Horvath, Goodwin, “Sugar” Shane Varga and Lange.

 

Game two saw the wheels come off the bus early, with a very good hitting Tiger Fitness team jumping out to an early 9-1 lead in the first two innings. However, the scrappy bunch of Kids battled back to score nine in the top of the third, and saw the usually mild mannered pitcher Lanny Fisher get ejected from the game for throwing his bat.

 

“I just lost my cool, but the umpire was very unprofessional,” said the emotionally charged pitcher. “I have been playing for over 20 years, and I have rarely seen so many missed calls.”

 

The ejection cost the team, as Tiger Fitness took full advantage of the situation and scored seven in the bottom of the third inning, as outfielder-turned-new-pitcher Terry Patesel, who also pounded out three hits in the game, pitched well and helped keep the team in the game.  The fourth inning saw the kids knock out six runs highlighted by a two run homerun from Varga. However, defensive lapses in the bottom of the fifth (four errors) made the deficit too far for the Kids to overcome, and they fell 27-17.

 

The third game of the day showed the heart that the Street Kids team can have.  A scrappy bunch of M&S Drywallers put up an early five spot in the top of the first inning, but the kids battled back to score five of their own in the bottom of the first. After giving up one more run, the Kids took the lead on a two run home run by Fisher, and the kids tacked on six in the bottom of the second inning. After giving up a three run home run to “Fatty Redpants” the kids scored one of their own in bottom of the third, and then the fireworks began....

 

The fourth saw M&S bang out 12  runs in the top of the inning, but that was not enough to contain the force of what was to come from the Kids in the next two innings.  In the bottom of the fourth they countered with 10 runs, highlighted by a home run by Jason Fowler, that at first was estimated at an incredible 1,249 feet (which went farther than WSL home run champion Brett Helmer’s Ruthian blasts in the home run derby on Friday night) but was later changed to around 350 feet.  The fifth inning saw the Kids put the game on ice, adding on 12 more runs to close out the game, winning 34-23.

 

The leading hitters in the game, were Hardiman, Horvath, Patesel, Varga, Jorgensen and Richard all with four hits each.

 

“That was an amazing offensive output,” stated rookie SK player Bill Hayes. “It was really impressive - I think that Fowler’s home run went at least 2,000 feet.” 

 

The results of the offensive output helped the kids earn a two seed in their bracket, and a late start time of 10:20 am on Sunday against another 2-1 team, Oakley Blacktop. It turns out that the Kids needed the break as back at the hotel on Sunday morning, Jorgensen was just getting back from the 19-hour stay at the hospital for infection he attained.

 

“He didn’t look to good,” stated infielder Danny Fleming. “I think that the overnight stay helped him out.  He did look better when he got back to the hotel and we’re just glad he’s okay.” 

 

Rising from the hospital bed, Jorgensen was rushed from the hotel and out to the field in time to play the 10:20 game. Several members of the team had begun to feel the effects of both time and the late night rabble-rousing, and were a little tight to start the game. Despite the late night, the Kids came out strong in the first inning and put up nine runs, highlighted by Richard’s three run dinger, his fourth of the tournament. After scoring one run in the next two innings, they managed three in the fourth and that left the kids trailing 16-13. 

 

In the fifth inning, the Kids came out and put up eight runs, and taking the lead back from a tough hitting Oakley team, came back to score six more of theirr own, making the score after six innings, 23-21 in favor of Oakley.  The excitement of the seventh inning began, and the kids needed two runs to stay alive.  Stepping up to the pressure, former world champion Lanny Fisher started off the inning with a double, followed by a home run by Horvath that tied the game at 23 each.

 

Scott Goodwin, Dean Schmidt’s last minute replacement, hit a solo home run that gave the kids a 24-23 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh and final inning. The kids took to the field with the pressure on their shoulders to hold the slim lead. Oakley started with a single to center from the lead off batter, then the very next batter took a swing that would crush the hopes of the Kids bid to advance in the tournament, hitting a walk off, two run home run by H.P. Cherrybomb, ending the tournament for the street kids and sending them packing on the 400 mile trip back home. The final score stood at 25-24.

 

Overall it was a good tournament especially for March.  There were some up and down moments especially starting on Friday at 6:30pm, after the team was checked in to the hotel, when the Kids got the bad news that All-World player Schmidt would not be making the trip. The other star player who was missing from the team was Johnny Simpson, one the best outfielders in the country, who was called back to work after a short layoff. Schmidt was unavailable for comment, as his phone was powered off. Then the team had to deal with Jorgensen’s infection problem. It was an interesting weekend to say the least.

 

“We could have used his offense, no doubt about it,” Jorgensen said of Schmidt. “He’s that good of a player and he can change the outcome of games. But I think Goodwin filled in rather nicely.

 

Other players were not as diplomatic.

 

“He’s a (expletive) a-hole,” said former teammate of Schmidt Terry Patesel. “That’s what you get from Dean. He’s a good player, but those who know him, know the kind of guy he is.” 

 

In the end it was a good experience for the Street Kids, as the things that need to be worked on will be addressed. There is practice scheduled for Saturday at 12pm at Boland Baseball field in South Bend. The entire team is expected to appear. This will be the first full workout for the team, as they prepare for their next tournament on April 7th in Warsaw, Indiana.