BC Naz/Street Kids Finish Tied for 5th at Nationals!
Labor Day Weekend, 2010....
The National Nazarene Tournament has not always been kind to
Beavercreek Church of the Naz. The format of the tourney is
everybody starts in the main bracket on Saturday and depending on
how you do – all teams play a single elimination tourney on Monday.
The guys from Beavercreek again drew an early game on Saturday
morning against West Chester Naz. The tough breaks just kept on
coming as in the top of the first inning clean-up hitter Joe Noya
smoked a ball to the fence knocking in two runs, however, as he
rounded 1st base he felt a pop in his foot – and not only was he
tagged out – he also was done for the tournament. This was not the
way the Naz wanted to start this weekend. They followed up their
two run top of first by playing perhaps their worst defense of the year
committing three errors and allowing five un-earned runs.
West Chester held the lead most of the game until the Naz busted
out for five in the sixth and four more in the seventh to capture a
tourney opening 17-9 victory.
In round number two, the Naz played a team from Marion, OH –
Soldiers of the Cross. After a slow start in the first inning, the Naz
only needed three ore at bats to secure a victory. James Mummert
slid into the clean-up spot vacated by Noya injury and felt right at
home hitting his first over the fence homerun of the tournament
highlighting a seven run inning and powering the Naz to a 16-6
victory. Besides Mummert, the Naz got great production from Nate
Reeves, Matt Bohlman and Ron Runyan: all three went three for three.
As with all tournaments as you keep playing the competition gets tougher. The example here was the team from Columbia Tn. They came out
of the parking lot swinging and hits were landing everywhere. The visitors from the south put up ten runs before the fans could settle into their
seats – this game would show the Naz exactly what they were made of. Mummert launched another home run in the bottom of the first giving
the Naz a three spot to make it a little closer. This game would not end the way the guys from the Creek wanted it to, but they battled the
entire way – in fact after trailing twice by ten runs – they had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning. The rally ended
there, however, so the Naz would find themselves in the loser’s bracket for the rest of Saturday.
After a break for lunch, the Naz moved parks and found the team from Muncie Indiana waiting on them. A slow start was again the order of
the day as the Naz found themselves trailing seven to one after three innings. As they did earlier though they battled back, they scratched and
clawed all the way to take a twelve to nine lead going to the bottom of the seventh. The big blow was a three run homer from Ron Runyan to
give the locals the lead. In the bottom of the inning the Naz had two outs and Muncie had two guys on and up stepped the right center fielder
for Muncie. He homered in his fist at bat and there was a thought of putting him on base, but after some discussion it was decided to pitch to
him. Bad decision – he launched a three run homerun and the game was tied.
The game then went to extra innings and to a one-pitch format. Beavercreek scored three to put some pressure on Muncie, but Muncie
loaded the bases with one out, then after an out – had back-to-back hits to win the game 16-15.
It was a strong offensive effort by many from Beavercreek; Bohlmann, Reeves and Shawn Kitchin all reached base four times, Runyan was
on base all five times he came to the plate and Johnny King reached base all six times he went to the plate.
The loss put the Naz in the B tournament on Monday, this tournament is for all of the teams who are not still in the main tournament and who
did not lose their first two games on Saturday. Since the main draw only had eight teams left it goes without saying that there would be some
really good teams in this bracket as Saturday morning started with 78 teams in the main bracket.
Monday morning found the Naz back up playing an early game at Rumpke Park in Cincinnati against another team from Marion – The
Apostles. The Naz got a shot of energy Monday morning as TJ Mummert was home from college for the day to assist them. This one was
close for three innings, but then put up a big number in the fourth inning – scoring seven runs and putting the game out of reach. The Naz won
the game 13-1 in five innings. Mummert provided that needed spark with a triple and inside the park home run in his first game. Kitchin was
on all four times and King also had three hits to start the holiday Monday.
Game number two of the day found the Naz against Hope Community and this would turn into the Mummert show. James launched a no
doubter to deep right field giving the Naz a three run edge in the top of the first. The Naz coasted to a 9-4 victory with the Mummert boys
combining for six runs knocked in. King continued his hot Monday with three more hits.
The Naz would turn right around and play a team from Brighton Michigan in the next round. This one was over pretty quickly as the Naz
jumped out to an eight to one lead after three innings. James Mummert again set the tone with a three run homer in inning number one. Not to
be outdone, TJ Mummert had a three run inside the park homer in his next at bat and the route was on. The Naz got contributions from the
entire roster in this one: Bohlmann, Sears and James Mummert all had three hits while TJ Mummert reached base all four times up. Tony
Copper and Charlie Caraher also knocked in runs during pinch-hit at bats. This victory put the Naz in the final eight of the B tournament; they
would get an hour off before playing their next opponent from Real Life.
Real Life won the flip and took the home team spot which put the Naz batting first. The first inning gave an indication this one could be a long
battle as both teams were able to make defensive plays to shut down rallies and have the scored tied at zero after one.
Real Life spends the next two innings crushing hits and circling the bases. When the dust settled they led fifteen to nothing after three innings, if
the Naz wanted to play longer they must start hitting right away.
The Naz showed some pride and put up four runs in the fourth inning with Nate Reeves knocking in one run and then Ron Runyan cleared the
bases with a double to knock in three more. The offensive outburst just seemed to ignite Real Life as well – they came to bat in the bottom of
the inning and quickly put four more runs up to end the game by a score of 19-4. It would not make the loss hurt any less – but the Real Life
squad would go onto win the B Tournament – ironically defeating another Naz opponent (from Columbia, TN) in the finals.
The Naz went 5-3 over the weekend and ended up tied for fifth place in the B tournament – this was the best finish ever by Beavercreek
Nazarene. The guys that made it to the tournament all enjoyed the weekend and it was a nice way to wrap up a season that had already seen
the squad take 2nd place in both of the leagues they are in plus they also took 2nd place in the State of Ohio Church tournament earlier in the
summer.
This was a full team effort, but some guys stood out as having outstanding weekends:
Johnny King hit .705 in the eight games and was in the middle of every rally that team had. King also anchored a busy left field for the entire
tourney.
TJ Mummert hit .786 on Monday in four games, you cannot coach or teach speed and TJ brings that to the team. He also enjoys sending
messages to opposing base runners from his spot in left center field.
James Mummert “only” hit .600, but blasted 5 bombs and knocked in sixteen runs when a big hit was needed – he came through.
Matt Bohlmann pitched every inning and threw strikes and played tough defense up the middle. He also hit .533 and added a home run as
well.
Nathan Reeves and Justin Sears hit .593 and .571 respectively and anchored the left side of the infield handling many hot shots.
Shawn Kitchin played the outfield and hit .533 for the weekend; he also had a couple of games where every thing he hit was a rocket.
Ron Runyan came out of semi-retirement to hit .556 with a huge three run homerun. He moved around defensively at first base and the
outfield.
Rick Hurley, Mike Mummert, Chad Millette, Charlie Caraher, Joe Noya, Mark Spitzke and Tony Copper also played a part in the success
of the team over the weekend.
The National Nazarene Tournament has not always been kind to
Beavercreek Church of the Naz. The format of the tourney is
everybody starts in the main bracket on Saturday and depending on
how you do – all teams play a single elimination tourney on Monday.
The guys from Beavercreek again drew an early game on Saturday
morning against West Chester Naz. The tough breaks just kept on
coming as in the top of the first inning clean-up hitter Joe Noya
smoked a ball to the fence knocking in two runs, however, as he
rounded 1st base he felt a pop in his foot – and not only was he
tagged out – he also was done for the tournament. This was not the
way the Naz wanted to start this weekend. They followed up their
two run top of first by playing perhaps their worst defense of the year
committing three errors and allowing five un-earned runs.
West Chester held the lead most of the game until the Naz busted
out for five in the sixth and four more in the seventh to capture a
tourney opening 17-9 victory.
In round number two, the Naz played a team from Marion, OH –
Soldiers of the Cross. After a slow start in the first inning, the Naz
only needed three ore at bats to secure a victory. James Mummert
slid into the clean-up spot vacated by Noya injury and felt right at
home hitting his first over the fence homerun of the tournament
highlighting a seven run inning and powering the Naz to a 16-6
victory. Besides Mummert, the Naz got great production from Nate
Reeves, Matt Bohlman and Ron Runyan: all three went three for three.
As with all tournaments as you keep playing the competition gets tougher. The example here was the team from Columbia Tn. They came out
of the parking lot swinging and hits were landing everywhere. The visitors from the south put up ten runs before the fans could settle into their
seats – this game would show the Naz exactly what they were made of. Mummert launched another home run in the bottom of the first giving
the Naz a three spot to make it a little closer. This game would not end the way the guys from the Creek wanted it to, but they battled the
entire way – in fact after trailing twice by ten runs – they had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning. The rally ended
there, however, so the Naz would find themselves in the loser’s bracket for the rest of Saturday.
After a break for lunch, the Naz moved parks and found the team from Muncie Indiana waiting on them. A slow start was again the order of
the day as the Naz found themselves trailing seven to one after three innings. As they did earlier though they battled back, they scratched and
clawed all the way to take a twelve to nine lead going to the bottom of the seventh. The big blow was a three run homer from Ron Runyan to
give the locals the lead. In the bottom of the inning the Naz had two outs and Muncie had two guys on and up stepped the right center fielder
for Muncie. He homered in his fist at bat and there was a thought of putting him on base, but after some discussion it was decided to pitch to
him. Bad decision – he launched a three run homerun and the game was tied.
The game then went to extra innings and to a one-pitch format. Beavercreek scored three to put some pressure on Muncie, but Muncie
loaded the bases with one out, then after an out – had back-to-back hits to win the game 16-15.
It was a strong offensive effort by many from Beavercreek; Bohlmann, Reeves and Shawn Kitchin all reached base four times, Runyan was
on base all five times he came to the plate and Johnny King reached base all six times he went to the plate.
The loss put the Naz in the B tournament on Monday, this tournament is for all of the teams who are not still in the main tournament and who
did not lose their first two games on Saturday. Since the main draw only had eight teams left it goes without saying that there would be some
really good teams in this bracket as Saturday morning started with 78 teams in the main bracket.
Monday morning found the Naz back up playing an early game at Rumpke Park in Cincinnati against another team from Marion – The
Apostles. The Naz got a shot of energy Monday morning as TJ Mummert was home from college for the day to assist them. This one was
close for three innings, but then put up a big number in the fourth inning – scoring seven runs and putting the game out of reach. The Naz won
the game 13-1 in five innings. Mummert provided that needed spark with a triple and inside the park home run in his first game. Kitchin was
on all four times and King also had three hits to start the holiday Monday.
Game number two of the day found the Naz against Hope Community and this would turn into the Mummert show. James launched a no
doubter to deep right field giving the Naz a three run edge in the top of the first. The Naz coasted to a 9-4 victory with the Mummert boys
combining for six runs knocked in. King continued his hot Monday with three more hits.
The Naz would turn right around and play a team from Brighton Michigan in the next round. This one was over pretty quickly as the Naz
jumped out to an eight to one lead after three innings. James Mummert again set the tone with a three run homer in inning number one. Not to
be outdone, TJ Mummert had a three run inside the park homer in his next at bat and the route was on. The Naz got contributions from the
entire roster in this one: Bohlmann, Sears and James Mummert all had three hits while TJ Mummert reached base all four times up. Tony
Copper and Charlie Caraher also knocked in runs during pinch-hit at bats. This victory put the Naz in the final eight of the B tournament; they
would get an hour off before playing their next opponent from Real Life.
Real Life won the flip and took the home team spot which put the Naz batting first. The first inning gave an indication this one could be a long
battle as both teams were able to make defensive plays to shut down rallies and have the scored tied at zero after one.
Real Life spends the next two innings crushing hits and circling the bases. When the dust settled they led fifteen to nothing after three innings, if
the Naz wanted to play longer they must start hitting right away.
The Naz showed some pride and put up four runs in the fourth inning with Nate Reeves knocking in one run and then Ron Runyan cleared the
bases with a double to knock in three more. The offensive outburst just seemed to ignite Real Life as well – they came to bat in the bottom of
the inning and quickly put four more runs up to end the game by a score of 19-4. It would not make the loss hurt any less – but the Real Life
squad would go onto win the B Tournament – ironically defeating another Naz opponent (from Columbia, TN) in the finals.
The Naz went 5-3 over the weekend and ended up tied for fifth place in the B tournament – this was the best finish ever by Beavercreek
Nazarene. The guys that made it to the tournament all enjoyed the weekend and it was a nice way to wrap up a season that had already seen
the squad take 2nd place in both of the leagues they are in plus they also took 2nd place in the State of Ohio Church tournament earlier in the
summer.
This was a full team effort, but some guys stood out as having outstanding weekends:
Johnny King hit .705 in the eight games and was in the middle of every rally that team had. King also anchored a busy left field for the entire
tourney.
TJ Mummert hit .786 on Monday in four games, you cannot coach or teach speed and TJ brings that to the team. He also enjoys sending
messages to opposing base runners from his spot in left center field.
James Mummert “only” hit .600, but blasted 5 bombs and knocked in sixteen runs when a big hit was needed – he came through.
Matt Bohlmann pitched every inning and threw strikes and played tough defense up the middle. He also hit .533 and added a home run as
well.
Nathan Reeves and Justin Sears hit .593 and .571 respectively and anchored the left side of the infield handling many hot shots.
Shawn Kitchin played the outfield and hit .533 for the weekend; he also had a couple of games where every thing he hit was a rocket.
Ron Runyan came out of semi-retirement to hit .556 with a huge three run homerun. He moved around defensively at first base and the
outfield.
Rick Hurley, Mike Mummert, Chad Millette, Charlie Caraher, Joe Noya, Mark Spitzke and Tony Copper also played a part in the success
of the team over the weekend.
