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Street Kids Win First Tournament of Season

Jeff Crawford Named MVP

Mishawaka –

Finally. After three unsuccessful efforts in tournaments this season, the Zolman Tire/Street Kids/Tanel team can finally claim a tournament victory.

Street Kids (18-6 overall) went into Kalamazoo, Michigan this weekend for the Bud Light Festival tournament with hopes of turning around their fortunes on the weekends. With the additions of Jeff Crawford and Mike Stroud, along with league player Jamey Everett, the Kids were able to go undefeated in five games and win the tournament. They had to beat some good teams on their way to the win, however, as the tournament featured players from Suburban and Softball Fans.com, two local Class C teams, as well as other very tough teams looking to win the festival tourney. But the Kids sticks were too much, as they pounded out 111 runs in the five games. Crawford, a friend of tournament director and part time Street Kid player Terry Patesel, filled in for some missing players and had a fantastic day, going 17 for 18 (.944) with four home runs and 14 rbi’s. He was named by the team as the tournament’s most valuable player.

“I had a lot of fun today,” said Crawford, who has played many years in the Kalamazoo area. “Hitting is contagious and when one guy gets hot, a lot of times it can ignite the whole team and that’s what it did today. I’m glad I was able to help these guys get their first tournament win.”

Jamey Everett continued his hot hitting since joining the team, going 17 for 21 (.810) with two home runs and 11 rbi’s, while scoring a team high 16 runs. He is now batting .784 with the Kids, with eight home runs in only nine games.

One of the more impressive stories this season is the play of Hank Minix, who had many people wondering what kind of impact he would have on this team. Through the end of May, he has been more than just impressive. Minix went 12 for 15 (.800) with two home runs and 11 rbi’s on Saturday, and is now the team leader in average (.667) home runs (13), rbi’s (45) and hits (42). He is averaging over an rbi per hit this season, which has made him a very valuable asset in both leagues and tournaments.

The opening game featured the Kids opening up with 29 hits while beating Suburban 29-12. Mike Stroud had five hits and drove in eight runs in the game and Ryan Harlacher, who had a great tournament, had four hits. Up next, the Kids played some team that we will just call Jabroni’s, and defeated them 22-10. In that game, Everett, Crawford and Minix all had four hits each.

The Kids were seeded number one in the single elimination format following the two round robin games, and played Young Guns, a scrappy team from Benton Harbor, Michigan who went 0-2 in the round robin games. The Kids opened up strong with 10 runs in the first inning, but some shaky defense, walks by pitcher TJ Jorgensen and timely hitting by Young Guns kept them in the game until the Kids finally put them away with a nine run fourth inning en route to a 23-11 win. Tony Hardiman, Everett, Crawford, Harlacher and Jeremy Meadows, who had a great comeback tournament, all had three hits in the win. Crawford and Minix both went deep in the game as well.

The Wolves were up next for the Street Kids and played a good game all the way to the end, but the Kids scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth and went on to win 19-16 and send the Kids to the championship game. Hardiman and Everett both added four hits each in the win over Wolves, while Minix, Crawford and Meadows all went deep in the win.

The championship game was played after a 90 minutes rain delay in which the Kids sat for almost four hours waiting for the team they would play in the title game. It ended up being the Suburban/Softball Fans team once again, and this would go down to the wire. The Kids started slow, scoring once in the first, twice in the second before scoring six runs in the third inning. After five innings, the game was tied and going into the bottom of the sixth, the Kids were trailing 14-11, but a big three-run home run by Mike Stroud, followed by a two run shot by Crawford helped the Kids score seven times, and take an 18-14 lead into the seventh inning. Suburban had the bases loaded with one out when Mike Stroud fielded a sharp grounder at third and stepped on the bag for the second out and came home to catcher TJ Jorgensen, but the base runner was able to elude Jorgensen’s tag and score to make it a three run game. The very next batter flied deep to Dave Perry in right center but Perry had room to make the catch and seal the victory for the Street Kids.

It was a good day for most of the team on Saturday. Jeremy Meadows had struggled coming into the tournament but had many clutch hits on his way to a very good tournament. Ryan Harlacher had a great day at the plate as well, going 14 for 19 (.737) with seven rbi’s. Jason Fowler also had a great day, going 12 for 18 (.667). Fowler is a member of both league teams and is doing a great job for the Kids so far this season.

“Sissy hit the ball well and so did everyone,” said Jorgensen, who struggled on Saturday with seven hits in 17 at bats. “We need players like him and Ryan to step up when others have bad games. I struggled today and luckily we hit good enough as a team to still win, and that’s what its all about at tournaments – winning. If I go hitless in five games and we win, I’m happy with that. I know that’s how everyone on this team is and that’s what makes us a special team.”

The Kids improved to 10-6 in tournaments this season and will now prepare for their next tournament on June 16^th in Portage, Indiana for the NSA qualifier. The Kids really need to finish well in this event if they want to qualify for the national championship.

Up next in leagues is a twin bill on Monday at Rose North starting at 6pm. The Tuesday team plays at 8pm at Rose South against a good Family Video team.

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