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Poor Defense, Weak Offense Lead to 2^nd Place

Street Kids dominate Granger BP, then fall to Joe’s Tavern in Championship

South Bend, IN

For the past 25 games or so, the Zolman Tire/Street Kids/Tanel softball team has dominated the Michiana softball area. After a strong offensive showing to Granger BP on Wednesday night at the Belleville Complex in South Bend, the Kids buckled and fell to Joe’s Tavern in the SB Weds. Fall League Championship game.

The Street Kids came out and quickly took care of Granger BP to open the night at the Complex, winning game one 20-9 and then finishing them off in game two, 16-5. Lanny Fisher remained one of the hottest hitters in the area going a perfect 7-for-7 in the two games, hitting his 18^th home run of the season and driving in five runs. Joe Horvath, who was perfect on the night, went 6-for-6 with three home runs and eight rbi’s. Joe Richard went 4-for-5 with his 30^th home run of the season, a Street Kids career high for him. See the complete box score from Wednesday night for more.

After the sweep of BP, the team was asked to play against Joe’s Tavern, who also won their two games against Mike’s Painting, leaving both teams at 11-1 for the fall season. The Kids just didn’t seem to be in sync for the third and final game of the night, struggling offensively after scoring 36 runs in the first two games. Horvath hit two more home runs, giving him 37 for the season, and went 4-for-4. In all three games on the night, Horvath a perfect 10-for-10 with five home runs and 12 rbi’s. Fisher went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple in the championship game, and Chad Doan, who came off the disabled list red hot, went 7-for-9 on the night, including a perfect 3-for-3 in the final game. Joe Richard, who batted 6-for-8 on the night, had two hits in the final game as well but the rest of the offense was practically a no-show. Outside of Fisher, Horvath, Doan and Richard, the rest of the lineup batted a paltry 5-for-22, with the only runs being produced by a solo home run by Shane Varga and a sacrifice fly by Xave Creary. The team fell to Joe’s Tavern, 17-10, dropping two out of three to them this fall.

Kevin Lewandowski of Joe’s Tavern almost single-handedly beat the Street Kids in that final game, going a perfect 4-for-4 with three home runs and eight rbi’s. The strong left handed batter hit two three-run homers and a two-run shot late in the game.

“Street Kids is a really good team,” Lewandowski said after the game. “This was a big win for us because it showed we wanted it more.”

Street Kids first baseman TJ Jorgensen was impressed with Joe’s Tavern, but more upset with his team’s lack of offense.

“We average over 20 runs per game and come out and score 10, then yea, we’re going to lose,” Jorgensen said. “I was upset with my play also. I hit the ball hard up the middle every time, but the ball seemed to find his glove every time. This just goes to show you that any team can beat any other team on any given night. We still feel we are the better team, but tonight they just out hit us.”

The team was playing without injured lead off batter Tony Hardiman, who partially tore a ligament in his right hand making a catch against the fence at Potawatomi Park last week, and was relegated to keeping the score book. Hardiman is questionable for Monday night.

On Monday at Rose Park, in what will be the SK’s (87-24 overall) final league games of the 2006 season, the Kids will play against Hanley and Sons, who also stand at 12-0 in the Mishawaka Fall League, tied with the Kids for first place. Many of Joe’s Tavern players are on the Hanley and Sons squad.

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