I already covered my tournament team from last year so now its time to move on to league talk. Last year I played in three different softball leagues. On Tuesday nights I played in Baraboo, Wednesday nights Mauston, and Sunday nights Mauston Coed.
Baraboo league had three different leagues which was split into A, B, and C league. I played with Monks and we were in the B league. B league was about right for us because we could compete with everyone in the league and would probably get killed in A league. We were a very streaky hitting team and made a lot of errors in the infield. With those two things working against us pitching was huge. The first half of the year our pitching was pretty rough which led to our team really struggling to win in the first half. Midway through the season we switched pitchers which turned our team around as we finished the season pretty strong. I had a fairly strong year there as I batted 3rd and played left center. I hit about five home runs during the year.
Mauston league had seven teams in the league with three very good teams and four bad teams. I played with Anjeros and we pretty much dominated the league until we lost in one of the final games of the year to Harmony 2 and then in the playoffs we ended up losing to Harmony 1 in the championship game. I typically played 2nd, 3rd, right center, and a little bit of left center and batted anywhere from second, fourth, sixth or eighth. I believe I had around six home runs on the year and batted around .600 or so.
My final league was a church coed team. When we were at full strength we basically dominated as we went on to win the championship and only have two loses on the season. This league is very weak as only two other teams could compete with us the majority of the time.
This year I'll be having my own team in the Dells this year so I won't be playing in Baraboo this year. Our team should be a middle of the road team. We don't have a lot of overall team power but, our team has a lot of team speed which should work to our advantage on a big field and we play some pretty good defense. Mauston we will once again be one of the top teams in the league. We lose one of our best players in our lead off and left center fielder but, we should be able to replace him easy enough and my brother may be added to the team. As far as coed goes I'll probably only play part time when it doesn't conflict with tournaments.
As you can see by my posts I'm getting pretty excited for the season to start. May 10 is our first tournament and May 19 Dells league starts. Not sure on the other leagues yet.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
End of the Summer Recap
I misspoke when I said that Mt Tabor defeated Harmony 2 to win the Hillsboro tournament. I completely forgot about Wandos a very very good team from Madison that actually won the tournament. Wandos beat Mt Tabor twice by a score of about 33-7 both games.
The end of July my Mauston league team, Anjeros, was in a tournament in Briggsville that was a Texas Shootout. A Texas shootout is a tournament where when your batting you get one pitch. You hit it, strike out, or walk. So each batter can only see one pitch and games are only 45 minutes long. I was only able to make the first day of the tournament when we played two games. We dominated both games with relative ease. Angeros went on to win the tournament with relative ease going 5-0.
The next weekend I played with a team called Hartjes in North Freedom. The tournament ended up getting rained out and we only got one game in against Mt Tabor which led to a 13-1 lose or somewhere around there. Our only run was a home run.
Our final tournament of the year ended in Hillsboro. We finished in third place. I believe we went 3-2. This was another tournament that just seemed to be a blur. This tournament ended up with Mt Tabor beating Harmony 2 in the tournament. Our two loses were to each of these teams.
Top 5 finishers
1. Mt Tabor
2. Harmony 2
3. Harmony
4. Lafarge Tabs
5. Royal Bank
Well that's the end of the tournament season. I'll probably be taking the weekend off from posting and be back next week with some league talk. Still looking for an official sponsor for our Dells league and could use another player or two.
The end of July my Mauston league team, Anjeros, was in a tournament in Briggsville that was a Texas Shootout. A Texas shootout is a tournament where when your batting you get one pitch. You hit it, strike out, or walk. So each batter can only see one pitch and games are only 45 minutes long. I was only able to make the first day of the tournament when we played two games. We dominated both games with relative ease. Angeros went on to win the tournament with relative ease going 5-0.
The next weekend I played with a team called Hartjes in North Freedom. The tournament ended up getting rained out and we only got one game in against Mt Tabor which led to a 13-1 lose or somewhere around there. Our only run was a home run.
Our final tournament of the year ended in Hillsboro. We finished in third place. I believe we went 3-2. This was another tournament that just seemed to be a blur. This tournament ended up with Mt Tabor beating Harmony 2 in the tournament. Our two loses were to each of these teams.
Top 5 finishers
1. Mt Tabor
2. Harmony 2
3. Harmony
4. Lafarge Tabs
5. Royal Bank
Well that's the end of the tournament season. I'll probably be taking the weekend off from posting and be back next week with some league talk. Still looking for an official sponsor for our Dells league and could use another player or two.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
July Tournament Recap
As we move another day closer to the start of the season, I'll continue my recap of last years tournament play.
The first tournament of July was hosted by Harmony in Lyndon Station. They tournament had a small showing with only five teams in the tournament. Both Harmony teams were there, along with Misfits or something like that from the Lyndon/Mauston area, Leahy's Pub, and then Winning Connection who had the bulk of their players from Cejays and had guys from Baraboo, Portage, and Mauston. With only five teams the tournament was set up as a round robin that was only a one day tourney which allowed each team to play four games.
First game of the day we took on Misfits who were a very young from the area and we handled them with some ease. Second game we took on Leahy's Pub which was looking some what weak this weekend and we cruised to an easy victory. The third game of the day was a nail bitter against Winning Connection. In the top of the seventh inning we were down 18-16 and I hit a triple off the right field fence with bases loaded to give us a 19-18 lead. In the bottom of the seventh a hit and then a pair of walks loaded the bases and then a walk off grand slam ended the game with WC winning 22-19. The final game of the tournament paired the two Harmony teams against each other. Harmony two was in control for much of the game but, we kept climbing back from falling to a run rule. The final score was 24-15 or somewhere in there.
Final Standings
1. Harmony 2
2. Winning Connection
3. Harmony 1
4. Leahy's Pub
5. Misfits
The following tournament was our highlight of the summer. We traveled to Cazanovia to play in the Baryenburch tournament or something like that. We completely dominated the weekend as we took advantage of playing on the baseball field and used our team speed to take extra bases every chance we got. Super blue dot balls and Miken Ultra 2s added for some 400 foot home runs. This tournament was a bit of a lower level tournament as their was two other tournaments going on the attracted some of the better teams in the area. Can't remember all the game but, in the semi final we won 33-1 over JJ Underground and the championship was just as easy as we beat Pinnacle Custom Construction 34-3, surprising for semi and final games these were our biggest blow outs of the tournament.
Final Standings
1. Harmony
2. PCC Verona/Baraboo
3. JJ Underground Lavalle/Caz
4. Mean Streets no idea
The following weekend we were back to Cazanovia. This tournament appeared to be a little more difficult as we ended up taking fourth place I think. This weekend was really a blur as we had a wedding to jump back and forth between. The first night we beat a Fishy's team in a controversial game that was ended because of time limit. The following day I missed the game where we lost to Mt Tabor. Then on Sunday I remember we beat JJ Underground by run rule and then ended up losing to C&H in a game where we played terrible to get eliminated. We also beat a something farm team on Sunday also. I think I might be missing a game but, not sure. I believe we finished fourth in this tournament and I have no idea what the final standings were of this tournament.
Tomorrow I will finish up the recap on the tournaments of next summer and then move on to some league talk and then possibly some other softball thoughts.
The first tournament of July was hosted by Harmony in Lyndon Station. They tournament had a small showing with only five teams in the tournament. Both Harmony teams were there, along with Misfits or something like that from the Lyndon/Mauston area, Leahy's Pub, and then Winning Connection who had the bulk of their players from Cejays and had guys from Baraboo, Portage, and Mauston. With only five teams the tournament was set up as a round robin that was only a one day tourney which allowed each team to play four games.
First game of the day we took on Misfits who were a very young from the area and we handled them with some ease. Second game we took on Leahy's Pub which was looking some what weak this weekend and we cruised to an easy victory. The third game of the day was a nail bitter against Winning Connection. In the top of the seventh inning we were down 18-16 and I hit a triple off the right field fence with bases loaded to give us a 19-18 lead. In the bottom of the seventh a hit and then a pair of walks loaded the bases and then a walk off grand slam ended the game with WC winning 22-19. The final game of the tournament paired the two Harmony teams against each other. Harmony two was in control for much of the game but, we kept climbing back from falling to a run rule. The final score was 24-15 or somewhere in there.
Final Standings
1. Harmony 2
2. Winning Connection
3. Harmony 1
4. Leahy's Pub
5. Misfits
The following tournament was our highlight of the summer. We traveled to Cazanovia to play in the Baryenburch tournament or something like that. We completely dominated the weekend as we took advantage of playing on the baseball field and used our team speed to take extra bases every chance we got. Super blue dot balls and Miken Ultra 2s added for some 400 foot home runs. This tournament was a bit of a lower level tournament as their was two other tournaments going on the attracted some of the better teams in the area. Can't remember all the game but, in the semi final we won 33-1 over JJ Underground and the championship was just as easy as we beat Pinnacle Custom Construction 34-3, surprising for semi and final games these were our biggest blow outs of the tournament.
Final Standings
1. Harmony
2. PCC Verona/Baraboo
3. JJ Underground Lavalle/Caz
4. Mean Streets no idea
The following weekend we were back to Cazanovia. This tournament appeared to be a little more difficult as we ended up taking fourth place I think. This weekend was really a blur as we had a wedding to jump back and forth between. The first night we beat a Fishy's team in a controversial game that was ended because of time limit. The following day I missed the game where we lost to Mt Tabor. Then on Sunday I remember we beat JJ Underground by run rule and then ended up losing to C&H in a game where we played terrible to get eliminated. We also beat a something farm team on Sunday also. I think I might be missing a game but, not sure. I believe we finished fourth in this tournament and I have no idea what the final standings were of this tournament.
Tomorrow I will finish up the recap on the tournaments of next summer and then move on to some league talk and then possibly some other softball thoughts.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Softball Tournament Team Recap
Well it's been awhile since I last posted. With the softball season fast approaching I figured it was time for a little softball talk. With the tournament season starting on May 10 in Warrens I figured some tournament talk would be needed before the softball league talk. I figured the best way to start off would be to do a recap of last years tournament team.
I normally play for Harmony Bar and Grill out of Mauston the majority of the time with a couple tournaments I was with different teams. Our Harmony team is a pretty decent team. We typically take somewhere from third to sixth in most tournaments depending on whose there and how many teams are in the tournament. Were good enough to beat the teams we should be but, can't quite compete with the top teams in the area. Our teams strong parts are our outfield defense, our team speed, and our hitting for average. We lack power on bigger fields, infield defense is so so at times, and are pitching is also so so. I typically play third base unless I'm struggling on the defensive side and then I get move to right center.
First tournament of last year was in Hillsboro, I played with a team that was just put together by a friend that needed some last minute additions to fill out the team. In our first game we ended up playing the Harmony team that was put together at the last minute and I later ended up joining. We came out hot and were able to 15 run rule them with relative ease. Game two we met up with a very good Mt Tabor team they ended up beating us by about 10 runs. Our final game or the tournament our bats went cold and we lost to a Leahy's Pub team 8-7 in a game we really should of won but, couldn't get the big hits. Only an eight team tournament we ended up taking fifth place. Can't remember the rest of the standings but, Mt Tabor took out Harmony 2 in the championship. Leahy's Pub took fourth place. Harmony and Coal Miners were two and out can't even remmber the other two teams in the tourney.
In our first tournament playing with Harmony we were in Tomah. I saw our because me and my brother played with them. Our first game saw an hour or so long rain delay right in the middle of the game. Some rough pitching doomed us and we ended up losing 16-15 against Car Shop, a young team from the Tomah area. The second game was against a team from Black River Falls called First and Last Change. Their inexperienced in tournaments showed as we beat them 17-1, their lone run coming on a home run. The next game we came in as huge underdogs against Varsity Club. Anyone that follows softball knows that VC is considered one of the top softball teams in the state of Wisconsin. VC came out looking for the long ball and just couldn't get it over the 320 foot fence and we were able to beat them 7-2 in a low scoring game for softball. I can't remember the next game but, we won fairly easily and then in the next game we bowed out to a very very good Barron's team out of the Lacrosse/Sparta Area. They crushed the ball and our defense was so so and we ended up losing 25-11 or there about. There were 12 or 14 teams in the tournament I believe.
Top Six Finishers
1. Breakaway Tomah
2. Barrons Lacrosse/Sparta
3. Harmony 2 Mauston
4. Coors Light Tomah?
5. Harmony Mauston
Sheer Delight Baraboo
Fourth of July tournament ended up being in Lavalle. This was really a fun tournament do to the setup. There was 12 teams in the tournament and we were split up into three pools of four teams and played round robin. The top two teams of each bracket moved on to a six team double elimination tournament. Game one we handled a league team from Lavalle fairly easily. Second game we played a good Bar Rons team out of the Ithaca/Spring Green area. It was a great back and forth game that we ended up losing 14-11. Final game of pool play was against C&H team made up of young guys from Reedsburg, Dells, and Baraboo area. Another game that we won fairly easily and moved onto double elimination play by taking second in the bracket. First round of elimination play we played Cejays from Baraboo who hit us very hard and we played some so so defense. Final score was about 22-9 or somewhere in there. Next game we played Salisbury's something or other which we beat fairly easily, can't remember the score. We then were eliminated from the tournament by River City out of Lacrosse.
Top Six Finishers
1. Bar Ron Farms Ithaca/Spring Green/ Richland Center
2. River City Lacrosse
3. Cejays Baraboo
4. Harmony Mauston
Club 33 Lavalle
6. Salisbury Richland Center
Well that's the first third of the tournament season. I'll be recapping the next two thirds of the season in my next couple posts that will be following in the next couple days.
I normally play for Harmony Bar and Grill out of Mauston the majority of the time with a couple tournaments I was with different teams. Our Harmony team is a pretty decent team. We typically take somewhere from third to sixth in most tournaments depending on whose there and how many teams are in the tournament. Were good enough to beat the teams we should be but, can't quite compete with the top teams in the area. Our teams strong parts are our outfield defense, our team speed, and our hitting for average. We lack power on bigger fields, infield defense is so so at times, and are pitching is also so so. I typically play third base unless I'm struggling on the defensive side and then I get move to right center.
First tournament of last year was in Hillsboro, I played with a team that was just put together by a friend that needed some last minute additions to fill out the team. In our first game we ended up playing the Harmony team that was put together at the last minute and I later ended up joining. We came out hot and were able to 15 run rule them with relative ease. Game two we met up with a very good Mt Tabor team they ended up beating us by about 10 runs. Our final game or the tournament our bats went cold and we lost to a Leahy's Pub team 8-7 in a game we really should of won but, couldn't get the big hits. Only an eight team tournament we ended up taking fifth place. Can't remember the rest of the standings but, Mt Tabor took out Harmony 2 in the championship. Leahy's Pub took fourth place. Harmony and Coal Miners were two and out can't even remmber the other two teams in the tourney.
In our first tournament playing with Harmony we were in Tomah. I saw our because me and my brother played with them. Our first game saw an hour or so long rain delay right in the middle of the game. Some rough pitching doomed us and we ended up losing 16-15 against Car Shop, a young team from the Tomah area. The second game was against a team from Black River Falls called First and Last Change. Their inexperienced in tournaments showed as we beat them 17-1, their lone run coming on a home run. The next game we came in as huge underdogs against Varsity Club. Anyone that follows softball knows that VC is considered one of the top softball teams in the state of Wisconsin. VC came out looking for the long ball and just couldn't get it over the 320 foot fence and we were able to beat them 7-2 in a low scoring game for softball. I can't remember the next game but, we won fairly easily and then in the next game we bowed out to a very very good Barron's team out of the Lacrosse/Sparta Area. They crushed the ball and our defense was so so and we ended up losing 25-11 or there about. There were 12 or 14 teams in the tournament I believe.
Top Six Finishers
1. Breakaway Tomah
2. Barrons Lacrosse/Sparta
3. Harmony 2 Mauston
4. Coors Light Tomah?
5. Harmony Mauston
Sheer Delight Baraboo
Fourth of July tournament ended up being in Lavalle. This was really a fun tournament do to the setup. There was 12 teams in the tournament and we were split up into three pools of four teams and played round robin. The top two teams of each bracket moved on to a six team double elimination tournament. Game one we handled a league team from Lavalle fairly easily. Second game we played a good Bar Rons team out of the Ithaca/Spring Green area. It was a great back and forth game that we ended up losing 14-11. Final game of pool play was against C&H team made up of young guys from Reedsburg, Dells, and Baraboo area. Another game that we won fairly easily and moved onto double elimination play by taking second in the bracket. First round of elimination play we played Cejays from Baraboo who hit us very hard and we played some so so defense. Final score was about 22-9 or somewhere in there. Next game we played Salisbury's something or other which we beat fairly easily, can't remember the score. We then were eliminated from the tournament by River City out of Lacrosse.
Top Six Finishers
1. Bar Ron Farms Ithaca/Spring Green/ Richland Center
2. River City Lacrosse
3. Cejays Baraboo
4. Harmony Mauston
Club 33 Lavalle
6. Salisbury Richland Center
Well that's the first third of the tournament season. I'll be recapping the next two thirds of the season in my next couple posts that will be following in the next couple days.
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