Fall 2011 Mega Preseason Preview (Part 2)

We continue our four part mega-preview with a look at teams 9 - 12. (If you missed part 1, please click here.)

#12 Kick Ass

Captain: Manny Anderson

Color: White

Spring 2011 Record: N/A

All Time Record: N/A

Wentworth Trophies: 0

Jones hopes to do some ass kicking with
Kick Ass this Fall.

Manny Anderson joined WAKA VA Peninsula as a free agent last season and was assigned to NKotB. He quickly emerged as a difference maker on the team. A former college running back, Anderson is in a class all by himself athleticly and possesses elite speed. It wasn't far into his rookie season that he got hooked on kickball, decided he wanted to start his own team, and planned to leverage his network of friends who are also great athletes to join him.

Not much is known about this team, other than it's got some a lot of raw talent, but are pretty short on experience. The only other player on the roster with any WAKA service is SP Jesse Jones. Jones is a former Wentworth Trophy winner with the VIPs and developed in a very good pitcher with Moose Knuckles late in the season. He is a big acquistion for the expansion team.

Anderson himself is very confident, ranking KA only behind VD and JFK in his coaches preseason poll ballot. The team, which wil reportedly rock a superhero theme, is one that has the expressed goal of winning championships.

Lick It captain George Kiriazidis provided his assessment of Kick Ass to the GMOT:

"Kick Ass is going to be loaded with athletes, but I have a hunch that it's going to be a long learning curve before they put it all together. The good thing is that they have an enthusiastic captain in Manny, that is focused on winning and becoming one of the top teams in the division. Which they could one day turn into, but this just doesn't seem like the season it's going to happen."

#11 Battlestar Ballsacktica

Captain: Andy Tapley

Color: Forrest Green

Spring 2011 Record: 5-7

All Time Record: 5-7

Wentworth Trophies: 0

The Battlestar will be landing again in the Fall. This is a team that started off pretty slowly in the spring, and at times under performed expectations. But towards the end of the season, made great progress. In their last 5 games, they held a record of 3-2 (including a dramatic 1-0 upset over Moose Knuckles). They finished with a good tourney showing against the Jagernauts but couldn't close them out and lost in the first round. Now they are returning for a 2nd season, with a goal of building upon their late season run.

Right off the bat, they have had to overcome a challenge when they lost four players including starting pitcher Jon Pilz and 1st Team All-Peninsula female Lisa Rock. But while that initially looked like it would be a knockout blow, it turned out to be far from it. Head Coach Andy Tapley did a great job of rallying his remaining players and retaining them (10 players from the Spring BB roster are returning to the team). In addition to his retention efforts, Tapley hit the recruiting trail hard. He went over to the minor leagues this summer and pulled some of the top talent from the farm and called them up. Reports are that many of the newer players have strong soccer backgrounds, which fits right in with the Ballsack offense. This is a team that can pepper line drives all over the field.

Defensively, they'll have to figure a few things out this season, including who will carry the burden on the mound. Michael "The Machine" Machie has proven himself to be a very solid charger, and someone who will anchor their bunt defense. If one or more of their players can step up and provide consistency at the catcher position, than they'll be set. It's possible that Machie will play some catcher as well this season. Inside sources told the GMOT blog that he was practicing the position Monday night in a scrimmage against Lick It. (and yes, by inside sources, I mean me hiding in the bushes with binoculars spying on the practice)

Overall, Battlestar Ballsacktica is a talented team that is not to be taken lightly. Don't be surprised if they pull a few more upsets out of their bag during the Fall.

#10 Chicken Tetrazzini

Captains: Adam Henry, Andrea Hoffman, Derek Patterson

Color: Azalea

Spring 2011 Record: 6-6

All Time Record: 9-14-1

Wentworth Trophies: 0

Captain Andrea Hoffman

We've all heard the cliche that 'You should never judge a book by it's cover'. Well that definitely applies to Chicken Tetrazzini. Let's just say that if you look across the field at them, your first reaction isn't "Wow, those guys look like athletes!". It's easy to overlook them. Hell, I actually had them as low as 14th on my original draft of this preview. But then I remembered, this is a team that went .500 in a very tough league last season. They have to be doing something right.

The rap on the Angry Birds has always been that they have been inconsistent. In their losses, it's usually not that they had a bad game. It's just that they had a single bad inning filled with errors that caused them to lose. Well, as they've gotten more and more experience, that tended to be less of an issue. In a couple of late season games they played very well against the Chubby Gangsters and against The Emperors Club, losing both games but not by much. 

If they can continue to improve their consistency, they might be a tough team to have on the schedule. Adam Henry and Kris Hodges hold down the pitching for the squad, while Joey Lawrence (WHOA!) and Taylor Wilson man the Charger and Catcher spots for a very effective bunt defense. Much of their success may depend on the availability of Wilson. It's rumored that he may miss some time this season due to work conflicts. In those games without Wilson, their defense will most likely suffer... And they'll need the defense to be tight, because this is a team that historically does not score a lot of runs (CT averaged 3.08 runs per game in Spring 2011).  The team will have to overcome the loss of the Scott Mackie, who captain Andrea Hoffman described as the team's MVP. He will be taking the season off from kickball and leaves a big void in the lineup. The Angry Birds did some recruiting though and will be introducing several rookies including Timothy Nedd, Garris Gardiner, and Ashton Brown. It remains to be seen which of these players, if any, will step up for the Chickens.

#9 Free Ballin'

Captains: Jonathan Pilz, MKEH

Colors: Cardinal Red

Spring 2011 Record: N/A

All Time Record: N/A

Wentworth Trophies: 0 

This is a team that has been getting a lot of buzz this offseason ever since Mary Katherine Evans (The first ever 'WAKA Wednesday Woman of the Week') and Jonathan Pilz broke away from Battlestar Ballsacktica and founded Free Ballin'. Reports from around the league have indicated that they've looked very good in a couple of scrimmages against Rumsrpinga and Shake N Bake.

"With a competitive focus, Pilz and Mary Katherine have nabbed some solid talent." Kiriazidis commented, "The team has been practicing hard, with scrimmages against Rumspringa and SnB. That shows the type of dedication they're willing to put in to be successful."

That type of dedication will be necessary for Ballin' if they do want to win games, as the majority of their team has never played WAKA Kickball. David "D-Bizzle" Baum and 1st Team All-Peninsula female Lisa Rock made the jump over from Battlestar, so they have experience. They also signed veteran John P. Wilkinson from the southside, which will help with their pitching and charging, however the rest of the team is completely new to WAKA. But certainly these players have the tools to be outstanding. The Ballin' leadership scouted many players from the minor leagues of kickball and the soccer fields of Hampton Roads when assembling this squad. A couple players to look out for are Frank Council, Mynung Bae, and Joshua Cartwright (who wants everyone to respect his Awesome). Once they get the hang of things, they'll be some players who will do some damage to opposing defenses.