Fall 2011 Tournament Preview: New Kickheads

Let's take a look at a team that is hoping to have the right stuff and hang tough on Saturday...

#14 New Kickheads on the Block
Record: 2-9
Runs For: 36 (3.27 rpg, 12th in league)
Runs Against: 74 (6.73, 13th in league)

NKotB, like many other longshots in the tourney, are an inconsistent squad. They have a decent enough offense, scoring over 3 runs a game. But often times the team struggled mightily stop opposing offenses for having their way with them. Whether it's dropped popped flies or poor decisions like throwing the ball around, they seem to find ways to shoot themselves in the foot and lose games.

The roller coaster of NKotB was perfectly on display in week 13. In the first game of the night, the Kickheads took on the top ranked 5 O'Clockers. They played very solid ball, making sound decisions and shutting the Clockers out for 4 2/3 innings. If it weren't for a miscue in the outfield that lead to Allen Walker's 2 run walk off HR, NKotB would have shocked the heavily favored 5OC. Still, in the loss, you could see that NKotB had the potential to hang with the best.

But then in the 2nd game of the double header, the wheels came off completely against their rivals Battlestar. There was a continuous streak of dark green crossing home plate as BB put up 15 runs against a hapless NKotB defense. How can a team that came within one out of beating an elite team turn around and no show the next game only a couple minutes later?

So, that leaves us with the most important question. Which Kickheads show up on Saturday morning, when they square off against #3 VD. If the good NKotB shows up, than this is a match that is ripe for the upset. Vicious & Delicious will be missing several key contributors, and according to reports will be playing with either 9-10 players total. I could easily see this game being a close one, if the Kickheads are on their game. But that's a big "if". We shall see.

Much like Foul Balls, the Kickheads have some great girls on their team. Jen Epps earned All-Peninsula honors last Spring, and she has continued to shine. Meaghan Dorsey is another standout player. A former college soccer player, she is a dangerous weapon in the Kickheads order... As mentioned before, their offense has the ability to score runs. Players like Larry Havard, Drew Paxton, and Dean Epps are very aggressive once they get on the basepaths and can put some stress on opposing Ds... The injury bug has bitten the Kickheads a bit. Jason Binns' status is unclear, as he's spent the last couple of weeks on the DL. The Kickheads could use his tournament experience if he is available. Binns was a member of the first two Wentworth Trophy winning teams, Wilfred Brimley's Mustache Ride. Also, Joe Lemanski is listed as questionable on the injury report, as he still deals with a broken nose suffered a few weeks ago against Rumspringa. (I'm secretly hoping he plays with a Rip Hamilton style mask).