Fall 2011 Tournament Recap: Quarter-Finals

We continue with our look back at the epic Fall 2011 End of Season tourney, with a recap of the 2nd round action. (If you missed the 1st Round Recap, click here.)

photos by 
Mary Katherine Evans, Free Ballin'
L1Z Arrington, Jagernauts
Nick Sutton, Just For Kicks

Shake N Bake 8, Vicious & Delicious 0

With only 5 males, VD turned to Kate Barcus at 1B.

As already covered in the 1st Round Recap, VD came into the day with only 9 players. But they were 9 talented and determined players, and they weren't about to just roll over and give up the trophy. Their 2nd round game matched them up with SnB. Both teams crusied in the first round and all signs pointed to this one being a great matchup.

Early on, the game was closely contested. James Salgado lead off and got on base for VD, however, SnB was able to string together some outs and escaped the first with no score. On defense, Vicious & Delicious limited the high powered Bakers to just a couple of runs. Through the first 3 innings, the score was 3-0 in favor of SnB, and the game was definitely in reach. Even a shorthanded VD squad is more than capable of scoring 3 runs with the talent and experience they have.

But in the 4th inning, the VD skeleton crew began to run out of gas and injuries began to pile up. "Shit Kan" Tommy Zuppke came up limping after a play at charger. Kate Barcus, who played very well filling in at first base had been beaten up in the previous game after a couple of collisions and was not at 100%. And in what was probably the most concerning injury, OF Justin Schauf suffered a ruptured calf muscle that may cause him to miss the inagural season of Winter Kickball on the Peninsula.

One of Jiselle Anderson's several
perfect bunts on the day.

Like a shark that smelled blood in the water, Shake N Bake went on a run scoring rampage. The bunters painted the lines with balls that were impossible for Shit Kan to field and the big legs of Justin Blair and Jeffrey Scott exploited the big gaps in the VD defense to drive them in. At the end of the 4th, the score was 8-0. After a flawless 5th inning, that would be the final. There would be a new champion crowned this season.

"The score against Shake N Bake does not reflect how close I felt the game actually was." Barcus said in the postgame press conference, "I had a great time this season and loved playing with you guys [VD]. I'm proud of my team."

It's worth noting that the Shake N Bake defense really started hitting a groove in this game. Charger Bryan Turcotte and catcher AJ Derr were in the zone. They covered a lot of ground and made some great throws, on target, to 1B Patrick Jones. Pitchers Brent Wentworth (3rd person alert!) and Jeffrey Scott were solid on the mound, throwing strikes and fielding their position well. And the outfield came up big when VD attempted to test them.

Burning Bridges 7, Jagernauts 6 (6 innings)
This was a game that had everyone at War Memorial buzzing. One of several instant classics on the day saw the upstart Jagers take top ranked Burning Bridges to the limit.

The Jagernauts have some of the best talent at the top of their lineup with Dan Moore, Joe Mazzitti, Julie Kittelson, Mike Seals, and Kim Merritt combining to produce a lot of runs over the course of the season. (In fact, as the leadoff kicker, Moore scored 17 runs this season alone.). It's a hard task for any team to shut down the Jager top, and they showed that last weekend. The top of the lineup manufactured a run and looked to add some more damage, but Burning Bridges managed to work their way out of it (with the help of a close foul ball call, that would have added 2 more runs) and limited the damage to just 1 run.

Now with the Bridges coming up to the plate, they had an opportunity to show why they were the number 1 seed (they didn't score 71 runs this season by accident). They efficiently strung together base hit after base hit, scored 4 runs to take a 4-1 lead. With Josh Joyner cruising on the mound, and Rob Allen and Roy Gilbert smothering the Jager bunts, it was starting to look like this 9 seed vs 1 seed would go exactly as planned.

Jackson slides in under Mazzitti for an early BB run. 

But then the 4th inning came. With Burning Bridges completely taking away the short game from the 'Nauts, head coach Justin Littell decided to switch tactics up and gave the players the green light to kick away. They were determined to test the Bridges outfield, and the call paid off. The Jagernauts strung one kick after another together and the Bridges were stunned. In the course of just a few minutes, they went from cruising with a 3 run lead to all tied up at 4-4.

Littell laid out for a couple of web gems
late in the game.

Neither team was able to beak the tie in the scoreless 5th inning, thanks in large part to a paid of diving catches made by Littell.

"If you're giving superlatives for defense, I got to think those two diving catches qualify," the Jagers' Mike Ramey noted, "It saved us at least two runs."

With the score all tied up at 4-4, this game was going to extra innings. Before we break down the 6th inning, let's take a look at the special WAKA rules for extras, otherwise known as "Kansas City Rules".

From the Official WAKA League Tournament Guidelines (pdf).

In the event of a tie score after 5 innings, extra full innings shall commence until a winner is determined or until the allotted time expires. Each extra inning should be played with these modifications: 

• Place the last kicker (1) from the previous inning on second base 

• Only 8 players on the field for the defense consisting of 4 men and 4 women 

• All kickers start with an unmodified count (0 balls, 0 strikes, 0 fouls) 

Gitkos and Krohn come
around to score in OT.

Because KC rules happen so infrequently (in 10 seasons of VA Peninsula, I can only recall maybe 4 total KC games in the playoffs, 2 of which happened this Fall) it's always difficult to prepare for. With only having 4 guys and 4 girls in the field, and a runner starting on 2nd, it's a unique challenge for defenses.

All season, while many pundits gave praise to the top of the Jagernaut lineups production, they also dismissed the bottom as a liability for the team. So, it was definitely in the Bridges favor when the 'Nauts were down to the very end of their lineup in the 6th. Ashlee Gitkos was the last kicker from the 5th inning, so she began on 2nd base. Trici Fredrick lead off the inning, and laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt down the first base line to move Gitkos to 3rd base. This was crucial, because now there was a runner on third with 1 out. Kathleen Krohn and Sara Ruch both put bunts in play that Burning was forced to eat because an attempted throw to 1st would have given up the run. Now, with the bases loaded, Dan Moore came to the plate. He poked a ball out to right field, that due to a miscommunication between Angelina Wright and Amanda Taylor, fell in. Gitkos and Krohn both came around to score and give the Jagers the lead. A couple of kickers later, Merritt would find another hole in the defense but the Jagers got a little too aggressive and Ruch was thrown out at home by a mile to end the inning. Hoping that the 6-4 lead would hold, they went into the bottom of the 6th.

Down by two runs, with a huge crowd of kickballers from all over the league watching (with all the other QF games over I'd say there were probably 50 spectators there at the end of the game), and facing elimination, the pressure was on the Bridges. But head coach Phillip Baltzis was a steadying influence on his team and would not let them get down. With the most dangerous part of the Bridges lineup due up to start the inning, he knew that they were still in it.

(Apologize in advance because the details are not completely known). The Bridges put base runners on with a couple of nice bunts, then scored a couple runs to tie it up. Ryan Schmid then came up to the plate and kicked the walk off single to score Mark Jackson and secure the victory, much to the relief of Baltzis.

"Too much dang stress right here." Baltzis joked afterwards.

"I gotta give props to all of Jager." Kim Merritt said in the locker room, "We took the number one seed to Kansas City and made them earn that win the hard way."

Indeed, it was definitely a great game for both teams and one that will be talked about for years to come. I did my best to recap the game, but my words don't do it justice. Great job to Burning Bridges and the Jagernauts!

For more pictures of the game, be sure to check out MKEH's album on Facebook. She got some awesome shots.

Just For Kicks 3, Lick It 0
There is no love lost between these two teams. When they met in week 2, Lick It won 1-0 in a game that nearly saw both sides come to blows in an ugly scene. It's only fitting that the two would be matched up again in the quarterfinals of the playoffs.

The Flying Frenchman Dr. Jeremy Pinier slides into 3rd. He came in a
little too hard though, pushing past the bag and being tagged out by
Ryan McNally (with ball).

JFK's Scott Duncan was 7-7 over the course of the day.

This time (thankfully) the game was not marred by the same nastiness that plagued the earlier encounter. It was just two focused teams, battling it out for a shot at the next round. As mentioned in the 1st round recap, LIBYKI was missing their catcher Roger Jackson, charger Matt Martin, and lead off kicker Thomas "Juice" Welch, so they had an uphill battle. Their chances of success received a huge boost when Martin made a dramatic entrance, running in from the parking lot to join the game after the first inning.

Just For Kicks would not be denied victory. While Lick It played solid defense, they just couldn't contain the JFK offense, and they manufactured 3 runs. That's all they would need, as the JFK defense was lights out in this game. In particular, pitcher Will Monroe stood out for his performance.

"Will was a beast on the mound." Lick It head coach George Kiriazidis continued, "He just seemed to get better and better as he went deeper in the tourney. He definitely had the hot hand on the mound."

With solid offense and outstanding defense, JFK not only avenged their loss earlier in the year, but punched their ticket to the semis.

5 O'Clockers 7, Battlestar Ballsacktica 4

Due to forfeits by Kick Ass and Chicken Tetrazzini, this quarterfinal match was actually the first game for both teams. Right off the bat, it looked like the Clockers were completely warmed up. The jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead and looked like they were going to easily roll into the final four.

Battlestar had other ideas however. Playing with only 10 people after Andy Tapley and Phillip Tanner had to leave in the morning, the Ballsacks fought back. Michael Machie, Kyle Rowley, Peter Kuhr, and Stephanie Wacek started a rally in the 3rd inning, each scoring a run and narrowing the deficit to 2 runs.

"The Clockers were getting a little nervous after we ran all over them that inning," BB's Karen Savell said afterwards.

But the Clockers would shake the inning off, and shut the Ballsacks out the rest of the game. They added an insurance run, and the final ended up being a 7-4 victory and a ticket to the final four.

"Nicole Plesha tore it up for Battlestar," Machie said, "Played first base
for the first time ever, and made a ton of catches."