Fall 2011 Tournament Recap: Semi-Finals

The final four came down to the Clockers, Shake N Bake, JFK, and Burning Bridges. All four of these teams had the desire and ability to win a championship. But their could only be one... Let's take a look at the semis.

(If you missed them, here are the recaps for the 1st Round and the Quarter-Finals).

photos by Mary Katherine Evans, Free Ballin' and Nick Sutton, JFK

Shake N Bake 5, 5 O'Clockers 1 

On November 9th, the Clockers played Burning Bridges with sole possession of first place on the line. The game ended in a 3-3 tie perhaps in part to a controversial call by SnB's Bryan Turcotte. As the 3rd base ref, Turcotte ruled that the 5OC's Josh Waldrop left 2nd base without tagging up in the 5th inning. The out was a critical one and had the call gone the other way, the outcome of the game may have been different. Now, I'm not here to say whether it was the right call or not. But this is relevant to the back story between these two teams. After being called out, Waldrop exploded. He was pissed and words were exchanged after the game. Cooler heads ended up prevailing, but Turcotte had not forgotten about the incident.

Feeling disrespected, Turcotte had about as good of a game at charger as someone could possibly have.

"He was simply lights out." Brent Wentworth (yes, I'm quoting myself) said afterwards, "I've played with some damn good chargers in my kickball career, and I'd have to say his performance is up there with the best of them."

The Clockers to their credit played very strongly, especially on defense. But SnB was in a zone. The bunts were crisp and clean, the base running was smart, and the kicks were finding some empty spots. Dan Reyes pitched a hell of a game, but Shake N Bake was not to be denied. It was a steady slow drip of runs throughout the game.

In the final inning, the top of the Clocker lineup came up to kick. Jason Kidd lead off with a decent bunt down third, but SnB catcher AJ Derr was all over it and delivered a spectacular spin throw to get the first out. Randy Devlin was up 2nd, and rightly knowing that he would not be able to bunt on Wentworth (just kidding, Randy), attempted to kick away. The kick was successfully caught for the 2nd out... Finally, with Josh Waldrop up at the plate, you knew there was only one way this was going to end. Waldrop laid down a bunt that Turcotte fielded and rifled to Patrick Jones for the 3rd out and the ticket to the Wentworth Trophy® Finals!

Just For Kicks 6, Burning Bridges 2
Burning Bridges is a team that burst onto the scene in 2011 and made an immediate impact. They went the entire season without losing a game and earned the number one seed in the playoffs. During much of this stretch though, many people didn't believe the team was for real, and that they benefited from a weaker schedule. It wasn't until Week 7, when the Bridges tied Just For Kicks til they started getting some real respect in the coach's poll. Now after fighting their way through the first two rounds, JFK was once again lined up across the field from them. Instead of respect on the line though, it was a trip to the Wentworth Trophy® Finals.

The Bridges struck first scoring 2 early runs, including a close play at home where Robert Allen coming in from 2nd on a Travis Cobb triple. JFK didn't take long to answer back and scored two runs of their own... And through 4 innings, the score was once again tied, just as it was in the regular season.

In the top of the 5th, the JFK offense came alive. They managed to load the bases, but Burning Bridges had already gotten 2 outs. Nikki LeBlanc then came up to kick and put a well placed ball into short right field to score a run and break the tie. But JFK wasn't done doing damage yet. Ryan Dotson followed it up with a kick to deep right that scored another run. Jillian Simms then put a perfect bunt down the first base line that she beat out. Wes McClain was next up and he put the dagger in Burning Bridges heart by ripping a line drive and plating another run. When the bleeding finally stopped and BB secured the final out, the score was 6-2.

That would end up being the final score, as Just For Kicks closed out it out and earned their 4th consecutive trip to the Finals...