VA Raptor: Foot Snipers Win!

The inaugural season of winter WAKA VA Raptor came to a close yesterday with a highly competitive and entertaining tournament to crown a champion. (It was later followed by a less competitive by even more entertaining party that night, but that's another story. For more on that, be sure to check the Facebook group. Lots of great posts about Saturday night). Let's look at the results of the kickball games played at Gosnold's Hope Park!

Play In Game
#9 Foul Balls def #8 Whiskey Kick, 4-3
The Foulies opened up an early 4-1 lead, but the Whiskeys rallied in the 5th inning to bring it within 1 run. The Foulies earned a rare victory and moved onto the next round, despite having to put Wade Brock on the field.

First Round
#4 Frosty Ballin' def #5 Kick Ass, 3-2
A highly competitive 4/5 game saw the Frosty Ballers come out on top, thanks to some overpowering pitching. Frosty's Mark Flores and George Kiriazidis combined for 5 foul outs in the victory.

#3 Peninsula Pounders def #6 All Up In The Bunt, 2-1 (6 innings)
A defensive battle between two great units. The game was tied 0-0 through 5 innings and went to OT. With the modified rules (only 8 players on defense, a runner starts on 2nd), the Pounders came out on top. Erin Welch walked with the bases loaded to drive in the winning run.

#2 Foot Snipers def #7 Chubby Gangsters, 9-0
Foot Snipers 1B PJ Jones blasted Elizabeth Ricker in the face with a ball. Then blasted this shot into right field to drive in one of the Snipes 9 runs.

#1 JFK def #9 Foul Balls, 12-0 (3 innings)
Just For Kicks overpowered the Foulies, who were just happy to have advanced a game.

Semi-Finals
#1 JFK def #4 Frosty Ballin', 3-2 (6 innings)
JFK virtually dominated this game, but couldn't quite put away Frosty. They kept hanging around and managed to avoid giving up the big inning. In the 5th inning, the Ballers were trailing when Frank Council destroyed a pitch deep over the JFK centerfielder's head for a 2 run homer to tie the game. The game would go into KC, but Frosty thawed out. Bryan Freed (!) kicked a sac fly to right field that scored the walk off winner and send JFK to the finals!

#2 Foot Snipers def #3 Peninsula Pounders, 3-0
The Foot Snipers' Dave Reglesky mowed through Pounder after Pounder, completely shutting down one of the most powerful offenses in the league and putting the Snipers into the Championship.

Finals
#2 Foot Snipers def #1 JFK, 3-1
JFK continued to put pressure on the Foot Snipers defense, but could not seem to break through. In a game marked by clutch moments, the Snipers built a 3-0 lead. JFK would not go down without a fight though. They scored a run in the 5th and loaded the bases before Anthony Williams casually handed the ball to Kate Barcus for the final out (see video below).

For more videos of the Winter 2012 WAKA VA Raptor Kickball Tourney, visit my youtube page here.

All in all, it was a great day to end a great season! Thank you to everyone who came out to play this season! Congratulations to the Foot Snipers!

All photos courtesy of Mary Katherine Evans (Frosty Ballin) and Emily Cook (Chubby Gangsters).