Hill United Chiefs capture third-straight world title

It’s pretty safe to say the Hill United Chiefs are a dynasty.

For the first time since 1960, the Chiefs become the first team to capture three-straight International Softball Congress world titles, beating the Toronto Gators 6-4 at the Belleville Softball Complex in South Bend, IN.

“Just to win a world title is a huge achievement let alone three-in-a row,” tournament Most Valuable Player Nick Shailes said. “There have been guys who have played their whole career without winning one.  Three-in-a row shows how committed and how comfortable our team is with not only teammates and coaches but with sponsorship as well. When you don’t have to worry about anything and you can just go out and play ball with friends it makes things a whole lot easier.”

He also said the support the team receives is second to none.

“Having the fan base we have now is a huge factor, the support from family and friends especially our wives and girlfriends is amazing,” Shailes said. “It is a big commitment to let your significant other travel all over the country playing ball, but they step up every year and are as supportive of our goals as we are to achieving them.”

But to do it, the Chiefs, based out of Six Nations, had to dig deep.

After Brad Ezekiel homered in the top of the first inning to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead, the Gators came right back with four runs of their own.

But like he’s been the past several years, Adam Folkard showed why he’s the premier pitcher in the game, shutting the Gators down the rest of the way. The big Australian struck out 13 Gators, and gave up only one hit.

Offensively, the Chiefs were stymied for much of the game, with Kyle Linton and Sean Cleary holding them at bay. The only rally the Chiefs had was an outfield error in the second inning that allowed Mark Johnson to reach third base, Joel Southam’s sacrifice fly scoring home.

But then the Chiefs bats got going in the sixth inning.

With two runners on and one out, Jason Hill blasted a three-run homerun, giving the Chiefs a lead.

Later in the inning, Mark Johnson added a run, scoring on a wild pitch.

And with the lead, Folkard took care of the rest, striking out a pair, before inducing a fly out to second base for the final out, in earning the tournament’s top pitcher.

Folkard finished the tournament with an earned run average of 0.21, in 34 innings of work, allowing one run on 11 hits. He gave up six walks and struck out 60 batters.

“You can’t go past what Adam Folkard has done these past couple of years,” Shailes said. “Not only has he dominated hitters for the last 10 years, he has won the same amount of pitching awards as the guy who the award is named after.”

Nick Shailes was awarded the Most Valuable Player Award.

Shailes was huge for the Chiefs throughout the tournament, with a .333 batting average, was tied for third in homeruns with three, and was among the tournament leaders in runs batted in.

“As for me winning the MVP, you never play the game looking for individual awards,” he said. “I was lucky enough again to get the award, but the award could have went to any one of the guys on this team this week. When you get to play with a group as talented as these guys your game seems to improve by just playing alongside them.”

To earn their third-straight ISC world title, the Chiefs went undefeated, beating the Shakepeare Falcons 12-0, NorthEast Drillers 8-0, Peligro Gremlins 4-3, J and B Painting 8-0, before defeating the A1 Bombers 6-0 in the undefeated game to earn a berth to the final.

The last time a team won three-straight titles, was the Long Beach Nitehawks, from 1958-1960.

What’s made the Chiefs run even more impressive, is the 18-straight games they’ve won during that time. And if you go back one more year, they’re ISC world tournament record sis 23-1, with the only blemish coming in the 2012 championship game.

dsmart@norfolknews.ca

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