#20 ISC Ranked Pete's Blues (Mascoutah, IL) Wins Kelso Klassic
June 16, 2011
Kelso, MO
#20 ISC Ranked Pete’s Blues (Mascoutah, IL) Wins Kelso Klassic
The Mascoutah Pete’s Blues, currently ranked 20th by the International Softball Congress (ISC), capped a 5-1 run through the 14-team Kelso Klassic men’s fastpitch softball tournament with a 5-1 win over the Memphis (Tenn.) Firebirds. This is Pete’s first Kelso Title despite successful runs in the past: 2007 (3rd), 2008 (2nd), 2009 (3rd).
The Pinckneyville Celtics remain the only team to win consecutive Kelso Klassics (1986-1987) in the tournament’s 27-year history. However, the 2011 Pete’s Blues team had seven players from last year’s 2010 champion, the Aurora Dolan & Murphy Shamrocks. Jim Pecoraro, Dave Perkins, Mark Kleffner, Joe Crouch, and Cade Freeman are playing full-time with the 2011 Blues while Adam Perkins and Jeramie Holman could not resist the atmosphere, competition, and chance to repeat at this historic tournament. Kleffner, Pecoraro, and the Perkins brothers contributed with a combined .357 average totaling 25 hits, 4 homeruns, 14 RBIs, and 12 runs scored for the Blues.
The weekend was highlighted by the pitching of Joe Crouch (2-1) and Jeramie Holman (3-0) who held down some very tough lineups in key situations. The two pitchers combined for 70 strikeouts and only 4 walks in their 41 innings of work. Joe Crouch left the Saturday night winner’s bracket semi-final to a standing ovation after shutting out a veteran St. Louis Bullits team consisting of some of the biggest fastpitch names to come out of the St. Louis area. The 6-inning pitching dual between Joe Crouch and Terry Luster was followed by an equally impressive matchup of Jeramie Holman versus Karl Gollan to close the game. After a 6th inning walk drawn by Jim Pecoraro, Danny Alstat squeezed a hard ground ball past the Bullits first baseman to give Pete’s a 1-0 lead going into the 7th inning. Holman closed the door putting the Blues into the semi-final game versus the Topeka Toros (ranked 35th by the ISC). Charlie Bailey provided a huge lift for the Blues with an amazing diving stab in the 5th inning of the Saturday night game against St. Louis.
Saturday night’s game was one of three late-game (bot 6th) wins for the Blues in route to the title. Down 5-2 with two outs in the bottom of the 6th inning of their tournament opener versus Altamont Home Center, Pete’s catcher Daniel Alstat ripped a double scoring two runs and bringing Mark Kleffner to the plate. Kleffner mashed a 2-run homer to put Pete’s up 6-5 going into the final inning. Kleffner repeated this feat in the winner’s bracket final versus the Topeka Toros Sunday afternoon. The Toros maintained a 3-2 lead after their centerfielder robbed what would have been Daniel Eisenhauer’s second homerun of the game. Kleffner found himself in a familiar situation at the plate with his team down in the bottom of the 6th inning with two outs and two runners on base. As in Pete’s opener, Kleff drove a shot to dead center field giving the Blues a two-run lead going into the final inning.
Pete’s faced a very hot Memphis team that made a run through the losers bracket for the second weekend in a row (Memphis came back to force the if-game and won the championship at the 14th Annual Terry Deering Tournament in Pinckneyville, IL just one weekend prior). Memphis slipped past Pete’s with a 3-2 win in the first championship game before clutch hitting by Adam Perkins (3x4, HR), Mack Schmitt, Jim Pecoraro, and Chad Reams led Pete’s to a 5-1 victory in the title game. Congratulations to the Memphis Firebirds who finished the tournament 8-2. It will be interesting to see which of the top finishers elect to accept the berth to the 2011 ISC World Tournament in Quad Cities, IA/IL August 14-20 as Pete’s already earned and accepted a berth from the Knights Invitational (Urbana, IL) earlier this season. The berth will be offered in the following order: Memphis Firebirds (TN), Topeka Toros (KS), Black & Gold (Hermann, MO). The new format of the ISC World Tournament should be very attractive to any of the 14 teams that competed at this year’s tournament in Kelso.
Jeramie Holman was named the most valuable pitcher of the tournament. Jeramie was on loan from New Image of Montfort, WI (ranked 26th by the ISC). This was Jeramie’s fourth trip to Kelso and his third with Pete’s Blues. Holman finished 3-0 striking out 47 and walking just 1 in his 25 2/3 innings of work. Equally impressive was Joe Crouch who finished 2-1 striking out 23 in 15 1/3 innings.
With this win, Pete’s improves to 15-6 on the season. The Blues are next in action at the 2nd Annual Spud Classic (Altamont, IL) Thursday, June 22nd. Altamont will be the Blues last weekend before adding Penese Iosefo (NZ Black Sox http://www.softball.org.nz/Sox+Nation/Black+Sox.html) to their pitching staff of Joe Crouch, Troy Downen, and Al Zobrist. Penese will also provide the Blues with additional offense for the last two months of the season. The Blues will also add the powerful veteran bat of Steve Linton (1B) who has missed the last few weekends with a fractured foot.. Steve is in the Kelso record books for many records including a streak for consecutive appearances which unfortunately ended this past weekend as he coached the Blues to the Kelso title..
More information on the team is available at our website:
Pete’s Blues is one of the longest running teams in Illinois with great tradition. They have always fielded a competitive team for the last 30 years and hope to improve on their 13th place finish at the 2010 ISC World Tournament (Midland, MI) this August in the Quad Cities.
Pete’s is hosting its first annual Battle of the Bats the second weekend of July (15th-17th) in Highland, IL. It will be a great atmosphere with solid competition leading into the big national and international tournaments in late July and August. We will provide a 3-game guarantee and teams of any level are welcome! More information available at the following link:
Dave “Hooda” Perkins
630.330.5983
