August2006

ASA - CIRCLE TAP, FLORIDA FAST PITCH ADVANCE TO CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND

August 5, 2006

South Bend, IN

CIRCLE TAP, FLORIDA FAST PITCH ADVANCE TO CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND

SOUTH BEND, IN -- One swing of the bat can turn a game from a loss to a defeat. Ask the Circle Tap softball team.

Trailing 5-3 entering the seventh inning, Circle Tap of Green Bay, WI got a grand slam homer from Matt Bramwell to defeat the Heflin Gremlins of Balston Lake, NY 7-5 and advance to the championship round of the 74th ASA Men's Major Fast Pitch National Championship. The championship will be played Sunday morning at 10 with an if game scheduled at noon.

Circle Tap trailed 5-3 entering the seventh before Bramwell hit his first grand slam of the tournament to straight away center field off losing pither pitcher Brian Uruqhart. Urquhart fanned seven and allowed 11 hits in going the distance. Collin McKenzie was the winner with a complete game and allowed five hits and walked three, striking out seven.

Circle Tap (5-0) broke out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a solo homer by Kyle Magnusson before Heflin scored twice in the second inning to take the lead. Circle Tap added another run in the third before Heflin added another run in the bottom of the third on Blake Miller's solo homer to hold a one-run lead. Each team added a run in the fifth and Heflin added another run in the sixth on a Mike Gasaway homer to lead 5-3 entering the seventh inning. Heflin's run in the fifth inning came on a solo homer by Frank Perez. Chris Delarwelle had a solo homer in the fifth for Circle Tap and a single. Teammate Tom Crouch had a single and a triple and Magnusson also had a single in addition to the roundtripper.

Florida Fast Pitch 2, Heflin Gremlins 1 (loser's braket final)

Florida Fast Pitch defeated the Heflin Gremlins of Balston Lake, NY 2-1 in the loser's bracket final Saturday evening to advance to the championship round Sunday and is assured of at least finishing runner-up for the second year in a row.

The game was scoreless through three innings before Heflin scored a run in the top of the third on an RBI single by losing pitcher Brian Ezekiel. Florida Fast Pitch, however, came back to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth scoring a run on Matt Darling's fielder's choice. Darling scored the winning run in the bottom of the on some heads-up base running. Brad Johnson led off the inning with a single before Darling walked. Matt Palazzo also walked to load the bases. Mike Brown hit into a fielder's choice for the first out before Jeremy Manley hit a fly to left field. The ball was caught by left fielder Wally King, who then turned toward the shortstop after the catch. When he did, Darling broke for home with the ensuing throw to the plate wild.

Manley was the winner in the route going performance and fanned seven, allowing five hits including a pair of singles in the last inning. Manley fanned Mike Casaway to end the game and the threat. Ezekiel struck out five and allowed four hits. In finishing third in the 17 team field, Heflin had a 3-2 record.

Circle Tap 4, The Farm Tavern 3

Florida Fast Pitch 4, The Farm Tavern 2

In a battle of Wisconsin rivals, Circle Tap of Green Bay edged The Farm Tavern of Madison , 4-3 , Saturday to advance to the winner's bracket final against the Heflin Builders of Balston Lake, NY in the ASA Men's Major Fast Pitch National Championship. Heflin beat the Bloomington Stix of Bloomington, IL 6-2 in Saturday's other semi-final to advance.

Circle Tap, 4-0, trailed early and twice scored a run to tie The Farm Tavern at 2-2 before scoring twice in the sixth inning to hand The Farm Tavern its first loss in three games. The Farm took a 1-0 lead in the third on Boyd Dallmann's RBI triple before Kyle Magnusson's RBI single in the bottom of the third tied the game for the first time.

The Farm regained the lead in the top of the fourth on Stan Grebek's RBI single before Circle Tap tied the game for the second time on Kevin Reichardt's two-out solo homer over the center field fence off losing hurler Korrey Gareau. Gareau replaced starter Dean Holoein in the first inning. Holoein left the game when he apparently pulled a groin muscle after delivering a pitch. He hurled to the first three batters before being replaced. He stayed in the game to bat but was hitless in four at-bats and obviously was in pain. Gareau allowed four runs, eight hits and fanned five. Matt Bramwell was the winning pitcher and went the distance, allowing eight hits and striking out three.

In the sixth, Bramwell led off with a single. After an out, Reichardt walked before Jeff Wartman singled Bramwell home to tie the game for the third and final time. Darrin Derricks brought home the game-winner with a perfect suicide squeeze bunt that scored Reichardt. He was credited with a double on the play as he didn't stop at first and continued to second.

The Farm Tavern later lost and was eliminated from the tournament losing to Florida Fast Pitch 4-2 to finish fourth.

Midland Explorers 6, Patsy's 5 (11 innings)

Florida Fast Pitch 9, Midland Explorers 0

Scoring four runs in the 11th inning, the Midland Explorers (2-1) won the third extra inning game of the tournament to eliminate Patsy's (3-2) from the 17-team field.

The teams batted to a 2-2 tie through eight innings before Midland broke open the game in the 11th against losing hurler Adam Folkhard, scoring four times. The runs came on a two-run single by Jeff Servinski and two Patsy's. errors. The hit was Servinski's third in five trips to the plate.

Midland took an early 1-0 lead on third baseman Kyle Beane's RBI double in the first inning before Patsy's tied the game on an RBI double by Chris Miljavic in the fifth inning. The game remained tied until the eighth when Midland pulled into the lead on a solo homer to right field by catcher Craig Crawford leading off the eighth inning. Patsy's, however, tied game in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single by catcher Paul DeGroat.

Paul Koert went the distance to get the win for the Explorers, allowing six hits, walking four and striking out 15. Gerald Muizelaar started for the losers and hurled five and one-third innings before he was replaced by Folkhard in the sixth inning. Muizelaar returned, however, to pitch to one batter in the 11th and hurled a total of six innings, fanning eight and walking one. He allowed three hits and Folkhard gave up four hitsere

Later Saturday, the Explorers were eliminated losing to Florida Fast Pitch of Jacksonville, FL. The Explorers were 2-2 in the tournament.

Florida Fast Pitch 3, Keating Fitness Center 0

2005 national runner-up Florida Fast Pitch of Jackonsville, FL used the long ball to improve its record to 2-1 blanking Keating Fitness Center of Wilkes Barrre, PA in one of six games Saturday morning at the Belleville Softball Complex. It was the second loss in three games for Keating, which was eliminated in the three-game guarantee championship.

Florida scored once in the fifth and two in the seventh to hand Billy Hillhouse the loss. Hillhouse allowed four hits and fanned seven batters in going the distance. All of the runs came on home runs with Larry Mastrogianakis hitting a solo homer in the fifth inning nand Ron Branin smashing a two-run roundtripper in the seventh. Brad Johnson added a pair of singles for the winners. Bret McHenry had the only hits for Keating--a single and a double. Sebastian Gervasutti was the winning hurler, striking out seven and not walking anyone.

Minn Dak Millers 11, Dolan and Murphy 0 (five innings)

Minn Dak Millers 8, MVD Sports 0 (five innings)

Minn Dak Millers 4 , Bloomington Stix 1

Florida Fast Pitch 6, Minn Dak Millers 4

The Minn Dak Millers of Fargo, ND shutout Dolan and Murphy of Aurora, IL (1-2) and eliminated it from the men's major fast pitch national championship Saturday morning. Dolan and Murphy finished tied for ninth with Patsy's, Townline and Keating Fitness Center.

The win improved the Millers' record to 2-1.The Millers out-hit Dolan and Murphy 13-1 in the five inning mercy rule game scoring once in the first, three in the second, sixth in the third and once in the fourth. Rob Schweyer was the winning pitcher. Juan Potolicchio was the losing hurler hurling the first two innings before Tim Murphy replaced him and pitched the remainder of the game.

In its second game Saturday, the Millers shutout MVD Sports of Fargo, ND 8-0, scoring four runs each in the third and fourth innings in the mercy run contest. The loss eliminated MVD ( 2-2 ) from the tournament. Ron Schweyer hurled the win, allowing two hits while striking out eight. Losing pitcher was Tom Berube who allowed eight hits, walked three and fanned three.

Jason Wardler highlighted the Minn Dak offense with a grand slam homer in the fourth inning. John Tschida had a double and a single and Lucas Goring had a pair of singles for the winners. Tom Berube went four innings and was the losing pitcher, striking out three and walking an identical number.

The Millers won their third consecutive game in the loser's bracket Saturday eliminating the Bloomington Stix. The Stix finished 2-2 in the championship.Roman Foore led the Millers' offense driving in four runs with a two-run homer in the second inning and a two-run single in the fifth. Bloomington scored its only run on an RBI single by Chad Seeman in the fourth inning.

Rob Schweyer went the distance to collect the win, allowing nine hits and striking out six. The Minn Dak Millers finished with a 4-2 record. It lost its opening game 3-2 to the Midland Explorers in nine innings, then won four games in a row before losing to Florida Fast Pitch 6-4 in the loser's bracket Saturday evening.

MVD Sports 7, Townline 5

MVD Sports of Ashland, OH improved its record to 2-1 in eliminating Townline of Denmark, WI (2-2) from the 17-team field.

MVD scored five times in the third and added single runs in then fifth and seventh innings. Daryn Miller accounted for four of the runs with a triple and a double and Reggie Kline had a two-run homer in the five-run third..

MVD had 11 hits to five for Townline, which scored once in the first, second and seventh innings and second in the fourth. Josh Johnson had a triple and Chris Delorit had a double for the losers.

Tom Berube was the winning pitcher, fanning four and walking an identical number. He allowed five hits. Townline starter Tane Richardson took the loss, pitching five innings, striking out five and walking one.

Bill Plummer
bplummer@softball.org


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