By Alex Cammarata & Marina Stuart
Team Stay Luce defeated team New London Arboritos in the final round of Connecticut College’s first annual Wiffle Ball Tournament on September 23. Stay Luce came out on top 1-0 after six innings of overtime to win a $100 dollar gift card to Paul’s Pasta.
Eight teams, each with five team members, paid $25 to enter the tournament. Each game had five innings and the proceeds of the tournament went towards new hats for Conn’s Club Baseball team.
Jack Garrity ’13, a member of the Club Baseball team, said, “We thought it would be a great way to spread the word about club baseball. It’s a great new tradition for the fall and spring. There was a great turn-out; we didn’t know what to expect. Everyone was very enthusiastic.”
In the eleventh inning of the final game, Nick Luce ’14 of Stay Luce hit teammate Ben Allar ’13 home for the victory.
When asked how he felt about the defeat, Evan Studwell ’13 of the New London Arboritos said, “It was ridiculous how good their pitcher was.”
Evert Fowle ’14, who pitched for Stay Luce, didn’t allow a run the whole tournament. Teammate Mike Bortnick ’14 described Fowle as “The MVP of the tournament,” but described himself as “the unsung hero of the tournament.”
Perhaps the win could be attributed to time spent preparing for the game. Asa Welty ’13 of the New London Arboritos said that his team hadn’t “prepared at all to be honest,” while teammate Studwell, on the other hand, admitted, “I’ve been doing squat thrusts every day.”
The weather played an important role in the game. Though it was a warm day, Max Lemper-Tabatsky ’16, a member of team Xanders explained, “The wind was a crucial factor in the game. It dictated how we pitched and how we hit.” The Xanders lost in the first round.
Stay Luce showed their power early on in the tournament. Bortnick hit teammate Ari Holden ’14 home in overtime to beat James and the Giant Scuds in the second round.
After his game-winning hit, Bortnick said, “I feel excited, but we still have a lot of wiffle ball to play. I want to take it one inning and one game at a time. It’s not about fun, it’s about winning.” Spectator Martina Rudolph ’14 called Bortnick “silent but deadly.”
This game was not without controversy or disagreement. In the top of the fifth inning, Bortnick hit what at first looked like a homerun; however, after a lengthy discussion among the teams and the umpires, it was ruled as a double.
A member of James and the Giant Scuds who preferred to remain anonymous described their early win in the first round as, “One small step for wiffle ball teams, one giant step towards contacting extraterrestrials.” Had they been victorious, James and the Giant Scuds were planning to put the proceeds “towards a spaghetti radar machine that could detect aliens in the atmosphere.”
Bo Clay ’15 of James and the Giant Scuds, an enthusiastic participant, said, “I’m really excited a bunch of people like us can get out here and enjoy a nice game of wiffleball on campus.”
Harrison Thomas ’16 of team The Best was also excited for the tournament and said he had prepared by “doing some two weight reps, mostly for ‘toneage’.” These weight reps, combined with his wiffle ball experience, helped Thomas fully prepare for the tournament.
There were also a number of fans in attendance, who stayed until the end of the championship game. Graham Allen ’14 and Rudolph said “We liked how in the beginning there were multiple games so you were never bored” and, “how it was difficult to support just one team when our friends were playing on different teams.”
Another member of the club baseball team, Jackson Murphy ’14, said, “We’re very thrilled to have such a great turnout. There is a great combination of competition and fun. I can’t wait to do it again next semester with more teams, more pasta and of course, more wiffle ball.”•
