by: Steve Dotzel
We are one week removed from the disappointment that was the 2018 NWLA Tournament for our BWBL team. Before the memories and emotions of the weekend fade, I wanted to put into words and reflect on that experience.
Let’s start from the beginning and look back at the expectations we had going into this tournament, expectations that made the actual result that much harder to take. This was Year 4 for the BWBL in the NWLA tournament. The first three, all of which I was apart of in some capacity, had their ups and downs but none finished with our team in one of those Top 8 spots that was always everyone’s goal. Despite those results, everyone connected with the BWBL knew the teams representing the league in those years were not a true representation of the talent we had in the league. Whether those players weren’t interested in playing, couldn’t make the trip, or were playing against us – I along with others knew we weren’t putting our best team on the field. Now let’s jump to 2018, finally the team the BWBL had envisioned since 2015 was in place. We had the two best unscuffed pitchers in our league with myself and Artim, we had the best yellow bat hitters in our league (except Homza) with Belles, Hannon, Novitski, and Holloway; and we had two of our best utility do-it-all players in Fuchylo and Dougher. The only real question anyone had was could all these personalities coincide together on one team? But this was the team we all expected to be the one that crashed the NWLA party and put the BWBL onto the national scene.
Then the tournament happened. A 15th place finish out of 16 teams – the worst showing by the BWBL of any tournament with what was supposed to be our best team. How could this have happened? What went wrong? I’m sure everyone that follows the team, including us, were asking themselves these questions. I’m here to tell you that yes we finished second to last, and yes we were all extremely disappointed but what you don’t know is just how freaking close we were to doing exactly what I talked about earlier and how close we were to shocking the hell out of nearly everyone at that tournament.
Tournaments are funny. From someone who spends nearly all their free time in a tournament of some sort whether it be Wiffle ball, softball, darts, horseshoes, cornhole you name it, I can tell you that many times your success in the tournament largely depends on your draw or path through the bracket. Sure, many times you may feel you can beat anyone at any time, but it is no secret that some teams have easier paths than others and as a general rule, the less teams you perceive as “good” that you have to play, the better you will do in the tournament. Common sense. Well when the draw for the 2018 NWLA double elimination tournament came out, I couldn’t help but breakdown the bracket and our path. And the more I looked, the more I liked it. Yes you still have to win the games, but our path to a Top 8 and a “successful” tournament was pretty straight forward. 1) Win our first game against HWL. A team that we perceive as on our level and certainly one we are capable of beating. 2) Beat the winner of WILL/OCWA, so OCWA. This would be a tough game to win. Either I would probably need to throw a shutout, or we would need some help from their pitching. A win in that game and we are Top 6, just like that. But if we did happen to lose, all we would need is a win over Indy in the loser’s bracket and boom, Top 8. Anything after that would just be gravy in my eyes. You really couldn’t ask for a better draw. In my mind, the bracket was laid out - now we just had to play the games.
Our whole tournament goes back to the sixth inning of our first double elimination game against the previously mentioned HWL. For the first time in BWBL history, we had a chance to win the opening round DE game. The score was 2-2 and we were at the plate with two runners on and one out. Behind us on Field 1, the cheers were getting louder and a crowd was starting to gather as WILL had just taken the lead on an OCWA team that decided they didn’t need to throw either of their two best pitchers. As we were threatening to take the lead in our game, I couldn’t help but think ahead and realize that if WILL wins and we win, they would be the only thing standing between us and a Top 6 finish. It was at about that moment when I saw the ball rocket off the bat of Alex Fuchylo. Rounding third and headed home for the go-ahead run was Mark Belles with Doug Novitski right on his tail. A wide throw on a peg attempt at the plate on Belles and for a few seconds we all of a sudden have a 4-2 lead. I again begin to think, we are three outs away from playing WILL for a birth in the Top 6. WILL, a team that we have beaten before and a team I know we can beat again. A team that didn’t win a game in pool play and finished 13th just last year. And that’s when my dreams of a Top 6 turned into a nightmare.
Our celebrations of Alex’s 2 run single quickly turned to anger as we all started to realize that Belles had been called out on the peg attempt and none of our runs would count. I can’t really sum up how I felt in that moment. I guess disbelief would be the closest thing. Just disbelief that the umpire could miss a call so blatant and easy. I mean even HWL knew and admitted the call was wrong. But with all that said, the game was not over. The game was still tied. If we could hold them in the bottom of the 6th, perhaps we could win it in extras. That belief ended up quickly with a walk off home run by HWL in that bottom of the 6th inning. And just like that, we lost. We lost a game just 5 minutes earlier we all thought we won. As if the loss didn’t hurt bad enough, it didn’t take long for me to realize that now OCWA awaits us in the loser’s bracket since they had taken WILL for granted and got beat. So not only did we just lose a game that would have gave us an amazing chance at a Top 6 finish, a finish that would put BWBL on the map and one that would get us the respect of the wiffle community we had been looking for four years, but now we would have to beat a two-time tournament champ just to avoid the Dangerfield. Those few minutes after that HWL game were pretty quiet. I think everyone was aware of the opportunity that we had missed and knew of the difficulty of the path ahead.
By the time our game against OCWA rolled around, it was known that to get the Top 8 finish we had hoped for, we would have to beat OCWA and WSEM in back-to-back games. You know, the only two teams present to have won the tournament with five titles total between them. After getting burned by resting their aces in their opening game, OCWA wasn’t going to take that chance again and trotted out all-time great NWLA player Ryan Bush to the mound to face us. We played them tight and entered the fifth inning tied at 0-0. A few singles and a hanging slider later and we found ourselves on the losing end of a 3-0 score. And just like that, we were out. It was over.
Like I had said earlier, that draw is important. In an unlikely turnaround, the loser’s bracket had suddenly become stacked meanwhile the winner’s continued to clear for WILL in what could have been our path. In what is now history, WILL would go on to win the whole tournament albeit avoiding WSEM, AWAA, SWBL, and a Bush/Roeder led OCWA team. Quite amazing when you think about it. And that is no knock on WILL, they beat every team they had to and despite avoiding the perceived favorites, they obviously still had to beat some very good teams.
As we gathered for a team dinner Saturday night, there was no missing the reality of what had just happened. The disappointment of not even making it to Sunday was palpable. I was worried the night would not go well with blame being tossed around amongst the guys. But that wasn’t what happened at all. In fact, the disappointment and anger was quickly replaced with ball-busting and laughter. The group of guys that many considered a ticking time-bomb of personalities was a real team and, despite facing probably the most trying situation possible, came out the other side and remained together. After many questionable drink choices, dinosaur training, and of course Fortnite I think it was safe to say everyone went to bed Saturday night on a positive note.
Sure Sunday morning came and we still had some Wiffle ball to play, but at that point, the desire to win was nowhere near where it had been the previous day, or where it needed to be, regardless of who we were playing. To us, our tournament ended Saturday and any game on Sunday was just delaying the ride home. We lost again and our NWLA tournament was officially over, we loaded up and headed for home with a final tournament record of 1-5. But as I have tried to hammer home throughout this article, the finish does not show how easily this result could have been so much different. I know some will say coulda, woulda, shoulda but so many of these games come down to one single play and that is part of what makes the tournament so great. I don’t look back at the tournament with any regrets, and I think if you asked the rest of the guys you would get a similar response. I am proud of how we played and how we handled ourselves, particularly amongst each other. There is no doubt we were a team and we won and lost as such. As for the future, I don’t know where the BWBL’s NWLA story goes from here. That will probably be something that will take some time to cool down and discuss at a later time. Personally, I think I may have seen Morenci for the last time. I will never say never, but being a pitcher and traveling 15 hours to throw 6 innings is just not practical. I would love to get the BWBL a Top 8 finish and say we did it, but deep down while I absolutely think we can be a Top 8 team, I do not think we can win the tournament and if you don’t think you can win the tournament, then what is the point of playing? Regardless, I will always remember the 2018 Breaker Boys and while most probably think this team is at an all-time low, I truly believe this team and this league have never been stronger.
We are one week removed from the disappointment that was the 2018 NWLA Tournament for our BWBL team. Before the memories and emotions of the weekend fade, I wanted to put into words and reflect on that experience.
Let’s start from the beginning and look back at the expectations we had going into this tournament, expectations that made the actual result that much harder to take. This was Year 4 for the BWBL in the NWLA tournament. The first three, all of which I was apart of in some capacity, had their ups and downs but none finished with our team in one of those Top 8 spots that was always everyone’s goal. Despite those results, everyone connected with the BWBL knew the teams representing the league in those years were not a true representation of the talent we had in the league. Whether those players weren’t interested in playing, couldn’t make the trip, or were playing against us – I along with others knew we weren’t putting our best team on the field. Now let’s jump to 2018, finally the team the BWBL had envisioned since 2015 was in place. We had the two best unscuffed pitchers in our league with myself and Artim, we had the best yellow bat hitters in our league (except Homza) with Belles, Hannon, Novitski, and Holloway; and we had two of our best utility do-it-all players in Fuchylo and Dougher. The only real question anyone had was could all these personalities coincide together on one team? But this was the team we all expected to be the one that crashed the NWLA party and put the BWBL onto the national scene.
Then the tournament happened. A 15th place finish out of 16 teams – the worst showing by the BWBL of any tournament with what was supposed to be our best team. How could this have happened? What went wrong? I’m sure everyone that follows the team, including us, were asking themselves these questions. I’m here to tell you that yes we finished second to last, and yes we were all extremely disappointed but what you don’t know is just how freaking close we were to doing exactly what I talked about earlier and how close we were to shocking the hell out of nearly everyone at that tournament.
Tournaments are funny. From someone who spends nearly all their free time in a tournament of some sort whether it be Wiffle ball, softball, darts, horseshoes, cornhole you name it, I can tell you that many times your success in the tournament largely depends on your draw or path through the bracket. Sure, many times you may feel you can beat anyone at any time, but it is no secret that some teams have easier paths than others and as a general rule, the less teams you perceive as “good” that you have to play, the better you will do in the tournament. Common sense. Well when the draw for the 2018 NWLA double elimination tournament came out, I couldn’t help but breakdown the bracket and our path. And the more I looked, the more I liked it. Yes you still have to win the games, but our path to a Top 8 and a “successful” tournament was pretty straight forward. 1) Win our first game against HWL. A team that we perceive as on our level and certainly one we are capable of beating. 2) Beat the winner of WILL/OCWA, so OCWA. This would be a tough game to win. Either I would probably need to throw a shutout, or we would need some help from their pitching. A win in that game and we are Top 6, just like that. But if we did happen to lose, all we would need is a win over Indy in the loser’s bracket and boom, Top 8. Anything after that would just be gravy in my eyes. You really couldn’t ask for a better draw. In my mind, the bracket was laid out - now we just had to play the games.
Our whole tournament goes back to the sixth inning of our first double elimination game against the previously mentioned HWL. For the first time in BWBL history, we had a chance to win the opening round DE game. The score was 2-2 and we were at the plate with two runners on and one out. Behind us on Field 1, the cheers were getting louder and a crowd was starting to gather as WILL had just taken the lead on an OCWA team that decided they didn’t need to throw either of their two best pitchers. As we were threatening to take the lead in our game, I couldn’t help but think ahead and realize that if WILL wins and we win, they would be the only thing standing between us and a Top 6 finish. It was at about that moment when I saw the ball rocket off the bat of Alex Fuchylo. Rounding third and headed home for the go-ahead run was Mark Belles with Doug Novitski right on his tail. A wide throw on a peg attempt at the plate on Belles and for a few seconds we all of a sudden have a 4-2 lead. I again begin to think, we are three outs away from playing WILL for a birth in the Top 6. WILL, a team that we have beaten before and a team I know we can beat again. A team that didn’t win a game in pool play and finished 13th just last year. And that’s when my dreams of a Top 6 turned into a nightmare.
Our celebrations of Alex’s 2 run single quickly turned to anger as we all started to realize that Belles had been called out on the peg attempt and none of our runs would count. I can’t really sum up how I felt in that moment. I guess disbelief would be the closest thing. Just disbelief that the umpire could miss a call so blatant and easy. I mean even HWL knew and admitted the call was wrong. But with all that said, the game was not over. The game was still tied. If we could hold them in the bottom of the 6th, perhaps we could win it in extras. That belief ended up quickly with a walk off home run by HWL in that bottom of the 6th inning. And just like that, we lost. We lost a game just 5 minutes earlier we all thought we won. As if the loss didn’t hurt bad enough, it didn’t take long for me to realize that now OCWA awaits us in the loser’s bracket since they had taken WILL for granted and got beat. So not only did we just lose a game that would have gave us an amazing chance at a Top 6 finish, a finish that would put BWBL on the map and one that would get us the respect of the wiffle community we had been looking for four years, but now we would have to beat a two-time tournament champ just to avoid the Dangerfield. Those few minutes after that HWL game were pretty quiet. I think everyone was aware of the opportunity that we had missed and knew of the difficulty of the path ahead.
By the time our game against OCWA rolled around, it was known that to get the Top 8 finish we had hoped for, we would have to beat OCWA and WSEM in back-to-back games. You know, the only two teams present to have won the tournament with five titles total between them. After getting burned by resting their aces in their opening game, OCWA wasn’t going to take that chance again and trotted out all-time great NWLA player Ryan Bush to the mound to face us. We played them tight and entered the fifth inning tied at 0-0. A few singles and a hanging slider later and we found ourselves on the losing end of a 3-0 score. And just like that, we were out. It was over.
Like I had said earlier, that draw is important. In an unlikely turnaround, the loser’s bracket had suddenly become stacked meanwhile the winner’s continued to clear for WILL in what could have been our path. In what is now history, WILL would go on to win the whole tournament albeit avoiding WSEM, AWAA, SWBL, and a Bush/Roeder led OCWA team. Quite amazing when you think about it. And that is no knock on WILL, they beat every team they had to and despite avoiding the perceived favorites, they obviously still had to beat some very good teams.
As we gathered for a team dinner Saturday night, there was no missing the reality of what had just happened. The disappointment of not even making it to Sunday was palpable. I was worried the night would not go well with blame being tossed around amongst the guys. But that wasn’t what happened at all. In fact, the disappointment and anger was quickly replaced with ball-busting and laughter. The group of guys that many considered a ticking time-bomb of personalities was a real team and, despite facing probably the most trying situation possible, came out the other side and remained together. After many questionable drink choices, dinosaur training, and of course Fortnite I think it was safe to say everyone went to bed Saturday night on a positive note.
Sure Sunday morning came and we still had some Wiffle ball to play, but at that point, the desire to win was nowhere near where it had been the previous day, or where it needed to be, regardless of who we were playing. To us, our tournament ended Saturday and any game on Sunday was just delaying the ride home. We lost again and our NWLA tournament was officially over, we loaded up and headed for home with a final tournament record of 1-5. But as I have tried to hammer home throughout this article, the finish does not show how easily this result could have been so much different. I know some will say coulda, woulda, shoulda but so many of these games come down to one single play and that is part of what makes the tournament so great. I don’t look back at the tournament with any regrets, and I think if you asked the rest of the guys you would get a similar response. I am proud of how we played and how we handled ourselves, particularly amongst each other. There is no doubt we were a team and we won and lost as such. As for the future, I don’t know where the BWBL’s NWLA story goes from here. That will probably be something that will take some time to cool down and discuss at a later time. Personally, I think I may have seen Morenci for the last time. I will never say never, but being a pitcher and traveling 15 hours to throw 6 innings is just not practical. I would love to get the BWBL a Top 8 finish and say we did it, but deep down while I absolutely think we can be a Top 8 team, I do not think we can win the tournament and if you don’t think you can win the tournament, then what is the point of playing? Regardless, I will always remember the 2018 Breaker Boys and while most probably think this team is at an all-time low, I truly believe this team and this league have never been stronger.