NORTH BENNINGTON — Lucas Francis jumped out of bed before the sun rose on Sunday. He put on his jersey and hit the road for the four hour trek from Gorham, Maine to North Bennington.
Francis — a NCAA Division III baseball player for the University of Southern Maine — is used to traveling to sporting events; his Huskies played at Castleton University this spring.
On Sunday, he donned a different jersey for a different sport: Boyz N-the Barn, a member of Golden Stick, a professional wiffle ball league.
“I always took (wiffle ball) a little more serious than most of my friends growing up,” Francis said.
Boyz N-the Barn, a five-player roster of USM students, had never played in a wiffle ball tournament prior to Sunday.
“It’s actually really fun, good people to be around and we’ve enjoyed ourselves so far,” Francis said in between games. “It’s fun when you get a bunch of people together to play a kids game.”
The fun translated into success, as the newbies took home the championship with a 6-2 win in the “golden ball” championship match.
The Vermont Golden Stick Region is brand new in 2021, and Bennington is the hub. That’s thanks to Rob Mix, who had played for years in the Massachusetts Region. Mix, 47, has been playing some form of wiffle ball for half of his life. As the sport has grown in popularity locally over the last several years, he felt inclined to bring professional competition to his home state.
“I thought this would be beautiful for Vermont,” Mix said.
Wiffle ball is often thought of as a backyard game. At this level, the competition is fierce. Four games were simultaneously played on Sunday, with the fence spanning 90-100 feet from home plate. The pitching mound is exactly 43 and a half feet from home plate, and players at this level can toss it up to 55 miles per hour with nasty movement. Mix compares the movement to the greatest closer of all time.
“You’re facing people that are throwing Mariano Rivera pitches all day long, at a short, short distance,” he said.
Sunday’s regional qualifier brought teams from all over New England to Welling Field on Fishing Access Road for an afternoon of competitive wiffle ball. There were plenty of Bennington County teams: Vermont Legends, Vermont Yard Goats, Vermont High Rollers, Northeast Vipers, Vermont Black Widows, Team Terrors and Mercenaries. Then there were teams who traveled like Boyz N-the Barn and NRG (Not Really Good), whose three-man team consisted of two players from Boston and another player from New Hampshire. Each roster has a minimum of two players and a maximum of five.
There are no base runners, instead bases are rewarded based on where the ball lands. A single is rewarded for any ball that is hit on the ground in the infield and is not cleanly fielded. A double is when the ball reaches the fence on a bounce. Triples are earned on a batted ball hitting the fence, and home runs, just like in baseball, are when the ball travels over the fence. Games are four innings, besides the “golden ball” championship match, which lasts five innings.
The eight-team tournament had players as young as 15 years-old, with the oldest player on the field nearing 60 years old. Boys, girls, men and women all came together for the love of the sport, and the chance at winning a little cash.
The tournament included a $100 buy-in per team. Boyz N-the Barn walked away with $400 as tournament champions, defeating Mix’s Vermont Black Widows 6-2 in the golden ball championship match. Black Widows earned $200 for their performance in second. One team entered the tournament on a credit. The remaining $100 went toward running the tournament, according to Mix.
The win also puts Boyz N-the Barn in a good position to qualify for the Open in Long Island, New York, the wiffle ball equivalent of the World Series.
For Mix, the best part about wiffle ball is the community.
“The player body, it’s family. It’s good times,” Mix said. “I love playing, this is a release from life.”’
The regional tournament will take place Aug. 8. The top three teams from the Vermont Region will qualify for The Open.
"ball" - Google News
July 12, 2021 at 01:02AM
https://ift.tt/3ifDLED
Bennington turning into wiffle ball hub | Sports | benningtonbanner.com - Bennington Banner
"ball" - Google News
https://ift.tt/39CKzGV
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment