Whompers Win 2007 League Championship

After a long regular season, the playoffs got under way and this year was more competitive than any other season in San Diego's young history of stickball. There were two brand new teams added this year, the San Dawgs and the Sky Knights, to bring the league total to eight teams. After the regular season was over, the seeding with their regular season record in parenthesis, for the double elimination playoffs were as follows:

In the first round of games, there weren't any major upsets. The Whompers handled the San Dawgs 11-0, the defending champion YoungStars got by SC Crown Point 4-1, Eclipse beat the Sky Knights 7-0, and the Stixx took care of the St. Sluggers 6-4 behind Bobby Berrios' game-winning HR.

In the second round, the losers of the first round matched up in elimination games. The St. Sluggers crushed the San Dawgs 15-4 with a huge 9-run 2nd inning and the San Dawgs were eliminated from the playoffs. In the other losers bracket game, SC Crown Point beat the Sky Knights 7-0 and eliminated the Sky Knights from the playoffs.

In the second round of the winners bracket, the Youngstars were matched up with Eclipse in a rematch of last year's league championship. The YoungStars shut them out 6-0 and advanced to the semi-finals against the winner of the Stixx and Whompers. The game between the Stixx and Whompers was tied at 4 in the bottom of the 6th inning when pinch hitter Joe Cunningham hit a HR to put the Whompers up 5-4 and that's how the game would end. The Whompers advanced to play the YoungStars and the Stixx would move down to the losers bracket.

The St. Sluggers matched up against the Stixx in an elimination game that was a rematch from the first round. The St. Sluggers came out and took an early 2-0 lead but it wouldn't hold up and the Stixx tied the game. It was tied 3-3 after 7 innings so they went to extra innings and in the top of the 8th inning, the Stixx scored a run to go ahead 4-3. With 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd in the bottom of the 8th inning, a St. Sluggers batter got a base hit to the short outfield. The runner on 3rd scored to tie the game and the outfielder threw to 3rd to try and get the runner going to 3rd. He overthrew the ball to 3rd and it went out of play allowing the runner to trot home with the game-winning run to eliminate the Stixx.

In the winner's bracket, the Whompers took on the YoungStars, the only two teams to have previously won Little Italy Stickball League Championships before. The Whompers came out hitting and had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out when Ed Marquis hit a sacrifice fly to score Mike Parks Jr. to make it 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning. The YoungStars came back to tie it in the 2nd inning but it wouldn't stay tied for long. The Whompers scored 8 runs in the 2nd inning and pretty much sealed the game in the 2nd inning. Terrance Cochran got the scoring started with an RBI single and the hits would keep coming. The Whompers would go on to win the game 11-3, advancing to the championship game and sending the YoungStars to the losers bracket.

In the last losers bracket game, it was the St. Sluggers vs. the YoungStars with the winner advancing to play in the championship game against the Whompers. The St. Sluggers already secured at least 3rd place, which would be their highest finish ever. It looked like the St. Sluggers weren't satisfied with that though and they came out hitting, going up 2-0 in the top of the 1st inning behind good hitting and baserunning by Frankie Ibarra. The St. Sluggers pushed it to 3-0 in the 5th inning and that was the score going into the bottom of the 7th inning. David Guilant hit a solo HR in the 7th but it wasn't enough as the YoungStars fell 3-1 and were eliminated from the tournament.

It was finally time for what everyone was waiting for, the championship game. The Whompers have been there before and were heavy favorites over the St. Sluggers, who were in their first ever championship game. Since it was double elimination and the Whompers were undefeated, the St. Sluggers would have to beat them twice to win the championship. For most of the game it was a defensive battle, neither team being able to score in the first 4 innings. The Whompers would finally get on the board with a two out 2-run double by Greg West that was followed by a run scoring single by Ed Marquis to put them up 3-0. The St. Sluggers would come right back with 3 runs in the top of the 6th inning to tie the game up at 3. The Whompers didn't score in the bottom of the 6th inning and the St. Sluggers didn't score in the top of the 7th inning. In the bottom of the 7th, the Whompers had 2 runners thrown out at second base trying to stretch singles into doubles and the St. Sluggers were pumped up and ready for extra innings. With two outs and nobody on base, Justin Paige hit a double and Greg West hit the game winning single to score him to give the Whompers their 2nd league championship in the league's 3 year history.

Thanks to all the teams for coming out and playing some awesome stickball. Every year the league keeps getting stronger and next year will be no different. Many thanks to all the board members for making the league possible with their hard work and dedication. Until next season....