Milford, Oh.—Team Bazinga/Bill’s Open Door mowed down three opponents en route to a first place finish in a USSSA “E” National Qualifier July 29th at Expressway Park to bag their sixth USSSA tournament title of the season and third in a row.
Team Bazinga/Bill’s Open Door brushed aside Hitmen/Sugar Creek Packing 13-7 and Sluggers & Chuggers 12-7 before romping past Goodfellas 14-1 in a five inning finale.
The champions outscored their opponents by a combined 39-15 margin, holding all three of their victims to seven runs or less.
The Hitmen finished 2nd with a 2-1 mark, Sluggers & Chuggers went 1-2 to finish 3rd, and Goodfellas placed last with an 0-3 record.
Team Bazinga earned a $100 Expressway Park tournament credit and $50 in USSSA travel expense.
“Defense, timely hitting and big innings” helped carry the winners to the title, said player-manager Jay Yocum.
“We really busted out a few times,” said Yocum.
One of those “bust outs” included a twelve-run inning against Goodfellas in game three.
Yocum had trouble singling any of his players out on defense.
“In the infield, Matt Green stood out at 3rd base as usual in our first two games, then stepped over to shortstop and made two outstanding plays,” said Yocum. “In our second game Robby Brooks made an outstanding play at 2nd, and Zach Sorrell made an outstanding play in the hole at short and threw a guy out at 1st. Also Scott Barber turned two double plays up the middle.
“All three of our outfielders did outstanding as well,” said Yocum. “Dave Monroe made a couple of diving catches in left field. Justin Trenum made some nice catches in centerfield and threw a couple runners out, including one at home plate. And Matt Monroe made some good diving plays in right field and made some accurate throws to 2nd base to get a couple of guys trying to go for two.”
Pitching was also a key, said Yocum, who handles mound duties for Team Bazinga.
“I pitched all three games and never walked a guy,” said Yocum. “I had an outstanding day. I got out in front on the count on everybody and made them hit my pitch. I fielded the middle well too.”
Matt Monroe paced the offense with a red-hot .800 effort.
“This was the best I’ve seen him hit in awhile,” said Yocum. “But I know he has the capability of doing it all the time. It was an outstanding performance.”
Zach Sorrell and Matt Green chipped in with a .770 and .690 day, respectively.
Team Bazinga never trailed in game one versus the Hitmen, jumping out to an early 8-2 lead with two in the 1st, five in the 2nd and one in the 3rd, then outscoring the Hitmen 5-2 over the last three innings to pull away to a 13-7 victory. Matt Green singled in a run and scored on Justin Trenum’s double in the 1st. An rbi double by Zach Sorrell capped off the 2nd. Bazinga tacked on single runs in the 3rd on a Robby Brooks base hit and in the 5th on an rbi single by Brian Williams. Matt Monroe doubled in two runs in the 6th and Sorrell and Phil Peck each delivered an rbi double to close out the scoring.
Matt and Dave Monroe banged out four hits each, and Scott Barber and Sorrell went 3-for-4 to lead the winners.
Sluggers & Chuggers held an early 4-1 lead after three in game two, but back-to-back five-run outbursts in the 4th and 5th sealed an eventual 12-7 victory for Team Bazinga. Phil Davis’ rbi single knotted the score in the 4th, then Dave and Matt Monroe both singled in a run to put their club ahead for good at 6-4. The 5th featured a two-run double by Scott Barber and an rbi double by Brian Williams. Jay Yocum had a base hit to plate the final run in the 7th.
Matt Monroe collected four more hits, and Matt Green and Yocum shared six.
Team Bazinga exploded for twelve runs in the top of the 2nd and never looked back in a 14-1, five-inning rout of Goodfellas in game three. Two-run doubles by Matt Monroe, Justin Trenum and Zach Sorrell, and a three-run bomb by Brian Williams highlighted the inning. Matt Monroe and Dave Brown closed out the scoring with rbi singles in the 4th.
Yocum was perfect in three trips to the plate, and Matt Green, Matt Monroe, Sorrell, and Robby Brooks combined for eight hits to power the champions.
Knocking off the Hitmen – the only USSSA “D” team in an otherwise all “E” affair – proved to be the pivotal game of the tournament for Team Bazinga, said manager Jay Yocum.
It also helped avenge a stinging loss back in May.
“It was pretty big for us to come out of the gate and win against them,” said Yocum. “They put us out at the Memorial Tournament, where we finished 4th. That was a big win for them. They went on and we went home.”
Yocum said his team is now 12-2 in the month of July.
“This makes our third tournament win in a row,” said Yocum. “I was impressed with the way we came out and played defense and pulled this one out. And it was not an easy field, that’s for sure.”
For final standings, please paste the following url into your browser: http://www.usssa.com/sports/Tournament3.asp?TournamentID=882348
Team Bazinga/Bill’s Open Door bagged their sixth tournament win of the season and third in a row by sweeping past three opponents in a USSSA “E” National Qualifier July 29th at Expressway Park. Bottom row, left to right, are Dave Monroe, Matt Monroe, Jay Yocum, and Dave Brown. In the top row are Terry Monroe, Justin Trenum, Matt Green, Phil Peck, Zack Sorrell, Robby Brooks, Brian Williams, and Phil Davis. Not pictured: Scott Barber. Photo courtesy of Expressway Park.
