[MAW] 2019 Backyard Brawl Tournament Recap

For the Juggeranuts, the wait is worth it

The Juggernauts capture their first tournament title behind an MVP performance from Tim McElrath

YORK, PA (August 10, 2019) - In a tournament where virtually every team entered with a different goal in mind, the Juggernauts’ aim was simple – win a couple of games and hold onto their first weekend Championship Tournament bye. They got what they came for at Backyard Brawl . . . and then some.

The Juggernauts entered the day a minuscule half-point out of first place in the Mid Atlantic point standings. However, since they also entered the day without their ace, Ryan McElrath, the group came into the tournament with modest expectations. Win a couple of games, maintain their bye, and then go for broke in the semi-finals on September 14th. For a team that entered the season with such high hopes only to struggle in the first half of the season, reigning in their expectations without their ace seemed like a solid idea.

Early on it looked as if the Juggernauts might not reach their modestly set goal. With Tim McElrath pitching, the team surrendered a 1-0 lead against the Blueballs thanks to a Cam Farro solo homerun. Farro was also dealing on the carpet and the Juggernauts were unable to regain the lead. They eventually fell on total bases, 7-6. With the Shortballs – who the Juggernauts have struggled against more often than not this season – and POC still to come, even a 2-2 record wasn’t guaranteed at that point.

Thanks to shutout pitching from Red and timely hitting, the resilient Juggernauts climbed back and won their final thee pool play games of the afternoon. With the Stompers and Shortballs failing to reach the elimination round, the Juggernauts officially accomplished what they set out to do by securing a first weekend bye. With their main goal out of the way, the Juggs sent their sights on bigger and better things – winning the tournament and capturing the regular season title. To do so, they would have to win three more games and become the first team in a MAW regular season tournament to play seven non-play in games in a single event.

Red kept rolling on the carpet and pitched his team passed the Yaks in the quarter-finals. After pitching four games in a row – albeit, with a two-inning mercy rule win among them – Red turned to Tim McElrath to guide the team through the semi-finals against ERL. Tim – who after the tournament admitted to not having his best stuff against the Blueballs – made a pair of crucial adjustments. First, he got teammate Ben Stant to cut him a ball which gave him the feel and command he was missing earlier in the day. Using the new ball, he found a riser that he could mix in with his screwball and drop. His teammates did their part on offense, getting a rare first inning run off Jordan Robles. This time, Tim made the one-run lead hold up. Pitching with the intensity and guts he and his brother are known for, Tim struck out Robles, Devin Torres, and Connor Young in the fifth inning to send the Juggernauts to their second straight tournament final.

After letting out a cathartic scream, Tim stumbled a few feet forward in the general direction of home plate before briefly falling to his knees. He quickly popped back to his feet and joined his teammates, but to those looking on it certainly appeared as if Tim was on empty. Once a workhorse pitcher, Tim didn’t throw much in 2017 or 2018, before picking up the pace somewhat this season. Still, seven hours in between pitching appearances had visibly drained him and it seemed logicial that Red would take the ball for the Juggernauts against the Longballs in the finals. The team had other plans. Red wanted his best option on the rubber for that big game and after the way the ERL game went, he knew that his best bet was Tim. Never one to back down, Tim gladly took the ball.

Matched up against the Longballs’ Tommy Loftus, Tim and the Juggernauts knew they needed to keep the game close and hope to find a way to scratch out a run against one of the game’s best pitchers. The finals breezed through three innings without a score. In the fourth, Red drew a walk and Tim came to the plate with one out and one on. A hard, high slider – Loftus’ main weapon – caught enough of the plate to where Tim was able to get the barrel of the bat to the ball. Despite being late on the pitch (as most are against Loftus), Tim barreled up on it enough to send it flying out towards the tall right field fence on Sheff. The ball had more than enough height to clear the fence, the only question was whether it would stay fair. Tim hit the ball hard enough that it stayed true the entire flight down the first base line. The ball landed well into the trees in fair territory for a two-run home run.

After rounding the bases and watching on as Tommy recovered to escape the inning without further damage, Tim went back to work on the carpet. With both titles – the tournament and regular season – within in spitting distance, Tim buzzed through the Longballs’ formidable lineup to pick up the final six outs. With that, the Juggernauts had their long overdue tournament championship and the top seed in the Championship Tournament. For his heroics in the semi-finals and finals, Tim was named tournament MVP.

“I have no clue what just happened, honestly,” Tim told MAW Facebook Live viewers during a post-game interview.

Red, however, had the answer. “He [Tim] is a gamer. He’s a gamer.”

A lot on the line

The Juggernauts were not the only team on that won big on Saturday.

The 2017 Mid Atlantic regular season champions, the York Yaks, came into Backyard Brawl in the unenviable position of having their post-season fate largely out of their own hands. The only way the Yaks – the ninth and final team in the Championship Tournament entering the day – could ensure a spot in the postseason without having to rely on other teams was to reach the championship game. Despite a strong effort that included a 2-2 pool play record and two total base losses, the Yaks bowed out of the tournament in the quarterfinals. All they could do from that point on was wait, watch, and hope that they would get the help needed to remain in the playoff picture.

That first piece of help came before the Yaks had been eliminated and was courtesy of the only other team in the field whose current playoff spot wasn’t guaranteed. The Blueballs also entered the tournament with their spot in jeopardy if one or more of the four teams outside the post-season picture made the finals. The Blueballs met one of the favorites to crash the postseason party – ATF – in the quarterfinals. To have a chance at advancing, ATF needed to defeat the Blueballs in regulation to separate themselves from the other 2-2 pool play teams, all of which had one total base win. When the Blueballs pushed the game into extra innings – and POC walked off on the NY Meats – ATF was officially eliminated, taking care of one of the remaining threats to the Yaks’ and Blueballs’ post-season chances.

It was another Ridley Park team, the Longballs, who took care of the other threat.

POC and the Longballs met in the semi-finals, with POC needing the win to earn a bid to the Championship Tournament. POC handed the ball to Vin Lea, after Dan Whitener worked the team’s final pool play game and first elimination round game. The Longballs countered with their ace, Tommy Loftus. As expected, Loftus and Lea locked horns in a pitcher’s duel that went to the bottom of the 5th without a run crossing the plate. To that point in the game, Vin had not allowed a single Longball to reach base. That changed in a hurry when leadoff batter Colin Pollag hit a triple off the tall right field fence on Sheff, just narrowly missing a game winner. Sean Bingnear did not miss, however, sending the very next pitch out over the left-center fence for a game winning walk off.

While the Longballs celebrated their trip to the tournament championship game, the happiest team at that moment may have been the Yaks. POC’s elimination guaranteed that the Yaks will be playing in September. With a 1-2 combo of Jarod Bull and Noah Silverman, the ninth seed is primed to pull off an upset or two.

Here and There

Ethan Pecko became the latest in a long line of talented, young Ridley Park Wiffleball League pitchers to make a mark in MAW. Playing as a late sub on the Barrel Bruisers, Pecko threw three good games against tough competition in POC, Shortballs, and Longballs . . . Ben Stant’s three home runs in the season’s final tournament give him a Mid Atalntic leading 10 for the year . . . MAW set several high-water marks with Backyard Brawl. Thirty-one total games played and thirteen teams are both new highs for the organization . . . POC went home from Wiffle Bash without throwing their ace, Dan Whitener. On Saturday, POC went to Whitener early, using him in both their final (crucial) pool play game and the first elimination round game . . . Once one of the better pitchers in the sport, injuries have taken their toll on Kevin Norris in recent years. That didn’t stop him from tossing eight innings of two-run ball against the Stompers and NY Meats . . . The Stompers finished behind the Shortballs by just 1 ½ points for the first weekend bye. Had the 2017 & 2018 Mid Atlantic champions defeated the Shortballs in regulation in their pool play game and all else remained the same, the Stompers would have secured the final first weekend bye . . . Similarly, had ERL won Backyard Brawl to make it three straight tournaments and all else remained the same, they would have surpassed the Shortballs for the final bye.

Final Standings

Up Next

The regular season is over, but there is still a lot of wiffs to be played in 2019 in Mid Atlantic

First up on September 7th is the 2019 Mid Atlantic Championship Wild Card tournament. Six teams will compete in a double elimination tournament for the final spot in the Championship Tournament semi-finals one week later. First round action will see the Yaks take on the New School Risers while the NY Meats battle the Blueballs. The winner of the former will face ERL while the winner of the later game will face the Stompers. The winner of the tournament will not only receive the coveted fourth spot in the semi-finals, but will walk away with $600!

One week later, it is the Mid Atlantic Championship semi-finals and finals. Each series will be a best of three. The second ranked Longballs will face the third ranked Shortballs, while the Juggeranuts await the winner of the prior week’s wild card tournament.

In addition, MAW officials are working on a draft style tournament for October at Shi Wiffleball Park in York. Full details about this standalone will be available in the very near future.