[UW] Random Observations from the 2021 NCT

By Nick Schaefer

Nick Schaefer shares some key observations from his vantage point calling games on the featured field at the National Championship Tournament.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

A team’s success at the National Championship Tournament was often impacted by factors out of their control. Players had to battle different elements to prosper. The 2-day tournament featured various adverse weather conditions (morning chill, afternoon clouds and sun, evening darkness and lights, and significant temperature drops) and varying field conditions (slick grass, the occasional infield dirt, warning track material in the outfield and behind home plate, and outfield fences of all different shapes and sizes). To win, teams needed to constantly adapt!

Mano a Mano

Jordan Robles won the HR Derby for the 2nd straight year, hitting an amazing 33 home runs in the finals.

Friday night featured a heavy weight fight. There were no jabs, just haymakers. Jordan Robles and Tim McElrath electrified the crowd in their homerun derby duel. Robles ended up edging McElrath 33-31 (that is in 60 seconds folks) in the final round to win his second straight homerun derby crown.

Baseball in Wiffleball

There are all sorts of different pitches in wiffleball thrown at different speeds and different angles. One of the more interesting pitches was courtesy of Grant Miller of the KWL Keggers. Grant featured a unique throwback pitch at the tournament. Miller threw his 12-to-6 curveball (an old-school baseball pitch and not often seen in today’s game) over and over to buckle a lot of knees throughout Saturday.

Mt. Rush-No-More: Perception is not reality

Danny Lanigan of the Usual Suspects.

While nothing should ever be etched in stone in a tournament as big and unpredictable as this, there were four teams with past & recent National Championship Tournament success that stood out above the rest in terms of their perceived odds of making a deep run. The Usual Suspects, C4, Phenoms, and Black Dog Country Club – all past national champions – had the perception of being a Mt. Rushmore of sorts heading into this year’s tournament. However, perception is not always reality. Rather than having their names carved into the championship trophy, each squad exited much earlier than anticipated. Not one of those 4 renowned teams made it out of the quarterfinals this year.

E=mc2

The Juggernauts once again show that chemistry matters. This squad of 4 has been a regular team for several years now, going back to 2019. That familiarity showed in their strategy, camaraderie, confidence and success. It gave them an edge over teams that were assembled for a single tournament.

Different but the Same

The name of the event might be different, but the results were mostly the same. Teams that routinely played in the Mid Atlantic Wiffle® (MAW), dominated play. The majority of teams in both the semifinals and quarterfinals (75%) featured MAW teams. In fact, 3 of 4 semifinalist were MAW teams (Juggernauts, NY Meats, Lemonheads) and 6 of 8 quarterfinalist were as well.

On and Off the Field

Tommy Coughlin (foreground) and Kyle Schultz (background) of the MLW All-Stars.

The MLW All Stars were successful both in and out of competition. Fans flocked to see them on Friday night during FanFest, but more importantly the squad from Michigan performed well on the field, making it to the final 16.

Age is just a number in Wiffs

We witnessed a wide range of ages succeed in the tournament, from young teenagers like Can’t Touch This to more experienced players in their 40’s and 50’s like the New School Risers. When it comes to age, wiffleball is the great connector.

Defending Defense

Wiffleball might be known for high velocity strikeouts and booming homeruns, but defense is a vital aspect of the game. Wifflers did their best to honor Brooks Robinson (who is honored at the York Revolution’s People’s Bank Park both with a plaza and street named after him) — a 16-time gold glove winner and baseball Hall of Famer — with some tremendous defensive plays in both the infield and outfield. Among the “web gems” were two over-the-fence home run robbing catches Saturday evening from the Cardinals’ Gus Skibbe and MLW’s Jimmy Knorp, respectively, and Connor Young’s two-handed leaping grab at the outfield wall to rob Ben Stant of another home run.

Yak Attack

It was one of the tournaments biggest feel-good stories. The hometown team, York Yaks, battled their way through the tournament to make it to the final 22 thanks to the pitching of Jarod Bull and Brandon Baranoski and timely hitting. The Yaks reached Sunday and finished the tournament with a solid 4-4 record.

The Natural

Ben Stant put on a show at the plate, especially in the elimination rounds. Stant helped the Juggernauts snatch victory from the jaws of defeat when he hit the game tying home run with his team down to its last out against Dan Whitener and Wiff Inc. in the quarterfinals. Stant continued his Roy Hobbs impersonation when he hit a game winning homerun off the first pitch he saw from Connor Young in the bottom of the 8th inning. The bombs didn’t stop there. Ben continued his “Stantonian” hitting display with a grand slam against the NY Meat’s Kyle VonSchleusigen, on his way to collecting 7 RBIs in the championship game.

Whippets come out and play

Pete Taynton of Whippets WC.

And play they did. Perhaps no team showed more grit and determination, as they battled their way to a second straight UWiff Final 4, the only team to accomplish that feat. The veteran west coast squad won in different ways, including a high scoring affair against Way to Beautiful and shutting down the high-powered Black Dog Country Club offense.

Flipping the Script

After years of falling short of winning the big title in different leagues, the Juggernauts powered their way to winning both the Mid Atlantic and United Wiffle®Ball Championships in 2021. They accomplished the double by beating ERL/Wiff Inc. in the finals (MAW) and quarterfinals (UW), after years of losing to their friendly rivals.