Kickball365.com Open Recap – If You Can’t Stand The Heat…Tough

(This is the first of three articles that will recap the Kickball365.com Open tournament that took place on July 17, 2010 in Washington DC. The second annual K365 Open was the third of four events on The Circuit. The following a recap on the opening pool play rounds of the tournament.)

Washington D.C., July 27, 2010 - Neither Hell nor high water – or a minor earthquake and intermittent thunderstorms – could stop this year’s Kickball365 (K365) Open Tournament in Washington DC, which took place on July 17th and brought together some of the best kickball teams along the Eastern Seaboard from a number of different leagues, including the World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) and NJ Kickball. Without a doubt, Kickball’s brightest were on display during one of the hottest days of 2010.

The Meatballs (FL) with Other Shot Callers (DC)

This was the second annual K365 Open and the third event on The Circuit. This year the tournament attracted 22 teams for the day-long tournament, and decided on a pool play/elimination round format using a World Cup style of seeding to pre-determine pools. DC’s own Other Shot Callers (OSC) was among those teams attending and their captain, Joe Spofford, said he favored the format. “One of the best attributes of the tourney was the setup. The organizers really valued the input of the players and found a great way to set up the pools and elimination rounds. Seeding the top six then placing the remainder in the five pools with regional restrictions was brilliant.”

As with most tourney events, the pools were drawn at the official meet-and-greet party Friday night, leaving suspicions about matchups lingering until the 11th hour. Captains and tournament organizers all voted to pre-rank the top six teams in the tournament resulting in a clean sweep for teams south of the Mason Dixon line:

1. Meatballs (FL)

2. Panik Attack (VA)

3. Just Kickin It (FL)

4. The Core (VA)

5. Balls Deeper (FL)

6. Other Shot Callers (DC)

Pools were then filled in randomly to complete the matchups:

Games got under way at a brisk 8:00am on Saturday morning in an effort to escape the brutal DC heat and humidity that had been hanging around in the region. As the first pitches were thrown, a light dew on the grass and some lingering moisture from the night before made the ball slick and throws and catches a little less sure. Many fields turned muddy by the end of the first games – less than favorable conditions but nothing out of the ordinary.

Pool One

Meatballs struggled early on in what many were calling the ‘pool of death.’ Grouped with the then number three team on The Circuit, the Wu Tang Killers, and two talented teams from VA Beach – Inglorious Bastards and Get to The Chopper – pool one showed no easy road out. Yet the Meatballs managed a close 3-2 victory over the bastards and a come-from-behind victory over The Wu Tang Killers by a score of 6-5 with two two-run sac flys from co-captain Chaz Warrington and a bombing home run kick by Warley Leroy to seal the victory.

Pool Two

Panik Attack also struggled early on against their opening round opponents, squeaking out one run victories in their second and third games vs. Richmond Lushes and Chuckle United. It was a welcome return for the Richmond Lushes who saw their first action in over a year. Last time the team took the field was in the 2009 Tidewater Kickball Open with less than competitive results. This year, with a renewed focus, the team managed to capture two wins in pool play and hung tough with some of the nation’s top teams. “We wanted to prove that, when not blacked out, Richmond knows how to play some serious kickball,” said Maggie Harrison, the Richmond Lushes’ right fielder.

Your Richmond Lushes

Pool Three

Pool three featured two top 10 teams in The Circuit: Just Kickin It (JKI) and The Situation. The Situation came in to the K365 Open fresh off its second place finish in the Tidewater Kickball Open in May. JKI last saw action in the South Florida Kickball Open back in February and was making its debut on The Circuit in DC. The two teams didn’t disappoint in their head-to-head matchup, battling battled to a draw in their head-to-head match, final score 2-2. The steadily improving Mo’Tussin, who had a solid first showing in the Tidewater Kickball Open earlier this year, also gave great fight in their match against JKI taking a 4-3 lead in to the final inning before JKI put up three additional runs to end Mo’Tussin’s bid for the W.

Pool Four

Not much action to speak of in pool four as The Core made quick work of everyone, beating up on its opponents by a combined score of 26-3.

First United Connecticut Kickers face off against The Core

Pool Five

In the fifth and final pool, four teams advanced to the elim round and produced the #2 seed (Other Shot Callers), #4 seed (Lock It Up), #6 seed (Balls Deeper) and #16 (Sloppy Seconds). The Balls Deeper and Sloppy Seconds game provided some of the day’s first fireworks as Balls Deeper’s Brian Kibler kicked a walk-off grand slam to keep Balls Deeper’s day alive. Chase Sammons, captain, Balls Deeper, called it the biggest play of the day for his team. “Down all game, that one kick changed everything.”

Live from the Balls Deeper press conference

When the dust settled, the advancing teams were reseeded and the afternoon’s brackets were announced:

By the time the final pool play games finished by 11am, them temperature had reached 100 degrees. While the fields had dried out and the ball was playing much quicker, heat exhaustion and dehydration were also becoming a factor, as many players went down with cramps in their final pool play games.

(Next up we’ll provide a recap of the elimination rounds. In the meantime, you can recount all the post-tourney chatter on the Kickball365 Forum. Got questions or comments? Leave a comment below and let us know what you thought about the tournament.)