Mutts Champions Of 'Kiss-It' Class D

Thirty-two Teams Participate At Lippold Park In Crystal Lake

Action At Second Base Between Mutts & Aces High

CRYSTAL LAKE: Mutts (7-1) from Rockford bounced back after dropping the winner's bracket undefeated game to Byron Bank / Costa's / Bunger's (5-2) from Byron to win the final three games of the 2007 Illinois USSSA Men's Class D 'Kiss-It' National Qualifying tournament played at Lippold Park in Crystal Lake on July 7th & 8t.h. Connection (5-2) from Berwyn took home third place with Assault (4-2) from Itasca finished in fourth place. Rounding out the top eight finishing teams were Hell Yeah (4-2) from Schaumburg and The Schmucks (4-2) from places unknown tied for fifth place with both the Road Dawgs (4-2) from Crystal Lake and Johnny Mac Softball / Club 57mx.com (3-2) from Woodstock finishing in a tie for seventh place at this thirty-two team double elimination tournament.
Mutts opened play on Saturday morning with a first round game against the Brew Dogs from Glen Ellyn and came away with a 9-6 win to advance in the winner's bracket.
In their second round contest Mutts and Aces High from Wheaton matched up with one another as the Rockford based ball club posted their second win onto the bracket board winning 20-13. Aces High made it to this second round contest by winning their first game 3-2 over 2NQ Softball from Crystal Lake.
On Sunday morning in the round of eight teams left in the winner's bracket Mutts met up with The Schmucks and came away with a big 19-4 win to get the day started on the right note. The Schmucks had defeated both Sargonians from Carpentersville 6-5 and Seco from Aurora 19-4 to advance into this Sunday morning game with the Mutts.
Now [playing in the semifinal of this thirty-two tem event the Mutts sent Connection to the loser's bracket after beating them 11-9 to improve their tournament record to 4-0 and with this win advancing them to play in the winner's bracket undefeated game. Connections made it to this semifinal game of the winner's bracket by defeating both Piehouse from Chicago 8-6 in the first round of play and than stopping the Bandits from Sycamore 10-6 on Saturday before stopping Johnny Mac Softball / Club 57 mx.com 15-5 on Sunday morning to qualify to play against the Mutts in a semifinal game of the winner's bracket.
Now only two teams remained unbeaten in this tournament as Mutts took the field to play against Byron Bank / Costa's / Bunger's with the Byron squad winning 14-4 to send Mutts into the loser's bracket where they needed to win a game in order to get a second chance at playing Byron Bank / Costa's / Bunger's for the tournament's championship.
Mutt's found a way to bounce back with that needed win as they edged Connection 13-12 to earn a second chance at playing Byron Bank / Costa's / Bunger's with the tournament championship hanging in the balance.
Mutts came out with the idea of gaining some revenge over the team that had put them into the loser's bracket earlier in the day an did just that winning 12-7 over Byron Bank / Costa's / Bunger's to force the need to have the 'if necessary game' played between these two ball clubs in order to determine which of them would go home with the title and the top cash prize award that goes with that title.
In that extra game it was all Mutts as they won big 17-5 over Byron Bank / Costa's / Bunger's to take home the biggest cash prize being offered at this tournament.
Byron Bank / Costa's / Bunger's finished a disappointing second after winning the winner's bracket. They made it to the championship game by opening play on Saturday morning with a first round 7-0 forfeit win over Money Shots from Romeoville who failed to have the required number of eligible players present at game time.

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