Hitmen Win's ISA Men's Class D NIT

Ten Teams Participate at Dragons Dome Complex In Pekin on June 3rd

URBANA: The Hitmen from East Peoria went a perfect 4-0 to win the ten team I.S.A. Men's Class D National Invitational Tournament held at the Brickhouse Complex in Urbana on June 3rd. The champions earned a paid berth to play at the 2006 I.S.A. Men's Class D World Tournament to be held in Panama City, FL on August 25th through the 27th. The champions earned a paid World Tournament bid plus three Worth Bats and a complete set of T-shirts for all their players on their roster.
Burton (5-2) from Arthur finished in second place earning them a paid berth to the 2006 ISA Men's Class D State Tournament to be held at the Brickhouse Complex on August 12th & 13th plus Worth Bat Bags.
Cold Beer (3-2) from Urbana finished in third place and received a set of Worth caps for their play in this event. Kim's Auto (2-2) from Springfield took home fourth place with both Kelly's Glass (2-2) from Peoria and the Swinging Dixx (1-2) from Jacksonville tied for fifth place at this tournament.
The champions were led by the play of their pitcher Jason Fasano who was named as the 'Most Valuable player' in this tournament for his outstanding play. Joining Fasano on the 2006 Worth All-Tournament team were his teammates Jeremy Hamilton, Jason Cassidy, Rob Dephew, Josh Basset, and Troy McKee with Hitmen's manager Jerry Manuel being named as the manager of the 2006 Worth ISA Men's Class D N.I.T. All-Tournament team.
The Hitmen opened tournament action with a contest against Burton and came away with a narrow 6-4 win to advance in the bracket.
In their semifinal contest of this tournament the Hitmen and Kim's Auto squared off with each other with the Hitmen living up to their name winning 15-3. This win advanced the Hitmen into the winner's bracket finals. Kim's Auto made to this semifinal game by opening play with a pigtail game in which they defeated Area Wide Tech from Urbana 17-16. In their first round of tournament action Kim's Auto took the field to play a team called Middle's Open and posted their second win advancing with a 19-14 scalp being added to their growing collection. This win put Kim's Auto into a semifinal game where they were to meet the Hitmen.
In the undefeated game the Hitmen ad Cold Beer went at each other with the Hitmen continuing to smoke the ball while smothering their opponent with a strong defensive effort winning 15-3 to earn their spot in the tournament's championship game against which ever team could emerge to challenge them from the loser's bracket.
Cold Beer made it to the undefeated game by opening play with a 19-4 win over Adams Apple from Peoria in a pig tail game. In the first round of tournament action it was Cold Beer defeating Long & Hard from Ashmore 13-8 to advance into the semifinals. Cold Beer earned their chance to play in the undefeated game by stopping the Swinging Dixx 10-7. This win put them into the game against the Hitmen in the finals of the winner's bracket.
In the championship game the Hitmen found a familiar face in Burton who they had defeated in the first round of play in a close game. This time around the Hitmen came out hitting as the piled up twenty-three runs on their way to putting the finishing touches onto their undefeated run to the title and claiming the coveted World Tournament berth by defeating Burton 23-15 in the deciding game of the tournament.
The Hitmen did not provide Illinois Softball Report with any individual or team stats, highlights or quotes from their successful run to the title in this tournament.
Burton who did thing the hard way by losing their first game before charging back to finish in second place were led to that second place finish by the play of their shortstop Harold Yoder who was named as the 'Best Defensive Player' in this tournament for his outstanding glove work keeping his team in game after game of this tournament. Three other Burton player joined Yoder on the 2006 I.S.A. Men's Class D, Worth, All-Tournament team and they were; Scott Biggs, Steve Kauffman and Brian Nichols.
In their opening Burton tasted a tough loss to swallow as they were edged by the eventual champions Hitmen 6-4 in the first round of play. The loss dropped Burton into the loser's bracket and put their backs against the wall as the started to send people home starting with Adams Apple with a narrow 8-7 win to move forward in the bracket.
Next to exit this tournament at the hands of the Burton ball club was Middle's Open from Urbana who fell to Burton by a final score of 13-3.
Swinging Dixx were shown the door next as Burton continued to win and advance in the bracket as they posted a close 10-9 win over the Jacksonville ball club.
Kim's Auto and Burton were matched up next with Burton continuing to score in double figures as they post a 15-5 win onto the bracket board to move into the loser's bracket championship game.
Now only the home standing Cold Beer ball club stood between Burton and a rematch with the team that had put them into the loser's bracket, the Hitmen. Burton continued to score runs but so did the Cold Beer ball club as this game sea-sawed back and forth from start to finish, but when that last out had been recorded into the official scorebook the scoreboard reads Burton 12 & Cold Beer 11 as they men from Arthur earned second shot at the Hitmen and the N.I.T. title.
This was not t o be as a tired but game Burton ball club gave it everything that they had left but the day belong to the Hitmen who emerge victorious by a final score of 23-15 to send Burton home with the second place prize package from this Worth Sporting Goods sponsored tournament.
Burton did not provide Illinois Softball Report with any team stats, highlights other information or quotes on how they were able to achieve this second place finish at the 2006 Men's Class D Worth National Invitational Tournament.