J-Bears Place Wins USSSA Class E Northern State

Eighty Teams Participate In Rockford On August 27th & 28th

2005 Illinois USSSA Northern Illinois Class E State Champions J-Bears Place

ROCKFORD: J-Bears Place from Rockford went a [perfect 7-0 to win the 2005 Illinois USSSA Men's Class E Northern Illinois State Tournament held at three locations Sportscore Complex, Harlem Community Center & Forest Hills Diamonds) in Rockford over the weekend of August 27th & 28th. The champions were led by the play of Mark Evans who was named as the 'Most Valuable Player' of this eight team double elimination tournament. He was joined on the 2005 USSSA All-State Tournament team by his teammates, Jeff Hurm, Chris Shafer, Alan Yeager, Brad Bach, Josh Houghton, Chris Schram, and J-Bears Place manager who was named as the 2005 All-State Tournament team manager Chris Campion. Triple Play Sports (6-2) from Rockford finished in second place, Klaas Financial (8-2) from Machesney Park finished in third place with Blackhawk Athletic Club Greyhounds (5-2) from Rockford finishing in fourth place. Finishing in a tie for fifth place were both the One Timers/30 Buck Sports Bar (5-2) from Joliet and Jerry's Kids/Joe's Dugout (4-2) from Joliet. A seventh place tie went to Ambrosia Bar & Grill (5-2) from Joliet and Neighbors/Windsor Auto Sales (4-2) from Rockford. Ninth place tie went to Manlius Oil (6-2) from Rockford, Maplehurst/AHH (5-2) from Byron, Booze Brothers (4-2) from Byron and M & S Express 3-2) from Plano.
J-Bears Place opened play with a first round contest against Rock River Siding from Loves Park and found themselves trailing by three runs early in that game before they posted a 7-4 win up onto the bracket board to advance. Chris Schram two run double gave his team the lead for good in this win. Rock River Siding had defeated Heroes & Ledgends/Booze Hounds from Joliet 10-6 in a pig tail game to move into this first round contest with J-Bears Place.
In the second round of tournament play on Saturday it was J-Bears Place and Shala Farms from Oswego playing each other as no one scored in the first two innings of play. However in the third inning J-Bears Place got it going as they push eight big runs across the pay station to grab an 8-0 lead as the coasted home from there winning 16-1. Jeff Lake led the way for J-Bears Place in this win going 3-3 with 3 RBI as his teammates Jeff Hurm, Josh Houghton, Mike Jacobs, Mike Gifford, Al Yeager and Schram all chipped in with two hits each during this win. Shala Farms had won their first round game over Harlem Road Automotive from Machesney Park 18-2 to advance into this second round contest with J-Bears Place.
Game number three was another one sided victory for J-Bears Place as they destroyed TB's/Venetian III from Rockford 16-6 to move into Saturday evenings fourth round of the winner's bracket. J-Bears place was trailing 6-1 entering the fifth inning when their bats found their 'mojo' and started to click. Houghton triple tied the game at six runs each before Schram' s triple put J-Bears Place ahead to stay as their defense threw up all zero's the rest of the way. Leading the way with the bats in this win for J-Bears Place were Hurm and Lake who both collected three hits each during this win. TB's Venetian LL had defeated Borowiak Insurance from Aurora 7-6 in the first round of tournament play before stopping Neighbor's Bar & Grill from Loves Park 6-2 in the second round to move into this third round contest with J-Bears Place.
On Saturday night J-Bears Place was tested and they passed that test as they slipped past the One Timers/30 Buck Sports Bar in a close game 8-7 to move them into Sunday morning semifinal game of the winner's bracket. In a scoreless game Mike Preston led off the third inning with a base hit for J-Bears Place. Hits by Hurm, Jacobs, Gifford and Evans gave J-Bears Place a 3-0 lead, but One Timer's/30 Buck Sports bar battled back to tie the game 3-3 after five innings of play. In the sixth inning J-Bears Place hung another 3 up onto the scoreboard to take a 6-3 lead before the Joliet ball club tied the game at six runs each entering the seventh inning.
Houghton started a rally that plated two runs for J-Bears Place giving them an 8-6 lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning. 3One Timers/30 Buck Sports Bar pushed one run across the dish to narrow the gab to 8-7 and had the bases loaded with two outs. A high hopper up the middle was fielded by a leaping (pitcher) Jacobs who fell to the ground hurt but somehow managed to get the ball to second base for a force out to end the game. Jacobs would not return to action for the rest of the tournament after making this defensive play. J-Bears Place top hitters in this win were Evans 4-4 and Hurm 3-4.

Continued: