Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns Wins USSSA Class D

Fourteen Teams Participate In One Day Tournament In Joliet On Aug. 5th

Illinois USSSA Men's Class D Joliet Champions - Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns

JOLIET: Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns (8-1) from Joliet stormed out of the loser's bracket winning seven straight games to claim the title at the USSSA Men's Class D Great Lakes National Tournament Qualifier played at the Inwood Sports Complex on Saturday August 5th over a field of fourteen teams. The champions earned a berth to play at the 2006 USSSA Men's Class D Great Lakes national Tournament to be held over Labor Day Weekend at Milford, Ohio. McGaffer's / Caps / Fury (4-2) from Lombard took home second place with Ice House Dogs (3-2) from Chicago finishing in third place and Orange Krush (2-2) from Frankfort taking home fourth place from this one day fourteen teams entered event.
Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns opened tournament play with a first round 15-3 win over Fox Valley Flooring / Krush from Geneva to advance into the second round of play in the winner's bracket. The Ice House Dogs threw up a road block on the Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns as they sent the Joliet squad into the loser's bracket early in this tournament after beating them 8-4.
Once in the loser's bracket Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns started slowly but gain stream as the day worn on. Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns first game in the loser's bracket was a rematch with Fox Valley Flooring / Krush with the Joliet based Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns winning 8-4 to advance in the bracket. Next up was a contest against Red Crush from Carol Stream with Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns winning 14-2. Jerry's Kids from Joliet was next in line for the Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns ball club and they continued their winning ways as Jerry's Kids was dismissed from the Tournamtn after dropping a 14-13 decision to Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns.
Orange Krush was next in line to play Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns and the Joliet entry rolled over their opponent 20-0 in this game to put them into the loser's bracket championship game where they got a rematch against the team that had beaten them earlier in the day Ice House Dogs. Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns took a pound of flesh along with the game as they eliminated the Ice House Dogs 14-7 to earn the right to oppose unbeaten McGaffer's / Caps / Fury in the championship game.
Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns came out with fire in their eyes and with their bats smoking as they poured twenty-one runs across they pay station winning big over McGaffer's /Caps /Fury 21-11 to force the need to play the 'if necessary game' to decide who the tournament champion would be. Once again it was the on fire Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns hitting their way to the title as they scored nineteen runs in their ninth game of the day winning 19-6 over McGaffer's / Caps /Fury to claim the title to this tournament.
McGaffer's / Caps /Fury made it to the championship game by winning the winner's bracket. In their opener it was McGaffer's / Caps /Fury over BPM Consulting from Minooka 14-4 to advance into the second round of the winner's bracket. McGaffer's / Caps /Fury met and defeated the Truckers from Naperville 16-1 to advance into a semifinal game of the winner's bracket. The Truckers had previously defeated Joe's On Weed Street/Storm from Chicago 15-10 in the first round of play to advance into this second round contest with McGaffer's / Caps /Fury.
McGaffer's / Caps /Fury and jerry's Kids went at one another in a semifinal game of the winner's bracket with McGaffer's / Caps /Fury winning in a close game 9-8. Jerry's Kids had beaten Red Crush 14-3 in the first round of play before stopping Plano Legion / Vineyard Liquors from Plano 13-12 in the second round to earn their way into this semifinal game against McGaffer's / Caps /Fury.
In the battle between the last two remaining unbeaten teams it was McGaffer's / Caps /Fury and the Ice House Dogs squaring off with one another and McGaffer's / Caps /Fury won easily 12-0 to assure them of a spot in the championship game against whichever team that wins the loser's bracket to earn the right to be their challenger in the championship game of this tournament. The Ice House Dogs made it to the winner's bracket championship game by opening play with a first round 12-11 win over City Of Champions / Fieldhouse from Joliet. In the second round of play the Ice House Dogs met and defeated Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns 8-4 to move into the semifinal of the winner's bracket. In their semifinal game of the winner's bracket the Ice House Dogs sent Orange Krush into the loser's bracket after beating them 12-9 to earn the right to play McGaffer's / Caps /Fury in the undefeated game of the winner's bracket.
After the loser's bracket was complete McGaffer's / Caps /Fury knew that they were to play Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns in the finals. McGaffer's / Caps /Fury came out a little flat defensively as their opponent Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns came out smoking with their bats and the end result was a 21-11 loss by McGaffer's / Caps /Fury. In the 'if necessary game ' it was the same story as the first championship game McGaffer's / Caps /Fury was out of sync while Paradise Motor Group / Young Guns was on fire with the Joliet ball club winning 19-6 to send McGaffer's / Caps /Fury home with the second place prize package from this tournament.

(L) 2nd Place McGaffer's/Caps/Fury & (R) 3rd Place Ice House Dogs