Roundin' Third Wins ISA Class D In Arlington Heights

Twelve Teams Particiapte at Melas Fields On May 21st

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS: Roundin' Third (6-1) double dipped the Squad (3-2) 22-6 and 18-3 to win the ISA Men's Class D title at Melas Fields in Arlington Heights on May 21st. CC/On Tap (4-2) took home third place with Squeeze (2-2) finishing in fourth place.
The champions opened play against WSAD with a 23-0 win as Kyle Kimme 4-4 with 6 RBI, Dave Yuen 3-3 with 5RBI and Jim Watson 3-3 leading the way in this win with their bats for Roundin' Third.
Game number two was a walk over 7-0 win against Throwin Leather who failed to show up for the tournament. Throwin Leather had received a first round bye to advance into this game.
Roundin' Third and Canadian Club/On Tap tangled next and that game went eight innings before Roundin' Third found a way to win as they advanced by posting a 23-22 victory up onto the bracket board. This game was back and forth the whole way as Roundin' Third scored eight runs in the top of the first inning before Canadian Club/On Tap answered with seven runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Canadian Club/On Tap ball club had built a 16-11 lead before Roundin' Third came charging back to open a 20-18 lead entering the seventh inning. Canadian Club/On Tap tried to end the game right here but both Torry Caniglia and Kyle Kimme from Roundin' Third threw out runners at third base as they tried to stretch hits. In spite of these defensive heroics the Canadian Club/On Tap ball club did manage to tie the game and force extra innings. Roundin' Third scored three more runs in the top of the eighth inning before hanging on by limit9ing the Canadian Club/On Tap ball club to two run sin the bottom of the eight inning to escape with a 23-22 win over them. Torry Caniglia went 3-5 with 5 RBI to lead Roundin Third during this win which included two out clutch hits in both the sixth and eight innings. Canadian Club/On Tap had reached this game by opening play with a first round 14-7 win over Re-Max before stopping Enuff Said 17-10 in the second round of play.
The winner's bracket undefeated game Roundin' Third squared off with the Squad and came up one run short losing 9-8 in spite of the hitting of Jeff Streul and Scott Barlev who were both 3-4.
A rematch with Canadian Club/On Tap was next up for the Roundin' Third ball club and it turned out to be another one run game with Roundin' Third edging Canadian Club/On Tap 13-12 to earn a second shot at both the Squad and the tournament title. Roundin' Third found itself down 7-1 in the fourth inning but they battled back to score five runs in both the fourth and fifth innings as Jim Phad stroked a huge three run home run to ignite his team. Canadian Club/On Tap was not through as they pushed three runs across the pay station in the top of the seventh inning to take a one run lead 12-11. Caniglia and Matt Goumas led off with singles and the winning runs were driven in when Kimme lined a double into the gap to give his team the 13-12 victory.
Now Roundin' Third had it's rematch with the Squad and they got the revenge that they wanted winning twice 22-6 and 18-3 to win the championship and earned an ISA World Tournament Berth. Jim Casey had 4 RBI, Shannon Rollins went 4-4 and Jeff Streul had 6 RBI.
For this tournament Roundin' Third was led by the hitting of Jim Phad with 4 HR, Dave Yuen .783 with 13 RBI, Kyle Kimme .760 with 15 RBI, Scott Barlev .696 and Jeff Streul .600.
Manager Dave Yuen of Roundin' Third said, "We couldn't have won this tournament without our base burglar Tim. That kid is really fast and exciting to watch. He became a cult figure with his Steve Nash/Kelly Leak type looks. It was very unselfish of him to come out and just run the bases for us for 11 hours."
Tournament runner up Squad opened play with a first round bye before taking on and defeating Havoc 9-1 in the second round of play. Havoc had advanced by winning 11-9 over Georgetown in the first round of play.
The Squad than tangled with Squeeze and they came away with an 18-13 win to put them into the winners bracket finals. Squeeze had received a first round bye before taking on and defeating the Big Dogs 10-4 in the second round of play.
The Squad won the winner's bracket by defeating Roundin' Third in a close game 90-8 to earn themselves a spot in the championship game against whichever team would win the loser's bracket. That team turned out to be Roundin' Third as the Squad fell to them twice to finish in second place.
The Squad did not provide Illinois Softball Report with any team information, stats, highlights or quotes on how they were able to come in second place at this tournament.