Yep! Champions of Worth / USSSA Men's Class D NIT

Twenty Teams Participate At 10th Annual Event In Joliet On July 15 & 16

Worth / USSSA Men's Class D Champions - Yep! from Lockport

JOLIET: Yep! from Lockport reached down on a hot afternoon to win the 'if necessary game over Black Hawk Athletic Club from Rockford 16-6 to win the 10th Annual Worth / USSSA Men's Class D NIT played at the Inwood Sports Complex in Joliet on July 15th & 16th over a field of twenty teams. The champions Yep! were beaten 21-13 in the first championship game force the need to play the 'if necessary game on an extremely hot afternoon. Yep! earned the paid berth to play at the 2006 USSSA Men's Class D World Tournament to be held in Overland Park, Kansas on September 22-24. Hell Yeah (4-2) from Schaumburg finished in third place with Money (3-2) from Orland Park taking home fourth place. Tying for fifth place were both J. Denny Masonry / Slick Rick's (4-2) from Kankakee /Bloomington and Spikes Softball (3-2) from Peru with both Joe's On Weed Street / Storm (3-2) from Chicago and McGaffer's / Cars / Fury (3-2) from Lombard finishing in a tie for seventh place at this tournament.
Yep! was led by the play of Tim Flannigan who was named as the 'Most Valuable Player' at the 10th Annual Worth / USSSA Men's Class D NIT tournament for his outstanding offensive and defensive play. Flannigan was joined on the All-Tournament team by his Yep! teammates William Flood, Mathew Flood, James Pedigo, Bradley Zych and David Pelczarski.
Yep! opened tournament play with a first round contest against the Heavy Hitters from Bolingbrook and promptly posted an 11-4 win onto the bracket board to advance in the tournament. The Heavy Hitters need to win a play in game over Jerry's Kids from Joliet by a score of 17-4 to earn their way into this contest with Yep!.
In their second game on Saturday afternoon it was Yep! against Spike's Softball with the Lockport based ball club winning in a close game 7-6 to move into Sunday morning's semifinal of the winner's bracket. Spike Softball had defeated McGaffer's / Caps / Fury 22-11 in their opening contest of this tournament to advance into the second round and a game with Yep!.
On Sunday morning Yep! and Hell Yeah locked up with one another in another one run ball game that Yep! managed to come out on top in winning 8-7 to move into the winner's bracket finals. Hell Yeah made it to this semifinal game of the winner's bracket by opening play with a first round 18-6 win over Fubars from St Charles before stopping SFL from Bloomingdale 9-0 in the second round of play to earn their spot in Sunday's semifinal contest against Yep!.
In the game between the tournaments's last two remaining unbeaten teams it was Yep! and Blackhawk Athletic Club going at one another for the first of three games on this hot Sunday afternoon. Yep! did everything they needed to do right as the won this game easily posting an 13-3 victory onto the bracket board to assure them of a spot in the championship game of this National Invitational Tournament.
Now Yep! needed to sit back and wait as the loser's bracket was played out to its conclusion before they would know which of the remaining teams would be their challenger in the championship game.
That team turned out to be a rematch with Blackhawk Athletic Club in the title game for Yep!. Blackhawk Athletic Club came into this game with blood in their eyes as they wanted to revenge their earlier loss to Yep! and they did just that winning big 21-13 to force the need to play the 'if necessary game. Yep! used their time between games to refocus and came out to play into the deciding game ready to win the title as they pounded out an 16-6 win to put the ribbon on their trip to Kansas and the 2006 USSSA Men's Class D World Tournament.
The Blackhawk Athletic Club was led by the outstanding defensive play of their pitcher Kurt Head who was named as the 'Defensive MVP' of the 10th Annual Worth / USSSA Men's Class D NIT. Joining Head on the 2006 Worth All-Tournament team from his Blackhawk Athletic Club team were teammates Dan Heimert, Bret Cook and Ron Neuschwander.
Blackhawk Athletic Club opened play with a contest against Joe's On Weed Street and posted a 17-6 win up onto the bracket board to advance into Saturday's second round of tournament play. Blackhawk Athletic Club and Sydnis Allstars hooked up with one another in the second round and when the dust settled back down onto the field of play the Rockford ball club posted a 21-9 win onto the bracket board to advance into Sunday' morning semifinal round of the winner's bracket. Sydnis Allstars had beaten Big Ox 18-3 in the first round of play to advance into this second round match up with Blackhawk Athletic Club.
On Sunday morning Blackhawk Athletic Club picked up where they left off on Saturday using their team defense to stop their opponents as they smothered Money winning 5-3 to move into the undefeated game of the winner's bracket portion of this tournament.
It was here on a hot Sunday afternoon that Blackhawk Athletic Club stumbled in their game against Yep! losing 13-3 to drop them into the loser's bracket finals.
Blackhawk Athletic Club regained their balance and earned a rematch with Yep! by defeating Hell Yeah by a score of 24-13 to advance them into the championship game of this tournament.
Blackhawk Athletic Club was hitting on all cylinders at this point as they took it to Yep! winning 21-13 to force the need to have the 'if necessary game' played between this two ball club with the winner of the extra game also earning the berth to play at the 2006 USSSA Men's Class D World Tournament in Overland Park, Kansas in September.
In that extra game Blackhawk hit the wall playing in their fourth straight game and their fifth game in six hours on a very hot and humid Sunday afternoon. Blackhawk Athletic Club tried gamely to stay with the more rested Yep! ball club but could not manage it on this day losing 16-6 to finish in second place at the 2006 Worth / USSSA 10th Annual Men's Class D NIT.

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