Yep! Wins USSSA Men's Class D Northern State

Wins 'If Necessary Game' 9-7 Over Paradise Motor/Young Guns

2005 Illinois USSSA Northern Illinois Class D State Champions - Yep!

ROCKFORD: Yep! (6-1) from Lockport reached down inside and found that something extra that was needed in order to win the 'if necessary game' 9-7 over Paradise Motor Group/Young Guns (9-2) from Joliet to claim the 2005 Illinois USSSA Men's Class D State championship at Forest Hills Diamonds in Rockford on August 21st. The champions earned a berth to play at the 2005 USSSA Men's Class D World Tournament at the Disney World Softball Complex in Florida in September. Third place went Players Only (4-2) from Rockford, Locos (6-2 from Waukegan finished in fourth place with K.G.B./Paradise Bay (3-2) from Lockport and Hot Shots (3-2) from Warrenville finishing in tie for fifth place. Tying for seventh place was Marchelloni Pizza/Pagoda House 5-2) from Lockport and Kline Construction (4-2) from Elgin and in a four way tie for ninth place were; Posse Softball Club/Sage (4-2) from Crystal Lake, St George's Club (3-2) from Aurora, Caps/Fury (2-2) from Lombard and Shamrock Mortgage (2-2 from Naperville.
Yep! was led to their 2005 state title by the play of William Flood who was named as the 2005 Most Valuable Player in the state tournament. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by his teammates Rick Arnold, Matthew Flood, James Pedigo, Steven Rozak, Bradley Zych and the 2005 All-State Tournament Team manager, William Flood.
Yep! opened tournament play with a game against Advantage Consulting/Rigid Construction from Rockford and they slipped past them by a score of 14-12. Advantage Consulting/Rigid Construction had to win a pigtail game 7-0 over the roadrunners in order to meet Yep! in the first round of play.
From this point on every team that Yep! played the rest of this tournament finished in the top nine of this forty-eight team event starting with Kline Construction who they defeated 7-5 to move into the third round of action. Kline Construction had beaten Ice House Dogs from Itasca 2-1 to advance into this game.
On Saturday evening Yep! improved to 3-0 with a 13-3 win over Caps/Fury to move into Sunday's semifinal round of the winner's bracket. Caps/Fury had beaten Whitey's from Oswego 12-2 in the first round before stopping Jeff's Refs/Scudder 16-6 to advance into this game with Yep!.
On Sunday morning Yep! and the Hot Shots locked horns with each other with Yep! coming out on top by a final score of 13-3 to move into the winner's bracket finals. The Hot Shots made it to this semifinal game by opening play with an 11-9 win over Neighbors Bar & Grill/Winters Construction from Rockford in the first round of play before the Hot Shots stopped the Ballers from New Lenox 7-6 in the next round of play. On Saturday night it was the Hot Shots beating Paradise Motors/Young Guns 90-8 to complete play on Saturday.
In the game between the tournament's last two remaining unbeaten team s it was Yep! finding a way to slip past Players Only by a 13-12 final score to give them sole possession to the winner's bracket and assuring them of a spot in the 2005 USSSA Men's Class D Northern Illinois State Tournament's championship game against whichever team that wins the loser's bracket to earn the right to oppose them in the title game. Player's Only made it to the winner's bracket finals by opening play against Crush from Rockford and they posted a narrow 3-2 win over them to advance into the second round of tournament action where they met and defeated Lovell's from De Kalb 16-7 as the Players Only ball club continued their advancement toward the winner's bracket finals. On Saturday night Players Only pounded out an impressive 20-6 win over Shamrock Mortgage to move into Sunday's semifinal round of the winner's bracket. On Sunday morning Players Only again impressed everyone who saw them play as they whipped K.G.B./Paradise Bay 16-8 to move into the winner's bracket finals to play Yep!.

Continued: