Local teams fall in Boys of Summer Tournament
By Aaron Wallender
Press-Gazette correspondent
DENMARK — Sunday was a tough day for the Circle Tap of Denmark and Townline of Green Bay men’s fastpitch softball teams, but both teams showed they’re right there with the best teams in the world.
Host Circle Tap and Townline were defeated in the quarterfinals of the Boys of Summer Tournament on Sunday morning.
Circle Tap fell 8-7 to Portland DeMarini, while Townline lost 3-2 to The Farm of Madison.
Circle Tap led 7-4 with two outs and no one on base in the top of the seventh inning, but DeMarini strung together two singles and a walk to load the bases.
That set the stage for Chris Waverick, who hit a go-ahead grand slam on a full count to lift DeMarini to the victory.
Tim Jorgensen and Kyle Magnusson both hit home runs for Circle Tap, while Bryan Hansen added a three-run triple. Hansen, Jorgensen and Tom Crouch had two hits.
For Townline, Nick Schailes went 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Sean McLean had an RBI double.
Circle Tap and Townline are ranked in the top 10 in the world and have high hopes for the remainder of the season, including the upcoming World Tournament in August.
“It is really even … so anything can happen,” Circle Tap’s Chris Delarwelle said. “There’s no team really that stands out above anybody right now. It should be a very good month of ball, because we’re coming into the big tournaments at the end of July and beginning of August.”
The five-time defending champion of the Boys of Summer, County Materials of Marathon, disbanded and was not in this year’s tournament.
But that doesn’t mean the level of play is down for many other Wisconsin teams, including Circle Tap and Townline and The Farm, which defeated the SoCal Bombers 5-1 for the Boys of Summer championship on Sunday afternoon.
If anything, County Material’s breakup has helped the parity of the sport, according to those who have been around the game for a while.
“There’s a little bit of a concern, but actually with County disbanding that helped fastpitch as a whole, because they had nine all-stars on their team,” said Circle Tap sponsor Darren Derricks. “So, they all separated and one or two go to different teams. That helps every team and makes it a lot more level a playing field.”
The Boys of Summer Tournament was a great example of that parity. Each of the 16 teams is ranked among the top 25 in the world, according to Derricks. Most of the games were close, and all but two of the teams won at least one game during pool play.
“In past years, there used to be I would say three teams that had a legitimate shot of winning the entire thing, and now I would say there’s as many as eight to 10 that have a good enough shot to win it all,” Circle Tap player/coach Dean Kane said. “Everybody would like to think they had a shot at winning it last year, but in the back of your mind (you were thinking), if County doesn’t win it, there’s something wrong.
“They were so much ahead of everyone else. But now that they’re kind of busted up, that evened the playing field.”
Fastpitch men’s softball is a popular sport in several countries, like Canada, New Zealand and Australia, and many countries have strong youth programs.
The sport is not nearly as popular among American youths, and that trend is somewhat alarming to those who are involved in the sport and want to see American teams stay strong in the future.
“The state of the game, it’s at a standstill right now,” said the 39-year-old Delarwelle, who has played fastpitch for 15 seasons after a baseball career in his younger days. “We need some young players to step up, give it a shot coming out of hardball. We all know in the (United) States, kids play hardball. They don’t play fastpitch.
“We’ve got a couple of kids who are under 25 playing for us, and they’re picking the game up awfully quick, and that’s great for us and great for them. But I just don’t see enough young kids willing to take the chance, to struggle, to be unsuccessful for a couple of years and learn the game.”
