Oak Lawn Tournament Summary

Many people from around our league thought that our team would not be competitive during July tournament play. For one thing, none of the players from the top four teams in the Bronco's National League (the Reds--the Bronco champions, Dodgers, Brewers and Braves) even tried out for the team. Secondly, our team is much younger than most of its opponents. At least a quarter of our team is made up of 11 year olds (we even have one 10 year old)--while a quarter of our opponents' teams are made up of 13 year olds! Additionally, many full time travel teams (e.g., Magic, Southside Express) were recently created in Orland Park for this age bracket--eliminating several talented players from the OYA's Bronco League. Finally, many of our opponents have played together for the better part of a year, while our team has practiced together for just a few weeks.

However, this team was very competitive in its first tournament. In the first game, we had a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third against the Oak Lawn Thunder. Our pitching and defense kept us in the game until the bottom of the fifth inning when the Oak Lawn offense exploded with nine runs in the inning. Oak Lawn proved to be a formidable opponent--winning its next three games to go undefeated in pool play.

Our team showed considerable improvement in its second game against Palos. Once again, the pitching and defense were impressive. Palos scored just seven runs in the game. But, our offense was unable to get anything going for the second straight game. Palos won the game by a score of 7-2.

We then won our first tournament game against the Mokena Coyotes. This was a very well played baseball game by both teams. Our team made few mistakes in the field and we finally started hitting--scoring four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Grant Lewis held the one run lead in the final inning--stranding Mokena runners on second and third base with one out.

Our team lost to Hinsdale by a score of 11-8 in the fourth game of the Oak Lawn tournament. Once again, this was a low scoring game (2-0) after three inning of play. Our pitching staff ran out of gas in the late innings as our pitchers are not used to throwing so many innings in such a short time. Some of our pitchers threw on four consecutive days! Hinsdale scored five runs in the sixth inning , capped off with a homerun onto Central Avenue, to extend its lead to 8-2. Our team then staged a dramatic comeback--scoring six times in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game. Hinsdale posted three more runs in the seventh to win the game. Hinsdale slaughtered Palos earlier in the tournament.

In my opinion, our players are showing great progress in a short period of time. As a result of facing some better hitters, players are quickly developing from throwers into pitchers. Players are understanding their defensive assignments and moving more quickly to the ball. The team is already beginning to gel--and play better together.

As a result, our expectations are rising. We are no longer content to be competitive. We now must take advantage of the opportunities we have to put teams away and win some more games.

Our biggest area of opportunity is hitting. In every game, we string several consecutive scoreless inning together. This puts pressure on our pitching and defense. Clearly, our hitting must improve for us to win more games. But, a few other factors also came into play in Oak Lawn:

1. Our hitters were not allowed to use their own big barrel bats in the Oak Lawn tournament. This should not be an issue in upcoming tournaments. Many hitters should feel more comfortable going back to their personal bat.
2. Our hitters have not batted against pitchers throwing off of a mound prior to this tournament. The elevated mound affects the angle at which the ball approaches the hitter--and provides the pitcher with a considerable advantage. I'm not certain if the New Lenox and Bourbonnais fields will have mounds or not. But, in time our hitters will have more experience hitting in this situation.
3. Opposing pitchers (especially the 13 year olds) have been throwing some curve balls to our hitters. Again, this can be a difficult pitch to hit for batters who haven't seen a curve ball before. This will be a difficult thing to deal with in such a short period of time, but more experience at the plate against curve balls will help.
4. Our hitters must keep their hands back and avoid lunging at off speed pitches. It is important for our batters to remember the lessons taught by hitting instructor Doug Pringle at one of our more recent practices.

For me, the Oak Lawn tournament was a great experience. As a kid, I played Little League baseball on those diamonds. I also coached Oak Lawn baseball teams for ten years. Throughout college, I umpired Oak Lawn baseball games for my summer jobs. It was a lot of fun to return to the fields on 99th and Central Avenue--and I was proud of how our team represented itself. The players hustled and maintained a positive attitude throughout the tournament--regardless of the score and the heat during the games.