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Idiots Walk-off with Tourney Championship!
By VI Sports Insider | April 12, 2010
With most of the media attention centered around Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods at Augusta this weekend, the Village Idiots softball team managed to steal some of the spotlight. The Idiots advanced to the finals of the Nassau Conference softball tournament on Sunday. Down to their final out, second baseman Tom Stanley singled home VI rookie Chris Lang for the walk-off win and the Idiots won their first softball championship.
The 2010 Village Idiots were placed in a four-team pool where they would play each team in a 55 minute game and then based on the results; the top two teams would play for a championship. Game one began at 10:30am and despite the heat and a few hangovers the VI handled their first opponent, the Crush, with a 16-9 victory. The Idiots led the whole game thanks to a 7-run sixth inning and a solid pitching performance by Roy Vaccaro. VI newcomer Paul Tarzan led the way with 4 RBIs including a 3-run homer.
Game two started just five minutes after their first one ended and the Idiots knew they were facing their toughest opponent, Unfinished Business. The hangovers seemed to kick in and the Idiots looked a little sluggish at times throughout the game. Tom Casal’s RBI double put the Idiots up 1-0 in the top of the 1st inning. Unfinished Biz would then score five runs in the bottom half to go up 5-1 after one. After a scoreless second, the Idiots tied it up in the top of the 3rd. The VI loaded the bases with nobody out and after back to back sacfly’s from Stanley and Casal, Joe Wesselhoft and Tarzan each doubled in a run a piece to make it 5-5. U.B. then brought in three runs to retake the lead 8-5. The back and forth game continued as the Idiots scored five runs in the top of the 4th to go up 10-8. Steve Esposito and Pete Allocco had back to back RBI singles to start the rally. Two batters later Stanley’s 2-run single gave them the lead and Casal added another RBI single. The long inning seemed to take life out of Unfinished Biz but actually backfired and woke them up instead. U.B. went on to score six runs in the bottom of the 4th to quickly take back the lead at 12-10. With time running out on the Idiots in game two, the VI seemed to rush their at bats and could not manage any runs in the next two innings. Needing a quick 1-2-3 sixth inning as the clock ticked away, the VI did the exact opposite and failed to get even one out. When the horn finally went off Unfinished Biz scored six more times and went on to win 18-10. The Idiots then had an hour break to think about the loss, hydrate and regroup for their push at a tournament title.
An hour in the shade seemed to help out the Idiots for game three against Mean Street Auto. The VI going into the game knew that they needed a win, plus not give up too many runs in order to advance to the finals. The game didn’t start the way they would have liked giving up two runs in the first inning, but they answered in the bottom of the first with 3 runs to take a lead they would never vanquish. The Idiots scored in every inning to go on for the 15-3 run-rule win. Matt Shiels, Esposito (5 RBI), Stanley and Wesselhoft all homered in the victory.
Going for their first piece of hardware, the Idiots were pumped for their rematch with Unfinished Business in the championship game. Roy “Bababooey” Vaccaro pitched a 1-2-3 first inning with a little help from Tarzan at the hot corner who made two gold glove-like plays. Wesselhoft’s RBI groundout then gave the VI the first lead of the game at 1-0 after one. Just as in their first battle, Unfinished Biz answered back with a run of its own to tie it at 1, but Steve Studley’s RBI single would make it 2-1 Idiots. After the Booey shutdown the U.B. again the Idiots opened up the scoring a little with a big six run inning. Allocco’s leadoff single started the rally which then Lang followed with a two-run homer over the right centerfield fence. After Stanley doubled down the 3rd baseline, Casal took his turn of going deep and put one over the fence to make it 6-1. Wesselhoft continued the hit streak with a single and would score two batters later when Paul “Fatty” tripled him in. Vaccaro then helped himself out with a sac fly to bring home Fatty and give the Idiots an 8-1 advantage.
Once again no lead was safe as Unfinished Biz got them back into the game scoring five runs in the top of the 4th. Stanley (3 RBI) and Casal (4 RBI) would answer back though with an RBI each to cushion the lead back to 10-6 after four. There must have been some unfinished business left out on the field because Unfinished Business fought back again scoring six runs to take their first lead of the game at 12-10. Unfazed, the VI bounced back to yet again take the lead putting up an 8 spot in the bottom of the 5th inning. The Idiots loaded the bases with no outs and Shiels tied the game up with a big two-run double. Studley then followed with a sacrifice fly to put them up 13-12. The next six batters mixed together five singles and a sac fly to score five more runs to give the VI 18-12 lead.
Then yet again, Unfinished Biz put together another comeback and scored six runs to tie the game at 18. After the VI went quietly and quickly in the 6th, the U.B. put the pressure on them scoring a run in the top of the 7th to go up 19-18. Now in the past, the odds makers in Vegas and most Idiot fans would have counted them out figuring they’d fail to score and settle for second place. Guess again!
With one out, Steve Espo started it up with a single up the middle. Allocco followed with a deep drive to right but Mr. Woodcock came down with it for the second out. This past off-season, the Village Idiots front office acquired outfield Chris Lang from the Local 1 Plumbers team for future considerations and a pack of Newports. The acquisition is already paying off as Lang was 4 for 5 with 5 runs scored and 4 RBIs in the finals. An out away from another VI title game collapse, Lang tripled to right centerfield to bring home Esposito and tie the game at 19. That setup VI veteran Tom Stanley to be the hero. Stanley took the 2-2 pitch and lined a single to centerfield to spark the bench clearing celebration and give the Village Idiots their first championship in just their 3rd year.
The VI will be back in action on Friday, April 23rd in the Ed Smith Annual tournament in Long Beach. Their first of three games that night will begin at 6:45pm. Game and post-game parking lot tickets are now available on www.villageidiotsports.com.
All stats and boxscores from the tournament can be found on the team’s new website www.leaguelineup.com/villageidiots. Player’s total stats under Roster/Stats column, boxscores under Game Results. Enjoy and sign guestbook!
Topics: Softball |