2009 Tourney Recap

On June 13th, we celebrated the 10th annual BK wiffleball tournament with another
outstanding turn out and a very exciting final game. Over 80 teams gathered on a
beautiful day in Groton and set out to capture the crown. The first pitch was preceded by
a stirring rendition of the National Anthem by Vin Bisceglia and his youngest son David.
The Bisceglia family has sung the anthem in every tournament despite graduations,
vacations, etc over the years. We can’t thank them enough for always getting the tourney
going in the right direction.

Round robin division play took place all morning along with home run derby
and “Double Down”. Raffles and silent auctions took place throughout the day while the
music played non stop. Vianne and Chris Brown entertained people on the microphone.

Forty teams advanced to the single elimination formatted playoffs. We saw some
inspired play and some very long grueling extra inning games in the first 2 rounds.
Former champion Smokey Bonez and runner up Aggro Crag (Groton Teams captained
by Casey O’Brien & Doug Starbird, respectively)) battled out a 10 inning 1st round
game with the former champs advancing. Our defending champion, Ego Squad
was eliminated after a tough 1st round upset. We are sure that we will see them next
year, especially after Ryan Gagnen won both the homerun derby and Double Down
competitions. However, it was the Highlanders who were to advance without giving up
any freebies to anyone and seemed to be locked in at the plate. They ended up beating
Teemo Galvin (another Groton former BK champion, Capt., Mick Galvin) in a well
fought semifinal 1-0. Matt Evans caught a deep fly reaching up above the wall with 2
outs in the bottom of the 5th from Matt Galvin which would have tied it.

On the other side of the bracket, after a long wait following their 1st round match up, JJ
Wild, a former runner up in the 2nd tourney who have been away until this year’s event,
came out firing and mowing teams down. A former BK final pairing between JJ Wild
and Doom, was repeated in the other semi-final. Doom, previously unbeaten this year,
lost to the challengers who were gaining more confidence as they moved on.

The final, matched up JJ Wild and the Highlanders (2 time BK runners-up). A dramatic
closely pitched final ensued with little in the way of offensive thunder. JJ Wild’s pitcher
gave up one walk in the first 6 innings as the sole baserunner. He had it working to say
the least. Eric Newmark, who threw every inning during the day for the Highlanders
scattered a few hits during the first 6 frames, but was able to escape with the shutout
intact. To the 7th they went, with runners at 2nd and 3rd to begin the inning, JJ Wild in
the visiting half of the inning, hit a single to score the first run of the game. Going up 1
seemed like 4, the way he was pitching. On to the bottom half of the 7th, the Highlanders
first 2 outs came with a pop foul and a K. Matt Evans came to the plate with 2 outs
and ended up stroking a bomb to right center to walk off the 10th annual BK Wiffleball
Tourney Champions by a score of 3-1.

We would like to thank all of the players for their great sportsmanship and high level

wiffling yesterday! It was a great tournament, and to all of the volunteers for their
continued help, we will never be able to thank you enough! We look forward to next
year and seeing you all back for the 11th.

The 2013 Brian Kane Memorial Scholarship Tournament will be held on June 8, 2013  beginning at 9AM at the Groton-Dunstable Regional Middle School.  Sign-up now!