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CHAMPS! EN FUEGO WIN 26TH CHAMPIONSHIP
EN FUEGO DOMINATES THE COMPETITION IN RECORD BREAKING SEASON
April 1, 2010
LAGUNA HILLS – FINAL: En Fuego 21, Stac Pac 6
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En route to their 26th title En Fuego (11-1) virtually bulldozed
any team that was in their way. In one of their greatest seasons
of all time they rolled to victory in the championship showdown,
beating rival Stac Pac 21-6. It was their tenth consecutive win
and fourth win over Stac Pac on the season. It was also En
Fuego’s tenth straight appearance in the title game in the
Thursday night league at Laguna Hills. Since the spring of 2005
they have been to the title game fourteen out of the last
sixteen seasons.
In the first round playoff game En Fuego easily defeated Sofa
Kings 22-8. Co-MVP’s outfielder Jason Martnick and catcher Chris
Jones led the way for En Fuego as they had all season long.
Martnick hit for the cycle while going 4-for-5 with four RBI and
four runs in the win. Jones also went 4-for-5 and belted two
home runs and knocked in five runs. With the easy win En Fuego
would advance to the finals to face Stac Pac who upset
back-to-back defending champion and number one seed Nunya in the
first round playoff game.
In the championship game En Fuego jumped out to an early lead
over their long time rival Stac Pac. After four innings En Fuego
led 14-4 and controlled the game. Stac Pac never challenged En
Fuego in a rare blowout between the two teams. En Fuego ran away
with an easy 21-6 win for their 26th championship in team
history. Led by Corrie Willkie
who hit for the cycle in the title game and drove in three runs
En Fuego capped off one of their best seasons ever. Jason
Martnick and Chris Jones also hit home runs in the game.
Martnick finished 4-for-5 with five RBI and five runs. Shortstop
Cesar Reyes went 3-for-5 and drove
in three runs to help contribute to the victory.
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Co-MVP Jason Martnick
led the team batting .841 on the season. |
Co-MVP Chris Jones led
the team with 10 HRs and 46 RBI on the season. |
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En Fuego’s only loss on the season was a 25-22 defeat to Nunya
in week two. They then went on to win ten straight games
including the title game. It was one of the most dominate
individual and team seasons in history for En Fuego. The
explosive En Fuego offense averaged over 23 runs per game. Both
Martnick (.841) and Jones (.804) batted over .800 on the season
which had only been done by one other En Fuego player since
1995. Former catcher Jason Santoro
batted over .800 twice. In the summer 2007 Thursday league at
Laguna Hills he established the En Fuego single season record of
.846. Jones and Martnick each drove in over 40 runs and Martnick
belted 9 home runs while Jones went deep 10 times. “The numbers
are eye-popping.” Said En Fuego Manager
Craig Watkins. “Individually,
they were up there with two of the best performances in a 12
game season I have ever seen.”
In the end En Fuego accomplished their number one goal, another
team championship |
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Notes: En Fuego had two players hit for the cycle in the
playoffs… Martnick did it in the first round game, the 3rd
time in his En Fuego career, and Willkie did it in the finals,
his 5th time with En Fuego…outfielder
Vince Petruzzi established a
new team record for walks with 13 on the season surpassing Craig
Watkins’ mark of 12…in the 18-14 win over the Sofa Kings on
February 25th outfielder
James Verdi played in his 500th game with En
Fuego and third baseman Jason
England played in his 700th game…in the 24-9 win
over Nunya on March 4th outfielder
Kevin Lorton played in his 800th
game with the club…including
Martnick’s .841 single season batting average, that ranks 2nd
all-time, there were a number of other records that were nearly
broken during the season as well…on March 18th
Martnick drove in 11 runs in a 30-6 win vs. Lollipop Kids just
one shy of Jerry Langner’s
single game mark of 12 accomplished on Feb. 7, 2007 vs. Free
Agents at Cox Sports Park in Ladera Ranch…Jones (46 RBI) and Martnick (43 RBI) were
just off Jason Mooneyham’s single season record of 48 RBI…Brett
Nista (47 RBI) held the record prior to Mooneyham who broke
Nista’s record in the summer of 2009…Martnick scored 42 runs
just three shy of Kevin Lorton’s single season record of
45…Jones and Martnick each led the way with 37 hits only five
off the single season record of 42 held by Nista…of Martnick’s
37 hits, 24 were for extra bases including 7 triples which was
one off the all-time single season mark of 8 held by
Santoro…players who also had some lofty numbers; Corrie Willkie
batted .667, drove in 32 runs and scored 32 runs...Mike
Kerr had 30 hits, batted .652 and scored 25 runs…it was the
20th time En Fuego and Stac Pac have faced each other
in the playoffs all-time including 12 championship game
appearances…En Fuego is 4-4 (.500) in early round playoff games
vs. Stac Pac and 8-4 (.667) in championship games…overall in the
rivalry they are 12-8 (.600)…the championship win over Stac Pac
was the 50th win all-time against them…in 91 games
vs. Stac Pac, En Fuego is 50-39-2…it was the 9th
championship in the Thursday league at Laguna Hills for En
Fuego…the most by any team since the inception of the league in
the spring of 2001. |
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EN
FUEGO SOFTBALL CLUB
2010 SPRING
THURSDAY NIGHT LAGUNA HILLS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
Top Row (L to R): Jason
England, Vince Petruzzi, Cesar Reyes, Jason Martnick, Chris Jones, Kevin
Lorton.
Bottom Row (L to R): Mike Kerr, Ryan Johnson, James Verdi, Corrie
Willkie, Craig Watkins.
(Not pictured: Justin Shultz, Jerry Langner). |
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