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EN FUEGO
WINS UNITED ATHLETICS TOURNAMENT
A RESILENT
TEAM EFFORT LEADS TO ANOTHER TOURNAMENT WIN
May 7, 2011
STEED MEMORIAL
PARK, SAN CLEMENTE – CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL: En Fuego 25, Scar
Tissue 13
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With a tremendous effort and a miraculous finish En Fuego (4-1)
overcame the loss of several players due to various reasons
leading up to and during the United Athletics Tournament at San
Clemente to win the championship 25-13 over Scar Tissue (3-1) in
dramatic fashion.
Going into the tournament En Fuego had a thin roster carrying
only ten players when on Friday they lost a player who needed to
tend to a family matter. Another had a family emergency and left
in the middle of the second game.
Vince Petruzzi who was not able to play initially ended up
coming out for pool play, but had to leave prior to the
playoffs. Jason Hogan also played during pool play, but had to
leave and was relieved by Cesar Reyes
who had commitments early in the day. Pitcher Mark Tamayo joined
En Fuego for the playoff round and helped lead En Fuego to
victory pitching in all three playoff wins. Needless to say
there was a lot of maneuvering with the roster, but En Fuego
managed to keep it together with interim manager Justin Shultz's
efforts. En Fuego also added two players, one for an early pool
play game and another for the final three playoff games, who
also participated in the co-ed division in the tournament.
Heading into their second playoff game Chris Watkins filled in
for Jason Mooneyham when he had to leave just as En Fuego began
their semifinal match up against Kick Start (2-1) aka Nunya.
Mooneyham would make a dramatic return in the bottom of the
fourth inning of the championship game.
In game one En Fuego faced off with Not a Chance (0-3). They put
together a good opening game effort winning 12-4. In game two
they would play an old tournament foe that they had not faced in
years, Scar Tissue. Over the years in various tournaments En
Fuego and Scar Tissue battled with the winner usually taking the
championship. In eleven previous meeting En Fuego had a slight
edge with six wins. Scar Tissue would even things out winning
12-7 rallying late to come away with the victory.
Entering the single elimination playoff round En Fuego scrambled
to fill out their lineup as they faced Smokin' Aces (0-3) from
Imperial, CA. They lost Vince Petruzzi,
Jerry Langner, and Jason Hogan,
but still breezed to victory winning 18-6 sending the Ace's
home. Tamayo had left a fishing trip in Hemet, CA early to help
En Fuego on its run to the title starting with the win over the
Aces. The victory set up a rematch from the February 5th UA
tourney when En Fuego lost to Kick Start twice including in the
championship game. Prior to the semifinal game against Kick
Start En Fuego would lose Jason Mooneyham as well. Long time,
off and on, En Fuego member Chris Watkins took Mooneyham's spot
to keep En Fuego at ten players. With Watkins at catcher
Greg Reynolds moved to the
outfield, Jason Martnick went
to second base, and Cesar Reyes went to shortstop.
Reynolds (.688) and Reyes (.667) along with third baseman
Jason England (.625) all hit
over .600 to help the En Fuego offense on the day.
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"We needed to flip the switch." Said Jason Martnick. En Fuego
turned it on as they didn't give Kick Start a chance winning
17-2 in a four inning mercy. With Scar Tissue beating Scared
Hitless in the other bracket to advance to the championship, En
Fuego had a chance to avenge their loss earlier in the day.
En Fuego went into the championship game with the same lineup as
they did in the semifinal win over Kick Start, but the help they
would need against Scar Tissue was on the way. Down by three
runs hitting in the bottom of the fourth with two runners on
Watkins stepped up to the plate. After fouling off two pitches
Watkins stepped out of the box as Mooneyham returned. Shultz
inserted Mooneyham into the lineup for Watkins. Mooneyham,
racing from the parking lot still in socks and sandals inherited
the 1-2 count. As he dug into the batter box the umpire let him
know that he could not wear the sandals. Mooneyham proceeded to
kick them off and two pitches later he launched a three-run game
tying home run over the right center field fence, in his socks,
that ignited a fourteen run rally that put En Fuego up by eleven
runs. From there En Fuego never looked back and cruised to a
25-13 win to take the championship.
Notes: The tournament win was the 17th overall in team history
for En Fuego and the fourth time they have won a tournament at
San Clemente Sports Complex…It was the second United Athletics
tournament they had appeared in after losing the inaugural UA
tournament in February…It was the first time En Fuego had faced
Scar Tissue since beating them in the 2007 PSTS Tournament in
Palm Springs…After splitting the two games in this tournament En
Fuego still maintains their slight edge in the win column
(7-6)…With his great pitching and .909 batting average Mark
Tamayo was named Co-MVP with Jason Mooneyham who hit .800 with
two home runs and 10 RBI including his dramatic blast in the
championship game…Kevin Lorton
and Erik Steele were both named to the all-tourney team both
batting over .700, Lorton .765 and Steele .706…En Fuego used 15
players on the day as they shuffled their line-up while losing
players throughout the day.
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Top Row (L to R): Cesar Reyes, Ryan
Nelson, Jason Martnick, Erik Steele, Jason Mooneyham, Greg
Reynolds.
Bottom Row (L to R): Chris Watkins, Kevin Lorton, Mark
Tamayo, Jason
England, Justin Shultz, Craig Watkins.
(Not pictured: Vince Petruzzi, Jason Hogan, Jerry Langner). |
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