London Wiffleball Tournament Date Announced

The long awaited date for the 14th annual London Wiffleball Tournament was finally released a couple of days ago - July 14 (Saturday). Brian Wheeler, the tournament's organizer, emailed us with the date and his hopes for it this year. Some leading commissioners of leagues in the NWLA that went to the tournament last year plan on getting more leagues involved. The plan is to get as many NWLA teams together the following Sunday to play each other. The event could also serve as a meet and greet that would otherwise never take place. Wheeler said in his email that he will cooperate with the NWLA in their efforts to play on July 15. Leagues with teams that plan on attending include, Wiffle in SouthEast Michigan, Potomac Wiffleball League, Kalamazoo Wiffleball League, HRL: Twin Cities, Ontario County Wiffle Association, National Wiffleball League, and Suburban Chicago Wiffleball League. If this occurred, it would be the largest known summit for independent wiffleball leagues to ever take place - a truly historic event. More details on this event as the tournament date comes nearer.

New Article For NWLA About OCWA Freaky Franchise

Freaky Franchise finished the 2011 season at 9th place (NWLA Rankings) making them one of the best backyard teams in America. I felt it necessary to shine the spotlight on them for a brief moment and interviewed the players to see what they had to say about their new found success. I had not written an article for the NWLA website in quite some time but knew an article about a team from a small league breaking into the top 10 in the nation was a story worth writing. If you would like to read the article you can click HERE or click on the Freaky Franchise image at the top of this post. Enjoy.

If you would like to actually see Freaky Franchise in action you can check out a link to a VIDEO showing some game highlights. Yes, the music is annoying and the camera angles are not very inspiring but you'll get to see their unique field - Bush Grapes Park (they play off a house).

Ryan Bush & Freaky Franchise win 2011 OCWA Championship

The Ontario County Wiffle Association (OCWA) had their playoffs recently and Freaky Franchise defeated the Flying Squirrels in the OCWA Championship. Freaky Franchise had a great 2011 Season, finishing with an 18-2 record and currently rest at #8 on the NWLA Top 50 Rankings. The secret to their success? Ryan Bush. He pitched 44.1 innings and only allowed 13 hits and 9 earned runs. He struck out 114 batters this season, had a 0.81 ERA and possesses a dazzling 10-1 pitching record. With this guy on the mound it was no wonder that they only allowed 98 runs (tied for least amount in league) to score against them. Bush didn't do too bad at the plate either, hitting .453, 17 HRs, & 74 RBIs. Brett Bigler also helped the Freaky Franchise at the plate, hitting .630 but only 4 HRs and 21 RBIs. While Bush did have some help on defense and at the plate he clearly was the main ingredient in the success this year during the regular season. But during the post-season it was a different story.
Upon closer examination it seems that Bush had a rough time on the mound during the post season. Freaky Franchise went 4-1 in the playoffs and the one loss was Bush's. He had 4 K's during that outing but his team lost 10-11 against the Flying Squirrels. He pitched more during the rest of the playoffs and struck out 21 more batters but all his outings were no decisions. It is at this point that Jon Suhre and Nate Saint Ours should receive some credit. Both Saint Ours and Suhre pitched 4 innings and had 2-0 pitching records. Saint Ours and Bigler really made the magic happen up at bat, with Saint Ours hitting .500 (5 HRs) and Bigler hitting .474 (6 HRs). These facts are interesting because it's not uncommon to see teams with a fantastic player choke in the playoffs. This is Bush's second consecutive championship (he did it last year with the BT Storm) and his numbers proved him worthy for the 2011 OCWA Pitcher of the Year Award.

--- The OCWA announced 3 days ago that they will be having a draft for the 2012 season but did not mention a date yet.

Beware of the wrath of Presley

It's doubtless that this kid's life already sucks...I mean his name is Presley for Christ's sake. You know this kid has a long road ahead of him with a name like that. I pity what the little chap will go through on his thousands of bus rides to school. Adding insult to injury is some 10-year-old prick that couldn't correctly throw a wiffleball if his life depended on it. Presley's reaction was only natural but as always, the slightly taller sleaze got the upper hand by quickly throwing a ball to the kid's face right before incurring the wrath of Presley. He's lucky. I bet Presley was carrying a plethora of diseases that elementary schoolers share (pink eye, etc.) but that doesn't mean it wasn't a real douche move.

In other news, WiffleATL seems to actually be interested in keeping us all in the loop. Some dude named Grant Yarbrough wrote an article for the NWLA giving us the skinny on the events that unfolded on Opening Day for Wiffle ATL.

Also, the Ontario County Wiffle Association posted a promotional video for one of their teams, Freaky Franchise.... Here is that video: