When it was heading into the double-elimination round of the 2016 ASANA World Series last month, Nick’s Bar and Grille, a Philadelphia team in the City of Brotherly Love Softball League, was ranked 16 out of 21.
The travel team had faced tough opponents during their five tournament-opening pool-play games. yet remained resilient throughout.
“We used pool-play games to test different field [and] lineup combinations to see which would be the most effective for the double-elimination round,” said Kristin Grubb, a manager and player for the team.
Eight regular-season players from Nick’s were competing at the World Series in Kansas City with three pick-up players each from other CBLSL teams: The Ninjas and Sunday’s Hangover, the team that won when Philadelphia hosted the World Series in 2011.
Nick’s soon found its footing. The team won game after game until it was set for a final face-off against a home team, the Kansas City Platinum. It took clutch hitting, phenomenal defense, three pitchers and an extra inning played with International Tie Breaker rules — meaning a runner was automatically placed on second base to accelerate the opportunity to score — for Nick’s to clinch the championship with a score of 6-5.
More than 100 people watched, including players from CBLSL teams Bad Reputation and Dental Prestige, which hadn’t advanced to the end of the competition. Everybody crashed into the mound to celebrate, Grubb said.
Chrissy Hunsberger, another player for Nick’s, added, “We were a scrappy little team that nobody expected to win. To win it and go undefeated and have everybody play a vital part, that’s the biggest thing for me. I was in tears at how much everybody had each other’s backs.”
Hunsberger was one of the pitchers in the team’s nail-biting final game. Normally an outfielder, she had pitched the first 10 games of the World Series and started in the 11th and final game.
Her arm started to fatigue after four days of pitching. Tami Sortman, who hadn’t pitched for three years, stepped in until she had to catch a flight home — the result of a rain delay from earlier in the tournament. Nicole Bangert threw the finishing pitch.
“The championship win was hard-fought and exciting, filled with intense moments,” Grubb said. “Each and every player contributed to our team’s success. The fact we used three non-everyday pitchers to get the win shows the resilience demonstrated by our team throughout the tournament.”
“It was very exciting for us,” added Jennifer Brown, CBLSL women’s division commissioner, noting Nick’s team was “really playing well, everything was clicking, firing on all cylinders.”
Brown, women’s commissioner for the past four years, said it’s rare for a team to win every game in double-elimination. She said no other CBLSL women’s division team has done it in the last five years.
Grubb said the victory is not just for Nick’s, but the whole CBLSL. She said “camaraderie” is a big part of why they all compete in the league. The teams hang out on and off the field.
All three women also said the Philadelphia community was integral to their success. Many people fundraised to defray travel costs for the CBLSL teams that competed in Kansas City.
The 2017 ASANA World Series will take place July 4-9 in Austin, Texas. The CBLSL fall season is in progress and the regular season starts in April. For more information or to join, visit www.cblsl.org.