Registration nearly complete
August 7, 2011 - Philadelphia, Cleveland, New Brunswick, and Brooklyn were the next teams in line for registration, and may be in line for the national championship. All four clubs have shown promise in recent years and may have found the combination this year to win it all.
Philadelphia - The Philly Bandits are led this year by Tom Dolan. He and two returning players were in Johnstown last year when host Delweld trounced the Bandits 13-4 in their elimination game. Those players have a bad taste in their mouth from that game, but Dolan believes that a tougher regular season this year has helped better prepare his team for the tournament.
"Our league has gotten a little harder, it's a better league to play in," said Dolan. The stiffer competition resulted in a worse win-loss record than is usual for the Bandits, but Dolan believes that his team is battle-tested. Their roster features Andrew Amaro, nephew of Philadelphia Phillies' Ruben Amaro, Jr. His brother Robert played for the Bandits in 2009 and won the championship with Baltimore last year.
"We're asking the guys to come up and work their hardest and have a lot of fun," said Dolan. "This is my seventh year up here and I've always had a lot of fun."
Cleveland - The Chardon Blizzard are led by former Johnstowner Don Navatsyk and are already exceeding expectations. Last year's Cleveland club exited the tournament early, but this year, the Blizzard swept through the Altoona Regional. Coach Navatsyk says that his team has several players who are used to competing in big tournaments, including third baseman Bryan Gregorich who won a Division III championship with Marietta College, and Jack LaMarco, who is the Division III Player of the Year for the state of Nevada playing with Boulder City.
The Blizzard compete in the Tri-State Collegiate league and have played 52 games since June 1st. Navatsyk believes that the tough pitching in the TSCL has prepared his team to face the pitching they will see in Johnstown. For Navatsyk's team, he's had some roster changes since the Altoona Regional, losing some hitting power but gaining two pitchers.
"We are missing two left-handed hiters, and that's going to hurt us because they're our #4 and #6 hitters, but I have two pitchers I didn't have in Altoona, so we've got enough pitching to go deep. The only question will be if we can replace those two bats."
Navatsyk is especially excited about playing in the tournament. Not only is he aware of the long history of great baseball players who have competed at the Point, but his father played high school football there.
New Brunswick - The Matrix impressed a lot of fans in 2009 with their runner-up performance, but suffered an early exit in 2010.
"Last year, we felt like we disappointed a lot of people out here because of our success in 2009," said manager Glenn Fredericks. "We're going to look to get back on the right track and give the fans a good show like we did two years ago." Fredericks said that the biggest thing his coaches learned from last year is to 'bring more bodies.' The runner-up team had 17 players, but last year's squad started with 16 only to have 2 not attended and 3 sit out with injuries. They were further hurt by having to dual with Altoona in a 13-inning marathon that stretched both clubs' lineups. This year, the Matrix have a full crew and spent the past week resting.
"After the season was over last week, we just took a week off to nurse some bumps and bruises and get ready for this tournament, because it's a battle of attrition once you get here," said Fredericks. "The healthiest team usually goes the longest." The Matrix started the season slowly, but have piked up their play recently, and Fredericks feels that they are peaking at the right time.
"This is the greatest tournament in the land and it's not going to take these guys long to figure that out." Matt Murzynski is scheduled to pitch on Monday for the Blizard.
Brooklyn - The last team to win the national tournament not named Baltimore, New Orleans, or Washington was the Brooklyn club in 1994. This year, Jerry Katzke's Bonnie Rams return looking to improve on their 3rd place finished in 2009.
"We finished third [two years ago] and we really tried to emphasize that our goal is not just to come here, but to be there at the end," said Katzke. The Rams earned their trip to Johnstown by defeating Youth Service 5-to-1 ina 9-game season series. According to Katzke, all six games were very close. Additionally, the Rams competed in the Parade Ground League against unlimited teams with college-aged and former minor-leaguer players.
"We always love to be here," said Katzke. "It's the best tournament in the country as far as we're concerned and we consider ourselves fortunate anytime we can get here." Stephen Bove is scheduled to start for the Rams on Monday.
There are four teams remaining to be registered: Livonia is checking in now with New York on deck. Chicago-Metro, Youngstown and Miami will register last before the teams prepare to head over to the War Memorial for the players' banquet.