Published: June 21, 2008 10:35 pm            

Crawlworks softball playing well this summer

Without malice or forethought, my last week’s column may have inadvertently doomed the Outkast team to failure. Akin to the Sports Illustrated cover jinx, my touting of the Outkast team success in 2008 may have been too much to shoulder.

But a familiar adage may apply in this case: misery loves company. Not only did Outkast go 0-2 in the Strawberry Fest NSA men’s B/C qualifier, they were joined by the Clabber Girl team with an 0-2 mark. The only local men’s team to manage a win in the division was the DeHart’s Rental squad.

Joe Hoops finished 1-2 in the coed division.

The results in the D division were a little more positive. The Crawlworks team managed a 2-2 mark during tournament play, defeating Game Time 18-8 and C&D Construction 7-2 while losing to the Outlaws 5-2 and Affliction 17-12.

Crawlworks, much like Clabber Girl and Outkast, has played in several well established southern Indiana invitational tournaments this season. In doing so, it has enjoyed success in the Vincennes Early Bird tourney, Owensboro’s Border Wars and the Bedford All-Nighter.

Especially noteworthy was Crawlworks’ recent effort at Bedford, where they finished with a 3-2 mark. Their victories over very good squads like Mark’s Mattress, Sprint and Reload indicated their ability to play with some of southern Indiana’s best teams. A 21-20 victory over a very strong Hall’s Produce team in the Brad’s Brass Invitational at Jasper in mid-May was also a noteworthy win.

Playing for Crawlworks this season are Kelly Chesshir, Shane Chesshir, D.J. Chesshir, Travis Chesshir, Travis Sutton, Randy Winkler, Nate Hall, Bill Zimmerman, Chris Nidiffer, Bryon Nicoson, Zach Morgan, Jason Moore, Kevin Nickles and Seth Crosgay.



Several tournaments of note are scheduled for the local softball scene.

The second annual Rock’n’Jock tourney is July 25-27 at Terre Haute’s Spencer Field. The tourney already includes local entrants such as Outkast, DeHart’s Rentals, Clabber Girl, Terre Haute Blue, 180 Energy, TH Prescription Shop and Chop Shop/Copper Bar. Out-of-town squads include Old Town Tavern, Hall’s Produce and Lewis Rentals from Vincennes, Brad’s Brass Flamingo from Jasper, and Effingham Motors.

The tourney field already promises to be one of the area’s strongest in years. With the field limited to 16 teams, anyone interested should contact Todd Hein at (812) 841-6043 or Matt Burris at (812) 251-3728 as soon as possible.

A late-season event scheduled for Spencer Field may attract notice with its possible $1,000 travel-expenses payout. Slated for Aug. 29-31, the Jackpot Softball Tournament is hoping to attract statewide attention. Interested parties can contact either Hein or Burris at the numbers listed above.

This coming weekend the Charles Hear softball team will be hosting a tourney in Brazil. More information can be obtained by calling (812) 223-1218.



It is hoped the ASA church state tourney in Avon this coming weekend will attract some local attention. With more than 30 men’s church-league teams participating in the Terre Haute Church League, it would seem like a natural. Church teams interested in participating can contact Steve Boone at (317) 902-8243.



For those interest, a listing of ASA state tournaments is as follows:



July 18-20 — Women’s Slowpitch C at Avon, Women’s Slowpitch D at Avon, Women’s Slowpitch E at Avon.

Aug. 1-3 — Men’s Slowpitch B at Avon, Men’s Slowpitch C at Kokomo, Men’s Slowpitch D at Crawfordsville (north), Men’s Slowpitch D at Evansville (south).

Aug. 8-10 — Men’s Fastpitch B at Elkhart, Men’s Fastpitch C at Elkhart, Men’s Slowpitch E at Valparaiso (north), Men’s Slowpitch E at Avon (south).

Aug. 15-17 — Men’s Fastpitch D at Lawrence, Men’s Slowpitch Masters 35-over D/E at Kokomo.

Sept. 5-7 — Co-ed Slowpitch D/E at Kokomo.

        

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