HISTORY 2022
The 2022 season was all bark and no bite for the WHAT? Men’s softball club.
The regular season included a plethora of highs and lows for WHAT? Sftbll. Some young players had breakout performances while some veterans had some resurgence. There were also a collection of players who didn’t live up to expectations. All in all, the positives trumped the negatives, as the WHAT? Sftbll scratched their way to their eighth 10-win season in the past ten years.
But any season that ends without hoisting the Championship Belt for the WHAT? Men’s softball club is considered an disappoint. So when the WHAT? squad lost in the final playoff game to the Green Town Tavern club in Sundays final elimination bracket, there was obviously a lot of disappointment. But that doesn’t mean it was a complete and utter failure of a 2022 season. Let’s delve further into the Club 2022 season and what to look forward to for 2023.
The WHAT? Club had very high expectations coming into the season and seemed to overcome every bump in the road along the way. They faced injuries and vacationing and still found their way competing for a league night championship title since 2018. Their ultimate fallout during their summer run was not, in fact, their starting pitching that was their biggest issue during previous seasons, but their inability to hit with runners in scoring position. They found themselves with several chances against the Nuevo Leon club and Huskies St. softball; they just weren’t able to capitalize. Losing their final two games of the season.
The WHAT? Club used the “Next Man Up” mantra all season in the midst of their injuries and player vacationing stints to 5 different players. Every player that came in for the “Savages in the Box” to replace a missing player had some sort of positive impact on the team.
The main reason the WHAT? Club lost last final four games of the regular season was not because of their pitching, but their failure to hit with runners in scoring position, but more specifically, their failure to hit in the most important spots in a game. This was something they were very good at throughout the regular season. But going into the final months of the season the Squad hit a brick wall.
They had plenty of chances, and actually had a higher team BA (.521 to .500), OBP (.589 to .561), SLG (.776 to .710), and OPS (1.362 to 1.252) than their opponents, and even a higher BA with RISP than opponents. In total, the WHAT? Club went 6-for-35 with RISP and left 42 runners on base. The WHAT? Club simply did not capitalize during those hot summer night, and more failure to score runs. A common misconception among some of WHAT? Twitter after the series was that the pitching and the defense blew the games and the series, which is technically true. But if the Squad capitalized on even a quarter or more of their chances, they most likely win the series.
The visiting clubs hit statistically worse, but hit at the best times, so the series really boiled down to chance like flipping a coin. We knew that was how the series was going to go, the teams are so evenly matched in Lake County, that it was going to be a tossup no matter what.
The WHAT? Sftbll had everything going against them this season, dealing with the aforementioned injuries and vacations, but still management to go .500 for the summer. The expectations before all the injuries were very high, but after the injuries, they overcame all the odds. Ralph Lozano return was a huge reason for their success.
For the Squad to get over the hump and get back into the league finals for the first time in seven years (only second decade they didn’t make it), they will need to be more consistent and patient. Even with their solid batting order, they can’t rely on it as much as they did, because then they gets overworked. They should also look for more hitters like Aaron Archibald who just look to make contact and not go homer-or-bust. More lefty bats would also be a plus.
Outfielder Brad Callahan delivered one of the most iconic months in Softball history this August. Callahan posted a 1.000 average with 17 hits, 2 doubles, triple and home run, becoming the first player to go prefect with a 17 for 17 in a single month.
We shouldn’t need a reminder of this. But softball is hard.
Ask Kyle Risinger. Ask Ralph Lozano (four extra-base hits for the summer). Ask Connor Fitzgerald (eight extra-base hits for the summer). Ask Ryan Siembal (slugging .864 this season). Ask David Rzewnicki (hitting .583, with no homers until his last game of the season).
But not just them. Ask some of the biggest shooting-star prospects in softball.
“I think of other names,” said another exec, who spends a lot of time on scouting and player development. “Like Rookie Jake Munson (who hit .282/.380/.318 going 24-for-85, no home runs). Like Rookie Carlos Zamudio (who hit .500/.556/.938 before going on the disabled list with an season ending injury). Like Rookie Uli Hernandez (who hit .488/.556/.805 going 20-for-41, 3 HRs, 21 RBIs). Look at those three. Look at what they’ve done. They’ve hit worse than pitchers.”
Another rookie who received an opportunity to produce was James Creekmore Jr. Junior actually produced at a league average level in 2022, (.578/.634/1.167 going 52-for-90, 15 HRs, 41 RBIs).
There are many more names, of course. Just remember those names are guys who have been great at softball all their lives. But this season, they haven’t been that great. And mostly, it all comes down to this:
Softball is hard. Harder than ever. As velocities creep up. As pitch shapes are scientifically designed in the lab to devour bats. As AI-generated data says: Throw it there, and this dude can’t hit it.
“You know, it’s so rare that the best players play their best for season play in 150 days — from day one,” said one of the execs quoted above. “That’s just not how it works.”
But why should that stop us from overreacting when we look at stars barely hitting .500 through-out the season? Overreacting after season end is a beautiful softball tradition. So don’t make us stop. It’s what we do best. But when you hear us do that, feel free to hit us with those three magic words: Softball is hard. It’s true!
Back in October 2021, I was skeptical of WHAT? Sftbll Director of Athletics John Redcorn saying, “We want to get better as fast as we possibly can,” The batting order needs help. What was once looking to be one of the best lineup in the County for years to come suddenly has a plethora of question marks. David Rzewnicki and Carlos Zamudio are on the shelf for the foreseeable future, Mike Gould will likely never throw a softball again, and, if I’m Kyle Risinger, the team from my backyard who’s the last remaining player from the 2015 Championship squad is looking awfully enticing right now.
The answer here is just as exciting as it is obvious. The WHAT? Squad has been showing interest in recruiting top-notch ball players from Wisconsin area. The WHAT? Sftbll were not expected to be one of the top teams in the league this season but are once again proving people wrong with their talent and consistency. They were fortunate to have an easy schedule to start the year but are amid playing five first-place teams during May. They still have room for improvement from the starting pitching and some of the young players, but their start of the season should set them up for future success this season.