HISTORY 2024
One team who is a nice surprise and could be a dark-horse contender in the 2024 season is the WHAT? Sftbll Club.
In many ways, the 2024 season has been like the 2023 season; the WHAT? Club is relevant and relatively good, but there have been several frustrating losses with a few injuries, and it feels like this team has left many wins on the table.
Coach: We know that we left a lot on the table!
No way around it: The WHAT? Sftbll Club did not live up to their lofty expectations in 2024.
But they were close . . .
(Injuries, vacations, bad weather and schedule byes), chase them all season, crippling them for the most part.
“We had a tough year,” said Coach. “And we know that we left a lot on the table.” The team's uninspiring performance along with their lackluster mindset during the Chula tournament was evident of poor mental approach.
So where did it go wrong?
“The biggest thing is; How do we battle through and get through adversity? I don’t think we did the best job of that last year, and it shown at Chula Vista,” said Softball Analytics Ron Tuggnut.
“We were definitely all trying to get out of what we were in. But I think we all learned a really valuable lesson in … what we learned from those times that were tough.”
With both Coach and Shackleford set to continue in their respective roles, the WHAT? Sftbll Club will likely bring back largely the same Fall League group entering the new 2024 season. Their main core remains intact.
But the first step to projecting what comes next is to understand the season that was.
Well, there’s nothing like a controversy to get thing started. Infielders Ryan Siembal and Peter Hyde who both expected to start at 3B, but eventually settle for platooning. As the season progress it became more evident that Siembal would be the 3B, due to the amount of injuries that Hyde encountered. More than the team expected. “I love third base,’’ says Siembal, “this is where I want to play the rest of my career. I don’t want to be a DH. I really don’t.’’
Coach breaks into an expansive grin when he hears Siembal’ sentiments, knowing that he was paying attention.
WHAT? Sftbll, 12-8 record is built on incredible highs and exasperating lows. It’s all part of the 2023/022 experience with this club that is capable of so much more in Lake County, which began on Tuesday night, May 14th, when the PF Flyers Squad come rolling in.
“It feels like a lost and missed opportunity,” added GM Rusty Shackleford. “It’s not every year, as a general manager, that you can honestly look up at the start of the season and feel like, hey, if we could catch a few breaks here and there, we could hoist the Championship trophy. I felt that way from the start of the season.”
They need to be better in close games and in one-run games. (And, yes, they probably need some better late-game luck, too.) But perhaps more than anything, when the season gets tough - and at some point, it will -- the WHAT? Sftbll club needs to punch back.
But’ inconsistencies have plagued the WHAT? Club early on, - they needed to be better situationally, they needed to capitalize on their opportunities, and it’s a question of whether those will continue or if this club can go on a true run. There’s a thin line between the two, but again, the WHAT? Club have all of the talent needed, it’s just a matter of pointing that talent in the right direction and, “playing in sync,” as coach likes to say.
After an already slow start, 2-2 record, and going into June with multiplayers heading to the disabled list, it became apparent for a huge showdown in what will be their penultimate meeting for the summer. The WHAT? Sftbll Club played both - PF Flyers and Henny G ball clubs during a mid-season series on June 25th, and early July.. Both series were big losses and figure to have huge implications in the league standing.
"This is what happens, when you lose softball games," said outfielder Kyle Risinger, who trails only infielder Aaron Archibald in tenure. "We’re missing the top half of our lineup, so yeah’, we've underperformed the last several weeks, probably all of June. It's not sloppy softball as some may think, it's about missing key veterans at crucial positions. Our pitching that we were riding most of the year, it started to show some holes. There's not one point or one person to blame. It just us as a team, missing guys.
With several winning streaks bunch in there with several losses and back and forth they go.. And even with that seeming steadiness, there have been tremendous ups and downs, a yo-yo of results, both good and just getting by.
They swap 1st place, to 3rd to 2nd then back to 3rd place, (and rightfully so with how the lineup is currently pieces together, due to injuries and schedule byes), then come back after a long bye week and stink up the joint versus weaker opponents. That’s another oddly consistent trend; doing well once they get going, then nothing for a while, then start up again, trying to find your grove again. It becomes extremely unpleasant.. They lose their focus for an upcoming series, and then use it as motivation going in to next week’s game.
Nothing has been easy ... and nothing will be.
Ultimately, Coach Vasquez took the blame, because that's the manager's job. But as the Club Player-Development Steve Sharts and Scouting-Director Jack Glasscock seats become uncomfortably warm, and now with, GM Rusty Shackleford searching for a new team-leader, they'll have to dig a little deeper into the events from the last several months.. The why's, what’s, and most importantly, how quickly can this all be fixed?
So if we look at the WHAT? Sftbll Club roster on paper. This team has all the talent in the world, more than capable of chasing a league crown, but instead, find themselves stuck in the same wild predicament they’ve been talking about since 2020.. And, there is something to be said about simply reaching the postseason consistently and trying to get hot at the right time, but the WHAT? Squad needs to reach a different level.
However, there is one bright spot in terms of offense this season: that would be none other than M.V.P. - Infielder Drake Larriuz. Now in his seventh season, Larriuz is becoming one of the more dependable guys in the lineup. He leads or is in the top 3 in just about every single statistic category, with the lone exception being home runs.
Likewise, he is seeing a bit of an improvement in his stats from last season.. Infielder Drake Larriuz currently sports a .670/1.638/.680 slash line with 3 home runs and 37 RBIs. He also has some pretty decent wheels, with 19 extra base hits.
The young hitters on the WHAT? Sftbll Club, whom there building their lineup around, all have taken the two steps forward, on step backwards approach.. For Jacob Munson, .522 Avg - that means translating his power numbers into run production and becoming a more consistent hitter. Time to move past the learning curve period and those base to base running mistakes.. For 'Rookie of the Year winner' Joey Gaiser, .606 Avg - that means staying focuses on pitch count and continue his demolishing opposing pitchers with his line-drives and extra-base hits. His resilience and desire to remain in the big leagues, is his key to success.. For Tre Cruz, .639 Avg - that means, adjust and maintain consistency. Using speed to his advantage on offense as well as he does in the field, something he did exceptionally well, while he empower others to be their best.. For James Creekmore Jr., .609 Avg - that means understanding theoretical knowledge of hitting mechanics. Lowering his chase rate and doing more damage against opponents with his bat. Yes, an offensive rejuvenation this year from Junior was awesome, too, and a bonus.
Conversely, at the top end, it was a good run, wasn’t it?
The WHAT? Club, a team that took 3rd place on Tuesday nights, made it to the All-City Final Four, a feat so improbable that critics tried to say they didn’t deserve to be there, as if there were any merit worth considering other than wins and losses.
... I’ll give the skeptics and haters this much: the WHAT? Sftbll Club weren’t supposed to be there.
And that’s what makes it all so great.
But they did.
If everything went the way it was supposed to go, there’d be no sense in playing the games.
Just send the top four clubs to the Final Four’ series every year and be done with it.
In softball, a lot of the expectations are tied to players’ commitment. There’s no guarantee that a ball club will field a full roster or even have enough guys that night to play with. So when a ball club has better commitment from their guys, they tend to do better throughout the season, and even into the playoffs.
The WHAT? Club came out of nowhere, and this season feels more like the start of something special than the peak of a team that will start an inevitable decline. WHAT? Club does have some solid players. Aaron Archibald .673/1.842/.714 .. Brad Callahan .676/1.890/.707 .. MVP, Drake Larriuz … Connor Fitzgerald .524/1.302/.576 .. Ryan Siembal .618/1.676/.689 .. James Creekmore .542/1.107/.566 and a bunch of other guys.
But there’s no guarantee that they’ll ever get back to that final 4 position. The franchise hasn’t made it this far since 2015 in Wkgn.
The WHAT? Club had a historic summer season in 2024, getting out to a slow start, battling unusual and awkward slumps, and clawing their way into the postseason. Upon reaching the postseason they proceeded to upset expectations of pundits and fans alike, winning their portion of the bracket, to eventually lose in the final four with the heartbreaks they've endured in pursuit of it.
The strength of the 2024 Club comes from the batting order.
3B, Ryan Siembal and Pitcher James Creekmore are going to play and play a lot.. The same goes for Infielders, Aaron Archibald, Drake Larriuz, Tre Cruz and Connor Fitzgerald.. Outfielders, Jacob Munson, Joey Gaiser, Brad Callahan and Kyle Risinger, but how quickly will all this young talent can start to play plus-softball and how long is Junior Creekmore going to need a break.
Overall, the right-field tandem of Risinger and Jason Sanchez, is the biggest individual strength on the roster.. So don’t sleep on the veteran Kyle Risinger in right field — his projections gives the Club one of the better forecasts at the OF position.
Statistically, Risinger continued to be a menace on the base-paths and showed flashes of brilliance which have been highlighted on ESPN8 The Ocho. In terms of runs saved, Risinger has had his best season thus far, with a career-high runs saved from good plays according to the Fielding Bible.
Softball season can be painful and messed up. It can get complicated at the worst of times, and sometimes you have no idea where to go or what to do.. “I'm a great believer in the character of the club. To me, character has a lot to do with how you compete. That creates urgency and toughness. That elevates the talent that you have.” Coach said.
Small ball and base on balls is what the WHAT? Sftbll Club is built on. It's what wins games. Of course, defense also helps too.
- Tomorrow's another day.. We've just got to turn the page . . .