Season 2022 – WHAT?

2 0 2 2 S e a s o n

The Lake County Franchise improved greatly from 2021. Drake Larriuz regained his dominant form, Connor Fitzgerald and Brad Callahan broke out, Kyle Risinger improved greatly, and the veterans, Ralph Lozano, Aaron Archibald, and Ryan Siembal looked mature beyond their years.

The pitching was questionable heading into the season but after both veteran pitchers James Creek and Ralph Lozano returns along with Aaron Archibald who still in the mixed, the rotation looked really scary. The defense was shaky but not terrible. The offense was scary and young. The entire lineup was a hard out and a big pain.

The depth of the WHAT? Squad system supplemented any small injuries that came up. The Club even saw some flashes from rookies James Creekmore Jr., Uli Hernandez, Jake Munson and Carlos Zamudio towards season end.

Summer Roster

Pitchers	Catchers	Infielders	Outfielders	Utility Players
James Creekmore	Mike Gould	Connor Fitzgerald	Brad Callahan	Aaron Archibald
Ralph Lozano		Drake Larriuz	Kyle Risinger	Carlos Zamudio
		Ryan Siembal	David Rzewnicki	Darin Siembal
		Uli Hernandez	Jake Munson
			Junior Creekmore

Summer League Standing

The WHAT? Men’s Sftbll Club were one of the more pleasant surprises around softball this year. The Club finished the regular season with a 10-10 record which put them fifth place on Tuesday Night league. Additionally, the team clinched the eighth seed in the All City Playoff Tournament.

There isn’t much in the way of futures value on the WHAT? Club. They’re really good and everybody knows it, at the beginning of the year, many people around the game – fans and analysts alike – had the WHAT? Club pegged as a team that could very well surprise, but most probably didn’t expect them to be a contender. While their stay in the postseason was short (they lose to the Green Town Tavern Squad on Sunday’s single-elimination Series), it is still a major accomplishment for a team that has a very bright future.

This team is built to win now and has a prolonged contention window with a young, controlled core group of players that rose through the county league ranks as close friends. It will be interesting to see how normalcy feels for the WHAT? Sftbll Club. The 2022 team was a deep, supremely talented ballclub that can figure it out moving forward and withstand injuries in the lineup. Not every team can say that.

Summer League Stats

TEAM		#	Poss	Gm	PA	AB	Runs	OB	Hits	O.B.P	1H	2H	3H	4H	S.L.G	X.B.	RBIs	KO	BB	A.V.G	O.P.S	RE	RFC	SF	DP	R / G	OB / G	H / G	BI / G
ARCHIBALD	Aaron	8	SS	23	87	74	38	58	44	.667	29	9	4	2	.905	15	30	2	13	.595	1.572	1	2	3	1	1.7	2.5	1.9	1.3
CALLAHAN	Brad	9	RC	25	93	88	33	59	53	.634	39	8	4	2	.852	14	41	2	5	.602	1.487	1	4	3	1	1.3	2.4	2.1	1.6
CREEK	James	69	P	28	100	86	37	52	37	.520	37	0	0	0	.430	0	22	1	14	.430	.950	1	6	1	3	1.3	1.9	1.3	0.8
CREEKMORE	Junior	17	C	28	101	90	41	64	52	.634	29	8	0	15	1.167	23	41	5	11	.578	1.800	1	6	1	1	1.5	2.3	1.9	1.5
FITZGERALD	Connor	3	1B	28	100	90	44	63	53	.630	45	7	1	0	.689	8	33	1	10	.589	1.319	0	8	0	1	1.6	2.3	1.9	1.2
HERNANDEZ	Uli	16	3B	14	45	41	13	25	20	.556	13	4	0	3	.805	7	21	1	4	.488	1.360	1	3	0	2	0.9	1.8	1.4	1.5
LARRIUZ	Drake	34	MF	24	92	87	41	55	49	.598	29	11	0	9	1.000	20	40	0	5	.563	1.487	1	5	6	0	1.7	2.3	2.0	1.7
LOZANO	Ralph	09	P	17	62	57	19	34	28	.548	24	2	0	2	.632	4	14	2	5	.491	.950	1	1	1	2	1.1	2.0	1.6	0.8
MUNSON	Jake	27	LC	26	92	85	22	35	24	.380	21	3	0	0	.318	3	18	10	7	.282	.698	4	10	2	1	0.8	1.3	0.9	0.7
RISINGER	Kyle	13	RF	23	74	60	25	43	29	.581	19	7	3	0	.700	10	29	4	14	.483	1.281	0	8	2	0	1.1	1.9	1.3	1.3
SIEMBAL	Ryan	28	3B	28	105	81	38	71	47	.676	32	11	0	4	.864	15	42	0	24	.580	1.540	0	3	6	2	1.4	2.5	1.7	1.5
GOULD	Mike	6	OF	4	17	17	4	8	8	.471	5	2	1	0	.706	3	6	0	0	.471	1.176	0	2	2	0	1.0	2.0	2.0	1.5
MATTHEWS	Eric	21	UP	2	7	6	1	2	1	.286	1	0	0	0	.167	0	1	2	1	.167	.452	0	0	0	0	0.5	1.0	0.5	0.5
OLSON	Chunky	0	P	2	8	8	1	5	5	.625	4	1	0	0	.750	3	3	0	0	.625	1.176	0	0	0	1	1.0	2.0	2.0	1.5
RZEWNICKI	David	11	OF	4	14	12	6	9	7	.643	4	1	0	2	1.167	3	8	0	2	.583	1.810	0	0	1	0	1.5	2.3	1.8	2.0
SANCHEZ	Jason	5	OF	4	12	11	3	7	6	.583	4	2	0	0	.727	2	8	0	1	.545	1.311	0	2	0	0	0.8	1.8	1.5	2.0
SIEMBAL	Darrin	0	C	6	21	19	2	9	5	.429	5	0	0	0	.263	0	3	0	2	.263	.692	2	2	0	0	0.3	1.5	0.8	0.5
WIEMANN	Kyle	0	OF	3	8	6	3	6	4	.750	3	1	0	0	.833	1	5	0	2	.667	1.583	0	0	1	0	1.0	2.0	1.3	1.7
ZAMUDIO	Carlos	22	UP	6	18	16	5	10	8	.556	5	1	0	2	.938	3	7	1	2	.500	1.493	0	0	2	0	0.8	1.7	1.3	1.2

Totals				28	1003	884	368	591	461	.589	333	75	12	41	.773	128	359	29	119	.521	1.362	11	58	29	14	13.1	21.1	16.5	12.8

STARTERS				28	977	862	360	575	449	.589	325	73	12	39	.769	124	347	28	115	.521	1.358	11	58	26	14	12.9	20.5	16.0	12.4

In 2022, the WHAT? Men’s Softball Club will celebrate its 10th year younger squad anniversary. Many, many talented ball players participated on those younger squads throughout years. Infielder Aaron Archibald currently holds second longest-tenured on the club behind Ralph Lozano. Outfielder Kyle Risinger, Ryan Siembal, Mike Gould and Bradley Daniel all came after.

While the WHAT? Sftbll postseason hopes fell short, that doesn’t mean the team is doomed. In fact, this is just the beginning of a new window for the WHAT? Sftbll and it was a positive step in the right direction. The Club has all of the pieces that are needed to be a true contender in the Lake County Leagues next season. With a few more improvements on the defensive side, the Club will be able to bolster their chances even more.

I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.

Throughout a long season, these guys were able to handle everything Mother Nature could throw at them and still come out on top. Freezing temperatures, snow, rain, heat, and constant schedule changes only made this squad stronger as they went on playing through their first inaugural season as a new group.

One thing about this WHAT? Men’s Sftbll Club was that they were resilient. No matter what was thrown at them throughout the year, no matter how deep the hole, they found a way to bounce back and overcome adversity.

Most Valuable Player

27 Year Old Outfielder Brad Callahan took home his first career MVP award after one of his greatest offensive season. The August Player of the Month Award winner overall, belted a .602 Avg / .634 OBP / 1.487 OPS with 41 RBI, and 53 base hits.

The left center fielder MVP offensive production streak that started on August 14th and ended on September 16th, when he batted an amazing .792 Avg, while collecting 19 base hits with 24 plate appearance, ( 5 2B’s , 3B , HR , 4 Runs and 16 RBI’s ).

Perhaps the most overlooked player on WHAT? Sftbll, Brad Callahan has come into his own, leading his Squad in batting average (.602) and base hits per game (2.1), tied for the lead in Triples, 2nd in RBI’s, on-base percentage (.634) and OPS 1.487). He went 17 for 18 for the month of August, with 8 Runs / 13 RBI’s.

There’s no argument to be made against Callahan. Heading into the season’s final weekend, the fight for WHAT? Sftbll Most Valuable Player has been a roller-coaster all season, but outfielder Brad Callahan has established himself as the favorite down the stretch. Callahan has put together a monster second half, going 26 for 37 with 22 RBI and 6 extra base hits since the halfway break.

Rookie of the Year

Jake Munson, 17, responses formed the basis for a historic rookie campaign. That’s why a panel of his fellow Rec League players overwhelmingly made him 2022 Rookie of the Year and Gold Glove Award. Jake Munson received 12 of 14 votes cast. Infielder Uli Hernandez finished second with two votes.

Made his team debut on May 11th, 2021 vs. Wkgn Fire Squad at SportsPark Field B’ going ( 2 for 4 , 2 RBIs ). But of course, he gained tons of admirers during his 2022 Rookie season with his offensive production streak that started on September 13th, and ended on October 17th , when he batted an amazing .731 Avg while collecting 19 base hits with 26 plate appearance, ( 3 2B’s , 4 HR s , BB , 10 Runs and 16 RBI’s ).

Fall League Stats

TEAM		#	Poss	Gm	PA	AB	Runs	OB	Hits	O.B.P	1H	2H	3H	4H	S.L.G	X.B.	RBIs	KO	BB	A.V.G	O.P.S	RE	RFC	SF	DP	R / G	OB / G	H / G	BI / G
ARCHIBALD	Aaron	8	2B	12	53	49	27	32	27	.604	22	4	0	1	.694	5	10	3	4	.551	1.298	1	6	0	0	2.3	2.7	2.3	0.8
CALLAHAN	Brad	9	RC	11	48	45	12	17	12	.354	9	3	0	0	.333	3	11	4	3	.267	.688	2	5	1	2	1.1	1.5	1.1	1.0
CREEK	James	69	P	12	47	39	5	18	10	.383	10	0	0	0	.256	0	6	3	8	.256	.639	0	1	1	3	0.4	1.5	0.8	0.5
CREEKMORE	Junior	17	C	12	52	49	18	34	31	.654	17	7	1	6	1.184	14	33	1	3	.633	1.838	0	1	1	3	1.5	2.8	2.6	2.8
FITZGERALD	Connor	3	1B	12	49	45	13	28	24	.571	21	3	0	0	.600	3	10	4	4	.533	1.171	0	5	1	1	1.1	2.3	2.0	0.8
LARRIUZ	Drake	34	SS	10	45	41	15	30	26	.667	19	4	3	0	.878	7	6	1	4	.634	1.545	0	6	0	0	1.5	3.0	2.6	0.6
MUNSON	Jake	27	LC	12	48	44	13	28	24	.583	14	6	0	4	.955	10	20	1	4	.545	1.538	0	2	0	0	1.1	2.3	2.0	1.7
RISINGER	Kyle	13	RF	9	38	29	8	20	11	.526	7	2	2	0	.586	4	6	2	9	.379	1.113	0	2	3	0	0.9	2.2	1.2	0.7
RZEWNICKI	David	11	OF	7	27	26	8	13	12	.481	7	2	0	3	.885	5	14	4	1	.462	1.366	0	1	1	0	1.1	1.9	1.7	2.0
SANCHEZ	Jason	5	OF	8	31	27	6	16	11	.516	8	2	1	0	.556	3	7	1	4	.407	1.072	1	3	1	1	0.8	2.0	1.4	0.9
SIEMBAL	Ryan	28	3B	12	49	41	12	26	18	.531	12	5	0	1	.634	6	12	1	8	.439	1.165	0	0	4	1	1.0	2.2	1.5	1.0
GOULD	Mike	6	OF	2	6	4	2	4	2	.667	2	0	0	0	.500	3	2	0	2	.500	1.176	0	0	0	1	1.0	2.0	2.0	1.5
NORTON	Brandon	0	UP	2	10	10	5	6	6	.600	3	2	1	0	1.000	3	2	0	0	.600	1.600	0	0	1	0	2.5	3.0	3.0	1.0
Player	Adam	0	UP	2	7	6	1	3	2	.429	2	0	0	0	.333	0	4	1	1	.333	.762	0	1	0	0	0.5	1.5	1.0	2.0
Player	Frank	0	UP	1	3	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0	1	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Totals				12	513	458	145	275	216	.536	153	40	8	15	.692	63	143	26	55	.472	1.228	4	34	14	12	12.1	22.9	18.0	11.9

Team Memorabilia

The trading cards commemorate Outfielders Kyle Risinger and James Creekmore Jr. Risinger is the last remaining ball player from the original 2012 younger squad. Making his debut on February 18th, 2022 vs. InFamous Softball Club at Myrtle Beach S.C. going ( 1 for 3 , BB ). Creekmore Jr. becoming the first rookie ball player to hit over .600 during summer play. Player of the Month in May, Creekmore Jr. lead the squad in runs scored, RBI’s, HR’s and extra base hits.

WHAT?

2 0 2 2 S e a s o n

Summer Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders