The Softball Junkies/DeMarini (Citrus Heights, Calif.) will be traveling home with the 2011 Men’s Class D championship hardware after recording a 15-7 title game victory on Sunday morning against Boar’s Butt (Hackleburg, Ala.). Led by the offensive effort and pitching of tournament Most Valuable Player John Wheeler, the Junkies took command early with a 9-0 lead and never looked back.
“It is awesome to be champions,” said Wheeler. “We have a great team and it has been a long year. We just played good as a team and being MVP just shows what kind of team we have. This is probably the best team I have ever been on and I love my guys.”
The Junkies scored three runs in each of the first four innings for a solid 12-0 lead going into the fifth. It looked like a run-rule victory was coming, butt Boar’s Butt rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth making the game a little more interesting. Boar’s Butt posted its two allowed home runs that inning coming from Daniel Boyd and Doug Taylor.
But the pitching of Wheeler and the defense behind him held strong in the final outs taking home the 15-7 victory. Wheeler finished the tournament hitting .545 with 10 RBI and two home runs.
