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Wiffle®Ball prize not kid stuff
Trenton team competing for $10,000 in national championship.
By Al Slavin- Trentonian
Saturday, July 27, 1991
If you think Wiffle®Ball is for kids, take a closer look. A group of area men has turned this hobby into a chance to compete for big money.
When the P.A. All-Stars won the NJ State Wiffle®Ball Tournament last week in Trenton, they earned a berth in the World Wiffle®Ball Association’s third annual National Championship in Boston this weekend. They will compete for $10,000 in prizes in the 48 team. double elimination tournament.
We all played when we were little kids, Vaughn Ward said of his team. Now it’s bringing out the kid in us. Ward and his teammates (Jack Pepper, Mike Elko, Ken Tucci, and John Kelly) turned to Wiffle®Ball after becoming disenchanted with another recreation sport.
Who can’t get up there and hit a softball? Ward said. Slow pitch is boring. You get up there and get a hit off a good pitcher in this and you feel like you did something. Getting a hit is not as easy as it sounds, Pepper said. “I used to play when I was 10, Pepper said. “This is a whole different level. “You got a guy up there throwing a 70 mph fastball from 48 feet away. It's as close as you can get to real baseball.
The teams consist of a minimum of three players and a maximum of five, each of whom bat. In the field there is a pitcher and two fielders. There is no baserunning. If a grounder makes it past the infield line, it’s a single. If the ball hits the fence it’s a double. The right and left field fence is 85 feet, centerfield is 100 feet.
I played softball for the past seven or eight years, said Tucci, pitcher for the P.A. All-Stars. A couple of guys asked me to play, and I thought it was fun. Once you start winning you look forward to playing.
The trip would require time off from work to travel, but that was the easy part. It's kind of tough to tell your wife that you're going to Boston to play Wiffle®Ball , Pepper said. The P.A. All-Stars also took first place in the New Jersey State Wiffle®Ball League. All games were played at Patrick Pone Park in Trenton which was revamped by Mike Palinczar and his friends.
We had 21 teams in the tournament and 22 teams in the league, Palinczar said. I didn't expect 22 teams. I was thinking 10 or 12 at the most. Palinczar's team, the Trenton Giants, will also play in the National Tournament this weekend. They received an automatic berth for having played in it last year.
The field for the National Championship is modeled after Fenway Park, complete with a Green Monster of an outfield wall. ESPN will televise the tournament semifinals. The P.A. All-Stars are going to have a big advantage in the tournament because they're used to such a high intensity of play, Palinczar said.
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Team Trenton »
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