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July 07. 2006 6:59AM
Your shot at Wiffle ball
immortalityCOMMENTARY
BILL MOOR
Tribune Columnist
Scott
Ermeti will be coming all the way from Los Angeles to play
Wiffle ball in his bare feet and in his old stomping
grounds.
Larry Grau, now of Indianapolis, most likely
will have a cigar perched in his mouth when he takes the field
at Mishawaka's Rose Park on July 29-30.
Scott
Wilcoxson, of Jeffersonville, won't let a little shoulder
surgery stop him from returning to the diamond after a diving
attempt for a hit last year sent him to the hospital.
This is serious
stuff, after all.
OK, it's not that serious, but it is
something that hundreds of kids -- ages 10 to 60-plus -- look
forward to every year in Mishawaka.
It's the Wiffle
Ballin' For Kids tournament -- formerly known as the World
Whiffleball Championship -- with the proceeds going to The
Children's Campus of the Family & Children's Center in
Mishawaka.
"We're hoping to get about 72 teams this
year," said Rich Carrasco, who helps run the tournament with
his Family & Children's Center supervisor, Chad
Miller.
Rich watched the first tournament in 1980 as an
11-year-old.
"They wouldn't let me play that year," he
said.
But he has competed almost every year since then
and inherited the leadership reins several summers ago from
tournament founders Jim Bottorff and Larry Grau.
At
one point, the tournament went to an invitation-only format,
but it is now back to being open to everyone -- while serving
a good cause, too.
"And for the first time, we are
having a fun division along with the competitive division,"
Rich added.
It's pretty much fun for everyone,
though.
The tournament assures entrants of at least
four games, and Rose Park can accommodate as many as 22
fields.
For those of you thinking about swinging that
yellow plastic bat for the fences, here are some of the Wiffle
Ballin' For Kids rules:
Five players make up a team, but only four can be on the
field -- usually a pitcher, catcher and two
outfielders.
It's pitcher's hand -- which means if a batted ball is
returned to the pitcher before the batter gets to first base,
he's out.
Only swinging strikes count, and there are no walks.
Pitching is overhand and slow.
No lead-offs, and the only base you can steal is
home.
Pegging -- hitting a base runner below the neck when he is
between bases -- counts as an out.
No umpires are used and team captains work out any
disputes. If an agreement can't be reached, then a "do over"
-- repeating the play -- is used.
The fields use the
regular outfield fences on Rose Park's diamonds for home runs
with the distances being 85 feet to dead center and 100 feet
down both lines.
"And even if a guy hits a foul ball
over the fence, we count it since that has to be quite a
poke," Rich added.
Even though some teams come in from
around the Midwest, most participants are local or have local
ties.
"A lot of us grew up with the tournament," Rich
said. "In fact, my family uses it as a reason to have a family
reunion."
Rich, whose dog is named Wiffle and whose
license plate reads WIFLS, said they are still looking for
more teams, although the first deadline is Monday.
The
Children's Campus recreation program, which will benefit from
the proceeds, helps emotionally disturbed children and their
families achieve their full potential though therapeutic
residential and community-based services.
"We just
want people to go out there in the tournament and remember
what it's like to be a kid again," Rich said.
White
balls. Yellow bats. Short fences. Great
memories.
Bill Moor's column appears on Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Contact him at bmoor@sbtinfo.com, or
write him at the South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South
Bend, IN 46626; (574) 235-6072.
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|
 Rich Carrasco gets ready
to swing away in the Wiffle Ballin' For Kids
tournament in Mishawaka.
Tribune Photo MARCUS MARTER
| |
For more information
The Wiffle Ballin' For Kids tournament will be
July 29-30 at Rose Park in Mishawaka.
Cost is
$120 a team, which includes at least four games
and a T-shirt for all participants. Late entry
fees after Monday are $150.
Contact Rich
Carrasco or Chad Miller at (574) 259-5666, exts.
254 and 270, or visit the tournament Web site at
www.childrenscampus.org/
WiffleBallinForKids.htm. | | |
