Wild Cards win CdM Whiffle Ball Tournament

Three years ago, Preston Hartsell and JT Schwartz lost in the championship game of the CdM Whiffle Ball Tournament.

A lot has changed for Hartsell and Schwartz since they were seventh-graders. They’re now sophomore baseball players at Corona del Mar High and are committed to USC and UCLA, respectively.

But there they were Thursday back in CdM’s small gym, hoping to once again claim their Whiffle ball superiority.

This time, it took a last-inning rally for their team to emerge as champions in the tournament’s 16th year.

Schwartz, Hartsell and fellow sophomore baseball player Chazz Martinez all hit round-trippers in the bottom of the sixth to lead the Wild Cards to a 10-6.5 victory over the Staff All-Stars.

“We don’t like to make it easy on ourselves,” Hartsell said after the victory. “Big-time players step up in big-time games.”

The Wild Cards, who wore Angels jerseys for the title game, also included CdM sophomore baseball player Freddy Bloom and the team’s lone female, senior Bridgett Storm, who is headed to UCLA for water polo. Storm received the tournament Queen honor in the 14-team league this season.

Schwartz was the league home run champion, with 16 this season, three of those coming in the title game. He helped the Wild Cards hold off the Staff All-Stars, who wore Dodgers jerseys and included CdM football offensive coordinator Kevin Hettig, girls’ soccer coach Bryan Middleton, English teachers Jim Anderson and Emily James, physics teacher Peter Selby and tournament director Gary Almquist.

This was the last CdM Whiffle ball tournament for Almquist, the CdM ASB director and longtime wrestling coach who is moving to Tennessee this summer. He will teach and coach at Ravenwood High, outside of Nashville.

In the spirit of the tournament, Schwartz talked before the title game began of sending him off with a loss. He was also excited because his mother Deborah, the Wild Card team mom, was coming to support the team.

“She’s the No. 1 team fan,” JT Schwartz said with a straight face. “She supplies us with basically nothing, but we like the support.”

In the CdM Whiffle Ball Tournament, the visiting team is given a half-run at the start of the game to prevent a possible tie. Any ball hit past half-court in the team-pitch format is a fair ball. A home run is a ball that hits off the back wall of the gym. The teams play, well, until the bell rings indicating that lunch is over.

Martinez’s two-run homer in the bottom of the first gave his team a 2-1 lead, then Schwartz’s solo home run in the bottom of the second extended it. But the Staff All-Stars came back in the top of the third, when Selby hit a solo homer followed by a three-run jack from Middleton, just his fourth of the season. It gave the visitors a 5.5-3 advantage.

But the Staff All-Stars would score just one more run, though they took a 6.5-4 advantage into the bottom of the sixth. Almquist was still nervous, and for good reason.

Almquist saw the Wild Cards edge Team Clutch in the semifinals, 17.5-17, a couple of weeks back. Team Clutch was led by CdM junior soccer player Grant Joyce, who took home the league awards for batting average and “web gems.”

“[Team Clutch] only needed to get one run in the bottom of the seventh,” Almquist said in amazement. “The first hit, it hit the the very top of the backboard, which was up, and it dropped straight down and they caught it for an out. The second batter hit a line drive and one of these guys dove and snapped it up away from the wall, and another guy dove and caught it on the floor. Two batters, two home runs gone. Then the next guy got on base, then the next guy hit the ceiling and they caught it. Game over.”

On Thursday, the Wild Cards again had enough to earn the win. Hartsell beat out an “infield” single to start the bottom of the sixth, before Martinez had a hit off the side basketball backboard. Schwartz then connected on a three-run home run that landed near the top of the back wall, the no-doubter giving his team a 7-6.5 lead.

One out later, Storm reached on a single, before Hartsell launched a two-run homer. Martinez added a solo homer before the game was called. The lunch bell had rang during the rally.

“They exploded when they finally relaxed,” Almquist said. “As soon as they calmed down, you saw what happened. If we would have played another inning, they would have scored eight or nine [runs]. They can do that.”

Despite wearing the Angels jerseys, Hartsell said the team’s offensive prowess was more similar to the power-hitting Toronto Blue Jays.

“Our Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 hitters are just solid home run hitters who throw punches, like [Jose] Bautista,” Hartsell said, referencing the Blue Jays’ recent skirmish against the Rangers.

Almquist said that the athletic director at his new school of Ravenwood High has a baseball background, so he sees getting a whiffle ball tournament started there. As for CdM’s tournament, he is also hopeful that someone will take the reins and it will continue.

After all, the Wild Cards will have a title to defend.

“Our chemistry really just came out,” Schwartz said of the late-game heroics. “It was a nice team dynamite explosion we had there in the last inning for a few RBIS, which was fantastic. You know, we just really came together as a team.”