Belly Itchers 2009 #1 Team in the Nation!

Just over a month ago, the Belly Itchers won their 3rd straight title. Now that other league's are now finished, the National Wiffleball Rankings has released it's final ranking. The order, 1.) Belly Itchers (KWL) 2.) Reds (HRL) 3.) Expos (CCWA). This marks the first time that a KWL team has been #1 in the entire Nation! Too boot, the KWL also boosts 7 teams total in the finally Top 40; Itchers 1, Wildies 7, 40s 12, Indies 16, SIR 18, Roo's 32, and Gentlemen 40. Congratulations to all the teams involved and a special thanks to the NWLA crew for all your hard work this season with the National Rankings.

http://www.nationalwiffleballrankings.com/2009currentrankings

Offseason Pitching exercises.

Over the last few weeks, I have had alot of people ask me about pitching exercises they can do during the offseason to get rid of aches and pains and gain some velocity. If you surf the 'net, you will find alot of places that want to charge you $20 or more for a book or video demonstrating the exercises that professional pitchers use to increase arm strength. Last winter I did some searching and finally found a website that has great information and demonstrations of the exercises.

Here is a link to the PDF. Save, print and take it too the gym! If you don't have a gym membership, you can do most of these exercises right at home with an elastic workout band and a couple of small dumb bells. Good luck!

http://www.asmi.org/SportsMed/throwing/thrower10.PDF

The Lemons into the playoffs?!?!

I know many of you are asking, how did the Lemons edge the Diablos for the 3rd playoff seed? Well, let me explain!

The Diablos had 2 games versus the Shanghai Chuckers postponed before the All-Star break. The games were to be made up if they had playoff implication, which they certainly did. So July 24th, the Diablos and Chuckers met up at Flesher field to finish up these games. The Tuesday before, the Diablos lost 2 games at the hands of the Gentlemen, which left them still only needed 1 game to secure their spot in the big dance. However, the Shanghai Chuckers had other ideas, as they slugged to a 10-3 win in game 1 and won the second game in extra innings with a ridiculous score of 20-21.

These 4 losses landed the Diablos with a very respectable 13-11 record overall, but with the Lemons picking up 2 more wins the Day before, left them a half game back to the 15-12 Lemons.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day from the Kalamazoo Wiffleball League. The original mid-summer classic. The 4th of July is a time to celebrate the Birth of the United States of America. A time to spend with family and enjoy the freedom that we have in our great Country. A time to collect ourselves and remember those that gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep this Country great.The opertunity to enjoy a hot summer cookout with friends. The opertunity to leave work behind for a long weekend of entertainment. And the greatest opertunity, the chance to personally thank a Service Man or Woman for the corage to protect this Country that we all hold dear to our hearts.Thank you all for protecting this country! Thank you for sacrificing your own mid-summer party to keep us safe. Thank you Veterans for what you have done and continue to do for the United States. This day has become more then the Birth Day of the USA, it has become the Pride of the American People.Everyone have a safe and great 4th of July!

Did you not think we were serious?

After having many discussions over the past couple years, Daryl Hutson, Mike Raber and I finally made the journey in for our new wiffleball tattoos. We discussed many options in the past, but always came back to the simple design that everyone knows.

Player profiles being updated!

Thanks to the help of Amber Hutson, player profiles are being updated and new ones being added. Take a look around and enjoy the read.

Joe Brainerd returns to the KWL to help the Fightin' Roo's.

One of the newest teams to the league, the Fightin' Roo's, were hanging by a thread with just enough players a week before the start of the regular season. Team captain, Kevin Marszelek ask if I knew of anyone that might want to jump in and help fill up their roster. The next day, I started to thumb through my contacts and making calls to see if I could help out. I contacted a handful of people before finally making the call to recently retired Joe Brainerd. To my surprise, Joe was interested and indeed has decided to continue his KWL career.

After verifying that Joe was under no contact obligations with the Flyin' Wildebeest, he officially joined the new KWL team. After hearing about the return of Joe Brainerd, ex-teammate Matt Kirsch said "I am throwing for his head!" in a joking manor and continued to say "I'm glad Joey is returning, he is great for the league."

An all Rookie squad will be greatly helped by this 3 season veteran and 2-time funstar.

Welcome back Joe! We're glad to have you!