End of Season Report

The end of the 2007 summer softball season is upon us and the Resurrection Life Warriors finished another successful season with a record of 12-6. The Warriors improved greatly as the year went on and had two separate five game winning streaks.

The team opened the season with a drubbing of Immanuel, 24-5 before having its worst offensive performance in years in game two, a 12-0 loss to eventual league-champion Life. Game three saw the start of the team’s first five-game winning streak with a comfortable 9-1 win over Wooddale. In game four the bats really started to click as the team whooped Pax Christi 13-2 to move its record to 3-1. Game five and six were a little closer as the team came from behind in the last inning to defeat St. Andrew Red 19-16 and the following week the offense exploded for 21 runs in the first two innings and then fell asleep but held on for a 21-12 win over St. Andrew Blue.

The final victory in the winning streak was a close, 18-14 contest versus Eden Prairie Assembly of God. After the big winning streak, the team suffered a bit of a let down, losing to nemesis Living Word 26-18 before laying a big egg against over-matched Immanuel in a 7-3 loss. With a chance to avenge its week two loss to Life, the Warriors narrowly missed the opportunity, falling 15-14 in a great game.

After the three-game skid, the Warriors split their next two games, beating Wooddale 17-3 in a laugher before dropping the next game to Living Word 17-12, bringing their season record to 7-5. Living Word was just too much to handle in that game.

The next five games were all victories pushing Rez Life’s record to 12-5 and setting up a final-game showdown with 13-4 Living Word. The first game of the streak was a boring 10-4 over Pax and the second win was a controlled 18-12 victory over St. Andrew Red. In game 15 of the season, St. Andrew Blue again had to deal with early hot bats versus the Warriors and again the Warriors put 21 on the board to coast to a 21-2 win. EPAG provided another tough game the following week as Rez squeaked out an 8-4 win. The final game of the streak came against Wooddale and the team handled them easily again, winning 14-1 and completing the season three-game sweep by a margin of 40-5.

The final game of the year pitted the Warriors against their rivals from 06 who are clearly the most talented team in the league. It was a great game as the Warriors clung to a lead for most of the game only to lose in the 8th inning and end their season in defeat, at 12-6.

Next year Rez Life will have two teams to make amends with as Living Word swept the season-series 3-0 and Life beat the Warriors both times including the 12-0 shutout.

The team didn’t mash the ball as well this year as it has in years passed, but the bats were still very competitive. Four Rez Life hitters managed to post averages over .600 with another two players reaching the .600 plateau in on base percentage. The team slugging percentage was down quite a bit this year, but still sat right at .800 for the season.

The big boppers this year were Austin Colby, Brendan Finn and Chris Burr. Austin had 11 homers to go along with his team-high 13 doubles while Finn finished with 9 doubles and 6 homeruns. Chris added 6 doubles and finished second on the team with his 7 homers. Both Jeff Johnson and newcomer Jamy Antoine added three homeruns each.

What this year’s team lacked in offensive prowess, it more than made up for it with its defensive intensity. 2007 marked the finest defensive year that Rez Life has had during my tenure on the team. Hands down. The infield was outstanding, led by the trio of AJ Larson, Austin, and Lee Valle. Jeff was very good in his first season at first base and with another year under his belt he’ll be that much better next season. AJ finished the year with a fielding percentage over 92% which is top-notch for infielders. He handled a lot of the shortstop duties as well when Austin was paroling the outfield. Lee had a very solid year at the hot corner, having a hand in five double plays with a fielding percentage over 85%.

Jordan Schumack and Matt Shuster handled the majority of the battery duties and really got into a groove down the stretch.

The outfield was extremely solid as usual with Chris, Nick Larson and Finn being the three standards out there. Jon Engbrecht, Jamy, Eric and Austin all got some quality innings out there and contributed. By the end of the season Matt Hanson was chasing flyballs around and getting lots of innings in the grass as well.

The team finished in third place, down a notch from last year’s 2nd place finish and 12-5-1 record. In two years the Warriors have compiled a record of 24-11-1 with a 2nd and 3rd place finish to their credit. Next year, the team will take aim at the crown and look to knock off the previous years’ defending champions.

Congratulations to the team on another fun and successful season!