Doug's Sports Pub of Stevens Point captured the 2001 Men's Slow Pitch Class B State Tournament Sunday, July 29, at Zenoff Park.
The Wisconsin American Softball Association sponsored the Class B and Class D tournaments.
Doug's Sports Pub went undefeated in five games in the Class B tournament, while Franchise Softball of Beloit won the Class D tournament, going undefeated in six games.
Doug's started the tournament with an 11-9 victory over M&M Builders of Elk Mound in the opening game on Friday, July 27. The team followed that with victories over River City Readi-Mix of West Salem, 8-7, and 4-Stools Short of Wisconsin Rapids, 12-11, on Saturday.
In the final game among undefeateds on Sunday, Doug's defeated CES/Green Touch of River Falls, 21-19, then waited for a team to come through the losers' bracket to determine the championship.
That team turned out to be 4 Stools, another team from the American Division of the Stevens Point Softball Association's (SPSA) Major League on Tuesday.
4-Stools won its first game against Float-Rite Park of New Richmond, 21-9, then lost to Doug's.
Fighting back in the losers bracket, 4-Stools beat Stepan Enterprises of Mosinee, a league-leading team in the American Division of Tuesday's Major League, 14-12, Float-Rite again, 15-8, and then CES 14-13.
In the championship game, Doug's hung on for another 12-11 victory after falling behind early.
The 4-Stools team jumped out with five runs in the first inning. Mike Huber singled and came home on Calley Homann's home run for the first two runs. Then three more runs scored on singles by Dan Pelot, John Rozak, Lance Lewis and Andy Graf.
Doug's came back with two runs as Shorty Flees tripled and Roger Niewiadomski homered.
After 4-Stools scored single runs again in the second and third innings, Doug's came back with four runs in the bottom of the third to cut the deficit to 7-6. Flees singled, then was forced at second by Niewiadomski who came in to score on a triple by Mike Hoppa. Hoppa scored on a sacrifice fly by Eric Zimmerman, who was safe when the outfielder dropped the ball. Zimmerman scored on a single by Paul Zelewski, who moved into scoring position on a single by Jonah Reese and scored on a single by Brian Gosh.
The 4-Stools team widened their lead by plating three runs in the fourth on singles by Homann, Pelot, John Rozak, Lewis and Jerry Rozak.
But Doug's came back with three runs of its own. After Flees and Niewiadomski singled, Hoppa hit a three-run home run to make the score 10-9.
In the bottom of the fifth, Doug's took the lead for good. Singles by Reese, Gosh and Mark Mischnick loaded the bases. Myron Molski drove in Reese with a sacrifice fly to tie the score and then Flees singled in Gosh and Mischnick. Neither team scored in the sixth, and, after two scoreless innings, Jamie Pelot homered for the final 4-Stools run after two were out in the top of the seventh. Blake Clary then got to second on an error, but he was stranded there.
The top five teams in Class B advance to the national Class B tournament in Columbus, Ga., from Sept. 20-23. Besides Doug's and 4-Stools, those teams are CES, Float Rite Park and Michelob Golden Draft of Eau Claire.
Five of the 11 members of the Class B All Tournament Team were from SPSA teams, three of them from Doug's and two from 4-Stools, including the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Taking the MVP honor was John Rozak of 4-Stools who had 20 hits in 23 at-bats, an .870 average. He was also the pitcher for the All Tournament Team. Homann of 4-Stools was named to one of the outfield positions.
Players from Doug's making the All Tournament Team included Jonah Reese at shortstop, Roger Niewiadomski in the outfield and Eric Zimmerman at catcher.
In Class D, Franchise defeated Betty's Sports of La Crosse, 20-6, to qualify for the national Class D tournament in Valdosta, Ga. Betty's also qualified for the tournament with its second-place showing.
Point Beer of Wausau, which plays in the SPSA although most of its players are from Wausau, fared best among the local teams with a 4-2 record. The team beat Mickey's of Tony, 9-3, and Langlois Building of River Falls, 16-4, before losing to Franchise, 18-13. Point Beer then beat Weirdos/NaPalm of Janesville, 19-13, and Alibi of Amery, 10-7, before losing 6-5.
Kim's Barrel Inn of Stevens Point beat Weirdos/NaPalm, 11-1, lost to Alibi, 13-9, beat Kopper Kettle/Bud Light of Superior, 23-15, and lost to Miller Lite/The Zone of Medford, 16-10.
The other two local teams, Winch LP Gassers of Junction City and Route 66 of Stevens Point, lost their only two games.
Winch lost 16-15 to Franchise and 11-4 to Norm's of Jump River. Route 66 lost to Lake Dexter Drive-In of Pittsville, 19-2, and Mickey's, 17-5.