2024 Misfits Come Together for First Title in 25+ Division of Tucson Amateur Baseball League
Tucson Amateur Baseball League, 25+ Division
Misfits 7, Cerveceros 4
At the beginning of the 2023 summer season, the Tucson MSBL decided to expand the 25+ Division by one team. They sent out a mass email to all the people in the online player pool. It essentially said, “If you want to be on a team then pick a manager, get 18 to 20 guys signed up, and pay the league fee – the season starts in two weeks.” Within minutes of receiving that email, Dylan Shorthouse volunteered to be the manager and got 18 guys committed to play.
A few days later only four guys showed up for a quick team meeting at a nearby park. Dylan knew it was a risk, but he put faith in these guys who he didn’t know and mostly had not met. The next week he paid the league fee and the Misfits were born.
The season started rough with five straight losses by wide margins. Players who signed up to play started to quit. Dylan went back to the player pool and recruited a few recent additions to fill the biggest gap in the lineup – pitchers. The Misfits continued to practice on Thursday nights throughout the season and began to play as a cohesive team. When the 2023 regular season ended the Misfits finished sixth out of eight teams in the 25+ division with a record of five wins, 12 losses, and one tie. They made a run in the playoffs and ultimately finished third overall.
At the beginning of the 2024 summer season, the Misfits were definitely seen as a threat. They started the season hot with a 6 and 1 record. They slowed down mid-summer but still finished with an 11 and 5 record and secured a #3 seed out of the 10 teams in the 25+ division.
The playoffs started out rough for the Misfits as they were down 8-1 after the first two innings of round one against the veteran Bulls team. Season team MVP Tyler Jacobsen came in to pitch and shut down the Bulls and allowed the bats to wake up. The Misfits crawled and clawed back to go up 9-8 after the seventh inning.
The Bulls returned the favor with two runs in the top of the eighth inning to go back up 10-9. The Misfits weren’t done though, as they scored two in the bottom of the eighth on aggressive base running to go back up 11-10. Tyler shut down the Bulls in the ninth to secure a gritty ‘W.’
This set the Misfits up for a rematch of a 1-0 loss just a few weeks earlier against the four-time defending league champion Wahoos. The Misfits had never beaten the Wahoos in the two seasons going into this quarterfinal game. Tyler Jacobsen again provided stability on the mound but the Misfits bats were quieted by solid Wahoos pitching.
The game was a nailbiter going into extra innings tied 1-1. In the top of the 10th inning, the Misfits supplied two perfect bunts by Brandon Ferrell and Josh Bayardo to start the inning and load the bases. Miguel Valenzuela knocked in a run to put the Misfits up 2-1. The Wahoos came up in the bottom of the 10th and were shut down quickly by Tyler who threw all 10 innings, struck out nine, spread out seven hits, and walked nobody.
The semifinals of the playoffs were against the hot-as-fire Braves team who came into the matchup on an 8-game winning streak. Tyler Jacobsen was a force again and kept the normally hot Braves bats cool. The Misfits bats woke up and supplied the hits and they won the semifinal game 13-2. Miguel Valenzuela supplied a bulk of the run production going 4 for 5 with six RBI.
The final game was against the Cerveceros team who finished with a record of 16-1-1 and finished first in the regular season 25+ division. The Misfits started strong going up 4-1 after three innings, but the Cerveceros are a tough team and climbed back to tie it at 4-4 going into the seventh. The game was paused for lightning at this point as an unusually late-season Tucson monsoon storm rolled in.
Thirty minutes later the lightning moved on enough to resume play and Tyler Jacobsen shut down the Cerveceros in the top of the seventh inning. The Misfits came out hot in the bottom of the seventh, driving in three runs, capped off by a 2-run triple by none other than Tyler “MVP” Jacobsen. With no outs and a runner on third, the game was paused again as down-pour rain and lightning rolled in.
Both teams waited around to see if the game would resume but the umpires deemed after about 40 minutes that the field was unsafe for play and the game was suspended. Because the home team was leading in the bottom of the seventh inning the rulebook said the playoff game was considered complete. And the Misfits were crowned league champs in only their second season in the Tucson MSBL!
Fun fact: “The bat in that photo was broken during the 1-0 loss against the Wahoos which wrapped up our regular season. Everyone loved that bat so we had it hanging on the fence in the dugout as a good luck charm during playoffs and it worked. We didn’t lose after that, and we all signed the bat and plan to tote it around at all future games. Possibly make it into a trophy!” – Dylan