2015 X-Tinct Top White Sox to Retain Northwest Arkansas League Crown

Northwest Arkansas MSBL

NWA X-Tinct 4, NWA White Sox 2

‘MVP Reynolds Gets the Job Done on the Hill’

Contributed by Steve Boudreaux, Northwest Arkansas League President

It was a “down” year regarding the number of teams in the NWAMSBL, but the parity was solid. What was a surety was that the NWA X-Tinct were back-to-back champions and had somehow retooled their squad to be even better than before. Having run the table undefeated through the regular season and playoffs, the NWA X-Tinct were confident going into the NWAMSBL Championship Game at AA Royals’ affiliate NWA Naturals’ Arvest Ball Park. Their opponent, the NWA White Sox, were returning to the championship game for the fourth time in the past six seasons. The NWA White Sox started off the season a little disheveled having lost six games through the first half of the season. Over the course of the second half the NWA White Sox started putting things together and “won out” to reach the playoffs with a 13-6 record and were the last shot the league had to blemish the NWA X-Tinct’s perfect record over the last two years.

Game conditions were spectacular on Sunday afternoon, September 20th. 71° and just enough of the puffy white clouds to give beautiful Arvest Ball Park a great scenic perspective. The NWAMSBL had seen a few excellent pitchers over the 25 years of operations, but none really better than the X-Tinct’s Brett Reynolds. Reynolds, a former standout for the University of Missouri and former Arizona Diamondbacks ROK pitcher, had been virtually unhittable in the three plus years in the NWAMSBL. So, naturally, he would get the ball to start the game for the NWA X-Tinct. Reynolds cruised through the NWA White Sox lineup rendering nine strikeouts and only giving up three hits on the day. The NWA White Sox only scored two earned runs on Reynolds’ and managed only two walks, both to Andy Miller given up in the second and seventh innings. Both runners were driven in by Patrick Taliaferro who was the only offensive standout for the NWA White Sox (2-3, 2RBI). The only other White Sox to get a hit was Keith Nicholson in the fifth, who had a chance to score on Stephen Boudreaux’s drive to right center, but X-Tinct center fielder Jose Cueto made a stellar defensive grab to end the threat.

For the NWA White Sox, Dakota Brissey toed the rubber to start the game and made it through two innings with the score tied 1-1. Matt Villines entered the game in the third inning and allowed 2015 Home Run Derby Champion Eric Smith to reach on a seeing-eye single and was driven in by a double by Ryan Paskiewicz. Spencer Adcock drove in Paskiewicz to put the score 3-1 in favor of X-Tinct after the third inning. Villines eventually settled down and showed why he was the White Sox’s ace throughout the season, basically shutting down the X-Tinct over the next four innings. He only surrendered one run in the fourth, which could have been a devastating inning had not White Sox center fielder Brent Smith made a laser throw to third to cut down X-Tinct runner Tieler Driscoll to shut down the rally. David Smith pitched the last two innings for the White Sox and only faced nine batters and did not give up a run. The NWA X-Tinct were led offensively by Jose Cueto (2-4, SB), Eric Smith (2-3, R, BB), Ryan Paskiewicz (2-4, R, RBI, K), Michael Tucker (2-4, K), Casey Benicosa (1-2, BB, SAC), and Corey Campbell (3-3, R, BB, RBI). Brett Reynolds was voted by his team to receive the MVP award.