Annual Wiffle Ball Tournament Attracts Local Teams

For all those who thought wiffle ball was just an after school game for kids, think again. Competing with an intensity and focus reminiscent of major league baseball players, 20 area teams competed in the 3rd annual Westchester County Wiffle Ball Tournament on Saturday, held at Ridge Road Park.  

Teams were divided up into five divisions, where a round robin decided which eight sides would compete in a single-elimination playoff to see who would be crowned this year's tournament champions.

Organizer Ike Kuzio came up with the idea to start a wiffle ball tournament a few years ago, when he first laid eyes on the Ridge Road Park fields. Kuzio, who said "it was the first thing that came to mind," also admitted the tournament and game of wiffle ball offers an opportunity for guys like him to relive some of their childhood glory days.

"I decided to do wiffle ball because it's a great game and it's for us old guys that don't feel like growing up yet," Kuzio said. "We've got some young kids here today but a lot of the guys are in their late 20s, 30s, even 40s. I just thought we'd give it a shot and it's taken off."

Contrary to what most would expect, wiffle ball has very different rules than baseball. For starters, wiffle ball features no base running—meaning that how fast a player can run has little effect on the game. Instead, "ghost runners" are assumed to be on base whenever a player gets a hit, a feat accomplished by hitting the ball in one of the designated areas on the field. Depending on how far a batter hits the ball, as well as how cleanly the defense fields it, he is awarded a single, a double, or a homerun. Also, pitchers throw the ball to a makeshift strike zone behind the batter, eliminating the need for umpires and calling balls and strikes.

This way, wiffle ball can easily be a two-player game, something Scarsdale resident and "Black Sox" team member Mark Grossman says is a big reason for the games popularity among people of all ages.

"It's a lot of fun and you really don't need much," said Grossman, who played in the tournament for the first time this year. "You need two people, a strike zone made of plywood, and that's pretty much it. Also pitching, you don't have to throw 100 mph because these wiffle balls they break in so many different directions. You can throw it light, you can throw it hard, whatever you want."

That being said, Grossman gave high praise to Saturday's tournament organizers, who had prepared five different fields and ran a well-organized event.

"We love it," he said. "The setup is great, really professional. The guys who run this they did a great job with the fencing, the lines, the strike zones, everything; beyond my expectations."

One team hoping their youth and athleticism would carry them far into Saturday's tournament was the Eastchester based "Mojo." After being the only team to register in the tournament's 13-16 age group, the Mojo were moved up to the adult division, something 15-year old team member Victor DiFede said didn't faze the squad one bit.

"We play wiffle ball at parks in Eastchester a lot in the summer and in the spring, so when we saw the registration form in the newspaper we decided to sign up and try our chances," DiFede said. "We practiced a couple of days to try and prepare for the older guys. We like our chances."

Unfortunately, Mojo's record of one win, one loss, and one tie in Saturday's round robin was not good enough to advance them into the tournament's single-elimination playoff.

In the end, when the grass settled, Yonkers-based team "Swing and a Wiff" were crowned this year's champions, defeating team "Wiff This" in the championship game by a score of 6-0. Both teams were awarded trophies, with "Swing and a Wiff" team members also receiving commemorative t-shirts.