WSL Sunday Roundup: Orioles Fall in NABF World Series Championship

The World Series finale between the Buffalo Battistoni Diesel (N.Y.) and the Lombard Orioles (Ill.) was an offensive clinic – a contest which
saw competing teams combine for 25-plus hits and 10 runs scored.

Entertaining
200-plus fans in the deciding game of the National Amateur Baseball
Federation (NABF) World Series at C.O. Brown Stadium, it was the Diesel
out-hitting the Orioles and winning, 7-3.

The Diesel drove seven
hours to play in this tournament. No one, not even manager Paul Wolf,
knew what it would feel like to hold the gold-and-black plated, 3-foot
trophy.

“I love all of these guys,” Wolf said with tears in his
eyes. “I took over this team in 1998. This is our fifth trip to the
World Series, and our first time past the semifinals. I just got a new
office. I know where I will put this trophy. I’ll probably drink with it
a lot tonight. This is just amazing, awesome. I’m happy, so happy, so
proud of these guys. My dad’s battled a lot – cancer three times – and
he made it here.”

Diesel
finished the tournament 5-1 and received wins against Lombard (twice),
Englewood (N. J.), Battle Creek HBC/Behnke and Brooklyn Sports Fever.

A
key moment in the game came in the seventh inning and the bases loaded
with Lombard black-and-orange suited players. After a series of hits,
Lombard had a chance to tie the game down three runs, 6-3. However,
Diesel pitcher Kevin Hughes, who was named tournament Most Valuable
Player, struck out Zach Speaker to end the inning.

Hughes, the
6-foot, 200-pound pitcher from Lockport, N.Y., threw a complete game
with 130 pitches and escaped the Orioles’ hot bats in the first two
innings. He pitched at the University at Buffalo until 2014.

Tournament
Director Terry Newton was pleased with the outcome of the tournament’s
third year in Battle Creek. Both teams were new to the World Series
finale; Diesel was in the semifinals a few years ago, while Lombard
hasn’t been in a NABF tournament since 1994.

“Every year it gets
better,” Newton said, “because you’re more accustomed to what the needs
are. Of course, we weren’t stressed because of weather, which is nice.
That’s always a tournament director’s No. 1 concern. The teams have been
great to work with, and when teams are great to work with things go
pretty good.”

NABF President Vin DiLauro, who currently serves a
two-year term, has been handling tournaments like this one for years. He
was impressed by the facilities, teams and fans Battle Creek hosted.

“This
is a tremendous facility,” DiLauro said. “To have three facilities the
way they are, and to have any of the teams warm up and take batting
practice, is fantastic. They have an incredible organization with Terry
(Newton) and his crew. We cannot say enough good things about how they
run a tournament. I love seeing the level of players in this tournament –
from Division III to minor-league players.”

The NABF, according
to its website, “is a non-profit organization hosting regional and
national championship tournaments held coast to coast.”

Following the tournament, HBC/Behnke’s Seth Johnson (outfielder) was named to the all-tournament team.