By Guy Zuccarello, Boston Renegades
Tulsa, Oklahoma; July 30, 2019 – August 3, 2019: On Monday, July 29, the Association of Blind Citizens’ Boston Renegades, New England’s only beep baseball team for people with vision loss, traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma to compete in the National Beep Baseball Association’s World Series. This year’s tournament would mark the 18thconsecutive year of participation by Boston. This streak was surpassed by only three teams in the field of eighteen that would be vying for the 2019 championship. The Renegades entered the World Series ranked fifth.
With temperatures set to reach highs in the mid-nineties, typical late-July weather conditions in Oklahoma, the Renegades began their quest. Boston came out of the gate strongly defeating Athens 11 to 4. Lots of players saw time in this game. Notably, rookie, Drew Crook, scored his first World Series run in this contest. The next game pitted the Renegades against the Hurricanes from the Dominican Republic. It would be the first time Boston had ever played this team. A relatively new squad, the Hurricanes began competing in NBBA action only a few years ago. The Renegades would post a 19 to 10 victory. The 12-run mercy rule was invoked after 4 innings. This meant the Renegades would only play defense and the Hurricanes would be given all their at bats consecutively to try to tie the score or take the lead. The Dominican team scrapped and fought hard, but the Renegades were able to close it out. An interesting side note to this game involved communication. With the Hurricanes being an entirely Spanish-speaking organization, The Renegades relied heavily on several players including David Sanchez, Luis Soto, and Joe Quintanilla to communicate with them.
Our third game of the day was against the 6thranked Austin team. The Renegades knew they would pose quite a challenge and the game played out that way. After trailing significantly for a good portion of the game, The Renegades rallied to take a late lead. Unfortunately, the defense could not hold it and the Blackhawks scored an 18 to 17 walk-off win in the bottom of the 6thinning. The hot conditions in Tulsa had dried out the fields and they were playing fast. The Renegade defense was still learning to adjust and too many early Blackhawk runs resulted from this. On the bright side, Joe McCormick and Shawn Devenish combined for nine runs and Justen Proctor lead the defense with five put outs. The Renegades were now set as a 2 seed coming out of their pool and would play the Minnesota Millers on Wednesday.
The game against the Millers was the only one on the Renegades’ docket for the second day of the tournament. It did not begin until around 11 AM which allowed the team to get some much-needed rest beforehand. It showed as Boston played extremely well and defeated Minnesota 21 to 12 once again causing the 12-run rule to be put into place after four innings. The team was solid from beginning to end as Shawn Devenish continued his strong start to the tournament with five runs scored and Christian Thaxton, a former league offensive MVP, announced his presence with six runs. With the lone game for the day behind them, the Renegades could look forward to their next challenge: a daunting Thursday schedule that was likely to have them playing three games again starting with the powerful San Antonio Jets, one of the tournament favorites.
As the third day of games dawned, the high temperatures gave way to a new weather challenge. Thursday morning was rainy, but Coach Rob Weissman never cancels a Renegade practice on account of a little rain, so Boston felt confident about its ability to perform in such conditions. A bigger problem than the weather proved to be the Jets’ bats. They caught fire in the top of the second inning and raced out to a 13 to 0 lead. It proved too much to overcome and the Renegades would eventually fall by a wide margin. Nonetheless, the experience of competing against the 3rdranked team entering the tournament and arguably the league’s best offense would pay dividends as the World Series progressed
Having been handed their first loss in the double-elimination Portion of the tournament, there was no longer any margin for error. Another loss would bounce Boston from the Series and dash hopes of a championship or even improving upon last year’s fifth place finish. Results dictated that the Tyler (TX) Tigers were next and Boston was ready to begin the trek back to the winners’ side of the bracket. The Renegades dominated the early part of the game invoking the 12-run rule yet again. The Tigers fought back to make it close, but Boston prevailed 15 to 11. It was a very strong response by Boston to the earlier defeat at the hands of the Jets. Thaxton and McCormick scored four runs apiece and Rob Dias pace the defense with six put outs.
In the last game of the day, Boston faced off against the BCS Outlaws from Bryant College Station in Texas. Playing against Texas teams would be a theme at the 2019 World Series for Boston as they played five different teams from the lone star state. The Renegades continued their momentum from the Tyler game and took a strong 14 to 5 victory over the Outlaws. This game featured another 12-run mercy rule, six put outs each by Justen Proctor and Rob Dias, four more runs from McCormick, and an ultra-rare accomplishment as Christian Thaxton hit a home run. In Beep baseball, if a batted ball travels over 170 feet on the fly it is a home run and two runs are awarded to the batter. With the one-pound softball being as heavy as it is, this is an extremely rare occurrence. This marked the first home run in Renegade history and only the second in the entire tournament by any player. It was quite a moment for a great player and teammate. The victory meant that Boston faced an early-morning match-up against the 4thranked Indy Edge on Friday.
The rain returned on Friday, but this time it came with lightning and that meant delays. The early games scheduled for 8:30 AM (central time) were pushed back to 11:30 and the 11:30 games were pushed back until 2:30 with the final game time, a semi-final match-up for a berth in the Saturday championship game, being pushed into the evening. When play finally began, Boston continued to stave off elimination. The Renegades defense was playing much better than earlier in the tournament as the fields were becoming more familiar. Boston was now playing confidently and controlled this game from beginning to end. Boston pulled off a hugely gratifying 15 to 10 upset win over the Edge and remained alive. They were also guaranteed a top-four finish. That was already an accomplishment achieved only one other time in team history, in 2016 when Boston finished second as World Series runner-up to the Indy Thunder. Shawn Devenish once again had a great game scoring five times in five at bats.
In order to keep the dream alive, Boston would now have to do something they had never done before. They would have to beat the Bayou City Heat (Houston, TX) The Heat finished second in the 2018 World Series and were a formidable foe. This turned out to be an amazingly exciting game. The Renegades trailed by as many as eight runs, rallied to take the lead only to fall behind again in the top of the sixth inning, and ultimately built a rally of their own to complete a second comeback and win 18 to 17 in the bottom of the frame. Shawn Devenish scored the decisive run as part of a five-run game and Rob Dias made five put outs on defense. They were huge contributors to this latest first-time accomplishment in Renegade history. Boston’s first victory against Bayou City ever vaulted them into the semi-final game and they were one more win away from playing for a championship on Saturday.
Boston was now assured of finishing no worse than third at the 2019 World Series. This was already an amazing week. Now, an opportunity for more lay ahead. Given the early-morning weather delays, the Friday afternoon semi-final game had now become a Friday evening contest to be held under the lights of the Mohawk Sports Complex in Tulsa. Boston had never played a night game. In fact, it’s an atypical event for the entire NBBA and as such it definitely built a cool vibe and energy as many spectators came to check out the two teams left playing on Friday competing for a shot at dethroning the then three-time defending champs, the Indy Thunder.
In order to get a shot at the Thunder, the Renegades would once again have to face the Jets and their high-powered offense. While the Renegades were battling Bayou City, the Thunder defeated San Antonio thus earning the first berth in the finals in an epic 30 to 28 victory. Maybe the Jets would have tired of scoring runs after putting up 28 against Indy? Unfortunately, not. The Renegades battled hard against the Jets. The game was tied at 14 after four innings. The Jets offense proved too relentless and they pulled away in the fifth and sixth innings for a 26 to 17 final. After a long and exhausting day, Boston would earn a hard-fought third place finish. It was a huge accomplishment against the best beep baseball teams in the world. For the record, the Jets would go on to lose to Indy in the final, 18 to 16 and the Thunder would claim their fourth consecutive championship.
For Boston, the 2019 World Series represented a lot to be proud of. In addition to the team’s second-best finish ever, the Renegades had two of the six offensive all stars for the tournament with Shawn Devenish placing fourth and Christian Thaxton placing sixth. Both finished with batting averages over .700! Also, Boston’s primary pitcher, Ron Cochran, finished with the third best batting average against with his batters hitting .565. In addition, it was the first time the team had played as many as ten games in a tournament. They absolutely played with a ton of heart and left everything they had, physically and mentally, out on the field.
The Renegades are already looking forward to the 2020 season. We aren’t quite done for this year though. On August 14, at 6 PM, the team will be playing a fundraising game against Tufts Health Plan employees. The game will be held at Filippello Field, 110 Arlington Street, in Watertown, MA. Please come and witness a great adaptive sport and say hello to one of the best teams in the world right here in your backyard. If you are interested in playing, volunteering, or learning more about the Renegades, please visit our web site at:
www.blindcitizens.org/renegades
