Downers Grove Long Shots Memorial Day Weekend

      During the Memorial Day weekend, the Oak Brook Outlaws played in the Downers Grove Longshots’ tournament that hosted some very talented teams including the Whitesox ACES, Wheaton-Briarcliff, The River Cats and Hitters from Wisconsin. After defeating the Longshots, the Outlaws were shutout by the Indians, one of the better 14U teams from Wisconsin. This set up a do or die match against the River Cats who were favored to win as they are a team compiled of the best players in Wisconsin. The River Cats are based in Madison, but draw from every corner of the state. 

      The story lines surround Isaia Paul-Emile and Scott Cappis. Getting off to a slow start and falling into an emotional slough of despond, Scott Cappis came into the tournament with a dismal 0 for 29 debacle of an offensive production. The batting slump had all but destroyed his confidence at the plate and in the field and Cappis searched for answers in every nook and cranny of the planet. But when the tournament started, Cappis caught fire and piled up 7 hits in 5 games including the walk off single in the bottom of the sixth inning against the River Cats as the Outlaws won a dramatic come from behind victory that propelled them into the final four and semifinals against the Naperville Renegades.

Although Scott Cappis had a hitting drought, he made significant contributions like this RBI sac fly to center field.

     According to some of his team-mates, few, if any, actually noticed Scot’s slump as everyone seemed more concerned about their personal dilemmas at the plate. Isaia Paul-Emile batted 489 in 2011 and now leads the team in strike outs. Jabari Morris batted over 540 and is now batting a dismal 295 after returning from his high school season where he played varsity baseball for Proviso East and batted 435. It was obvious that Scott put more on himself than the others, but as his father said “He got to work through this.” And he did – with great fashion.

     Paul-Emile, gets the tough-guy awards for his role as the catcher for nearly every inning of the tournament. Despite the grueling 100 degree heat and 2 days over 90 degree weather, Paul-Emile suffered through a bloody nose, a foul ball off his fore-arm, and a stiff arm from throwing over 300 balls back to pitchers and down to second base. His fatigue became obvious during the championship game against the Whitesox ACES when the pass balls piled up.

     Other more impressive stars at the tournament were Jack Eagan and Raphi Gross. Eagan is a big left handed pitcher for the River Cats who throws between 80 and 83 miles per hour. He was supported by a five run first inning by his teammates against the Outlaws. Previously, Eagan faced one of the best teams in Illinois – the Illinois Flames – and he handled them, allowing only two earned runs. With a five run lead, he was challenged with keeping the Outlaws off the bases and as he tried to avoid walks, the Outlaws were able to nickel and dime him scoring one in the second, two in the third, and one in the fourth. Ahead 4 – 6 in the fifth the River Cats changed pitchers – bringing in two relievers in the last two innings. Paul-Emile brought in the tying run in the sixth when his fly ball landed in left and took a strange hop past the left fielder allowing Paul-Emile to make his way to second base. After Lucas Gould was called in to pinch run, Scot Cappis delivered the final blow with a shot up center-field to score Gould and the Outlaws won. 

     Left handed pitchers were the trend during this tournament as Justin Vivar came in for the Outlaws in front of coaches from St. Rita who spoke to him earlier about the possibilities of him joining their team during the 2012 – 2013 school year. The coaches were given a superb show from Justin who struck out 5 of the 6 men he faced in two innings of pitching. But Justin was not the only powerful lefty in the tournament. Along with Eagan, Raphi Gross was electrifying for the Whitesox ACES. His fastball reached 85 miles per hour and his quick twitching at the mound kept runners off balance at first base. Despite his great moves, he was unable to stop the Outlaws number one base snatcher – Morris - from stealing second base twice. He did redeem himself by picking off Morris at second base to end an inning where the Outlaws appeared to mount a serious threat. Gross proved to be an excellent talent with great arm strength, creative play on the mound and power at the plate as he belted a 375 foot blast over the center field fence against Nathanial Segura.

     Although Gross was excellent against the Outlaws and deserves the tournament MVP award, the Outlaws had their chances with no outs and the bases loaded in the first inning they only Morris scored and with bases juiced in the fourth inning, Vivar hit into a double play and the Outlaws were slaughter-ruled 12 – 2 in the championship game. According to Coach Gould, “We just ran out of Pitching.” He tried to get whatever he could from anyone and all hopes seemed to go away when Jake Rosely was hit in the lower leg by a shot. When Jake went down, the air was taken from the park and winning became suddenly less important to everyone.

    All in all, the Outlaws played with great confidence and appear to be a resurrected team. They took home the second place trophies – not what they were accustomed to doing –but realizing that second place is better than third. 

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