What started out as a cloudy, early fall day, turned into a typical, unpredictable St. Louis September: a hot day. However, that didn’t stop the Lighthouse for the Blind – St Louis BeepBall team from powering through and winning a MindsEye recreational BeepBall tournament again in quite some time. Lead by team organizer Brian Houser the Lighthouse team went 4-0 to a championship this past Saturday (September, 10th).
Consisting of a lineup of Lighthouse employees Eric and his son Ethan, Dave, Pitcher Mark, and other employees as well as Gateway Archers, Henry Allen and Kaleb Wright. Archer Liam McCoy was also loaned out to Lighthouse to have a full roster.
Lighthouse vs. Edward Jones
Right out of the gate, Lighthouse faced a difficult task: taking on the team sponsored by Matt Schroeder of Edward Jones. Their roster consisted of newly named Archer Head Coach Orlando Gonzalez, Archer Chad Dillon and Cory Sturdevant, NBBA Player Lewis Thompson Jr., and recent vet players Nick Rousseau and Ben Smith.
This ended up being the highest scoring game of the day. Both teams had great pitchers who helped thier batters hit the ball into play and, with the experienced players on both rosters end, their base running helped beat the defenders to the base for easy runs.
Final: Lighthouse 7, Edward Jones 5
Lighthouse vs. Hannigan Team Realty (3)
After an hour break, Lighthouse took on one of three teams sponsored by Archer Volunteer and MindsEye BeepBall Board Chair Andy Hannigan. The highlight of the HTR3 roster was newly acquired Archer Marc Morris. The game could have gotten out of control if not for the great defensive effort of Morris, but with steady pitching from Mark Adam of Lighthouse and hitting from the Lighthouse players, they were able to keep the pressure on and take the game.
Final: Lighthouse 5, Hannigan Team Realty (3) 2
Semi-Final: Lighthouse vs. Pat Kilgore Law Firm ”Killers”
With lighthouse becoming the number one seed being 2-0 and having the most runs scored thus far in the tournament, they would take on the number four seed, the newly formed team of the Pat Kilgore Law Firm “Killers.” The Killers had by far the largest roster with 12 people playing, with a lot of them being youth of parents. The Killers had impressive pitching, but were only able to put up two runs.
Mark for Lighthouse was able to get a lot of balls into play and cruise to the championship.
Final: Lighthouse 5 , Pat Kilgore Law Firm “Killers” 2
Championship Game: Lighthouse vs. Hannigan Team Realty (1)
The Championship Game came down to perennial veteran teams of MindsEye Recreational BeepBall Tournaments. The benefit of Hannigan having three teams in the tournament, he is still able to field a team after various players had to leave throughout the day. Luckily for Hannigan, Marc Morris was at his disposal as well as pitcher Bruce who helped Hannigan’s team get to the final game in the Ultimate BeepBall Tournament this past summer.
Lighthouse was the Home team so they took the field first and the defense came up big in the first inning getting two putouts on Marc Morris and Chase from Hannigan Team Realty (HTR). With their first at bat in the bottom of the first, Lighthouse didn’t waste any time getting started. Their first two batters, Eric and Dave, were able to score giving them a 2-0 lead heading in to the second inning.
HTR was able to get one run in the top of the second to cut the lead by one and managed to shut out Lighthouse in the bottom of the second. The score heading into the third was Lighthouse two and HTR one. HTR came out cold to start the third with three straight strikeouts. Henry Allen, who was cramping up and sat out the prior game, toughed out this game and was able to score a run for Lighthouse in the bottom of the inning.
The top of the fourth didn’t fair much better for HTR as they started to wear down and had three more strikeouts in their at bat. Lighthouse kept the pressure on and scored two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 5-1 lead heading into the fifth and final inning (due to time constraints). Kelsey from HTR put the ball into play in the first at bat, but the Lighthouse defense held strong for the put out. Marc Morris was able to score next, getting the game to 5-2. Unfortunately for HTR, Chase and Andy struck out to end the inning and that was the ball game.
Final: Lighthouse 5, Hannigan Team Realty (1) 2
Mark Adams, Lighthouse for the Blind St. Louis
2022 MindsEye BeepBall Fall Classic MVPMark did a fantastic job pitching for the entire day. With 22 runs from his batters, Lighthouse lead the entire tournament. With a 53% in-play percentage for the Championship game (which is extremely high for a MindsEye Tournament game), Mark was one of the better pitchers of the day.
Thank you again to our sponsors for the 2022 MindsEye Fall Classic: Mascoutah Eye Care, Ameren Illinois, Lighthouse for the Blind St.Louis, Jim Taylor Inc, Mascoutah Noon and Evening Lions, Hannigan Team Realty, Pat Kilgore Law Firm, Mascoutah Steak House, Lizzie Bob’s Sweets from Scratch, Adaptive Equipment Corner, Allison Bash State Farm, STL Aces, Muttley & Me, Matt Schroeder Edward Jones, Josie the Cat, and “Bebe” Bea