Kenosha team wins state fastpitch tournament in Pleasantville
Matt Stuhr of Weiner’s Bar in Ettrick fired a pitch during his team’s opening-round game against Jed’s Shed in the North American Fastpitch Association State Tournament in Whitehall on Saturday. (Times photograph by Andrew Dannehy)
Matt Pronschinske of My Second Home swung at a pitch during his team’s game against Meister Dairy in the North American Fastpitch Association State Tournament in Pleasantville on Saturday. (Times photograph by Andrew Dannehy)
A Kenosha team won the Wisconsin North American Fastpitch Association State Tournament held in Pleasantville last weekend.
Three area teams competed in the tournament, which also included some games in Whitehall, but none advanced past the semifinal round of the seven-team tournament.
Optimum Crush beat Bar Blues, 5-2, in the championship game on Sunday. The team scored three runs in the third inning as Aaron Lopez hit a two-run single. They added two more runs in the sixth.
Optimum Crush used Lopez, a 19-year-old southpaw from Argentina, for the first four innings before Travis Stram got the final nine outs. Bar Blues got a solo home run in the third and an RBI single in the fifth.
The eventual champion was the top seed in the tournament and earned a bye in the first round. Its tournament run began with a win over Weiner’s Bar from Ettrick. Weiner’s advanced to that game by defeating Jed’s Shed on Saturday morning.
Optimum Crush lost its next game, falling to Bar Blues in the semifinal round. That put Optimum Crush in the consolation bracket, and it needed to defeat Jed’s Shed to get to the championship game.
Weiner’s had the best run of the local teams as it won its opening round game against Jed’s Shed before falling to Optimum Crush. Two other local teams, My Second Home and Pleasantville Lions, lost in the first round of the tournament. That paired the two in the consolation bracket, with Pleasantville topping My Second Home.
Pleasantville’s tournament ended with one win; however, Weiner’s knocked Pleasantville out in the next round of the consolation bracket. But that would be Weiner’s last win as the team lost to Jed’s Shed in the next round.
It was the second state championship for Optimum Crush, as the team also won the title in 2022.
Weiner’s Bar was actually the defending state champion, though that title came in 2024. There was no state tournament in 2025 due to a lack of entrants.
