SHORTBALLS
RIDLEY PARK, PA
2019 KEYSTONE STATE GAMES CHAMPION
TOURNAMENT ROSTER
Teddy Drecher (c) – RHP/RHB – Age 19 – Pennsylvania
2017 RPWL Champion
Austin Bleacher – RHB – Age 22 – Pennsylvania
Frankie Campanile – RHP/RHB – Age 19 – Pennsylvania
Nate Smith – LHP/RHB – Age 19 - Pennsylvania
2017 RPWL Champion
TEAM OVERVIEW
When the Shortballs debuted in Mid Atlantic in August 2018, it was easy to dismiss them as the Ridley Park Wiffle®Ball League B team – the minor league version of the Longballs. They were younger, their team name was a tongue-in-cheek reference to Ridley’s established team, and for their first couple of MAW events they struggled to win more than a game. It was a logical - if not a tad unfair - conclusion to arrive at.
As it turns out, that initial impression was short-lived. In their third MAW event – the 2019 Opening Day Tournament – the Shortballs went 3-0 in pool play, walked off in dramatic fashion against the Longballs in the semi-finals, and dropped a close 1-0 game to ERL in the tournament finals. Not content with the runner up finish, the Shortballs came to the next event determined to finish what they started. They did just that, going 6-0 and avenging their previous championship game loss by downing ERL in the tournament finals. Those two tournaments solidified the Shortballs’ standing as a top tier MAW team - a position they kept into 2020. The team has reached the elimination round at all three 2020 MAW tournaments and are a thorn in the side of any opponent.
The talent possessed by the Shortballs’ pitching corps of Frankie Campanile, Teddy Drecher, and Nate Smith was never in the doubt, even when the young team was struggling to win games. By virtue of playing and learning in the Wiffle®Ball pitching factory that is the Ridley Park Wiffle®Ball League, all three players were advanced pitchers by their senior year of high school. They have only improved in the year+ since graduating. Frankie was a workhorse in MAW, RPWL, and elsewhere in 2019 and accumulated well over one-hundred high quality fast pitch innings. Smith is a solid southpaw who the Shortballs have largely relied on to work middle-tier games. Drecher has always had the most impressive stuff of the group but he has reached another level in Mid Atlantic this year. Teddy has matured into a more fully developed pitcher in 2020 with both the ability and the know-how to pitch his way through imposing lineups. The key for the Shortballs from a pitching standpoint come October will be the health of Campanile’s right arm. He has nursed it most of the year, choosing not to pitch in MAW and taking on a lighter-than-normal workload in RPWL. The Shortballs would certainly benefit from Campanile being healthy come October.
The real difference maker for the 2020 Shortballs relative to prior years, however, is their offense. The Shortballs could not buy a run a couple of years ago and relied on well-timed, clutch hits in 2019, which is not necessarily a sustainable formula. Smith - a rare player that throws lefty but bats right-handed - was the source of several of those pre-2020 high leverage hits and continues to be an unassuming power threat at the plate. Campanile has done most of the big damage for the Shortballs in MAW this year. During the shortened season, he already has several game winning hits and homeruns against quality pitchers to his name. The addition of Austin Bleacher is paying dividends as well. Bleacher has long been one of the better hitters in RPWL and at the NWLA Tournament and he is now demonstrating that in MAW, too. The Shortballs have seen a lot of pitching - a lot of different pitching - at young ages which may serve them well at PeoplesBank Park.