For no particular reason at all, 2022 was the biggest season the League has ever seen.
It wouldn’t be a long shot to say that expectations weren’t incredibly high for the 12th Annual Mullin Wiffle Ball Tournament. With just 5 teams in the running for a second straight season, one might have thought that defense would be the name of the game this year. With the departures of the Mora brothers(Matthew and Ben), 2020 MMVP runner-up Raygan Bradley, speedster Luke Daugherty, and the legend himself, Todd Daugherty, it seemed like offense was on its way out in 2022. We were wrong. The field dimensions for this year’s tournament were quite unique as well, another factor that should have prevented some offense. It was a deeper left field than we’ve ever seen that wrapped around what is left of the tree, but with a shallower centerfield and right field, since nobody seems to know how to hit to the opposite field with power. So the ballpark did favor the whole 13 at-bats that were taken from the left side of the plate, and there were 6 homers hit in those 13 at-bats, but they were all moon-shots, no-doubters, goners; no regulation size WIFFLE field would have held them. The homers came early and often. Every home run record on the board was shattered over a 36 hour span. The pool play games kicked off with an eight homer game between the Bandits and the Bats, four being hit by both sides. It was followed up by a seven homer game and a two. The Wolves then knocked five out in a single game, including Samantha Cramer’s first career homer. They were followed up by a two homer game, a three homer game, and a six homer game. Then the Wolves and Legends just decided to have a good ole’ fashioned shootout, where 16 homers were hit between the two teams; nine by the Legends, including four each from Shae Barton and Dave Henderson. The seven hit by the Wolves included three each from Elijah Curtis and Austin Vanatta, and Gunner Mullin’s first career bomb. The Bandits and Mambas followed up the historic game with nine combined home runs in a 16-10 victory for the Bandits, before the Wolves and Bats closed out the opening day with seven combined homers, including four from Elijah Curtis, and a record-setting 10 runs batted in. Coming into the day, there had never been more than 65 home runs hit as an entire league for the whole weekend. We decided to match that number on Saturday alone this year. Elijah Curtis(Wolves) ended pool-play with 22 hits in 22 at-bats with 10 home runs and 22 RBI. Dave Henderson(Legends) knocked nine out of the park with 20 RBI to kick off his rookie season. Janie Daugherty(Mambas) got her first career home run in 12 years of play, Samantha Cramer(Wolves) got her first bomb in her seventh season, despite battling elbow bursitis. Gunner Mullin(Wolves) also joined the party with his first bomb in his fifth season, along with Stetson Curtis(Mambas) hitting his first in his third season. On top of all that, Mike Mullin crossed the 100 career hit milestone with a pinch-hit blast to right field. Tournament day came around, and with it came our sore bodies that were still digesting the delicious food that was prepared the night before. We were looking at 8, maybe 9, games to close out the weekend. The day got started with a 7-1 win for the Bandits over the Mambas, Morgan Mullin and David Roark both went yard for the Bandits. The Legends followed that up with a close 5-4 win over the Bats that saw Dave Henderson, Shae Barton, and Ben Cramer all go yard for the Legends with Caleb Curtis hitting two bombs for the Bats. The Bandits capitalized on their momentum and topped the 1-seeded Timberwolves 12-4, with David Roark and Morgan homering again, while also retiring Elijah Curtis for the first time all weekend. The Black Mambas were the first team eliminated when they blew a 7-run lead against the Bats,13-12 in extras. Maddy Mullin and Brandon Bailes both had two homers to close out their season, and Caleb bopped two more with Matt Mullin adding another for the Bats. The Bandits made it clear that they were the hot team at the right time, as the four-seed knocked off the second-seeded Legends 8-5 behind homers from Chester Curtis and David Roark. Dave Henderson added another homer to his yearly total as his Legends headed to the consolation bracket. The Bats would be the second team eliminated, as they couldn’t best the Wolves and fell 9-5 due to Elijah Curtis’ two homers, along with Austin Vanatta’s and Gunner Mullin’s single shots. Caleb Curtis hit two home runs in his team’s final stand, totaling 14 on the year. The Wolves got the best of the Legends 10-4 in the consolation bracket to advance to the championship. The Legends had 0 home runs when they needed it the most, facing elimination. Elijah Curtis added three more bombs to his historic total, and Austin Vanatta continued his solid rookie campaign with two more. The Timberwolves edged out the Bandits 4-3 in the first of the championship games, thus forcing the ninth game. Elijah Curtis rocked two more homers while the Bandits racked up a lot of hits, but zero homers. The winner-take-all game was all about the Bandits. They racked up just two homers, one from Chester Curtis and one from David Roark, but the team totaled 17 hits, en route to a 13-7 win. Elijah Curtis, Austin Vanatta, and Samantha Cramer all had home runs for the Wolves, but had seven less hits than the Bandits. It is the Bandits' second championship in franchise history(2016), as well as the Wolves’ third runner-up season(2014,2016). This season blew every other season out of the water numbers-wise. The 439 total hits is 88 more than the previous mark(351 in 2016), the 297 runs scored/batted in is 91 more than the previous record(206 in 2016), the 103 total home runs is 38 more than the old record(65 in 2021),and the league as a whole, had a 0.565 batting average, 95 points better than the record that has stood since 2016(0.470). Elijah Curtis broke every single-season record imaginable, setting the new mark for hits(40)Runs(32)RBI(38)Home Runs(18) and Batting Average(0.870), while laying claim to the League’s first Triple Crown. Dave Henderson broke nearly every single-season Rookie record with 28 Hits, 27 RBI, and 11 Home Runs while hitting 0.683 for the Legends. Austin Vanatta was very close to besting all those numbers, but only came out better than Henderson in one stat, as he scored one more run than him, totaling 19 for the Timberwolves. 18 different players hit a home run over the course of the season, and there were just 22 who suited up this year. The average player hit 4.68 home runs, and there was an average of 15.63 runs combined per game, or 7.82 per team per game. On average, there were 5.42 home runs per game, or 2.71 per team per game. The average hits per game per team was 11.55, and there was even a team that got one-hit during pool-play. Some other fun stats for the season: Mike Mullin had the least amount of hits(1) on the season, but technically the best average(1.000). Shae Barton got her first home run since 2011(we were still a pitcher’s league then), when she hit a solo-home run off of, then Cardinal, Elijah Curtis in the Championship game, when the Black Mambas were down to their final out. Janie Daugherty has also passed her husband, Todd, in career hits, runs, and home runs. While we were paying attention to single-season milestones, there were some career milestones that were quietly crossed. Caleb and Elijah Curtis both crossed the 50 Home Run mark while also becoming the first members of the 150-hit club; Maddy Mullin passed her father Mike in hits while also joining the 100-Hit club as well as the 25-Home Run club; David Roark moved into sixth in career hits, even though he has completed just 5 seasons, he is also at 99 career hits; Rachael Mullin picked up her first hit since 2019 with her first AB of the season, she had been 0 for 60 the previous two seasons, the longest recorded hitless streak in League history; Morgan Mullin won her fourth championship, the most of any player; Chester Curtis raised his career batting average to 0.514, up 118 points from a year ago, he also set his career bests in all hitting stats; Jessica Forrest now has 69 career hits, nice. To say this year’s tournament was successful may be an understatement. We made it out borderline injury-free(Sami’s Elbow Bursitis was pre-existing, but we definitely did not help it), everyone got hits, the weather was almost perfect, and we made a lot of memories. It really is a shame that the umpire who was never wrong couldn’t be around to witness it all, but we sure know he was watching. Also a big thank you to Lora Mullin(most know her as Grandma), as she puts up with us painting and tearing up her yard every year, eating her food and sleeping on her couches just to keep this thing going year-in and year-out. Also a big thank you to everyone else who helped keep everything afloat this year behind the scenes. If you’ve made it this far into this article, thank you so much for reading my random Wiffle Ball ramblings and whatnot, and I hope to see you next year at the 13th Annual Mullin Family WIFFLE Ball Tournament. Mark your calendars for September 30-October 1. GORILLAS COMING AT YOU 2K23 CHAMPS