WILL Waves set to defend national Wiffle ball title

For the second straight year, the WILL Waves, a travel Wiffle ball team based out of the Wiff is Life League in Canonsburg, will compete for the National Wiffle League Association National Championship in Morenci, Mich.

Last year, the Waves won the national tournament, and Jordan Castelli was awarded the tournament MVP.

Final out of the @NWLATournament ... LETS GO WAVES pic.twitter.com/y5utgMdTRs

— Wiff is Life League (@wiffislife) July 16, 2018

This weekend, they return to the tournament with eight players from around the Canonsburg area. Their roster includes Austin Berger, Josh Clopp, Mike Graziani, Stevene Keelon, Rob Licht, Nate Morris and team player/manager Jacob Davey.

WILL Waves 2019 @NWLATournament Roster

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— Wiff is Life League (@wiffislife) July 10, 2019

“It feels amazing,” Davey said about heading back to the national tournament. “It’s one of the best weekends of the year that all of our guys look forward to. Coming off the win, we are even more excited to go out and compete for another title.”

Eighteen teams from 10 states will be competing at this year’s tournament. All 18 teams will compete in pool play games Saturday morning, followed by a double-elimination bracket tournament Saturday night and Sunday morning. After taking home the title last year, Davey said the Waves will have to do a few things right in order to win it for a second straight year.

“Everything seemed to click last year,” Davey said. “We had superb hitting, and we need that to come back again. Then, on the pitching side, we need to lock in on hitting the zone and make sure we don’t give teams extra bases.”

In order to qualify for the national tournament, teams must be in a member league of the NWLA. Every year, the top 13 teams from the previous year are guaranteed to return. In 2017, the Waves had to travel to Wilkes-Barre and qualified out of that tournament for the national competition.

The Waves will start their title defense by taking on Brew City Wiffle out of Milwaukee, Wisc. at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Then, later in the afternoon, they will take on Wild and Wonderful Wiffle from West Virginia.