Tools Spring to 13th League Title

Seize 7th Playoffs Crown

We experienced a spring of desperate comeback walk-offs, five in all, resilient one run victories, count 'em, seven, and inspired rallies from behind, 11 of those.  Where did it lead?  The Tools 13th league championship and seventh spring playoffs crown!

We faced a very tough schedule, 10 of our first 14 games with our three top rivals.  Yet, we swept Super Feet Sluggers, Head Hunters and Shirlington 69ers in succession, racing to a 12-0 record.  Jeff Hart hit a three run opposite field inside-the-parker for our first walk-off to beat Sloppy Mamas 13-12.  We swept the 69ers again, romping 26-8 but needed a last inning RBI single by Ben Simon for our second walk-off, 11-10.  Head Hunters dealt us our first loss, 9-8, then we were down to our last out trailing, 12-7.  A furious rally ensued for six runs to win 13-12, our third walk-off.  We finished with a 16-2 record and won the spring league title by 1-1/2 games.

Last minute heroics made for a dramatic playoffs run.  We trailed Head Hunters 15-11 in the bottom of the sixth.  Four Tools in a row walked for a run, then Noah Cerrud-Osmer smashed a grand slam homer for a 16-15 win, walk-off number four.  Behind Super Feet 11-10 and facing our last ups, Neil Abramowitz led off with a game-tying homer.  After Cerrud-Osmer reached third on an outfield error, two intentional walks loaded the bases.  Hart again played hero, singling to left center for our fifth walk-off.

Head Hunters, smoking hot after demolishing Super Feet to reach the finals, raced to a 8-0 lead over the Tools in the top of the first and were up 12-4 when we hit in the bottom of the fifth.  They must have sensed what was coming.  With one out, 12 Tools in a row reached base and they all scored for a 16-12 lead.  The stunned Head Hunters went out with a whimper in the sixth and we won our seventh playoffs crown.

A slew of records were shattered in the spring, mostly by Andrew Klang:  815 batting average, 19 homers, 53 hits, 119 total bases and 59 RBI.  Noah Cerrud-Osmer hit .710 with 16 homers and set a record 1.565 run production average.  With Andy Zimmerman hitting .707, this was the first Tools team with three players besting the .700 mark.

The spring, exciting yet stressful, took two extra months -- rainouts, a heat-out, a rescheduling and three byes.  With no break for fall ball, motivation was missing.  We stumbled to a 2-5-1 mark.  After Sarv announced "breaks over" we took off, going 8-1-1 the rest of the way, ending well with a tie and an easy win vs. first place Super Feet and a double thumping of second place Dudley's Dingers.  We finished with a 10-6-2 record.

We were only the third Tools squad with 30 wins in a year without playing a tournament.

The Tools hoist the trophy and don their championship t-shirts in celebration of a great 2025 season.  Kneeling from left, Rett Richey, Ryan Krepp, Ray Rivard, Sam Wallach, John Frauenheim.  Standing from left, Michael Cone, Noah Cerrud-Osmer, Jeff Hart, Coach Mark Sarver, Neil Abramowitz, Andy Schultheiss, Andrew Klang.  Missing, Ben Simon, Harry Quimby.