Spencer Merchants flex their muscle

The Spencer Merchants, a slow-pitch softball team that was founded in 2007, placed seventh at the USSSA Central Division Men's E National Tournament on Aug. 30, in West Des Moines.

Sports Editor

A local slow-pitch softball team flexed its muscle on the national stage earlier this summer, placing seventh at the USSSA Central Division Men's E National Tournament on Aug. 30 at Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines.

Made up of a core group of Spencer men, combined with a number of additional players from northwest Iowa, the Spencer Merchants finished with a 3-2 record at the national tournament. The Merchants fell short by a combined five runs in their two losses, but simply dominated in their victories, scoring the highest runs per game of any team at the tournament with 17. The Spencer Merchants also had the second best run differential at 7.8 runs per game -- trailing only Triple Play, the eventual national champions from Davenport who had a run differential of 8.0.

"There were a a few people, including the tournament director, who thought we were one of the best, if not the best team there," said Brett Groen, the owner of Spencer Trophy and Awards who helped start the Spencer Merchants in the fall of 2007.

The Spencer Merchants opened the tournament with a pair of convincing victories, beating Remax 25-6 and the No. 1 seed Hooters (Davenport) 17-1. The Merchants lost their third game 12-9 to Triple Play/LT's Bar & Grill (Moline, Ill.). Triple Play went on to defeat Ravens (Springfield, Mo.) 16-9, Puff's Softball (Cherokee) 4-1 and QCTL (Davenport) 24-8 for the tournament title. Spencer split its final two games, beating Scooters (Anamosa) 23-10 before falling to Bad Draw (Davenport) 12-10.

"Any time you lose to a team that goes on to win the national title, you feel somewhat vindicated," Groen commented. "We just came up a few runs short. We played about as well as we could have defensively."

Brett Groen, who was a key part in establishing the Spencer Merchants, developed a logo for the team depicting the Clay County Fair Logo and a Tiger to represent the heart of Spencer.

The national tournament was the fourth competition for the Spencer Merchants. They also competed at the Las Vegas Worlds in Dec. '07, and in Sioux City at the Garfields Tournament and the West Border State Tournament. The Merchants won the West Border State Tournament.

"We have a lot of fun together -- and that's half the fun of playing," said Groen, whose team rented a 15-passenger van to make the trip to Des Moines for the national tournament. "Half the stories that you tell when you come back from these trips are as much about the trip down and back as they are about softball."

Members of the Spencer Merchants play in three different styles of slow-pitch softball. They compete in the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA or U-Trip) where the ball must be pitched from a height of 3-6 feet at the point of release; and the American Softball Association (ASA) where the pitch must be at a height of 6-12 feet. The Merchants also compete in unlimited arc, which has no affiliated organization, but includes a pair of leagues that run in Milford and in Hartley.

The members of the Spencer Merchants have experience playing both in Milford and in Hartley, along with Spencer's Men's Church League. Most prefer the slow-pitch game to fast-pitch.

"The orientation of the game is a lot different. Slow-pitch is more offensive dominated because the hitters have the advantage of being able to see the ball and react," Groen said. "You still have to have a great defense -- defense will still win championships in slow-pitch. In fast-pitch, it's so much more small ball. It's night and day difference."

Each organization and each division within the organizations can operate with a slightly altered set of rules, such as home runs. Some leagues allow up to six home runs a game and some allow one home run an inning, but others, like the E Division of USSSA, allow no home runs. If a player happens to hit a home run under those rules, he is an automatic out each time he bats for the remainder of the game.

"It takes some getting used to. And, you've got to keep that in mind when you're looking for players to play in some of the tournaments," Groen said. "For this tournament, we have a group of guys who are known more for placement hitting than they are for their power."

Leagues also alter rules for the pitchers, who can sometimes be a sitting duck and a rather inviting target for those lower arc leagues. U-Trip, for instance, allows a pitcher to get creative, as long as he stays within the, "3-6 feet at the point of release" rule.

"You can do fakes, you can pitch behind the back, you can do cartwheels from second base and throw it between your legs ... ," said Groen.

A pitcher himself, Groen admits, that using those allowances isn't always best for a pitcher.

" ... I also understand, the more you try to fake them out and upset them, the madder they'll get and the more they'll hit at you," Groen deadpanned.

Most slow-pitch softball leagues allow 10 defenders -- the extra man is usually placed in the outfield, although some teams do implement a tactic called "The 5-man" where one of the four outfielders comes up to play directly behind second base.

"If you've got a really fast outfield and a small diamond, you can get away with that pretty easy because the outfielders can cover a lot of ground pretty quick," Groen explained. "On a bigger field you're probably going to play against better teams so you're going to want to leave your outfielders out there."

Along with the Spencer Merchants, Groen has also been playing for an ASA team in Fairmont, Minn., for the past 10 years. That team helped plant the seeds for what eventually became the Merchants.

"It was the camaraderie of that team that really made me want to see that same type of thing happen down here," said Groen, who added that his Fairmont team has included the same group of guys for the decade he's been playing.

The Spencer Merchants includes 21 area men who wanted to take their games past the local scene.

"There had been two or three different teams and groups of guys in the area who had gotten together to play on tournament teams. The group of guys down here wanted to play at a little higher level, and we got together in the fall of last year shortly before we went to Vegas to talk about putting together a Spencer Merchants-type of a team," said Groen, who also developed a logo for the Spencer Merchants, which includes both the Clay County Fair logo and a Tiger -- both to represent the heart of Spencer. "We wanted a team that we could showcase some of the people from this area.

"You want to be able to travel to Sioux Falls, Des Moines and Sioux City to play against some of the best in the midwest," Groen continued. "To do that, you've got to bring as competitive a team as you can. We've been able to have some fun and be, really, quite competitive."

The Merchants began with a group of "five or six guys from Spencer" who made the commitment to play on a full-time basis. The team added 10-15 more players who could rotate into the lineup depending upon availability and necessity.

"Through the course of the year, we've had upwards of about 20 total guys play. It's been good that way. Everybody doesn't have to play every week, so they're not giving up time with their family and missing out on other opportunities, yet they're still getting a chance to play tournament ball," Groen commented.

"A lot of them got their history playing baseball; a few of them played baseball in college. Nobody's really tried to pick up the game afterward. We've got a great group of people who even competed against each other in high school," he added.

An added perk to the slow-pitch game is the age range of players as the nature of the game doesn't require it to be "a young man's game." Often times, fathers will play on teams with their sons, and sometimes, men will play into their 50s.

"That's a little bit of an exception to come across them that age," Groen admitted, "but it's certainly not beyond a doubt to have people playing in their mid-40s right up to 50."

The Spencer Merchants include players ages 24-37. Most, like Groen, are in their mid-30s. With plenty of "active years remaining," Groen and his band of Merchants hope to continue playing at a high level and build on the tradition they've started in only one season.

"I'll do it as long as I can continue to play. Being a pitcher, once my reflexes fade to the point where I can't get out of the way of any type of ball that comes back at me, then I'll look at passing it on to somebody else," Groen said.

"We started the team just last year -- we certainly want to keep it going for a few years," he added. "We want to make a name for ourselves as being a very competitive team in the area -- that's our goal."

Spencer Merchants Roster

Jared Berver

Eugene Butler

Kyle Campbell

Aaron Carpenter

Jed Cox

Dave Einerwold

William Emerline

Joel Erdman

Dane Faber

Dudlee Faber

Adam Gates

Brett Groen

Bill Hill

Matt Koenecke

Travis Ladson

Kane Malo

Brandon Meyer

Kent Meyers

Cory Peter

Corry Pettersen

Wayne Schultz