Ballclub crams tourneys into shortened season
An Excelsior Springs-based baseball club is making up for a delayed start to the summer.
That team is the Knuckleheadz. Consisting of 13 players – 10 from Excelsior Springs, one from Kearney, one from Smithville and one from Liberty North High School – the ballclub got started late because of the extended high school baseball season this spring.
“We have a great group of young men, and when they focus, they are a really good baseball team,” coach Stephen Crowley said.
As of this writing, the Knuckleheadz had played in four tournaments, with two remaining. They opened by going 2-2 and finishing fifth in the 3&2 Big League Chew Summer Slam in Johnson County, Kan.
The Knuckleheadz then played in the ELS Diamond Kings Tournament in Louisville, Ky., going 0-2-1 against Kentucky and Indiana teams. They also finished fourth at the Rawlings Turf Challenge in Paola, Kan.; and third in the 3&2 Stars and Strikes Tournament, held in Johnson County, Kan.
Cruz Lloyd, a sophomore-to-be…