Lewis Becomes Inaugural Fury Hardball Champion!

The inaugural Fury Hardball tournament saw 14 players try their hand at this alternate sport. Several were taught the game during the demo or sessions at the GMT Exhibitor table. I provided all the necessary materials but one couple did show up with a copy of the game which was great to see. A draft was held from all the teams released including the recent MLB Fury set from which 5 players selected their team. Using the MLB team meant you had 30 points to spend on your roster. One person commented what if all my players only add up to 27 – “I guess you don’t have to make any cuts” The optional pitch deck was used since we were playing head to head.

The Swiss round was 4 best of three series against different opponents. After the first 3 series, we had 4 players who were 2-1 and 2 players who were 3-0 but with the previous match-ups a couple of the 1-2 teams still had the possibility to play a one game wildcard to make the four team Semifinal. Of the 6 teams who were in the driver seat, they had only won 5 of the combined 18 series in a two game sweep so the competition was pretty balanced.

The Semifinal teams where managed by Tim Rogers (MLW), Josh Githens (MLB Cleveland), Danny Lewis (MTL), and Christina Harley (NY Gray). The first two are Greenville Mafia and Danny is honorary Mafia so here’s another event where the Mafia is good. Since Tim and Christina matched up in the 4th series, they didn’t play in the Semifinal. Danny took on Tim and won 2-1 as all three games went to the visitor, 3-0, 6-4, 6-0. This prevented Tim from getting points in his team game. In the other Semifinal, Josh beat Christina rallying after losing the first game 0-6 to win 2-0 and 2-0 with an extra inning walk off.

The Final was the best of 5 series. Danny was the visitor in the first game. Beasley lead off with a Pinger but had to abandon the base without scoring to hit again. He ended the game by throwing a Zinger to Brannen for the 9th and 10th out so won 1-0 in extras. In the second game, it went to extras again at 0-0 with Fauver getting a Pinger to drive Chouinard home from the bonus base 2-0. In the third game, the MTL offense came alive hitting 2 Dingers and scoring two runners from the safe base for a convincing 6-0 win. The inaugural Fury Hardball champion is Danny Lewis.

I do plan on running this event again next year. We will drop the use of the MLB set and will use a slightly modified pitch deck from the designer to add a little more offense.