J&I/Elite team
By Terry Mosher
Editor, Sports Paper
Like the 1960s and ‘70s when slowpitch rock ‘n rolled in Bremerton and the Navy City was the king of the sport in the Northwest, another Bremerton City League team has taken the sport by its throat and shook it good.
J&I/Elite, which won the Bremerton City League Division I championship with a 13-3 record, will soon head out to Kissimmee, Fl. For the third consecutive year to compete in the USSA Men’s Class D World Tournament at ESPN Wild World of Sports Complex. The past two seasons the team went 1-2 at the tournament.
The tournament will be held Sept. 12-15. Teams qualify for the tournament through various National Invitational Tournaments during the regular slowpitch season. J&I/Elite, coached by Dave Camus, qualified by winning a NIT at SERA in Tacoma.
According to Ric Camus, one of four brothers who play on the team – Jeff and Joe are the others – the persistent heat and high humidity at Kissimmee in September leads to low scoring games. It affects the way teams from other regions have to play the game once they get there.
“There are really low scoring games,” says Rick Camus. “Up here we are winning 20-15, 28-12, or whatever, but down there the games are more like 6-5 and 3-2. They are more like baseball games.”
J&I/Elite, which is a Class D-Plus team in the regular league season, recently won the State C Tournament held Aug. 3-8 at Rainier Vista Community Park in Lacey. There were only six teams entered in the tournament (most players elect to play down in lower classification in a more recreational setting) and J&I/Elite roamed through the field, winning 17-8 over Everett’s NW Walkoff/DeMarini, 20-17 over Tacoma’s Rogue Softball, 22-8 over Enumclaw’s Pure Combat and then came from behind in the bottom of the seventh to beat Kent’s Hardknox 16-15 in the state title game.
Leadoff batter Ez Wilkins started the winning rally in the championship game by hitting a home run to tie the game. Bill Segerman singled, Jeff Camus who hadn’t played since the first tournament game because of the stomach flu, pinch-ran for Segerman and scored the winning run when Kelly McNeilly hit a shot in the right-centerfield gap.
Rick Camus was named the tournament’s MVP. He was gotten out just once, batting .923 (12 for 13). Joe Camus, McNeilly and Segerman, the baseball coach at Marcus Whitman Junior High, were named to the All-Tournament team.
“We had a real good record in tournaments (this season),” said Ric Camus. “ I think we played 12 tournaments and we rarely didn’t finish in the top five. We won two of them and finished second two times.”
The complete roster of J&I/Elite: Kelly McNeilly, Bill Segerman, Rick Camus, Joe Camus, Dave Camus, Jeff Camus, Ben Cotton, Mitch Davis, Cullen Kajiyama, Pat Kelly, Greg Longnecker, Kyle Pease, Ray Spears, Chis Wegeleben, Ez Wilkins.