2015: The Creation of Regionals; Walk Off Home Run Makes WSEM Back-to-Back Champions

NWLA Tournament
Jul 20, 2015
2 min read

Updated: May 30

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Recap

The host committee hated turning teams down the year before, so in 2015 they added four qualifying regional tournaments. The regional tournaments were played the month before the national tournament. Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, Kalamazoo, Michigan, St. Louis, Missouri, and Eagan, Minnesota were chosen as the regional hosts, and each region had five teams compete in a round-robin format. The teams who finished top eight the year prior were automatically qualified, but still had to play in the regional round. After the regional games were played, the field of 16 was set, and this time all 16 showed up to Dublin, Ohio.

WSEM once again stormed through the winner's bracket, but this time saw OCWA in the championship. Unlike, the year before, WSEM lost the first game of the championship, as OCWA forced a do-or-die championship game for the first time in tournament history. The game was tied 1-1 all the way into the bottom of the 11th, until WSEM's Kyle Tomlinson hit a walk-off home run to make WSEM back-to-back champions after one of the most exciting games in tournament history.