For the ‘Serious’ Wiffle Ball Player, Plastic Is Fantastic

The words just don’t seem to go together: serious Wiffle ball.

You could say they have a whiff of the oxymoronic, but a growing number of Wiffle aficionados are indeed bringing hard-core competition to the friendly backyard plastic-ball-and- bat game.

The evidence will be on display Saturday at Mesa Verde Park in Costa Mesa, where a group of dedicated Wifflers will battle for a $1,000 purse in the Golden State Challenge.

This is not the Wiffle ball you grew up with. That yellow plastic $3 bat is gone, replaced by aluminum and carbon-fiber models that range from $30 to $125. Three-person teams will go head-to-head-to-head on drastically shrunken baseball fields, 75 feet down the lines and 90 feet to straightaway center.

The baserunners are imaginary, but the pitches have been clocked at up to 75 mph with batters standing only 42 feet away. A mathematician who plays the sport estimates it’s the equivalent of facing a 105-mph fastball.

“So many guys hear Wiffle ball and paint a picture of swinging the yellow banana bat in a backyard against a pitcher tossing underhand,” said Costa Mesa’s Bill Owens, organizer of the tournament and pitcher for the Georgia HotShotz. “Guys who step on the field against the caliber of players they will be facing, their mouths are going to drop and they are going to be wondering, ‘What did I get myself into?’ ”

Like most of the best Wifflers, Owens, 33, played baseball growing up, reaching his peak in the sport as a junior college player. He took up Wiffle seriously in 1990 in his hometown in southern Illinois and has spent much of his free time the last decade traveling around the country to tournaments. In 1998, he figures, he spent $7,000 on air fare alone.

Along the way, he became a promoter of Wiffle ball and publishes an online newsletter, Fast Plastic. In January, Owens joined eight other top players and tournament organizers at a hotel near the Baltimore airport for a summit meeting.

In two all-day sessions, the group, which became the board of directors for the nonprofit U.S. Perforated Plastic Baseball Assn., worked to bring order to the fragmented world of Wiffle, in which an estimated 10 tournaments claimed to decide the national championship.

The USPPBA hashed out conflicting rules and set up a National Championship of Wiffle Ball tour. The western swing starts Saturday in Costa Mesa and players will be trying to earn points for a spot in the playoffs and a chance at the national championship in October in St. Louis, where the winners will take home $5,000 to $6,000.

The competition Saturday is expected to be fierce. The Ventura-based A Bros, returning to defend their Costa Mesa tournament title, are considered one of the strongest teams in the West, although they have been playing for only one year. Led by Chad Anderson, a 23-year-old, 6-foot-1, 235-pound former baseball player at Ventura High and Ventura College, the A Bros won the first tournament they entered.

“It’s much more competitive than college baseball, even more competitive than professional ball,” Anderson said. “I’ve pitched to major leaguers and they couldn’t even foul it off me.”

Not all the teams are as serious. Take Orange County-based Wiffle du Fromage, for example.

“We try to use the psychological factor, wearing dress socks on the field,” Costa Mesa’s Jay Wolfe said. “We are actually thinking about wearing tutus to demoralize our opponents. I mean, how can they lose to a bunch of guys wearing dress socks and tutus?”

Wolfe said his teammates, Mike Cassens and Jim Thomas of Huntington Beach, share his sense of fun and lack of baseball experience.

That makes it tough to beat teams like the A Bros, to whom Wolfe shows great disdain.

“We don’t like them,” he said. “They make it not fun. I actually threw at one of their guys in one game.”

Headhunting with a Wiffle ball. That can’t be too scary.

“Yeah I know,” Wolfe said. “Especially from me. A lot of guys throw really hard but I throw nothing but slow cheese. You aren’t getting much of a message from me. But that guy knew I threw at him and didn’t hit it past the mound the whole game.”

Several spots remain for the tournament Saturday, which starts at 8 a.m. with a home run derby. The entry fee is $100 per team. For more information call (714) 434-6298 or e-mail fastplastic@yahoo.com.

SAILING

Some of the top sailors in the world are competing in the Women’s Match Race Invitational for the Bettina Bents Memorial Trophy that continues today through Sunday in the ocean off Newport Beach Pier.

Hosted by the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, the regatta features head-to-head races between Santana 20s crewed by 10 three-woman teams. Among the sailors in the field are veterans of the America’s Cup, Olympics and Whitbread Round the World races, including Dawn Riley, skipper of the America True America’s Cup 2000 team, and Pease Glaser, 2000 Olympic silver medalist in the 470 class.

Racing is scheduled to start at noon each day.

SURFING

The Professional Surfing Tour of America has added an event, the Vans Off the Wall Pro, June 20-24 at the San Clemente Pier.

The event has a one-star rating on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals World Qualifying Series. Among those expected to compete are San Clemente’s Christian Fletcher and Josh Baxter, Newport Beach’s Geoff Moysa and Huntington Beach’s Jeff Deffenbaugh.

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If you have an item or idea for On the Go, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at martin.beck@latimes.com

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

BASKETBALL

Sunday

* Deadline for registering for a four-on-four spring 45-and-over league sponsored by the Dana Point recreation department is Sunday. League begins April 22. Registration fee is $50 and $20 per game for officials. Registration forms available at Dana Point Community Center, 34052 Del Obispo. Details: Call (949) 248-3530 between 2 and 5 p.m.

BICYCLING

Saturdays

* Orange Coast Velo cycling club meets at Worthy Park, 17th and Main in Huntington Beach. Rides vary from 25 to 50+ miles and begin at 7:30 a.m. with periodic regrouping and rest stops. After-ride socializing at Noah’s Bagels on Main Street. For further information call Jerry, (714) 960-4214 or Peter (714) 848-7618.

* Orange County Wheelmen training, 7 a.m., Food Park, MacArthur and Main, Irvine. Beginner and intermediate training group will ride and stay as a group. Informal lectures will cover stretching, nutrition and hill climbing. Led by Fred and Peg Bauer, (714) 997-0892.

* Bicycle Club of Irvine rides, 9 a.m., meet at Deerfield Park, Irvine. Three routes, 10-15, 15-25 and 25-35 miles, each with a stop midway for breakfast. Rides finish at about 11:30 a.m. Ride leaders Scott and Sandy Angle, (714) 960-4068.

* Velo Allegro Cycling Club meets at 8 a.m. at Long Beach Marina off Second Street for 24-mile ride at 14-18 mph pace. Those with paceline experience meet at 7:30 a.m. for warmup and speed training of up to 50 miles. Details: Julio, (562) 988-8117.

RUNNING

Saturday

* Seal Beach 10K and 5K starts and finishes at the Seal Beach Pier. Details: (562) 431-2527

April 21

* Earth Week Run in Placentia has 8K and 5K courses and kids 1K fun run. Details: (714) 993-8232

April 29

* Silky Sullivan’s Run for the Roses 5K starts and finishes in Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley. Details: (714) 847-8171

* Around the Bay for World No Tobacco Day 5K, 10 mile runs. Courses are around Upper Newport Bay. Start/finish at Newport Dunes. Details: (714) 541-1444