Baseball: Crespi alums return for over-the-line tourney to honor Coach Muckey

Green softballs were being hit all around the Crespi football field on the day after Thanksgiving. The annual over-the-line tournament was back.

Suspended last year, the tournament was started by former baseball Coach Scott Muckey in the early 1990s. Muckey passed away last March at the age of 63, but the tournament returned on Friday with 19 four-man teams, and there was a dedication ceremony of a plaque honoring Muckey, Crespi’s baseball coach from 1987-2014.

“This is a great special event Coach Muckey used to do,” said Trevor Plouffe, a Crespi grad and major leaguer with the Minnesota Twins (he’s now a free agent). “Since he passed, we try to keep his legacy alive by doing it and it’s cool. You see all the alumni come back. We really are a tight-knit brotherhood here.”

There was once 100 teams in the tournament and games went so long they had to turn the lights on. Former major leaguer Jeff Suppan used to hire the In-N-Out Burger truck to drop by. Muckey also picked members for the over-the-line Hall of Fame. It’s loaded with Plouffes, Suppans and Luderers because their teams kept winning.

But Travis Forbes, a 2008 Crespi grad, made the Hall of Fame in 2012. He was supposed to receive his plaque but he missed his induction ceremony while playing baseball for Gonzaga. Muckey’s brother, Lee, found the plaque at his house and gave it to Forbes at Muckey’s funeral.

Lee flew in from Virginia for Friday’s activities. He said he will be starting a memorial scholarship in honor of Coach Muckey.

Current Crespi players competed against the alumni.

“Suspect calls go to the alumni,” one alumnus cracked.

Crespi catcher Caleb Schulman enjoyed what the game of over-the-line is about. It used to be popular before baseball became about training and playing on all-star teams.

“It’s always fun to just go out and just play,” Schulman said.

And try to earn a spot in the Crespi over-the-line Hall of Fame.

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