Circle Tap tournament goes on without Circle Tap team
Andrew Pekarek
Press-Gazette correspondent
DENMARK — It’s going to be a bittersweet weekend for Darren Derricks.
The owner of the Circle Tap bar in Denmark this weekend is hosting the 10th annual Boys of Summer open fastpitch softball tournament, which features 12 teams made up of some the best players from around the world.
But Circle Tap won’t be one of them.
The local squad isn’t playing anywhere this summer, dismantling because of high costs to field a team and limited interest by younger players to join it.
Circle Tap’s biggest rival, Townline of Green Bay, also isn’t playing this season.
“The sport is definitely declining,” Derricks said. “But hopefully, somehow it turns around.”
Besides being the team’s main sponsor, Derricks, 37, also played 13 years for Circle Tap. He plans on bringing the team back next year, but this season, he’s just a spectator.
“This will be the tough one because it’s our home tournament,” he said.
Circle Tap began playing in 1994, quickly going from a local team to a world power and winning the American Softball Association national championship in 2006.
“When we started, it was completely local,” said Dean Kane, who was a player and coach. “When we finally finished, we were probably half local and half out of the area, which at the elite level is actually a pretty local team.”
Kane, 34, began playing fastpitch softball when he was 14 for lower-level teams in Denmark, but said there aren’t many teams or leagues like that in the area anymore to develop younger players.
“A lot of them are just going to play slowpitch and coed (softball) because it’s just a lot easier game,” Kane said.
Chris DeLarwelle, 41, who played for Circle Tap since 2002 and will be playing for The Farm of Madison at this weekend’s tournament, doesn’t see a lot of younger baseball players adapting to fast-pitch, either.
“Our sport’s dying because too many people find it too difficult and they quit,” DeLarwelle said. “That’s why guys my age can still play, because no one’s pushing us out of the game.
“It’s a good sport for a lot of kids who are midlevel baseball players to come over to fastpitch and refine their skills there and become very good, but I don’t know if kids are willing to put the time in anymore.”
Bryan Hansen, 25, was the second youngest player on Circle Tap’s roster the last two seasons and one of the few who is sticking with the sport after playing baseball at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Hansen will be playing this weekend for The Bar of Green Bay, which along with The Bar of Appleton, give the tournament some local flavor.
“A lot of guys that make the transition from baseball to fastpitch are not really prepared to strike out as much,” Hansen said. “It’s a faster game, and you’re playing against people from Canada, New Zealand, Argentina, Australia, that grow up playing the sport.
“The U.S. is just so far behind developing pitchers and players because we start so late.”
Fans will get a taste of the international style of play because the Argentina national team will be at the tournament again this year.
The team was a big draw last year, according to Derricks, and features pitcher Juan Pottoluccio, who played for Circle Tap.
The tournament also will feature elite squads from six states and one from Canada.
Those squads also need a sponsor that is willing to pay for travel and other expenses, which is hard to come by with the current economy.
“You may see guys staying closer to home and playing on lower-level teams,” Kane said about the effects of elite teams possibly folding. “It could revive the game at the local level, not only here, but everywhere.”
“It’s a double-edge sword,” said DeLarwelle, who will also play for the U.S. national team next week at the International Softball Federation World Championship in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. “If you don’t have people willing to spend the money, you’re not going to get the best competition.”
Additional Facts
Boys of Summer kicks off tonight
The Boys of Summer men’s fastpitch softball tournament starts at 6 p.m. today, and the championship game will be at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Games will be played at Circle Tap and Denmark Memorial Park.