Does it get any better than WIFFLE ball at a brewery!? No, it doesn’t! For the conclusion of American Craft Beer Week, Rinn Duin Brewing hosted a 3v3 WIFFLE ball tournament at their brewery. Between games you could refill your cup with a fresh, local, craft beer. It was perfect timing too because Rinn Duin just collaborated with hundreds of breweries across the nation to brew the Biggest Small Beer Ever in honor of American Craft Beer Week. Of course we had to try! There’s a little bit of tweaking to do with the rules (which are listed below and the highlighted ones are ones we have recommendations for), but for an inaugural tournament, this was a great time!

Rules:
– Yellow bats
– Unscuffed balls
– No walks or called strikes (batter is up until they strike out swinging, get a hit, or record an out)
– Medium pitch
– Hit is determined where ball lands (ie, single zone, double zone, triple on the grass, and home run over the grass)
– Out is recorded if you field or catch the ball anywhere on the field (including in the home run area)
– Single elimination
– 3 innings or 25 minute games (depending which comes first)
– Extra innings (after 25 minutes) start with bases loaded and hit until you record one out
– Teams of 3 to 5 (only 3 field, but everyone bats)
– Team members must be at least 21 years old
– Free entry

Ideas for possible rules changes:
1. No walks or called strikes —–> Add a strike zone (we like the idea of no walks, but adding a strike zone, for called strikes, speeds the games up and evens out the batter vs pitcher playing field).
2. Triple on grass & home run over grass —–> Move the triple line up and make home runs on the grass (we didn’t really have an issue with the field dimensions, but we did hear a few teams say that they would have liked the home run to be on the grass because over the grass was pretty far, plus home runs always make for more excitement).
3. Out is recorded if you field or catch the ball anywhere on the field —–> If the ball hits the double, triple, or home run zone then batter is safe (we like that you can field the ball anywhere in the single area for an out and catch the ball anywhere on the field for an out, but so the batters can have some fun too, if the ball lands in the double, triple, or home run zones then the batter should be ruled safe).

For an inaugural tournament, only a few minor rule changes is nothing. Honestly, even if just our first recommendation was used it would be perfect! 8 teams showed up to this event which is even more impressive! We’ve been to tournaments that have been around for years and still get less of a turnout than that. To top it off, there was a big crowd watching and everyone seemed to be into the games. There was cheering and even heckling! Cheering always makes these events that much better and, to be honest, we are fans of a little heckling too. A team by the name of, The Heavy Hitters would beat Way Too Beautiful in the semi finals and go on to win the tournament. For winning, each team member received two beer tokens (one token was good for a flight or a pint) and a tee shirt. After the tournament, Rinn Duin wrote The Heavy Hitters team name on a WIFFLE ball and placed it on a shelf behind the bar as a trophy. Not only is this a great brewery, but we had an amazing time talking and joking with the owners, Chip and Jacqui Town! They’re really great people! There were also talks of this tournament being an every month event and if that is the case, you can bet that we’ll be back! Make sure you check back to our homepage to see if this event gets added so you can mark it on your calendars. We hope to be enjoying a pint with you at the next one! We’re already counting down the days til we can be playing another tournament and drinking some EXCELLENT New Jersey craft beer!