Brought to You by the Usual Suspects

It's always tough to beat Leo's because Bill Eppinga is one of the toughest pitchers in the East Bay Senior Softball world.

But today we had the answer with secret weapon Howard on the mound with an assist from a mostly stellar defense as he shut Leo's out for the first four innings. Ed came in and allowed just six runs in the final five innings and struck out one looking. The Crows eked out eleven runs for an 11-6 victory.

There were several key defensive plays that prevented a much closer game. We turned a couple of normal SS (Lee) to Rover (Randy) to First (Lamont) double plays. Charlie got a force out on a 'single' from LC to second base. 

Then there were the odd ones. On a fly out to Dave B in LC in the seventh, he threw it in to Rover Randy, who bobbled it just enough to tempt the runner to try to take third. Randy fired to Mark at the base and the throw was high and away, but Mark stretched and held the bag for the out. 

Finally there was a catch by Anthony in RC and the runner assumed he wouldn't catch it and strayed too far off first base. Anthony fired a bullet to first, but it was offline. Lamont came off the bag, corralled the errant throw, and dove to the bag to beat the retreating runner by a hair.

Randy led the team with five straight hits. Don was perfect with 3-3 plus a sac fly. Dave B continued his torrid pace with another three hits. Lee split the centerfielders perfectly for our only home run, but Anthony, Charlie, Ed, and Mark had triples. The first three came with two outs to score runs, and Mark's started a two run rally in the seventh.

On to the biggest game of the season next week, the first of two games against the Hornets in the next three weeks to determine first place.

The Devils Made Us Do It To Them On VD, 22-3

The Crows did not play to our capabilities last game way back last century, er I mean last month, and it left us with a bad taste in our mouths while we endured three rainouts.

And then the Devil showed up in the bodies of El Diablos. They should have stayed home as we smoked them 22-3. We scored the five maximum three times including once with no outs. And we flip flopped, so the score wasn't as close as that.

I was going to lead with our stellar defense and pitching. And then I entered the stats and realized what a tremendous hitting day we had as well. The top seven in the lineup hit .815 with a slugging percentage of 1.370. Dave B had another monster day, with two HRs and six RBIs to lead the team. Barry and Lee each hit a big bomb as well. Lamont hit one to the fence in left in the first but seemed to protect his legs and settle for a two run double that gave us the lead for good after four batters. Likewise Clay smashed one to left but in admiring it missed first base and had to go back, so only made it to second for a double. Randy, Barry, and Lee had perfect 4-4 games. Three others had three hits.

Mark and Ed had rough days at the plate but each provided excellent contributions on the other side of the game. Ed, who did draw two walks, merely shut out the Diablos in his four innings on the mound to close the game. This is slow pitch softball and the Diablos do have some good hitters, so no mean feat.

Mark had one of those innings in the fifth playing third base. He ranged to his left for a shot in the 5-6 hole and managed a quick throw to nail the runner at first. Don D made a nice backhanded catch to complete the play. Then Mark snared a high line drive to end the inning.

Clay and Dave B made excellent catches on the left side of the outfield in the seventh. But the play of the day was an excellent running robbery by the league's best, Anthony, in RC in the third. He caught it on the run, then wheeled around and off balance fired a bullet to Lamont at second base to double up the runner, who had the audacity to wander off the bag about three steps and had no chance to get back in time. Highlight reel.

Not the toughest opponent but a very solid win all around. And we got Howard back, who didn't seem to miss a beat on the mound and even got two hits left handed protecting his right shoulder. It was also nice to have the Batman Steve join us for a game, and he jumped out with a couple of hits.

I mentioned everyone but Charlie. All he did was get a couple of hits, a couple of RBIs, and drew a walk and played flawless defense playing four positions. Ho hum for Charlie, just another day at the office.

We keep playing like this we will reclaim first place in a couple of weeks.