Birds Eat Felines - Crows over Mudcats 20-12

Sometimes the Shenanigans in Senior Softball Simply Surprise Me. How's that for alliteration? It would be better if I were named Sam. Then - Sometimes the Shenanigans in Senior Softball Surprise Sammy.

This week it was for the scheduling of the playoff tournament. Leah and the Town of Danville has senior softball somewhere down below helping the homeless in their priority hierarchy, and in Danville that is pretty low. They did eventually get around to making a schedule - putting one game at noon, but who was paying attention to the times anyway, because we all assumed 10:00. The usual 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 single elimination with the winners in the final this coming week.

Then Mike Rittenhouse snapped into action. For some reason he wanted to play Leo's in the first round. Was he afraid of the Mudcats? It made little or no sense. Leo's and the Mudcats had almost identical seasons, finishing 6-10 and 5-10 respectively. Whoever heard of a 1-3 and 2-4 tourney? But the Ritt got his way, not that it made any difference at all, since we both took care of business.

The Crows of course didn't care who we played in the first round - they were just someone that got in the way for our last rematch of the season with the Hornets. All we had to do was go out on the field and prove we deserved the chance to come back at the Hornets. And so we did, 20-12. It began with a sigh of relief that Mudcat Tony was absent, who may well be worth eight runs by himself.

The Crows are a very balanced team, yet sometimes someone rises up and takes the center spotlight for a week. This week it was Ed Cook. Not that there weren't plenty of other heroes with their moments - I'll get to that - but look at Ed's line: 4-4 with a double and a triple and five RBIs. And sent the Cats packing pitching the last five innings after Charlie Pastor staked him to a 13-3 lead. Ed had a bases loaded bases clearing double to increase our lead to 9-2 in the third (followed by a Mark Childress two run homer to finish the inning). Later he hit another bomb that scored the fourth and fifth runs in the seventh inning (that put the exclamation point on the game as it made it 20-8). Despite everyone urging him to go home, he ran straight through third base. I'd like to say it was because he knew the fifth run had scored ahead of him, but I think it was more likely he was shutting down from exhaustion.

Charlie was also 4-4, with a triple. Anthony Paschal had three hits including a double and a home run, and Randy Cobb also homered and had three RBIs in the leadoff spot. Barry Walter, Lee Levig and Mark also had three hits.

Lee made the play of the day and it was only 15 feet from home plate. Randy and he had some sort of game within the game going and decided they should switch spots in the sixth when Randy was supposed to catch. Lee got his chance to shine when he pounced out of the home box to dive for a little pop up to get an out. Very demoralizing for the batter and a fine play. Elsewhere Mark made a nice stop and putout at 3B in the third, and LT turned a double play on a shot up the middle when he stepped on second and fired to first. And we turned double plays in the last two innings (I think both started by Rover Randy) to completely shut down whatever fantasy the Cats had about coming back late.

Basically your routine win and a warmup to get our last crack for bragging rights against the Hornets - we need to be at the top of our game this week and they will once again come loaded up. They have a healthy fear of us now - and let's show them why!

Orange Blows Ninth Inning

One thing about senior softball. Roughly half the players either have hearing aids, or need them. Or what registers in their ears doesn't make it to their brain. Or. Or. You get the picture.

So now picture this: The City of Walnut Creek in their wisdom had some kind of loud generator or equipment going on for some project behind the Field 4 home dugout for at least a few of the middle innings today. And then when it finally let up, there was a guy with a leaf blower. It's confusing enough for the manager when all 17 on the roster show up, and add that in and I was having an out of body experience. Which is my case might actually be a good thing.

Nonetheless, and putting aside a very bad bottom of the ninth when we needed but one run to win the game, we had a very entertaining match with the Purple group that ended in a 20-20 tie. There were eight lead changes with no one ever having more than a three run lead throughout and then one tie, which we saved for the end. There were tense moments and an obligatory argument, but in a way it was senior ball at its finest - a very close game with a few walks, a few great plays, couple of strikeouts, and a few cannon shots and hot liners.

Steve Rousso saved one inning with a great running catch in center field. Dan Halyard fielded a one hopper at third and threw a one hopper to second to Jeff Waters who scooped it neatly. Nick Lauria caught a pop up behind the plate to end the sixth, always a challenge. And Mike Byrnes made perhaps our play of the day when he snagged a grounder up the middle, stepped on second and tossed a strike to first for a double play in the seventh.

We hit a few long balls. Leo Kay started off the bottom of the first with a booming homer to left. Rick Evans, Waters, Michael Callahan, and Vic Santini all tripled. Callahan and Helen Kostoff have yet to make an out in the young season (no jinx). Almost everyone had a hit and 12 of our 17 had at least one RBI. 

But the inspirational player of the game was our man of the mound Mike Howard. An errant throw from one of our infielders caught him square in the back of the neck when his back was turned, and he went down. Hard. Pic attached. But Mike is tough as nails and a couple of innings later he returned and finished up the last few innings. If only we could have given him a victory.

Orange Juice over Gold, 22*-15

The winds wreaked havoc throughout Creaker Land today, making for a very adventurous Opening Day for the ND.

I begin with a question. One of the best plays of the day was a mile high pop up to the middle of the infield courtesy of Mark Pitzlin. Rover Helen Kostoff waited and waited and waited for it to finish twisting in the wind, and finally made a stabbing catch. The question is if he had kept running and she let it drop would the silver streak have run all the way around the bases for a home run? I guess we will never know, thanks to Helen.

Orange had the antidote for the wind - Pitcher Mike Howard. Mike was able to tame and bend the wind to his advantage and the final score of 22-15 did not reflect how dominant he was. There were so many walks (for both teams) that we were only able to get six innings in, but in Mike's four we only allowed five runs, a pittance in Senior Softball.

The game started not only with the forecasted wildly gusty winds, but also with the Field 3 sun directly in the eyes of right handed batters the first couple of innings. This did not stop the Orange Machine, and we put up nineteen runs in innings 2-5 that gave us a 20-9 lead, and despite a little heartburn for the coach late, we were never in serious danger.

Up and down the lineup there were clutch hits and patient hitters taking walks to give themselves up for the team. Even the two who did not register a hit took three walks and each had a bases loaded one for an RBI. Between the second and third innings we batted around the lineup and there were eleven singles and walks good for nine runs. Very egalitarian.

And then late there were several clutch rocket hits that put an exclamation point on the win. Vic Santini blasted a gapper for the final two runs in our five run fourth. Rick Evans smacked a ball over the right fielder's head for a two run triple in the fifth. Jeff Waters followed that with his own right center gapper and also reached third. Kostoff opened the next inning with a rip down the third base line for a double. A couple of batters later Patrick Heide brought two home with another double over in right field.

The defense was shaky at times but came up with some big plays. In the third there was a putout at home that went from RC Leo Kay to Kostoff to catcher Nick Lauria who made a fine pickup. The next inning Rich Sanders turned a nifty double play playing 3B, and with runners at first and second getting the two lead runners.

And last but not least, the actual play of the day came on the first hitter in the last inning. LC Steve Rousso came in on a sinking line drive and made a sliding catch and hung on. And with that Gold's hopes sunk into the dirt, and they went out quietly.

Kay, Tony Gorgone, and Evans were 3-3 and everyone else contributed as we hit .684 as a team. Not a bad start!

* Scoreboard was wrong we only scored 22, not 23.

Crows Sting the Hornets 19-8

On the way to the game yesterday, I realized that logically, a rainout would do us just as much good as a win. If we had been rained out, assuming both the Hornets and Crows win next week, the race for first place and cotton would come down to the makeup game on March 20th. After the Crows' dominant 19-8 win yesterday, it comes down to...the makeup game on March 20th, since we are only a half game ahead of them. They are 12-2 and we are 12-1-1. To claim cotton we need a repeat.

There is a huge difference however: Beating them is WAY MORE FUN than a rainout. And now that we have clubbed them twice, I like our chances in two weeks. Their armor of invincibility has chunks missing and they are leaking oil out of every hole.

I will shut up now, because first we must make sure we beat the Wolfpack next week. It is not clear we will have a game - I hear that they have a few players in the Tri-City league, which opens next Wednesday, and may not be able to field a team. They are playing out the string in last place. We had a deal that the loser would buy at a joint pizza party the last time we played them and we then were rained out. I am not sure that deal is still on. However, I happen to know that it is Charlie's birthday next Wednesday. So there would be nothing better than getting Charlie a free birthday lunch by clubbing the Pack.

Oh and there was a game yesterday.

After trading runs in the first couple of innings (tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the third), Barry came up with two on and one out. He planted a line drive to left center that eluded the outfielders and his homer gave us a 6-3 lead. We didn't know it, but the rout was on and the Hornets may well have just removed their stingers and laid down or walked off the field. We finished a five run inning with hits by Heffe, Clay and Howard (who's looking good from the left side), and added five spots in the next two innings. The highlights were LT's two run single in the fourth, and Randy's two run single, followed by Anthony's two run triple for the last four runs in the fifth.

This game was Crows' version of small ball, and Barry's was the only four bagger. The Hornets' pitcher was unexpectedly wild, and we took five free passes. Anthony did have a double and a triple and Clay's hit in the third was a double. The other clutch hit of the day came with two outs in the second and Don gave us our first lead with a two run double to the right center gap. Charlie, Lamont, and Lee had three hits and everyone had at least one.

The Hornets' second baseman made three pivotal errors on popups and grounders that should have been caught, and it probably cost them about seven runs. But from the 19-8 final score, you can see that did not make the difference.

Rather the difference was our pitching and defense. Howard allowed the potent Hornets just four runs in his five innings and the only question was to even bring Ed in to finish the game. The decision proved to be perfect as he held the opposition to only another four in his four innings, including one-two-three in the ninth. 

And of course he was helped by our stellar defense. In the first Anthony provided his seemingly once per game nailing of a runner trying desperately to outrun his gun, and threw out a runner going to second on an apparent single. Don, Anthony, and Dave B all made excellent running catches. And in the seventh, the Hornets' lone three run inning, Randy took a sharp grounder, stepped on second, and Lamont scooped the low throw off the turf, keeping the Hornets' from dreaming of a comeback inning.

It was a beatdown. We are in their heads. If we can just get a lead on them in two weeks, they start pressing against us, where they think they can come back against any other team. Can't wait to beat the Wolfpack and get to the last game of the season.

Oh and one last word. I wonder what the record is for strikeouts in a slow pitch softball season by a team with at least a .900 winning percentage? Two unnamed (ahem) hitters yesterday added to our season total of 13 in 14 games. Eight of us have at least one! Well done!