Crows Give Back in Black a Black Eye, 25-5

In our best season two years ago, we shut out the Diablos 18-0 one game. But since that season, wins have been hard to come by, and especially laughers like we had yesterday.

With two last minute cancellations, we were going to struggle with just ten players, but Don remained optimistic. "We've got the right ten!" (as I smirked back at him)

We start out with a shutout inning on defense in the top of the first. We came in from the field looking at each other, like "What do we do now?

Well, Brian knew what to do, get a base hit to start us off. And with Mark and Aram hitting two run hits, we had a 4-0 lead! Do we know how to play from ahead?

In the second, Mark smashed a two run double to put the exclamation point on our first five run inning of the season, and we duplicated that in the third, this time it was Joe with a two run triple that punctuated the inning.

Finally in the fourth we were held scoreless. Brian was worried, we have a habit of going silent on offense in the middle innings.

But now we have our new weapon on the mound. Tom was dealing, getting easy ground balls and lazy flies the whole game. Back in Black never came closer than 14-3 in the fifth. In the bottom of the sixth we notched a third five run inning, on consecutive hits by LT, Mark, Bob, Aram, Tom and Heffe. Finally we learned how to Add On. We even added four more in the seventh, in a rally featuring a lead off home run by Joe.

I didn't take notes on defense but there were very few errors, and really because of Tom's pitching, most of the outs were routine. Bob had a good game in RC running in on a couple of tough catches. Mark more than made up for an error when on the following play made an all out dive to grab a grounder in the hole and flipped to third for a force out. Lamont crashed in hard on a ball up the middle, and Heffe snagged his off balance throw off the turf, one of two he scooped. Tom made a couple of nice plays on ground balls up the middle ticketed for center field. We did turn one double play, abetted be a brain dead runner at second. LT caught a hard liner right at him at 2B, and the runner took off on contact, and was already halfway to third. LT flipped it to Mark covering for the easy DP.

Apologies to Joe - I was right the first time - he 'only' had four RBIs, so there was a five way tie for the team lead in RBIs: Joe, Dan, Mark, Aram and Heffe. Can't remember that ever happening before. Aram (pronouced 'Ai-ram') led us with a prefect 5-5 day including a double. Brian led the way at lead off with 4-5. Dan (two SF), Joe (triple, homer), Lamont, Mark (double), Bob (triple), Tom, and Heffe all contributed three hits.

This is something we need to contiune!

Nearly Tied Tie Dye But in the End Died on Yet Another Walk Off

I have been playing softball at Heather Farm on and off (mostly on) for about 40 years. I thought I have experienced everything in softball, including in all those games at Heather.

But Tuesday was different. We all know all about our feathered friends that love the sod there for some reason. Well, Tuesday, as I innocently sat in the dugout keeping score, teammate Darren Bobrosky points up to the sky, and says, "the geese are getting ready to drop their load," or some such thought.

I thought no way, we are under a roof in here, they aren't that good. and then suddenly SPLAT! SPLISH! SPLASH! The Red Baron would have been proud!

I'm telling you they got me on the arm, on my outer shirt, on my undershirt, on my LIP, and all over the scorebook. The only parts of me untouched were my underwear and my knee pads, which fortunately I wear under my pants.

I'm a little paranoid about it - my grandfather once was pruning his rosebushes and must have touched some bird shit, and then rubbed his eye, because he contracted a reaction so bad, he was nearly blinded. So I came home and thoroughly fumigated myself. And I am burning the scorebook.

And on top of all that we ended up losing (25-24) on a walk off gapper in a game we had full control of early on. We jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, Brian Black setting the tone with a lead off double, followed by four more hits. In the second we added three more, and in the third, Art Miner led off with a solo homer, and we were on our way building a 15-7 lead after five innings. In the sixth, Miner added a two run triple and after six and a half we were sitting pretty at 20-9. But Tie Dye woke up in the bottom half, and closed to 20-19 before we could blink. We helped them out with a couple of crucial errors, but it's senior softball and they were bound to make a run.

In the top of the eighth, Sandy Camp and Heffe started us off with a couple of walks, but we hit a lineout and a fly out and it looked like the 'rally' would fizzle. But Miner came through once again, this time with a double to complete the cycle, and hits by Bobrosky, Tony Camillo, and Johnny Gutierrez completed a four run inning. We held TD to two in the bottom half, and led 24-21. A few runs added on in the open inning, and we're in business right? But two pop ups to the catcher and a flyout were all we could muster.

And then the curse continued as we made a crucial error in the ninth. With the bases loaded and a run in, up strode Mike Herrera. We had held the slugger in check all game. He had one infield hit when Camp made a great stab on a hot shot grounder in the 3-4 hole, but I couldn't get back to the bag with her errant throw to tag him.

So Herrera was overdue, and showed why he is one of the most feared hitters in Creaker Land. He launched a sizzling liner deep in the RC gap and the runners raced around the infield, and all we could do was get in line to congratulate Tie Dye for coming back.

There were some defensive highlights: In the second Bobrosky made a fine catch in RF, Camillo made one of his sliding catches in shallow RC from his rover position, and Black snagged a shot up the middle for an easy put out at first that all kept TD off the board. In the fourth, Dan May charged a weak grounder at third and threw an awkward one hopper to my right that I managed to hang onto. Helen Kostoff stretched out to catch a high throw from 3B in the fifth. In the next inning, she ranged to shallow right to catch a high popup from 2B. Also that inning Miner fought off the sun to catch the second out.

Miner led the offense with a 4-5 day, and the cycle brought home 5 RBIs to lead the team. Joining him at 4-5 were Bobrosky, Gutierrez and May. Tim Orr and Camillo added three knocks, and Heffe was 2-2 plus two walks for a perfect OB day.

p.s. The next day, playing in Danville, I noticed the Bombers got my softball bag as well, even though it was fifteen feet away outside the dugout. I'm bringing a rifle to the next game.

What's One run Between Frenemies?

A beautiful day despite the usual fall weatherman reports that wanted us to believe a downpour was imminent. Batten down the hatches! Get the sandbags ready!!

Both teams were down a few players, including some key ones, so it made for a close match. It didn't start out well for the good guys, as we went down one-two-three on three routine ground balls, and Team Green nearly batted around, scoring four in the first. But we clawed back with a five run third started by the bottom of the order, in which we did not record an out (that's consecutive singles by Jeff Kravin, Helen Kostoff, Tim Orr, Dan May, Art Miner, Darren Bobrosky, and Johnny Gutierrez), and after five it was knotted at ten.

You got the sense that we might wish we were the home team because it looked like it would come down to the ninth. And there it was, we tied it for the last time in the top half, highlighted by a big bomb triple to right by Robert Douza. Sadly, though, for the fourth time, we left the bases loaded, and could not take a lead. In the bottom half a ball lost in the brutal sun leading off essentially sealed our fate by a follow up walk off hit.

There were several defensive highlights, some in unexpected ways. The play of the game was on a no out infield pop up beyond the pitcher's mound. Kostoff came charging in and the first baseman ducked out of the way after briefly entertaining the thought he might catch it. She was on a mission. She got there so fast that the runner on first had no chance to get back in time, and she beat him to the bag by plenty. "Get out of the way!" she yelled at the suddenly useless first baseman (I am just curious, I am sure Kostoff is so good it has happened before, but when was the last time she turned an unassisted double play?)

Dave Rose made a great catch behind home plate on a foul tip that was barely high enough to be called an out. There would have been a riot if the umpire did not give it to him. Frank Coppa stopped a couple of hot shots at the hot corner as well. We turned another double play, also started by Kostoff. She fired low to Steve Rousso at 2B, and in turn he threw low awkwardly to first and both made good catches to complete the DP. And finally, Johnny G made a fine catch in right field in the sixth for the last out after Kostoff's special double play.

Manager Rose led the way, going 5-5. Nice start! Bobrosky, Gutierrez, Dousa and Rousso all had four hits, Bobrosky also working a walk. Miner, Orr, and Kravin chipped in three each, Miner sharing the RBI lead with Bobrosky with four. Miner had a double and a homer and Gutierrez had a double and a triple for the mini-cycle.

Better clutch hitting and we could have gotten the job done, but let's just say that when I left a few Greens had come to our side to party, and at that time we still had a few players remaining, but the teams on field four were long gone. We win the fun prize.

Green Folds up the Tent, Loses 22-16 to Gray

Dark Green led the league in a couple of categories. One was games missed, one was always being the last team off the field, that's how much we enjoyed each other's company.

Today, as usual, we were the last team to leave Pleasant Oaks. Of course, we didn't have a Gerry Dasey to take us out for a victorious lunch. But then you have to win first, don't ya, and we went down 22-16 to a very good Gray team.

It started with errors by two of our solid defenders. And in the second, Leo Kay makes a valiant effort to snag a ball in the RC gap, and it's off his glove right into his nose. Not a good sign. And so, we found ourselves down 5-0 in the first and then 9-5 in the second.

In the third we once again came roaring back, scoring five with just one out. Frank Coppa got the last hit in both five run innings, including hustling all the way to third in the latter on his bomb to left, even though the runner in front of him was the fifth run.

And so, we were neck and neck through six, actually leading 13-12 going into the sixth. Then the floodgates opened. Gray plated two straight five run innings, and we just couldn't string together enough hits to counter.

Kudos to Kay for coming back into the game with tissue stuffed up his nose - he's a real gamer. He even went out to his usual RC position in the ninth, and started our play of the game (see below). Jeff Olsen was perfect 4-4 with a triple, and even in addition had a bases loaded walk for an RBI. Coppa was 4-4 with the triple. Michael Callahan went 4-5 with a double. Helen Kostoff and Robert Dousa were each 3-4 with a double. Shel Perham was 3-5 and Heffe and JD Dills had a couple of knocks.

There was one inning that featured three outstanding plays. First Olsen made a great running catch in LC, then Kostoff snagged a high line drive headed to left center, and then the first baseman ran in toward the enemy dugout to outrace a pop up and juggle but hold for out number three. Kostoff was involved on our play of the game when she took a throw from Kay and fired to third to Coppa to nail an errant runner who dared test Kostoff's strong arm. And Perham made a great catch in deepest RC in the eighth. We also turned a double play when Perham grabbed a grounder, stepped on second and threw in the dirt but the first baseman held it against his leg to turn it.

We had one of the most fun teams I have had the honor to coach. With a little luck and more skill we could have competed with the big boys and girls, but we won a few spectacular games, and still had fun when we lost. Now we are rooting for Gray, so we can say we were barely nosed out by the champs!

The Pause that Refreshes

What did we do without Charlie? It was in the middle of the game yesterday sometime, and something is attracting Chuckles' attention. It is so quiet you can hear the slight breeze. Then we see he is tilting to the right - there's a dog walker with a squeaky little white thing in tow along the third base line, and I don't mean the dog if you know what I mean. Is that too racy? sexist? racist? It's very important to take a pause in a softball game, to gather your thoughts. What I don't remember is if that was in the fourth and it inspired Charlie to shutout the Outlaws, or if it was the fifth, and he lost his focus as they plated five. It doesn't matter, you can pick your own truth, that's the age we live in, so whatever you wish. OR for that matter the second inning when he got a good hitter to strike out in a one-two-three inning.

The Outlaws were missing a couple of their best players, but you play against the guys on the field. At least one of the replacements was a tournament player that I played with years ago, and he made several nice catches in left and hit a gapper home run to boot.

And so, it was a neck and neck game throughout. After the Outlaws' initial three run inning, and our two five run innings early gave us a 10-5 lead, and after that we were never more than three runs apart, ending with a 16-15 win.

In the first we had a couple of hits and walks and then Dave Balfour drove in two with a triple. Mark Childress did him one batter and just blasted one over the left fielder and raced around the bases to give us our five.

In the third, Howard Reeves started us off with a double down the line. A walk to Clay LeChe, and Randy Cobb came through with a gapper for two runs. He was chugging coming into third! A couple of more hits, and we had our five that inning.

After that, we kept answering their rallies with just enough to stay ahead. In the bottom of the eighth, we ominously left two in scoring position after getting just one, and it stood at 16-13. In the bottom half, they had scored two and the tying and lead runs were on base, when Charlie got one of their lefty sluggers to bounce one just over the first base bag (a little controversy there), and I grabbed it and tossed it to Charlie covering to end the game.

I don't have many defensive notes. There are a few total bombs that were caught by LeChe, Balfour and Cobb in the deepest parts of the field, always tough. Lamont Thompson made a nifty double play, rover step on the bag and throw to first.

The kind of game the Crows can win, just keep it close and make the plays defensively and get timely hits. I guess that goes for all teams.

And Now Not For Something Completely Different, Raiders Lose on a Walk Off, 16-15

I looked it up. At senior-recreational-softball-reference.com*. The record for consecutive losses in a season is 5. The Raiders are close at three. We can DO this.

In another nailbiter, Duh Raiduhs came from ahead and lost to the Warriors 16-15. We started out hot out of the gate for once - scored five in the top of the first (curse?). In the bottom of the inning a crucial error let the #3 hitter off the hook, and the gates opened for four two out runs. Then in innings 2-7 it was a run here, two there for both teams as it stayed close, 10-8 Raiders going into the eighth. In the top half, the Raiders did it differently. There were two outs and no one on when we had six hits around an unintentional intentional walk to David Gerds to load the bases. Dave Balfour had the big blow, a three run triple following the walk. Don't try that again!

The Warriors answered with five in the bottom half setting up a crucial ninth. We had a two run lead, and both teams had the lower half up. But we couldn't get a runner past first and their bottom came through for three runs, and it was over.

Don Devencenzi led the way with a 4-4 day, one double. Balfour was 3-4 including the triple and a double and led the team with five RBIs. Joining him with three hits were Jay Sankey, Ray Oducayen, Randy Cobb, and David Gratz. Gerds, Max Martin, Patrick Kiesling, and Jeff Kravin all had a couple of knocks. We turned a hit to Devencenzi in deep right to rover Cary Mitsuyoshi to SS Gerds to home for a putout to keep the second scoreless. Sankey made a running catch on a bomb to LC for the third out in the fifth. Oducayen made a great stop at the hot corner in the seventh.

*I made this up in case you had a doubt.

Dark Green's New Old Not-so-secret Weapon

You might think the streaky Dark Forest Green juggernaut is in a bad spot going into the playoffs. A few weeks ago we were knocking on the door of the two teams tied at the top. But unfortunately the latest streak is a losing one, three games. And our shortstop and cleanup hitter is going AWOL to vacation in Greece for the first two weeks of the playoffs.

And yet, we now have a not very well kept secret weapon - our octogenarian power hitter extraordinaire Mike Howard. The opposition cringes when he steps onto the field. You might have thought it was because he is the most feared pitcher in the league, but now he has added another wrinkle to the mix - smashed extra base hits down the third base line. Grown men fall down chasing them. Lucky for Gray, Charlie Uhlman saved the day or that hit may have led to an entirely different outcome in the game yesterday, in which our ninth inning rally came up short and we lost 20-17.

Our story, and we are sticking to it, is that we didn't want to show Gray too much, as we will meet again next week in the first round. So we only had two big innings, the first and the last, scoring five runs in both. I thought the curse of the first only covered the visiting team but this game we proved otherwise. After shutting Gray out in the top half, seven hits (including doubles by Leo Kay, Michael Callahan, and Bill Jeha) and a walk tallied five runs in the bottom half. Gray chipped away, and then it was a seesaw battle that saw four lead changes between the third and seventh innings, settling at 12-10 the Bad Guys. Gray picked the right time to get their first and only five run inning, the eighth, and suddenly 17-10 looked like a huge deficit. We made a valiant attempt answering with two in the eighth, but they added three on in the top of the ninth to get a comfortable lead.

Then it was Howard's turn to set our torch on fire. His epic shot down the line gave us the chance as we turned over the lineup. We got a two out RBI single from Jeff Olsen, a two run double from Jeha, and a two run single from Shel Perham. But it proved to be too little too late, and the third out was made on a well hit but routine fly ball.

Olsen (HR, four runs, three RBIs), Jeha (three doubles, five RBIs), and Perham (four RBIs), the heart of the order, were all 4-5. Heffe was 3-4, Kay and Dick Stanley were 3-5. JD Dills was 2-3 plus a walk.

We turned an unorthodox SS(Jeha)-C(Frank Coppa)-3B(Howard Davis) double play in the fourth. Olsen in LC made a great running catch in the sixth. Michael Callahan, not to be outdone, made a diving grab in LF on the very next play. Davis turned a step on third throw to rover Helen Kostoff covering second DP to end the top of the ninth and keep Gray from getting the open inning out of hand. Kostoff handled every grounder up the middle flawlessly.

If we play our best, we have the hitting and the defensive talent to go deep into the playoffs. Time to find out which Dark Green team will show up. And of course, we have pitcher extraordinaire and now power hitter Mike Howard to get us that much further!