ND Gold Sinks the Navy 25-22

On a beautiful day on the turf at Heather One, relentless offense and clutch defense enabled Team Gold to top a stubborn Navy team 25-22.

We could get used to playing on the Field 1 - in fact we are 3-0 on the turf the last three games. Sadly we are not there again until June.

The game started off simply enough. The talented top of Blue's lineup avoided the curse of the first, scoring four. But Gold would not be denied and with two runs in and two outs scored three times more, punctuated by a triple to left by Doug Carlson, who came back from a few weeks off with a groin pull. Welcome back Doug!

It was the first of six triples, and the power barrage included four home runs (yet nary a double). In the third Gary Namanny slammed a three run homer, but we weren't done as Steve Alvarez blasted another and Jeff Mertens a triple and scored the fifth run on Steve Mastronarde's single. In the fourth the bottom of the order did their part, scoring on a leadoff single by Jeff Kravin (that went about 50 feet), another hit by Carlson and then a triple by Stan Bielecki.

In the top of the fifth, Navy refused to give in and using the catch up rule tied it up at 13. In the bottom half though, the relief pitcher could not find the strike zone and a couple of walks and hits brought in two with the bases loaded and two outs. The starter came back in but Kravin hit one of his patented liners to the opposite field from his past life that eluded the left fielder and cleared the bases.

Navy still would not cry uncle but Anthony Puccio brought in two more with a two out single in the bottom of the sixth, making it 20-14. A six run lead in this game was nothing. Navy closed to 20-18, but Gold would not be denied. Back to back Jacks by Namanny and Rob Katzer brought up Alvarez who planted yet another bomb over the outfield. He ran out of gas, stopping at third, and left it up to Mertens to bring him home. After a forceout, Heffe came up with run number five again on first, and made the Navy pay for playing too shallow one more time, blasting it over the right fielder for a second triple in three innings, making it 25-18.

Tom Gonzales came back in to pitch, and although the Navy brought in four more in the final two frames to make it interesting, Gold had a big enough lead at that point to weather the storm.

The defense had just as many highlights as the offensive barrage. Mertens made two outstanding swipes at high line drives playing 2B, and smothered a hot shot there in the eighth, and he also had a great catch in right field in the ninth for the all important first out in the open inning. Namanny added two shoestring catches in left center robbing guys of good hits - we don't take him for granted but he does this every week. Pitcher Gonzales, when he went to the outfield, robbed Ah-rahm don't call me Airum on a blast deep to left in the third inning. Pooch made what in senior ball is about the toughest catch there is - a pop up behind home plate in the sixth. And on a throw in the dirt up the line (er I mean turf), the first baseman twisted himself into a pretzel and snagged the errant toss laying on the ground while toe tapping the bag.

Overall:

Gonzales 3-3+BB

Bob Fulgham, quietly also 3-3+BB, 4 Runs

Namanny 3-4 2 HR, 6 RBI

Katzer 1-4 HR

Batman 3-4, 3B, HR

Mertens 2-2+2 BB, 3B

Maestro 2-3+BB, 3 RBIs

Heffe 4-4, 2 3B, 4 RBIs

Carlson 3-4, 3B

Bielecki 2-4 3B

Joy Dardin, 2-3

Steve Bedrick (Bedrock) 1-4

Pooch 2-3

On a beautiful day on the turf at Heather One, relentless offense and clutch defense enabled Team Gold to top a stubborn Navy team 25-22.

We could get used to playing on the Field 1 - in fact we are 3-0 on the turf the last three games. Sadly we are not there again until June.

The game started off simply enough. The talented top of Blue's lineup avoided the curse of the first, scoring four. But Gold would not be denied and with two runs in and two outs scored three times more, punctuated by a triple to left by Doug Carlson, who came back from a few weeks off with a groin pull. Welcome back Doug!

It was the first of six triples, and the power barrage included four home runs (yet nary a double). In the third Gary Namanny slammed a three run homer, but we weren't done as Steve Alvarez blasted another and Jeff Mertens a triple and scored the fifth run on Steve Mastronarde's single. In the fourth the bottom of the order did their part, scoring on a leadoff single by Jeff Kravin (that went about 50 feet), another hit by Carlson and then a triple by Stan Bielecki.

In the top of the fifth, Navy refused to give in and using the catch up rule tied it up at 13. In the bottom half though, the relief pitcher could not find the strike zone and a couple of walks and hits brought in two with the bases loaded and two outs. The starter came back in but Kravin hit one of his patented liners to the opposite field from his past life that eluded the left fielder and cleared the bases. 

Navy still would not cry uncle but Anthony Puccio brought in two more with a two out single in the bottom of the sixth, making it 20-14. A six run lead in this game was nothing. Navy closed to 20-18, but Gold would not be denied. Back to back Jacks by Namanny and Rob Katzer brought up Alvarez who planted yet another bomb over the outfield. He ran out of gas, stopping at third, and left it up to Mertens to bring him home. After a forceout, Heffe came up with run number five on first, and made the Navy pay for playing too shallow yet again, blasting it over the right fielder for a second triple in three innings, making it 25-18.

Tom Gonzales came back in to pitch, and although the Navy brought in four more in the final two frames to make it interesting, we had a big enough lead at that point to weather the storm.

The defense had just as many highlights as the offensive barrage. Mertens made two outstanding swipes at high line drives playing 2B, and smothered a hot shot there in the eighth, and he also had a great catch in right field in the ninth for the all important first out in the open inning. Namanny added two shoestring catches in left center robbing guys of good hits - we don't take him for granted but he does this every week. Gonzales, when he went to the outfield, robbed Ah-rahm don't call me Airum on a blast deep to left in the third inning. Pooch made what in senior ball is about the toughest catch there is - a pop up behind home plate in the sixth. And on a throw in the dirt up the line (er I mean turf), the first baseman twisted himself into a pretzel and snagged the errant toss laying on the ground toe tapping the bag.

Overall:

Gonzales 3-3+BB

Bob Fulgham, quietly also 3-3+BB

Namanny 3-4 2 HR, 6 RBI

Katzer 1-4 HR

Batman 3-4, 3B, HR

Mertens 2-2+2 BB, 3B

Maestro 2-3+BB, 3 RBIs

Heffe 4-4, 2 3B, 4 RBIs

Carlson 3-4, 3B

Bielecki 2-4 3B

Joy Dardin, 2-3

Steve Bedrick (Bedrock) 1-4

Pooch 2-3

Gold Gives Blue the Blues, 18-16

In a tense and competitive game on the artificial turf of Heather 1, Gold may have given themselves a Curse with five runs to open up. After building up a 13-6 lead, Blue made a mighty comeback in the fourth inning to tie it up. But they couldn't overcome Gold's five run seventh. Defense and pitching took over in the final two scoreless innings, and Gold prevailed 18-16. 

Gold's lineup at the top put the pressure on by scoring all 18 runs in four frames. Rob Katzer led the way with a 4-4 day including a three run bomb in the first and a two run triple in the fifth. He finished with six RBIs.

Steve Mastronarde was right behind him, also 4-4 with a triple and four RBIs. Gary Namanny set the table for them also 4-4 and he was joined by Hugh Vasquez (4-5), Bob Fulgham (3-4 plus BB), and Tom Gonzales, also 3-4 .

Namanny made several dashes to rob Blue players of hits in LC. Katzer in RC had a couple as well. But the play of the day was a towering fly to left in the third that was carrying over Mastronarde's head in the bright high sun, when he threw his glove (hand) up and snatched it out of the sky. Then he fired a strike to SS Vasquez, who threw a strike home and Gold had an innning ending double play on the tag up.

A lot of good teams in the league this season, so this was just a win in round one, not a definitive statement. I tip my hat to Blue, they are a talented bunch.

Two Pair, Seven Triplets, and Bam! Gold over Red, 20-7

My mom played mahjong in her little circle when I was growing up. I had no idea what was going on, but they were always saying stuff like "Crak, Bam, Dots, Mahjong!" I was clueless but they were very excited about those tiles.

Today, it was Two Pair, Seven Trips and Bam! Team Gold smoked Cardinal Red 20-7.

Two pair - Any spokt reader in the last year or so had to endure Steve Mastronarde's lectures about playing the sun at Heather - "It's simple," he'd say, "just wear about four sets of welder's goggles over your sunglasses and the ball remains in sight" (paraphrasing here).

Well, in the top of the seventh, Maestro made an incredible catch for the third out in the bright sun in left field to squelch a Red rally and keep them to just four runs through seven innings. He kept his head high considering all the lenses over his eyes. At the time we had just scored our fourth inning of four or more to go up 20-2.

Seven triplets - Gold had seven players with three hits: Bob Fulgham, Garry Namanny, Steve Alvarez, Jeff Mertens, Curt Wade, the Maestro, and yours truly. The seven to ten hitters (the last four in the list) went 12-12. And Hugh Vazquez, Rob Katzer, Tom Gonzales, and Steve "Bedrock" Bedrick (who hit a gapper between the two center fielders!) had two each.

It's not like we were hitting the ball out of the park. In the first inning Vazquez, Fulgham, Namanny, Alvarez, Gonzales, Mertens, Wade, and the Maestro, sandwiched singles around a forceout in the middle to get our first five runs. In the third it was more of the same, but Maestro ended the rally with a double this time (I became the leadoff hitter my first two times up behind him). In the fifth, Gonzales and Wade knocked in the last three with back to back doubles.

We hit .714 as a team, and the only things that may have been better than our offense were our pitching and defense. Gonzales and Bedrock served up, mixing up short and deep in and out and high and low to keep the Red hitters off balance (I think they had but one walk) and the defense behind them was just about impeccable.

Mertens had a couple of innings - he played 2B most of the game, and one inning he snagged a hard grounder to his right, and also a line drive headed to right. Vazquez made a leaping catch and corraled a couple of hot shots, but in his inning out, Mertens filled in and made two great plays, one a lineout he climbed high for and another a running catch on a pop up. In Merten's great inning at 2B, Kravin also snaggged a high line drive at first to make a perfect 3 for 3 Jeff inning, and snagged a couple of one hop errant throws off the turf.

Namanny made his usual assortment of running catches in LC, and threw out a runner at 2B on a 'single'. Alvarez made a tough catch in RF as well.

Overall it was about as close to perfection as a Creaker game for old men can possibly be. I can't wait to see if we can repeat this over and over.

Gold Glides to a win over Orange, 25-17

What a perfect day for the opening of the Creaker season at Rudgear Park! About 65 degrees and sunny as can be with a slight breeze.

Still, both teams had a little rust from the long winter. 

Gold jumped out to a 4-0 lead (narrowly avoiding the Curse of the First), scoring all the runs with two outs. Back-to-back doubles by Curt Wade (two runs) and Tom Gonzales (one) got us going and Steve Mastronarde finished up the rally with a single.

Orange answered with two two run innings and eventually took a 10-9 lead after four. But consecutive five run innings while Steve Bedrick and the defense allowed just two put the Oranges on their heels and they never really recovered from the 19-12 deficit and came up short at 25-17.

Stan Bielecki at rover (on grounders) and LC Gary Namanny (running catches) each made two early plays to keep Orange's rallies from getting out of hand. Joy Dardin also made a great catch on a pop up in the second inning.

But the get dirty play of the game was yours truly stretching to all 5'7" and scooping an errant throw in the eighth inning and poking my toe back to catch the corner of the bag before the runner arrived. Momma always said I have big feet. Or was that a big mouth? You'll never know and I'll never tell.

Gold didn't quite hit on all cylinders, but quite a few players had good games. Everyone had at least one hit. Bob Fulgham was 4-4, scoring three times. Wade did one better, 4-4 with four runs and two doubles. Steve Alvarez was 3-4 and led the way with five RBIs. Namanny was 2-3, including a double and unselfishly took a walk with the bases loaded that put us ahead to stay in the fifth. Rob Katzer had only one hit, but it was a bases loaded, bases clearing double to give us the five run inning after Namanny's walk. Gonzales, Mastronarde, and rookie Doug Carlson (in his Creaker debut) all added three hits.

A good start!

All's Well That Ends, Well, Just Like It Began

In an entirely appropriate end to Winter Ball 2025-26, Team BS lost yet another close one in the bottom of the ninth, 18-17 to Team Blue.

That's four walk off losses in ten games, must be some kind of record. "Highest Percentage of Walk Off Losses". And the Award goes to...

And that's not including two games where it was tied or close after eight and as the home team we allowed a big open ninth only to come up short in our own furious rally in the bottom half. That's six of our nine losses we could have won. Oh well, just wait til next year?

We jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first (curse?), but had too many zeroes - we scored 15 of our 17 runs in just three innings and were shut out in five.

There were highlights. Brian continued his torrid pace, lulling Team Blue to sleep with three line drive singles before hitting a gapper three run homer to plate our last three runs in our five run eighth. It brought us back in the game as we took a 17-14 lead into the bottom half. Sadly, we couldn't add on or hold on and lost the game. Brian has been tough for anyone to keep up with this season - he hit at an .813 clip.

David P. was also 4-4 with a double and drove in three runs. Devin was a nuisance to Team Blue, and went 2-3 with a double and a triple and scored in all three ABs, and also drove in three. Heffe hit a gapper double into the soccer goals that closed out the scoring in the other five run inning, the fourth. Art had three hits and finished winter league leading the team in ABs, Runs (tied with Darren), Hits, 2B. 3B, HR, RBIs, and slugging pct. I want to be Art when I grow up.

On defense, someone kept writing in the book that Darren got grown men to swing and miss at softball pitches. Sandy and Steve made several good plays on the infield. Art made a sliding catch in the outfield, but I think he was showing off. Helen scooped an errant throw from third to get a force out in the seventh for the second out, and Dave R caught a pop up behind the plate that looked like he had no idea where it was until hit hit his glove, but it kept us in the game as it closed out the inning scoreless.

It was a season of coulda woulda shoulda but it should be noted that we were still 'celebrating' long after Team Blue was in their cars and gone. That's good enough for me to keep out winter league thing going for years to come if we can. See you in October!

Black Back

Back in Black is not a bad team at all when all their players are there, despite their record, and they were in attendance Wednesday. Pitcher Bill Eppinga handcuffed our bats and we didn't break double digits, going down 14-9.

The game didn't mean much. BiB is out of the playoffs, even though they won their last two games. Danville Gold is a half game behind us for the third place spot. It would take a miracle for them to beat first place Wolfpack next week, and they would have to at a minimum to pass us regardless of the outcome of our game against the Hornets.

And it doesn't really matter who places third or fourth. We will have to beat the Hornets and the Wolfpack in the playoffs to claim the championship, so it doesn't matter in which order we do it. Next week we get a tuneup game against the former before likely facing their fully loaded lineup the following week in the opening round of the playoffs.

But hey- the games will be decided on the field. We have a good team when we all hit and play defense. So let it be.

I haven't been writing up losses much this winter, but since I made one of the Plays of the Game, I have to lead with that. In the middle innings, Black had the bases loaded and one out and someone hit a little popup half way to home in front of me. Or it seemed that far to me. Now, no one on the opponent's team, nor my own, nor the old guys watching the game, nor anyone in Danville, the State of California, nor the world thought I would get to that ball before it hit the ground. Especially my good buddy Tony Gorgone, the runner on first. He took off like lightning toward second. But I will tell you this now - I had it all the way. And then it was easy to turn around and double old Tony off first to end the inning.

There were some other defensive highlights - Joe Silva showed off his strong arm a couple of times. In the first he launched a throw from deep left all the way to Tom Gonzales at the mound, who wheeled and threw home to Don Devencenzi to cut down a run. Randy Cobb forced out a runner at second from right field on a 'single' with a perfect strike. In the sixth, on a ball launched over left fielder Mark Childress's head, he hustled to it, got it to Silva who threwout the runner trying to take third base. It helped that he ran like a typical senior player. In the same inning, Lamont Thompson made succesive good plays at 1B to hold Black scoreless. Dave Balfour made a sliding catch in right center to rob a hitter in the eighth. And finally, Rob Dousa finished that inning by hustling to catch a popup behind the plate.

With defense like that, we should have had a win but there weren't many offensive highlights. Silva had a good game, going 3-4 with a triple. But no one else had more than two hits. The one exciting moment was in the top of the seventh, when Dousa blasted a shot to the other field in left, and we got to watch him huff and puff all around the bases for a three run home run. It got us back into the game at 11-8, but we couldn't add enough on to seriously threaten the outcome. Three strikeouts didn't help - two looking and two of the three were the last outs of innings.

So sharpen up those bats and bring it to the Hornets for our last tuneup before playoffs!