Something to Crow About, But a 14-13 Loss Nonetheless

It's been a tough transition year for the Crows. Nineteen players have taken the field. But the core has hung in there, despite being outplayed by at least two of the teams.

Today, it was another game against the Outlaws, the team put together by Tony Camillo to "save" the league. Basically, kind of an all-star team of the Hayward league. The last of our three losses to them was by the score of 28-3.

It seemed like more of the same for the first four innings. Only a highlight catch by Clay LeChe in deep left center in the third inning kept the Outlaws under five, and good defense at the end of the next inning kept them again stuck them without scoring that fifth run.

But, in the meantime, the Crows seemed to sleep at the plate again. Only a two run bomb by LeChe in the second made it onto the scoreboard for the Crows. Through six, we were sharply listing on the short end of a 9-2 pitchers' duel. Kudos to pitchers Chili Hernandez and Brian Black for keeping the Outlaws' bombers in the park; most of their runs were unearned.

And so, we came to the top of the seventh down seven. With one on and one out and one in, Lamont Thompson went deep and lumbered around the bases. Dave Balfour made it back to back when he found a gap. LeChe followed with another blast but he was either still tired from his early antics, or he knew he needed to stop at third to give him the chance for the cycle; you pick. but then, a walk to Aram Boyd, and consecutive hits by Mark Childress, Merrill Leach, Don Devencenzi, and Heffe, and we were tied!

Unfortunately, the Outlaws followed with a five spot of their own. Even though we did not cut into the lead in the eighth, we held them scoreless as well; a nice play by Thompson to get a force at second helped immensely.

In the open ninth, Thompson started us off with a single, and after a force out, LeChe got his double to complete the cycle. Boyd brought in one with a single and Childress hit our fourth HR of the game to score three and bring us within one run. Devencenzi and Heffe singled to put the tying and lead runs on, but we just couldn't push them across.

It was a valiant comeback, and almost felt like we won, just to know we can play with these guys. Now we need to take the next step next time we play - score early to put pressure on the opposition, instead of waiting until the seventh inning.

Hernandez joined LeChe with four hits, and LT, Devencenzi and Heffe knocked out three. Childress led the team with four RBIs.

Raiders Offense Fails the Defense, Loses 9-7 to the Wolfpack

The Raiders jumped out to a 6-3 lead after three innings, but the offense stalled after that and didn't score again until the ninth inning. We wasted a good effort by pitcher Lee Schreiner and the defense holding the tough Wolfpack lineup to under ten runs, and fell 9-7.

Included were three double plays, twice started by second baseman Max Martin and once by SS David Gerds.

Cary Mitsuyoshi had a perfect 4-4 day, and Jay Sankey and Randy Cobb knocked out three hits to lead the Raiders.

Dark Green Marooned Again, 25-16

It was one of those games where it seemed like every ball Green hit found a Maroon glove at just the right place, and every Maroon hit was just off Greens' gloves. Bottom line was Maroon played great defense, and Green didn't, and Maroon got the key hits and Green didn't. The result, 25-16 sounded closer than it was in the end.

There were some highlights for Dark Green. Howard Davis fielded a hard grounder at third base with the bases loaded, and stepped on the bag and fired a bullet home for a double play, keeping Maroons marooned on first and second, and preventing a five run inning early.

Shel Perham threw out a guy going to second on a 'single' to the outfield in the fourth. Leo made a couple of running catches in right center to rob the power hitters of gappers. Robert Douza made a great stop on a hard grounder up the middle and stepped on second for a force.

A number of Dark Green hitters were 3-4: Leo Kay, Jeff Olsen, Perham, Dick Stanley, John Banker, and Jeff Kravin. But the hitting star was Bill Jeha; even though he was only 2-4, he hit a three run home run and a two run triple to lead the team with five RBIs.

If we see Maroon in the playoffs, we will have to go back to the drawing board to figure out a way to counter the Steve Rousso defense.

Dark Green Emerges from the Forest, Clobbers Gold 24-14

Dark Green shook off pre-holiday messiness, and with a more complete squad today gave Gold a beat down at Pleasant Oaks Four, 24-14.

Green scored five runs in each of the first four innings - a feat last done in the last game against Gold on May 8th. In the first inning, Gold got two quick outs but then Green punched out five straight hits, punctuated by a Robert Douza three run homer that got us our first five. At one point across innings two through four, we batted the entire 13 player lineup with twelve hits around a walk without making an out. We ended up batting .744 as a team.

Douza later hit another home run, and even hobbled by a sore knee, they were good for six RBIs, and he was 3-3. Bill Jeha hit the other home run blast leading off the third, which I believe made it to the infield on Pleasant Oaks Field Two. Frank Coppa hit one to the dirt on Field One in the second, but stopped at second base as John Banker scored the fifth run.

Six players did not make an out, and the bottom half of Banker, Coppa, Jeff Kravin, JD Dills, Mike Howard, and Woody Whitlatch were collectively 12-14 plus four free passes. Jeff Olsen, Jeha, Douza and Whitlatch all contributed three hits.

SS Jeha and 3B-Rover Douza made some nice plays but the defensive player of the game was Dick Stanley, who with his sore rotator may have found a new home at second base. He cut down a number of players who hit the ball hard to the right side.

Dark Green has shown that when we have our whole team in attendance, we can compete with anyone. We hope to prove this the next two weeks against Maroon and Light Blue.

An alarming situation occurred when Gold's Rico Evaristo went down unable to breathe at home after scoring from second on a base hit. He took many minutes before he could get up. He has some health issues, and his fellow Creakers on both sides of the field were plenty worried the rest of the game. Editorial opinion, I am speaking for myself but maybe for others too - with his issues, he should have let his team call 9-1-1 to summon medical personnel to the field to help and diagnose his condition, and get perhaps essential treatment. As it was the game was delayed some 27 minutes and both teams decided to play only seven innings as the temperature was rising rapidly - we didn't need any more players felled by heat stroke.

Team Dark Green wishes Rico good health and recovery going forward from whatever it was.

It's Not All About You

Let it be said that when heffe goes 4-4, the Raiders are undefeated. In fact when heffe gets 4 hits, the Raiders don't lose. The last time was when he went 4-6 and the Raiders upset the Outlaws early in the season. If only his teammates could have gotten on base in front of him, he could have had oh, say 10 RBIs today. But he didn't as he led off twice, and David DeCarli drove in all the runners that were on when he was up in front of heffe. In fact heffe didn't have one single RBI. But still, one can dream.

In fact, this is not all about heffe. There were other players on the field for the tough luck this season Raiders. And here goes the story. The Warriors scored five times in the first. In Walnut Creek, we call that the Curse of the First, and it was today. They scored single runs in the third and fourth, and that was it for them. Lee Shreiner and the stout Raider defense (today) shut them out the rest of the way, five straight zeroes. There were many individual plays - the outfield, Cary Mitsuyoshi running a long way in the fourth and snagging a hard hit liner in the seventh, Randy Cobb and Don Devencenzi making tough catches. Third baseman Ray Oducayen having an inning in the fifth when the Warriors had the bases loaded making two straight outs to prevent a run from scoring. Pat Keisling making a couple of plays at second and Max Martin rolling around on the ground there to knock a ball down and flipping to second for the out. And finally, David Gerds starting a SS-R-1B double play in the sixth.

On offense, it was a small ball game (and I am not talking about the ball Gidget Blaquera knocked around for three hits). Of course Jeff Kravin had the only perfect day going 4-4. Gerds did his thing and had three doubles, and they were the only extra base hits we had. But when we got runners on we scored them, including a nice two out three run rally in the sixth and five run innings in the fifth and seventh to put the game essentially out of reach. All in all, Mitzuyoshi, Gerds, Jay Sankey, Blaquera, Devencenzi and Shreiner contributed three hits apiece. A great team game that just makes you think what coulda been.