Bottoms Up!

If you look at the stats, you may notice that at the top are Marty and myself, the two August 2nd birthday boys. Now in my case it may be a fluke; Marty is a legit power and average hitter. But the point is that today we sat out with various ailments, threw down the gauntlet and challenged the team to win one for the Leos!

And the Black Shirts responded with a game that was not completely perfect, but was nonetheless a complete game - clutch hitting, clutch pitching, and some very good defense.

Have a game David in the three hole! Five for five, two doubles, a triple, and SEVEN RBIs. And behind him Mike with four for five, two doubles and six RBIs.

But look closer - there were base runners all over the place for those guys. And look at who they were: Brian (2-4, BB) and Dan (4-5), of course, batting one and two, but beyond that Sandy and Chuck were 8-8 between them in the last two spots in the order. Bottoms up! Bottoms on! Bottoms score! And when Steve S wasn't battering himself in the base path to first he was right there in front of them: Three of our four five run innings were started by Steve or Sandy and Brian came up with two or three runners on and no outs.

Now that's a formula for success.

In the mean time there were some very, uh, entertaining plays. Steve S getting out of the box and running into the ball took some real talent. Steve is always entertaining. And on the other end, in the fourth, Johnny G, blinded by the bright sun in left, stuck his glove hand out to where he thought the ball was, turned his head away, and plunk! right there in the pocket. Just like his coaches taught him!

And finally the old 10 (Dave R in right) to 11 (Helen at rover) to 2 (Sandy catching) to 5 (Mike at 3B) putout to get the last out in the second inning. It was almost an afterthought that Team Four scored two on the hit.

David also caught a blast to left center in the sun, also in the second. Steve R made a sliding catch in the same position in the third. Jerry stood tall to snare a line drive to first that no one else in the team could possibly reach to end that inning. On a grounder in the fifth, the throw to get a force at second was off line and Helen alertly came off the bag and managed to tag the runner. In the sixth, David (SS) and Sandy at first made back to back plays with Sandy stretched out to get the close throw. And finally, Helen made a fine play to nail the speedy Doug Hearth in the eighth to keep Team Four from a big comeback inning with the Heart(h) of their lineup up.

We jumped out to a lead, (10-5 after two), withstood their comeback (12-12 after five), and then shut them down (one run in the 6th, 7th, and 8th) while pouring it on with five run innings in the sixth and eighth. Now that's the formula of victory, 22-16!

Bottoms up!

The Bar is Higher!

The Steves, Kenji, Johnny G, and Alan - that's some serious pop and defensive prowess. Team Black Shirts showed up Tuesday with those major pieces missing, just 11 players with no rest in sight.

Granted Team Four was also missing a boatload of players (they had but 10), but Team BS put on a clinic of every player stepping up to fill the void. We came out on top 20-7 and Team Four Flip Flopped twice, so we scored those 20 runs in only seven innings.

It started with Marty Parenti, who threw a nine inning gem. He had as many Ks as the Warrior core has Rings. I don't think I have ever been on a slow pitch softball field when four strikeouts were recorded by my pitcher, or any pitcher. Team Four did not score after the third inning. And along the way, Marty fielded two smashes up the middle from behind the screen to turn hot shots into easy outs. Not to mention he had a two run double mixed in with his three hits and is leading the team with an .867 batting average so far this season.

There was actually a contest for defensive player of the game. At the hot corner, Mike Saindon grabbed hard hit ball after hard hit ball, and turned them all into outs and twice getting double plays out of them.

That's because he had the other defensive wizard playing rover, Helen Kostoff, who has made the pivot into an artform and whose arm has just gotten stronger and more accurate over time (probably from her obsession as a senior disk golf champion). Between the three of them and the others, the infield was extremely crisp in this game.

The outfielders were no slouches either. Brian Black, in particular, caught one ball that was directly in that impossible morning sun in left field.

On offense, Dan May was a perfect 5-5 with two doubles, and Brian was 4-5 but scored all five times he was up. Talk about table setters at the top of the lineup! David Peterson was right behind them and had four hits, and led the team with four RBIs. Coach Dave Rose was also perfect at 4-4 and a walk. Heffe, Marty, Jerry, and Sandy all had a trio of hits, and everyone in the lineup had at least two.

All in all a nearly perfect game on a beautiful day. The missing players will be welcomed back, but beware that the bar has been set higher! And I am not talking schnapps! 

Power Outage

There was a power outage Monday night in Lafayette. It affected about 2000 customers, but only lasted about two hours. PG&E told us that it would last about four hours so we went out to dinner and happily came back to the lights already on. Then the lights went out again, but just for an hour or so. We crossed our fingers and toes that there was no third time.

Likewise there was a power outage last Saturday in Orinda, followed by another one Sunday morning, and each also lasted about two hours. Unfortunately, they only affected one customer, and their name was the Coneheads, and the outage area was just one dugout on the field. Seven runs Saturday afternoon and four Sunday morning. Not going to do it. After scoring 51 runs in the first two games of the tournament, we just went cold on a hot day and the day after.

The Coneheads have won many of these deals, so we know what it tastes like. We started the season thinking this would be our farewell tour. And then we scored 52 runs in the opening night doubleheader, and started out 5-0. We came down a notch the rest of the season, but managed to get in on the four way tie for first (three seed) with the three other serious contenders - old rivals the Old Scouts and Cal Broncos, and the new Bushwood youngsters.

At one point it looked like our prospects were grim for the playoffs. Charlie got hurt, Gene was going to be in Hawaii, Randy of course couldn't be on two teams, Raul and Derek were supposedly playing in other tournaments.

But reinforcements were on the way. Nic came back from a 15 year absence. Derek and Raul decided to stick with us. And then Raul brought the new secret weapon, Freddi, who started blasting shots all over the fields.

We were strong. The Broncos did us a favor by losing what was really the only upset of the tournament to Old Spice, and so we made mincemeat of St. Mo's and the Spice, 28-5 and 23-6 on the poor Orinda Sports Fields. It was time to get up to the Wilder fields and continue the journey.

And then - silence. No one can explain how all the sudden a team can go flat like that. Were we tired from all the running around in the first games? I doubt it, that should just give us momentum. Was a bad call or two really enough to knock us down and then out? I don't think so. It is one of the mysteries of this game, why does everything fall into place like it did for the Old Scouts in the championship game, and why do you sometimes fall hard off the pedestal like we did (and Cal Bronco did even harder). There is no explaining it. Which is why we keep coming back to play one more time.

There was poetic justice with Chauncey being named Mr. Conehead. He has been there throughout what may or may not be our swan song. And while he doesn't fit all the criteria (yes there is an official list of qualities), he certainly fills these:

Mr. Conehead Criteria
-Been on the team a while
-Comes to play everyday on both sides (O&D)
-An inspiration to his teammates
-Fox Hole qualities
-Displays great sportsmanship

-Had major impact on teams success

Too many games on the weekend to go into highlights but being the last of the season, here are some season highlights:

Pope, another MVP season, led the team in nearly every offensive category. And on a personal note, with his double in the playoffs he finally passed me in career doubles, the last category in which I led the team.

Hazel, ironically, while being the the outgoing Mr. Conehead, had a career year, hitting .688 and leading the team in triples and near the top in every category. And playing wherever I put him on defense well.

Bruce, coming back after a hiatus to take care of his family, never missing a beat and solidifying our lineup in the middle and the defense up the middle.

Ol' G, coming back from surgery with a solid season, and giving me enough shit to at least somewhat balance how much I give out.

Derek, Nic, Lefty, and Chopper, showing up when we needed them most and performing at a high level.

Raul, giving us the strong shortstop on offense and defense we have needed since the retirement of Conehead Hall of Famer Chuck.

Darren and Gene, solid in the outfield and in the batter's box, and despite Covid battles, making most of the games.

Larry good as ever on the mound.

Charlie and David, along with Raul and Darren showing that 'over the hill Creakers' can still compete with the 40 years olds.

Chauncey, see above.

Randy, who I know secretly really wishes he could come over from the Old Scouts, even if they have won four of the last five of these tournaments. Watching him make the diving stop and getting the force out for the last out in the top of the seventh and then getting the double that nearly clinched the walkoff Old Scout win was really fun.

and finally, Freddi - what a start to a Conehead career! He single handedly gave us high hopes for the playoffs, even though ultimately it wasn't enough.

So the Last Hurrah Last Hurrah has come to an end. There was some sentiment (maybe even a groundswell) to just do it again next year. It's a long way off, but we could just call it LH Reprise. I'm ok with that. We'll see what next spring brings.

Oh and special thanks to Don Braden for showing up to the first games and proving that once a Conehead, it is for life (although I blame him for the power outage since we stopped hitting when he left).

Wait til next year?

Milestones:

8/13 Game 1:

Derek        20 gw (#5)

Haze         30 bb (#16)

Haze         30 2b (#23)

8/13 Game 2:

None

8/13 Game 3:

None

8/14:

Haze        150 g (#19)

I Blame The Warriors

On June 13th, the Warriors hosted the Celtics in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on their way to winning it all in Game 6 in Boston. Many members of Bushwood, the new upstart team in our league had tickets to the game and they just couldn't field a team. We took the forfeit.

I'm not saying we would have lost the game. We were riding high from our hot start the week before when we scored 52 runs in sweeping the opening night doubleheader. But if we had lost that game, we would have ended up fourth and safely residing in the Wilder fields for the duration of whatever playoff run we have in us this year, hopefully a long one.

And instead of tanking the game this week, we went out and walked off a very nice win over Old Spice, 14-13, and all but guaranteed ourselves a third place finish (very slight possibility for second or first) and the first two games at Orinda Sports Fields. So it goes.

I did my part, going o-fer including a double play. I don't know what is wrong with you guys.

Gene must have been bitter, missing the last couple of games with Covid and knowing he would miss the playoffs. So he excelled - he led the team going 3-3 and tying Bruce for the team lead with three RBIs, including a couple of knocks with two outs.

After taking a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the first on a single-double-triple-single sequence by Darren, Raul, Bruce and Ol' G, the Coneheads coasted as we are wont to do and let Old Spice scratch back to tie it at four through four innings. Dangerous territory as they put up six in the top of the fifth.

But that just woke up the sleepy Heads. Larry and Nic set us up with second and third with no outs, and after a sac fly and a groundout, we tallied seven more runs with two outs. It included three two out two run hits by Hazel (a double), Gene (single), and a bomb beyond dead center by Chauncey to finish the scoring. It gave us a precarious one run lead headed into the sixth.

Old Spice didn't give up but could only manage two in the sixth to take back a one run lead. The clock was running out - there were only three minutes left so the bottom half would be the last gasp. Larry and Nic again started the penultimate rally, and with two on and no outs and the top of the lineup up, you could feel it was over. Darren drew a walk to load the bases, Raul hit a laser single right in front of the left center fielder to tie it (there was no need to risk Nic getting thrown out at home with no outs, so he stopped at third), and Bruce settled it with a blast to center.

So I failed you. I mentioned it in dribs and drabs to some of you that we really wanted to lose the game, but the adrenaline took over and we played it like the Coneheads we are. As I said, if we had lost the game, we would have fallen to fourth place and had all the playoffs at Wilder. Now we will have to play at least two at in the bad dirt of OSF, and get to hear that lovely voice of Ump Lazio once again. Hopefully on the opposite field. Game on.

Milestones:

Bruce        10 gw (#14)

Bruce        20 3b (#21)

St. Mo 's Needs Mo' Prayers

St. Mo's was nineteen runs ahead of anyone in the league in runs scored going into last week. Derek came riding in on his white horse and fed them his assortment of fluff balls and corner strikes and the defense took care of the rest as the Coneheads won 9-4.

Right next to him was Freddi, our new youth movement, who promptly hit a three run home run his first time up. I have never seen someone deliberately put backspin on the ball like that and even though it was a line drive, it rose and rose until the left fielder just froze. Then he added a solo shot in his second at bat. His third time up, the left fielder was so deep that he slashed a line drive and the guy had no chance to hold him to one base.

I'm not gonna say he carried us but four of our nine RBIs? Our only extra bas hits? Welcome Freddi!

And welcome back Nick! He made a nice running catch in center field. Other defensive help for Derek included two DPs started by Raul, one was 6U-3 and one the traditional 6-4-3 with Ol' G as the pivot. G also made a nice snare of a line drive, and David deflected a hot corner hot shot to Raul who alertly fired to G for a force out in the sixth. And then to top it off D got a backward K to end the sixth.

Milestones:

Bruce        350 ab (#23)

Freddi       #1 and #2 hr, Pope watch out, only 152 more to catch you!

The Score Was 23-NINE, Don

I don't know why the other teams are always taking away runs from us, even while they are destroying us. The score was 23-NINE, Don. Jeez.

I won't bore anyone with much of a write-up for such a blow out. Just mention one on the hill and one on defense and offense:

Mark Narciso pitched excellently in his four innings. White is fearsome and hit well, but we gave them about six or eight extra outs in Mark's four innings while they were building their 13-2 lead. In that time, Mark struck out three of White's best hitters, including inducing a swing and miss from one.

And Tony Gorgone - what a specimen of a softball and a team player. Tony contacted me Sunday and asked if he could sit this one out as his legs were acting up. At that point it looked like we would have eleven or at most twelve players including him. I said we night need him, and he said ok as long as he could play third base or catcher where he wouldn't have to move much. I said sure. He made a fine stop of a smash off Joe Peterson's bat with the bases loaded and got the force out at home. Then it turned out that the best defensive alignment would include moving him to second base, and I asked him to do it. He did it willingly and it did tighten up our infield. Team player.

In the mean time, he went 3-4. He hit a bases loaded bases clearing single (only because he was hobbling) over the right fielder's head. Later he nearly duplicated that with a towering smash down the left field line but it was just foul. I want to be Tony when I grow up, if I ever do.

There Aught-a Be a Law

Monday night, the Coneheads made perhaps the best case argument that there ought to be two divisions in the Orinda Senior softball league as we shut out the hapless Usual Suspects, 30-aught. And it wasn't that close as guys were batting from the opposite side of the plate and playing out of position by the fourth inning.

And then we unleashed Chopper (on the hill) on the suspect Suspects in the seventh inning, and he tried his best to give up the shutout, but in the end the opposing pitcher got so frustrated waiting for a decent pitch to hit, that he lunged for ball four and grounded out weakly to end the game.

Really the game was over when Pope got the third single in a row to start the game and it was 1-0. But then we poured on another 15 runs in the first inning, and the rout was on. Pope hit his first of his two home runs in his second time up in the inning. Hew totaled six RBIs for the game. It was one of those Pope games - he led the teams with five hits. 

Raul, Chopper, G, and Gene had four hits, and a bunch had three. Lefty had a nice line drive to left hitting righty for the prize of best hit from the opposite side.

Really, it was all great high jinx but next week we find out how we measure up - The Old Scouts are coming to town, and Scout Coach Steve wouldn't let us share Randy on his birthday Monday. What is he thinking? Bring your Monday best.

Milestones:

7/11:

Pope          1200 ab (#5)

7/18:

Pope          850 rbi (#1)

Heffe         1800 ab (#2)

Heffe         500 g (#3)

Gene         700 h (#7)

Hazel        450 ab (#20)

Hazel        10 3b (#22)

Randy       30 2b (#22)

Randy       300 ab (#24)