Black Shirts Overcome the Purple People Eaters, 23-19

Team BS set a record today.

Helen Kostoff (with my assist) poured a record number of her whiskey/schnapps/OJ/bacon shots in the postgame celebration. Unfortunately the Guinness record people weren't there to count officially but I think it may ahve been north of 12 and was spread out over I swear half the bleacher front row. Bottoms up!

We had much to celebrate, because we survived some bad defense and kept the Purple Whitenecks at bay for a final score of 23-19. The game was close throughout, and Purple just wouldn't go away, tying it at 19 to end the eighth. Art Miner was the hitting star as he went 4-4 with two triples, and one of those started off our four run ninth that put the game away.

Purple still was not done, but with the tying run at the plate we turned a slick 6-4-3 (Dave DeWitt to Kostoff to Heffe) double play to end it.

Curt Wade continued his hot hitting, also going 4-4 with a double. Heffe (the usual 3-3 Dinkers) and Frank Coppa (2-2 plus two BBs) rounded out the perfect at the plate. Brian Black and David Peterson were 3-4 in the BS cause.

Miner made a couple of noteworthy catches as did DeWitt in RC and Darren Bobrosky in left. Coppa dug one out at first in the first, and DeWitt lunged to catch a line drive at SS in the third. But 3B Dan May owned the fourth - first he leapt high for a line shot ticketed for left field, then on the next play he cut off a shot toward the 5-6 hole and flung it to Rover Kostoff to get the second out.

I heard that winter will start in earnest next week as it is supposed to get colder, but we will try to stay hot. That's no BS.

Black Turns Blue Blue, 19-15

I am going to start with an apology. This is to Gary Tryhorn. I am sorry for what I am about to write. My past history calls me out to report the facts and the things that stand out though.

If you live long enough, maybe it is true that you do see everything. Things that you thought you would never see. And today we saw Gary hit a pop foul ball with two and a half strikes and it goes down as a strikeout.

As we know, Gary is an all world player, literally in the National Softball Hall of Fame, and if he has ever done that before I am sure in the thousands of games he has played, he can count those on one hand. Gary, after all, has better bat control than anyone I for one have ever seen. So we did get to see history today.

There was a game too. It was a back and forth affair with five lead changes. Early on, Team BS was missing on offense and had a few problems on defense. But we persevered.

In the first, even though we started with two outs Darren Bobrosky came up and smashed a ball that turned out to be our only home run of the game.

We gave up the lead in the second, but in the third with two outs and no one on, we hammered eight straight hits (with only one extra base hit, a double by David DeWitt), and when the dust cleared we had our five for a 7-5 lead.

Blue answered with five the next inning and the seesaw was on. In the fifth, Curt Wade hit the first of two RBI doubles and eventually we scratched back to 10-10 in the sixth, but Blue jumped out with four more. Not to be outclassed, we answered with a five run seventh. Leo Kay started it with a double and later Brian Black matched that. In between Heffe had a two run single and DeWitt cleaned it up with another one.

Starter and Closer Greg Mathers came back in and pretty much shut the Blues down. In the open inning we added four, punctuated  by Wade's two run two bagger.

As it was a Creaker game, we had to have controversy and in the bottom of the ninth there was a play by pitcher Mathers where he came from behind or not from behind the screen and the punishment was or wasn't a warning or the batter was or was not awarded first base, and the play stood or didn't stand, to make the last out. There was an argument and a rule look up and in the end the argument fizzled out when everyone decided this was getting in the way of the post game beverages. Game over.

The play of the game came in the seventh with Black on the mound. There was a short popup up the first base line with the bases loaded, and Black lunged to get it. He got a glove on it and it bounded into foul territory. Catcher/manager Dave Rose hustled over for it and raced back to the plate to get the third out and preserve our one run lead at the time.

DeWitt made a couple of nice running catches in right center. We turned one double play - 2B Steve Rousso to Rover Gerry Dasey to heffe digging it out of the dirt. Mathers went deep in the 3-4 hole on a grounder and 2B Sandy Camp and 1B Dasey made good plays to keep Blue from getting much of a rally going in the open ninth.

On offense no one was perfect but Black, DeWitt, Art Miner, Mathers, Rousso, and Roger Gawne led the way with three hits.

Just another day in Paradise, world events be damned!

ND Cuervo shows up, 21-8 Over Orange

Where to start in a game like this. We should start at the beginning but I will start at the end: Team Cuervo, the most schizophrenic team in the league, put it all together and won over Orange going away, 21-8, avenging two earlier defeats at Orange's hands.

But back to the beginning: It started with defense. SS Tom Sciarrino had perhaps his best game since joining Gold. In top of the first, he dove for a grounder for one out. Not sure if it was still in the first, but on a hot shot that 3B Andy Steinberg knocked down Sciarrino hustled to third base to take the throw to get the lead runner. Tom served notice to Orange - we were here to play on this day.

After dispatching Orange, Willie Hollis led off with a blast over the left fielder's head for a triple. Dan DeClercq drew a walk, and Dick Stanley drove in the first run. Up stepped Jay Edwards. Jay had missed the last three games playing Tom Sawyer on the Mississippi River. He had led the team in RBIs before he left. He deposited a line drive into right center and we jumped to a 3-0 lead. It's like he never left.

Orange came back to take a 5-3 lead after 3, but Woody Whitlatch came in to pitch, and shut them down for two innings. Woody pitched brilliantly, painting the inside corner on the Orange dead pull hitters and getting two strikeouts on foul balls.

Still it was a game as we stalled a little on offense. Then in the fourth consecutive hits by Kravin, DeClercq, Stanley, Charlie Uhlman, Edwards, and Helen Kostoff plated three. The last one sadly struck a base runner so the rally stalled at three runs. But it was a sign of things to come.

In the mean time, DeClercq made a running catch in right and then Stanley repeated an almost identical diving catch that he made last week. He's a beast.

In the fifth, the bottom of the order decided to take over the game. Whitlatch, Sciarrino, Chuck Howlett, Dale Browne, Donn King, Malia Frey, and Steve Bedrick (with an assist by Hollis at the top to finish it off) singled in succession as we scored five without an out being made. Eight straight hits.

Not to be outdone, Kravin started the next inning with a booming double over John Banker's head. Hits by DeClercq, Uhlman, Edwards, Steinberg, and Sciarrino and we had another five.

Well that just laid down the gauntlet for the bottom half of the order. Howlett, Browne, King, Frey, and Bedrick again had consecutive hits, and Hollis, Kravin and DeClercq added on to complete another five run inning without making an out.

So that's three innings, 20 for 25, including 13 hits in a row. Fifteen runs. Outstanding. All in all the top six were 16-19 but the bottom seven were each 2-3 and they drove in nine of the 21 runs.

In the mean time, Bedrick came back in to close it out and did not allow a run in the last three innings. Frey made a great running catch in right, and then Steinberg did his best Stanley impression, catching a ball in left just off his shoelaces, and easily doubled off the runner at second who had no idea how Andy caught that ball.

All that was left was Orange flip flopped after the seventh. Game over, 21-8.

If we can catch this magic in the playoffs, the rest of the league is on notice.

Power Outage, Gold Falls to Purple 15-14

PG&E has it out for me. Well, not just me, all of Central Lafayette, south of Mt. Diablo Blvd. Somehow if there is a small power outage in the area, it always strikes us. This is the second time in less than two weeks, and it wasn't even hot. I think it is a plot to get me to buy only 'smart' clocks that are connected to the Internet, so I won't have to reset them every time.

Similarly, Gold has been experiencing a power outage over the last several games. Although Dick Stanley did crush a blast to left for a triple and Chuck Howlett did hit the right center gap for two doubles. And Wille Hollis and Dale Browne also hit two baggers.

Even with our lack of power and falling behind 10-4 after 5, we scratched and clawed and fought our way back to tie it in the seventh and even take a one run lead into the bottom of the eighth. But then the game turned on one single at bat. After Purple tied it, a bases loaded two out walk brought in the lead run, and it opened up the door for a Mike Natali gap triple and suddenly the game flipped on its ear. We rallied in the ninth, but left the bases loaded with the tying run on third and the lead runners behind him, and that was all she wrote, whoever 'she' is.

No one can fault us for effort, as we have been playing without our power hitters so many games this season.

Howlett had a game, 3-3 with two doubles and team leading 4 RBIs. Also with three hits were Wille Hollis, Stanley, Charlie Uhlman, Woody Whitlatch swinging off one good leg, and Browne.

Web gems were turned in by Tom Sciarrino at SS (3) including starting a 6-11-3 double play, Andy Steinberg charging a dribbler at 3B, Howlett with his once a game at least gem, and heffe at 1B on a hot shot by Rick Evans. And finally Malia Frey made a great running catch in right field in her Gold debut. Welcome Malia!

Before getting to the game...

There is a point to this story but only the brave or bored will read down...

I had to sit out last week's games because of the following facts:

1. I like to cook.

2. I don't like to cut my finger.

But somehow they don't go together. I sliced an onion AND my finger a week ago Monday night. I went to emergency; it was a pretty deep cut. I did not try the Ronnie Lott method of wounded fingertip athletic treatment. The ER doc decided I did not need stitches and glued it shut. He said don't play until it is stable. Whatever that means.

Tuesday morning I decided that meant I was alive and breathing. I decided to gut it out, it was just a little weepy. I wrapped it up and took BP - no problem. I decided that I will just catch the ball in the pocket and I will be fine. Well, the first ball is a grounder to SS and the fielder has to fire it hard to get the runner. It came in low and I did not have time to get it in the pocket and of course it struck me through the leather right on the fourth finger, the one in question, slightly breaking the cut open again.

I took this as a sign ("You DORK" the sign said). so I skipped the rest of the week's games. After wrapping up it poorly earlier this week, I finally got to the pharmacy yesterday to get the right tape and bandage material.

And then I saw it - a box of "Finger Cots". And there on the box is a picture of what could be my hand and a finger with this rubber or plastic covering on it, and it says "...perfect for abrasions and cuts, temporarily helps to protect fingers while healing"

Well Golly! Great!

But here's the thing. As I rolled it over my finger this morning, I thought, why is this called a finger "cot". Where I am from, a cot is something you sleep on, perhaps at camp, or perhaps when your parents are too cheap to get the kids a separate room, so they get a rollaway cot.

Why not call it what it is: a finger CONDOM, or rubber, or if you prefer a prophylactic. Depending on how well you know me.

But all of you who were on the field with me this morning, rejoice in the fact that I was wearing protection and you were all safe!

I do have to add a humorous side story. My partner Julia has been out of country for six weeks, so I had to deal with it on my own. I grabbed some ice, and threw it in a ziploc bag so it would stanch the bleeding and I wouldn't get blood all over the car, and managed to drive to ER this way. When I got there luckily there was no one in line, I went to the receptionist and told her that I cut my finger and I threw it in a bag of ice. The next thing I know all the RNs and Interns are running around yelling "Amputation, Amputation!" I got into triage real quick, before I could tell them I didn't mean the WHOLE FINGER. Now you know how to get their attention!

A Star in the Middle of the Gold Meltdown

It's pretty tough to write up a game when your team doesn't perform to their talent and desire to play well.

I wanted to skip telling about how we hit into three double plays etc.

So I won't. Anymore than that.

However, I do want to recognize a player that played well. Dick Stanley, gardener extraordinaire, has been our most consistent player all season. And he does it quietly. He's hitting .765 and has a team leading 26 RBIs in 11 games.

Oh sure, Andy Steinberg had a very good game at 3B. And each of the other outfielders, Charlie Uhlman, Willie Hollis and Dan DeClercq made fine running catches.

But, Dick made perhaps the catch of the year Thursday. He came sprinting in on a sinking line drive and just like a 25 year old professional went tumbling to the ground and came up with the ball in his glove. I couldn't believe it.

Oh and by the way, with Helen Kostoff, they were the only Cuervo players with three hits on a day when we hit .467 as a team.

If we all gave the effort Dick does, who knows?

The Stars Aligned, and There Was No Gold (Navy 17-9)

Sometimes the baseball gods are just too cruel. Twenty four hours before game time, we were supposed to have 13 players available. Yeah we would be without our power hitter Jim Alexander and also Andy Steinberg, who has been a tough out lately, but 13 was manageable.

Within those 24 hours, I heard from three players. One player informed me that he had had minor surgery in two places, and wasn't sure he would be able to run today, since one was on his foot. A second player's wife, returning from vacation had a medical emergency and was in the ER in Reno. At game time today he was on a train through the Sierra to go rescue her. Luckily it is not life threatening and she will be all right. And to top it off at 2:30 am I heard that our primary SS had the flu, He was going to try to gut it out but it was just not possible.

No excuses, even though I just named a few! And I won't even mention one aching hamstring and one Achilles and the player recovering from Covid.

No Excuses! Shut Up!

We decided we would just go out and have some fun. That's what senior softball is all about right?

And so we did. We started out close, but then gave up two five run innings, and fell behind 12-1. We came back a little and had it at 12-7 but then withered, and eventually went down 17-9 in a heat shortened seven inning affair.

Chuck Howlett manning the hot corner had one inning where he stopped three shots ticketed for the left field line. LF Dan DeClercq and LC Willie Hollis tracked down tough chances, but the play of the game was an all out dive by RC Dick Stanley, sore foot and all. The ball never touched the green grass.

Hollis was hot, going 5-5, Pitcher Steve Bedrick 4-4. The Coach, DeClercq, Stanley, and Dale Browne chipped in three hits each.

I am just left wondering what kind of damage this team could actually do if we all showed up in the same game. Hopefully in the playoffs.