The Devils Made Us Do It To Them On VD, 22-3

The Crows did not play to our capabilities last game way back last century, er I mean last month, and it left us with a bad taste in our mouths while we endured three rainouts.

And then the Devil showed up in the bodies of El Diablos. They should have stayed home as we smoked them 22-3. We scored the five maximum three times including once with no outs. And we flip flopped, so the score wasn't as close as that.

I was going to lead with our stellar defense and pitching. And then I entered the stats and realized what a tremendous hitting day we had as well. The top seven in the lineup hit .815 with a slugging percentage of 1.370. Dave B had another monster day, with two HRs and six RBIs to lead the team. Barry and Lee each hit a big bomb as well. Lamont hit one to the fence in left in the first but seemed to protect his legs and settle for a two run double that gave us the lead for good after four batters. Likewise Clay smashed one to left but in admiring it missed first base and had to go back, so only made it to second for a double. Randy, Barry, and Lee had perfect 4-4 games. Three others had three hits.

Mark and Ed had rough days at the plate but each provided excellent contributions on the other side of the game. Ed, who did draw two walks, merely shut out the Diablos in his four innings on the mound to close the game. This is slow pitch softball and the Diablos do have some good hitters, so no mean feat.

Mark had one of those innings in the fifth playing third base. He ranged to his left for a shot in the 5-6 hole and managed a quick throw to nail the runner at first. Don D made a nice backhanded catch to complete the play. Then Mark snared a high line drive to end the inning.

Clay and Dave B made excellent catches on the left side of the outfield in the seventh. But the play of the day was an excellent running robbery by the league's best, Anthony, in RC in the third. He caught it on the run, then wheeled around and off balance fired a bullet to Lamont at second base to double up the runner, who had the audacity to wander off the bag about three steps and had no chance to get back in time. Highlight reel.

Not the toughest opponent but a very solid win all around. And we got Howard back, who didn't seem to miss a beat on the mound and even got two hits left handed protecting his right shoulder. It was also nice to have the Batman Steve join us for a game, and he jumped out with a couple of hits.

I mentioned everyone but Charlie. All he did was get a couple of hits, a couple of RBIs, and drew a walk and played flawless defense playing four positions. Ho hum for Charlie, just another day at the office.

We keep playing like this we will reclaim first place in a couple of weeks.

Crows Muddied 19-12

If I close my eyes real tight, I can just wish away the last game and just write about the game I skipped journaling on January 3rd, when we smashed the Wolfpack 17-5. Homers by Lamont, Barry, and Mark, triples by Randy, Mark and Dave B, four RBIs by Lamont, good defense and pitching, solid game avenging our only blemish to that point, that tie the first time through the teams.

But then the nightmare begins. I see us scoring ten runs in the first two innings to take a 10-1 lead. And me coming up with Mark on first in the third inning, and hitting into the first of two double plays. I know it's not about me, win as a team lose as a team, but from that moment on, bad hitting spread like wildfire. They say hitting is contagious, and so is slumping. And slump we did the rest of the game - shut out in six of the last seven innings as we only scored two more runs the rest of the game. Even the DPs were contagious - we hit into four all together. In the end the Mudcats buried us 19-12.

There were bright spots. Randy started the game with a 'mini-cycle' his first three times up - a triple, single and a double. Dave B and Clay each had two run hits in our five run innings. Mark joined Randy and Clay with three hit games.

Mark also had an outstanding game in the field. He made a couple of nice stops at third base and then the good fielding followed him when he moved to shortstop the rest of the game. He snagged one ball deep in the 5-6 hole for one out and then leaped for a line shot for the third out in the sixth. Heffe did bail him out a couple of times picking low throws.

But the play of the game, and maybe the season, was when Anthony caught a fly to deep right center in the first. The runner on first dared to lumber toward second base thinking he could score if Anthony couldn't track it down. Off balance, not only did he catch it, but Anthony fired to the infield, and even though it was about a 19 hopper, it was perfectly on line, and the runner was out by a step trying to get back to first.

Now the rationalization begins. We probably weren't going to go undefeated - that is a tough task in any league. And let's face it - it's all about the remaining games against the Hornets. But the new winning streak begins next week against Leo's, who, incidentally were shut out by the Wolfpack this week.

Now Don't Go Contaminating The Field!

 They say things happen in threes (who says?). Sadly, there have been three things for the BS Team that have come together.

1. A month off due to a rainout, the holidays, a bye, and
2. Finally, when it’s time to play, another rainout, and
3. I have none of your antics, er I mean heroics to write about.

The upshot us you (voluntarily, up to you of course) may read on for yet another of my longwinded stories.

David inspired it with his tale of the City’s attitude toward the fields, so here goes:

In the ancient days of the last century, as I am sure I told many of you, my original team, the Lyons, practiced at Rudgear. We practiced every Thursday from about 1982-1997, from early spring to late September when it would get dark too early. We had a deal with the City of Walnut Creek, whereby we could reserve the field every week for free, but had to come to the office two weeks in advance to sign up in case they wanted to give it to the Little League or whatnot group that was more important than us (i.e. they paid). They gave us access to the water in the shed (although for some reason we had to supply the hose and the connector), and we built a drag out of two by fours and chicken wire which we scraped around the infield (it is still behind the third base dugout down the hill 40 years later). The field was pristine due to our efforts.

Along the way, each year we would like to have an early spring practice to start the year. But at times in non-drought years, the field was too wet. So, we made the practice earlier and earlier to make sure we got one in, until somehow, we started having practice on Super Bowl Sunday. This was of course during the Montana-Rice years, and it was all the better to then go to one of our houses after practice to watch the game. Fun times.

This one year, the field was in terrible shape. But by then we were experienced manicurists, and had our rakes and shovels and we got to work. There were great puddles at shortstop and on the first base side and it seemed hopeless but that didn’t stop us. We started to move the mud around and got out the drag, and then one of our guys had the brilliant idea to shovel off some dirt from against the fence on the third base side and dump it in the lake at SS. He had a lot of enthusiasm but didn’t really think things through necessarily and he went to work. It was seemingly successful and we had a great practice.

Well, a couple weeks passed and it was time to hold another practice, this time on our regular Thursday time slot. So, I called up Leo in the Rec Department to make sure we still had the deal. He said, “We can’t rent you the field.” I said, “Why not?” (curious because we technically weren’t renting the field). He said that we “contaminated” the field. Well, I had no memory of spraying any foreign substance on the field at Rudgear. And said so. We LOVED that field. I would not want to harm it. He said, “You spread weeds all over the infield.” So, Eric (who we called O.Z.) in his enthusiasm wasn’t all that careful about what he was digging along the side to put into Lake Shortstop.

Ironically, there were weeds all over the infield every year at the beginning and we were the ones that turned it over by spring time to get rid of them. It took some time but to the City’s credit, they eventually forgave us and let us continue to use the field for free for the remaining years we played together.

We still get together every year for the Super Bowl. I am the only one left still on the field, however. We used to gather for a toast at Rudgear before the game but that ritual has faded as the years pass by. But sometime during the day, someone will invariably say, “Now don’t go contaminating the field!”

Not the Best is Good Enough

They say (who knows who they are) a good team will scratch out a win when they do not play their best. Yesterday's game is living proof of that. Leo's would have liked nothing better than beating us to get into the pennant race while we were off but succumbed to some timely hitting, generally good defense and very good pitching to fall 13-8 to the Crows.

Several of us had off games at the plate as we hit almost a hundred points below our previous season low. But Anthony, Charlie, and Lamont with assists from Clay, Ed and Dandy Don D carried us to victory. Anthony was 4-4  and scored every time up. After we let them take a first inning 4-1 lead, Clay hit a two run blast to get us close in the second, and then Charlie hit the Big Bombiggedy Grand Slam in the third to give us the lead for good. LT followed with a solo shot down the left field line, and later added a two run ninth inning triple that gave us the breathing room we needed heading into the bottom of the last. In the middle Ed had a run scoring triple and Don D started our game winning rally with a double.

With the exception of two dropped third out fly balls by unnamed fielders, we played a really good defensive game. Charlie made a nice catch in left field, and he and Ed made a couple of stops at the bump. And the two of them kept Leo's from getting comfortable at the plate all game.

Good to get the win against a decent team, but we will need to step it up next week against the Hornets in Battle Deuce for first place. The weather forecast does not look good but we'll see.

Another Tuesday, Another BS Win

The SF Forty Niners appear to be by far the most talented team in the NFL this year. Even after a midseason slump when they lost three in a row, they have taken their rightful spot atop the conference standings for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They are currently considered the team with the best chance to win it all this year.

Likewise Team BS sits atop the non-existent standings in the Creaker Winter League. It could be argued that we have the most talented team in the league. It could also be argued that our talent is no better than some or all of the other teams, but we have players that show up, which has been a problem for at least a couple of the other teams. Plus personally I think we have better chemistry. My new mantra - better softball through chemistry.

We were shut out in the first but roared back with 14 runs in the second through fourth, and the outcome was never in doubt, despite giving up a nine run seventh to temporarily allow Team Gray back into the game at 21-16. The final tally was 25-16.

It didn't help that Gray's second and third pitchers walked five in those three innings. Even though it is slow pitch softball, good teams take advantage of the free pass - it is called being unselfish, let the next man or woman be the hero with an additional baserunner to try to get home and runners moved up. Case in point, in the third, Darren Bobrosky took a bases loaded walk and Art Miner followed with a bases clearing triple.

David Peterson was the hero in those innings with two two run doubles, and Leo Kay closed out the second with a two run single, as we scored five with no outs. In the seventh we again plated five, this time with seven straight hits with one out, the big blow again delivered by who else, Miner with a two run triple. It was a good thing too, as Gray followed with their nine run inning which drew them temporarily close.

We salted away the game with four runs added on in the eighth, featuring clutch two run hits by Kay and Captain Dave Rose.

There were several defensive plays of note. Miner fired a bullet to rover Gerry Dasey to nail a runner at second on a clean 'hit' in the second. 2B Curt Wade got dirty to corral a grounder and flipped to second for the third out in the fourth. Dave DeWitt stopped a rocket off the bat of the new Creaker Glen Shipley and fired to first in the fifth, and his partner in crime 2B Sandy Camp followed with a nice stop for the subsequent out. In the sixth, Dasey made a nice stop on a ball up the middle, and Camp caught a liner in right field to keep Gray scoreless that inning.

The other theme of the game was that Gray's baserunning and third base coaching kept gifting us outs. The game highlight play occurred when a runner ill advisedly tested 2B and cutoff Wade's arm on a hit to right. Curt fired to third to get the guy by two steps. And of course followed that up by snaring a line drive to his right for the last out.

Miner of course led us with six RBIs on three hits, but Kay was right behind with five also on three hits. Peterson was a perfect 4-4 and leadoff batter Brian Black also had four hits. Dan May was welcomed back (even though he nearly suffered the same hand injury on an identical ball hit his way at 3b) with his three hits, and Camp broke out of her slump with three hits as well.

One more to go to close out the 2023 part of the schedule undefeated!

The Crows Muddy the Cats, 18-8

Check out this sequence. $5 to the one who can tell me what it is:

0,1,0,2,1,3,2.

No, it is not a complicated Fibonacci sequence. No, it is not a sophisticated combination to code state secrets. As far as I know, it has never appeared in a puzzle book.

Do you give up? It is the number of strikeouts we have had in our first seven games. Good to see we got our quota Wednesday, Charlie joining the ranks of the whiffers and Clay tying Mark for first place with two for the season so far. This race is more exciting than watching the other teams flailing at trying to score runs against us after the third inning. Still in site (no jinx), the first team in slow pitch softball history to win a title averaging more than 1 K per game (1.29 right now).

We toyed with the Mudcats, letting take a brief lead 4-3 in the first after Barry hit a three run absolute bomb in the top half. The next homer, a slicing gapper to right center leading off the third by Dave B put us up again but it wasn't until the fifth that we went ahead to stay. It again was started by Barry with another gapper, this time for a triple, and it was punctuated by my slice down the third base line past an old man who couldn't bend over to make it 9-7.

The Mudcats were having trouble throwing strikes - both pitchers, and we are the kind of patient hitters to take advantage, well, some of us. In the decisive sixth, three of four of our walks scored. But in between there was a two run triple by Randy, a backward K to Charlie, and a two run double by Dave B. We never looked back, although we also added on with a four spot in the eighth on six singles.

Clay had a couple of nice catches including racing out after being initially fooled by a blast in the middle innings when it was still close. Charlie had a number of nice plays as a last minute replacement for the missing Lee at SS.

But the defensive player of the game was the venerable Don Clay on the mound. It was I think the third or fourth inning. He speared a hot shot line drive going at his head, which completely messed up the runner at first, who had taken off instantly knowing the ball was headed to the center field gap. He hadn't even stopped to turn around when Don got the ball to first. After that, I told him he could tie a major league record making all three outs, and sure enough he induced a dribbler off the mound, that he pounced on like the proverbial cat, and tossed to me at first for the last out. Technically, a putout and two assists, but who's counting.

Randy and Dave B led the way with four hits, and Barry and Dave split the RBI honors with five apiece.

Next up is Leo's, who aren't dead yet. They came from behind to beat the Wolfpack on the other field. My sources tell me the Pack were ahead until the ninth inning when one of my former teammates made an egregious error to open the floodgates. Let's be like the 49ers and just take them one at a time. It's worked pretty well so far!

Black Blasts Purple in the Heart, 24-16

There are several story lines to Team BS' 24-16 victory over Purple Tuesday. The game started with Purple missing four of their top hitters including a couple of starting outfielders. We could hardly tell because of the thick fog - who could see who was out there?

After a shutdown top of the first, Brian Black made them pay on the leadoff Black Shirt AB. He sent a ball over the left fielder for a round tripper, and the race was on (in his second AB, Black hit a triple, causing this writer to wonder if anyone had ever hit for the cycle in reverse order).

The first half could be called the Roger Gawne Game. He came up in the third and the fifth with three runs already in, and sent all four remaining runs home with a single and a double. He also started a 5-11-3 double play in the second that Gerry Dasey at rover was in the middle of and yours truly picked the quick throw out of the dirt.

The score was but 8-6 after Purple put up six in the fourth, and then Black (the pitcher) got a strike three looking. And this welcomed in the Sandy Camp Show. In the sixth Camp moved to rover and turned a rover unassisted to first double play. She moved to catcher in the seventh, and snared a foul tip just over the batter's head for one out and then received a throw from the outfield from Art Miner to SS Steve Rousso to home to nail a would be scorer. In the next inning she moved to first base and finished the run off by corralling a foul pop up. The curtain was dropping on Team Purple.

This was because Team Black Shirts put up five spots in the fifth, seventh, and eighth. In the fifth it was the top of the order, Black, Dave DeWitt, Darren Bobrosky, Miner, and Dasey with consecutive hits. In the seventh, the big blow was a Miner home run, and in the eighth it was doubles by Curt Wade, Greg Mathers, Rousso, and Leo Kay. Kay also had a home run and tied Gawne with a team leading four RBIs.

Purple made a valiant rally in the ninth, putting up a touchdown to close to the final score but it came up short by another touchdown and a two point conversion. All in all, three BS players had four hits and six more had three and everyone had at least one.