Blackeyed Mudcat

Now that is more like it. Today we beat one of the teams we are supposed to defeat in our quest for glory this season. We trounced Mudcat Black 20-9 and it wasn't that close.

Something weird was up though. When two of our three extra base hits were doubles by Heffe and Frank, something is up. But you look at the rest of our lineup - everyone was hitting. We hit .673 as a team. Every single batter got at least one hit, and three were produced by Al, Mike, Heffe, JP, and Dave R. The latter has been hitting line drives all over the place for weeks and until today many seemed to be right at gloves. In his return, JP hit like he should always take a few weeks off mid-season.

We had some outstanding plays, especially on the infield. Mike turned an excellent third unassisted to first double play in the second. Wilbur replicated the feat at second base in the sixth (tag out, throw to first). Les made a fabulous stop on a ball to his right at rover, and wheeled and fired to Wilbur at second for the third out in the fifth. Throw in one K by Al, and a few good running catches in the outfield and we had a good day on defense.

There was even a miracle play. JP caught a popup at second that was right in the late arriving sun in the seventh.

Play like this and we can compete with any team in the league. Even Vintage.

Dr. Wolf and Mr. Pack

Last week, the Dr. Wolf played a relatively flawless game, and beat the vaunted Hornets 16-11. Al was at his best and kept that lineup reaching and off balance.

We built a 13-3 lead after five innings. It was never comfortable - the Hornets are capable of breaking out for 10 runs at the drop of a hat. But we held them to one late rally - six runs in the eighth - and after adding three more in the seventh and eighth held them scoreless in the ninth.

The defense was solid all game long. Highlights included a great running catch in right center by David P, and another going back by fill-in Chuck. Heffe had a good game at first - he snagged a hot hot line drive by Tommy Stone, although it may have been self-preservation as much as anything, and stretched for a one hop throw to get an out.

The offense was balanced - three hits by Al, Paul, David, John L, Dave R., and Wilbur. Lee L had a monster home run. The key was how focused we were - perhaps because of the challenge of playing the Hornets. They have not lost to anyone else and we have not lost to them yet this season.

This week the Mr. Hyde emerged. We were unfocused on defense and at the plate and on the bases. Sure the bad 'homer' calls by Vintage contributed - but that would just be an excuse - we should beat them by plenty.

As it was the inner Pack rat emerged, and mistakes and lack of timely hitting doomed us, and we lost 17-14. We found ourselves down 16-7 going into the bottom of the seventh. We rallied, especially in a four run ninth, but it was too late.

The only defensive highlights I remember were a couple of nice catches by David P in right center and Wilbur had a one man show in one of the late innings, getting all three outs. Al had a tough time on the mound, getting hit twice, but also made some fine knock down get em out plays on balls headed to center field.

Al was perfect at the plate, going 3-3 with two walks. Joining him with three hits were Doug, Mike, Lee L, and Frank. Heffe had two and two walks. Doug had our only long ball, a two run shot in the seventh.

Next week we need to regain our focus and beat the lowly Mudcats. They are winless this year but they just took a one run loss to the Hornets, 18-17. The lesson for the week is anyone can beat anyone if you give them the chance.

The Winds of Victory

Amidst at times a strong swirling wind, the WolfPack ultimately ran away with our third victory over the vintage Vintage team, 15-6.

Kudos to Al Oxley for throwing strikes in the howling wind - it takes a control artist to do that. His mix together with our increasingly good defense kept Vintage from being much of a threat all game.

Our bats were largely silent as well through the first seven innings. In the second, we managed to string together six of seven hitters with singles, and plated three to take a 3-2 lead. And after Vintage went a run ahead, in the fifth on a wild fielder's choice by Wilbur Williams, we scored two runs and never trailed again.

But the game remained close until the top of the eighth (6-5). Dave Rose and JP at the bottom of the lineup started things out with singles. Oxley and Doug Ichikura brought them home with base hits but the big blow was Mike Harris' ensuing triple on the gap. David Partridge brought him home and we had the first five run inning of the game.

Vintage was done at that point as the score was 11-5. They managed one in the eighth, but we weren't finished. In the ninth, Lee Hubbard smashed a two run homer and we added two more to get to the final score of 15-6.

Early on, there was a great catch in left in the twisting wind by Hubbard, and Frank Coppa pulled down a tough pop up at the fence by third base foul ground. Somehow I don't have notes of other great plays, but I do know that in one of my innings out, JP generously gave out loads of comic relief playing first base. I do believe he stumbled more than once fielding and catching the ball, and did his darndest to give away some free bases but managed to get the out each time.

We ended the first go-around 3-1-1, by far the best start in our short history. We are starting to gel. There are no superstars, and that's a good thing, I think.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and let's keep it going when we get back to it! We should all have more power with the added weight from the holiday, even if we are a step slower!

I Just Didn't Want to Kiss Ritt.

Wednesday's game could be looked at in about as many ways as there were at bats in the game.

On the one hand, we had so many chances to take over the momentum, and could have pulled off the upset. On the other hand so did the Hornets, and yet they never got that killer rally to put us away. They thought they did with a five run eighth for a 10-6 lead, but we roared back with four in the ninth and held them scoreless in the bottom half to preserve the 10-10 tie.

It's a testament to Billy's pitching and especially the defense up the middle - we turned numerous double plays either started by Doug at SS or Les at Rover. The Hornets are the powerhouse no matter how many times Leo's wins the league, and we kept them from winning in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game. We gifted them a lead off error base runner, and Doug promptly wiped him out with a double play. That's a win.

It also shows our new character - we weren't hitting a lick, and still managed to come away with the tie, and I didn't have to kiss Mike Rittenhouse, because lucky for me he is not my sister.

The sun was tough and Lee, and Paul and David all made nice catches staring up into it.

There were lots of o-fers and one-fers throughout the lineup but Doug also had a nice day at the plate. He hit a gap triple in the first (even though we stranded him). But the clutch hit was a thing of beauty in the ninth - a line drive into right center that plated our first run in the game tying rally in the open inning.

The others with three hits were Chris and Heffe. Paul had two and a walk, and David had an important two run single in the second to get our scoring started. Every run counted in this game. Billy had an RBI monster shot to right center, but he was hobbling, so he stopped at second.

A win next week against Vintage would mean a 3-1-1 start the first time around the league. That would be the best start by far for this team. Let's do it!

Cheaper By the Dozen

In a league wide season high for runs, the Wolfpack downed the Crows 28-20 in dramatic fashion, scoring twelve runs in the top of the ninth, and shutting out the Crows in the bottom half to seal the victory.

The game was actually a pitchers' duel through the fourth, and we trailed 3-1 at that point. But things changed in the fifth.

Paul Lisi's two run, two out triple in that frame gave us our first lead at 4-3, and we were to put up 14 runs in the next three innings. But the Crows kept battling back and they tallied 12 over the same time frame.

The next big hit was David Partridge's three run bomb to deep left in the sixth, the major run producer in that five run inning. David had been battling bad luck through the first two games, and he broke out of it in a big way with a team leading five RBIs.

The next turn was John Look's three run smash the next time we came up. John showed up despite feeling fluish, and he was sweating profusely. What is the expression, "starve a cold, feed a fever?" Well now it's "starve a cold, feed a fever a three run homer."

Among others, I had four hits, including a key two run double in our ninth inning rally that changed a three run lead to five with two outs. But I am most proud of coaxing a walk from Don Clay to start the ninth - a true "and that's how it started" moment.

Because the deluge was on. Everyone played within themselves at the plate that inning. We had nine straight hits with two outs including back to back doubles by Heffe and John, followed by a triple by Chris Nielsen.

Doug Ichikura and Billy Warren led the way with five hits. Followed by Lisi, Kravin, Look and Nielsen with four. Everyone had at least two hits, and everyone drove in at least one run, and all but one scored at least one.

Finally, Al Oxley was lights out pitching. He knows all the hitters except their big guy who produced a prodigious bomb to center, and if it weren't for some key drops by our fielders, the Crows would have been held to far fewer runs. But we also made some plays on defense, especially a grab in right by Look on a slicing liner to the right field line that saved a couple of runs. And we turned at least one, maybe a couple of double plays on the infield, and Wilbur Williams made a great shoestring catch on a low liner.

All in all, a very exciting game where it felt good to come out on top. We play like this, we can compete for a title this season!

All We Are Is Dust In The Wind, One 23 - Four 12

I have had the good fortune to manage two amazing teams this year. Lots of talent and team-made breaks and some luck, and had hardly lost a game.

But today it all came crashing down and Team One wiped us all over the New Dirt Field Five 23-12. Way too much Raul and his Crew, and our unbeaten streak was over.

I had been due for new cleats for over a year and finally received them this weekend after ordering them online. Salomon Speed Cross 4 - the latest rage in all weather all surface softball shoes. I put them on this morning, and they fit like a glove, except they were on my feet. I was all psyched. Power shmower, who needs power when you've got Creaker ball on a crisp Tuesday morning?

And then we went out there and stunk it up. Now, I told the team, I have to burn them, because obviously that is why we lost.

Team One struck early and often with hits and gifts from us, We were down 8-2 after two, and our MO all season was coming back from early deficits. But not today, as our bats went mostly silent, or hit line drives right at someone, and our defense was leaky all day. Give One the credit though, their entire order hit and they caught everything hit to them in the field.

Tim Orr had three hits including our one highlight, a home run blast to deep left. Joining him with three hits were Randy Crase, John Huzokowski, Dan DeClercq, JP Preston, and yours truly.

Randy and Tim made tough catches in LF, and LC, respectively,  Heffe made a nice stop on a smash to his right at 1B, JP had a K, and we turned one DP from Huzokowski to Steve Sloat to Bill Hoffman. That was about it.

It was good that we were out there though with all that's been going on with PG&E. Some of our players still had no power (and I am not talking about their bats), and so it was a pleasant diversion for all.

Special thanks to the field crew who showed up early to get some dirt spread around on Field 5. And especially Greg Slausson, manning the tractor as usual, despite being currently in rehab after his surgery.

Finally, the ritual burning of the cleats will occur at a time and place TBD. Stay tuned.

A Bittersweet End

I turned to Joe in the dugout, I think it was in the fourth inning, and I said "We're going to win this in the bottom of the last inning."

And then the Hawks immediately turned an 8-7 lead into 11-7.

Our answer: In the fifth, we scored one. But we also had two strikeouts, looking, and an out by Chauncey trying to steal second base on a single. I'm sure I have never seen two K's standing there in an inning, so it is at least a team record. Hell, it's probably never happened in the history of slow pitch softball. So we have that.

Then the Hawks added on, and it was 14-8. Time running out. The sixth would be the last.

And a funny thing happened. All the bad breaks and our failings in losing three games by two or less runs were swept aside. A Conehead hit (for Johnny) started it, of course. Then consecutive singles by the Kid, Heffe (old school blooper over the third baseman's head), Haze, Larry, Randy, a sac fly by Sting, and more hits by D and Chopper, and there was Sting, running for D standing on second as the winning run. Up strode Lefty, who took a couple of pitches, patiently waiting for the right one. He stroked a hit toward the gap in right center. Sting had to wait to make sure it fell in, and the hesitation made a play at the plate possible. But the second baseman bobbled the cut-off and Reg scored easily. Game over, 15-14. Vintage Coneheads.

It was bittersweet because this was the real Coneheads. We are actually pretty good when we have all our guys. Yes, it doesn't help losing McKnight, Pope and Bruce in one year, and Ol' G going down to knee surgery certainly hurt us as much as his knee pained him. But what really stops us is not knowing who is going to show up from week to week. How many games were we missing major parts of the heart of our order?

It was like eating dark chocolate. They tell you it's better for you, and you enjoy that bittersweet taste, but what you really wanted was the creaminess of good milk chocolate, with maybe some nougat on the inside. We wanted to make the playoffs, because if we had our guys, you never know what we are capable of. Not in the playoffs seems just foreign to us.

Derek and Chopper were on fire, going 4-4 each. D even got to second on one screamer. The youth, Chance and Chaunce, each went deep with a triple.

Oh, and it was Sting and Lefty who took called third strikes. Talk about rebounding, they won the game for us.

Oh well, just wait until next year. Hope springs eternal in this game. We have a good line on some 'young' new players (just 40, the new young). Maybe next year everyone will show up, and I fully expect G to come back as good as ever, which is pretty good. And at least for fall, we have the extreme youth, young Chance.

Have a good winter. See you at Masse's. I'll bring the chocolate.

Milestones:
10/7
Chopper        300 r (#15)

10/14
Sting             50 sf (#2)
Chopper       400 rbi (#9)
Sting             950 ab (#10)
Lefty            550 ab (#18)

10/21
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