B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 45 – September 19, 2024
Games of Thursday September 19:
10:00 a.m., Blue (2-1) at Green (1-2):
1 2 3 4 5 6 BUFFET FINAL Blue 3 1 0 3 2 1 4 14 Green 4 0 0 2 0 0 1 7 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Blue – Peter Atkins, Donnie Janac, Jack Spellman, Scott Wright. Umpires: home – Jack Kelly and Tommy Gillis; bases – Marvin Krabbenhoft. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Steve Sandall (5 for 5 with a triple) and Pat Scott (5 for 5 with two doubles); Green – Mike Garrison (2 for 2 with a double and a walk).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 84 degrees (Heat Index 92), humidity 74%. Slight breeze, partly cloudy – usual Austin summer day.
Quiz for those having difficulty telling Blue from Green:
https://ismy.blue/?utm_source=chartr&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=chartr_20240911
This efficiently played, seven-inning game was close in the early going, but Joe Bernal found his groove after allowing four runs on a walk and six singles in the first inning, only allowed three more runs on ten hits and one more walk over the final six frames, which gave Blue’s offense a chance to overcome its early struggles – held to one run in the second and shut out in third – and put the game away by outscoring Green 10-3 over the final four innings.
Blue 1-2 hitters Pat Scott and Steve Sandall each went 5 for 5, Pat knocking a pair of doubles and scoring five times, Steve hitting a two-out, two-run triple in the fifth. Joe Bernal helped himself with four singles in five at bats at the plate, and got Green to hit into three ground-ball double plays: Joe started a 1-6-3 DP to end the second inning, a 6-4-3 to end the sixth, and a 6u., 6-3 to end the game.
Mike Garrison continued his hot hitting for Green, drawing a walk and scoring his first time up, leading off the bottom of the fourth with a double and scoring on Jeff Broussard’s hit, and leading off the bottom of the sixth with a single. Ralph Villela led Green with three hits in four at bats and played his usual stellar defense at shortstop, recording six putouts and four assists, notably taking a hit away from Terry Thompson by ranging into left field to run down a pop in the top of the buffet.
That turned out to be the final out Blue would make in the game. Leading 10-6 entering the buffet, Blue scored four runs on five singles and Pat Scott’s second double, the final three hits, by Joe Bernal, Jerry Mylius, and Jack Spellman, coming with two out. With Blue up 14-6, the flip-flop was invoked. Three of Green’s first four hitters singled in the home half, Jim McAnelly’s pinch-runner coming around to score, before the game-ending 6u., 6-3 double play. Final score: Blue 14, Green 7
11:00 a.m., Gray (1-2) at Purple (0-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gray 5 0 2 0 5 3 15 Purple 5 0 3 5 5 X 18 Pitchers: Gray – Jack Kelly; Purple – Tom Kelm. Mercenaries: Gray – Jack Crosley, Jack Spellman, and Scott Wright; Purple – George Brindley, Hal Darman, Tony Garcia, Mike Hill, Mike Malay, Jack McDermott, and Adam Reddell. Umpires: home – Terry Thompson; bases – Jerry Mylius. Perfect at the plate: Gray – David Kruse (4 for 4 with two doubles and a home run) and Johnny Lee (3 for 3 with a walk); Purple – Tony Garcia and Mike Malay (both 3 for 3). Home runs: George Brindley and David Kruse (both inside the park).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 88 degrees (Heat Index 97), humidity 63%. Partly cloudy, slight breeze, nice in the shade.
Ten mercenaries played in this game, and the success of Purple’s led to the first win of the session for Larry Young’s crew. Purple’s seven mercenaries went a combined 16 for 23 with two doubles and, both by George Brindley, a three-run inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the first and a two-run triple in the bottom of the fifth. (George also delivered a sacrifice fly to left-center in the fourth, Tommy Gillis making a good play to run down his drive, for six RBI in the game.)
Here’s a file photo of George Brindley receiving a Plucker’s coupon. George hit for three-quarters of the cycle and drove in one-third of Purple’s runs.
The three Purple players who showed up today – Jim Foelker, Tom Kelm, and Larry Young – each contributed strongly as well, reaching base three times apiece and scoring each time.
Gray’s core hit like they usually do, 1-5 hitters Ken Brown (3 for 4 with a triple), David Kruse, Tommy Gillis (also 3 for 4 with a triple), Donnie Janac, and Johnny Lee going a combined 16 for 19 with a walk. David Kruse was a beast at the plate: he doubled his first two times up, hit a two-run inside-the-park home run in the fifth, and singled in the buffet, scoring all four times he reached base.
David Kruse returns to the Gray dugout after legging out his two-run inside-the-park homer.
Gray’s mercenaries, however, went just 4 for 9 and scored one run among them, Jack Crosley leading off the buffet with a single and coming around to score. Scott Wright was victimized by the best defensive play of the game. With Jack Spellman on first in the top of the second, Scott scorched a one-hopper down the first-base side; Spellman avoided being hit by the ball and partially shielded it from the view of first baseman Mike Malay, but Mike made a great clean catch anyway, stepped on first to retire Scott, then made a strong throw to second to complete the 3u., 3-6 double play.
Purple led 8-7 through three, held Gray scoreless in the top of the fourth (Tom Kelm retiring the mercenaries 1-2-3 following Jack Kelly’s lead-off single), and then scored five times while making just one out in both the fourth and fifth. Gray also scored five times in the fifth while making just a single out, Jim Foelker running down Ivan Budiselic’s drive to center field, but trailed by six runs entering the buffet. They cut the deficit in half before running out of outs, Tommy Gillis tripling in two runs and scoring on Johnny Lee’s third hit of the game. Final score: Purple 18, Gray 15, Purple snapping its four-game losing streak.
Noon, Red (1-3) at Maroon (4-0):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Red 3 5 3 1 8 20 Maroon 4 1 2 4 1 12 Pitchers: Red – Donald Drummer; Maroon – Terry Thompson. Mercenaries: Red – David Kruse; Maroon – Daniel Baladez, Jim Foelker, Johnny Lee, and Terry Thompson. Umpires: home – Larry Young; bases – Mike Velaney and George Brindley. Perfect at the plate: Red – David Kruse (3 for 3 with a double and a home run) and Tommy Langa (4 for 4); Maroon – James Chavana (4 for 4 with a triple), Johnny Lee (2 for 2 with a walk), and Terry Thompson (3 for 3 with a double). Home runs: David Kahn and Rick Kahn (both inside the park; the fifth run of the second inning scored ahead of Rick, but he ran out the hit and crossed home before the ball was relayed back to the infield – I'm giving him credit for the home run.)
Dave Berra’s weather report: 91 degrees (Heat Index 100), humidity 56%. No breeze, 5 MPH, partly cloudy – getting hot!
This was a close game until Red made it not by exploding for eight runs, the last six coming with two out, in the top of the buffet.
Maroon trailed by just one run entering the inning, despite everyone in Red’s lineup collecting at least two hits, six of Red’s ten players reaching base three times, Tommy Langa knocking singles all four times he batted. The first two times through the lineup, Red went a combined 15 for 19 with a walk, scoring three times on four singles and Mike Malay’s double in the first, five times without making an out in the second (Mike and David Kruse hit back-to-back doubles, and Rick Kahn capped the outburst with his inside-the-park home run, described above), and three times on a walk and four singles in the third.
Rick Kahn in this file photo approves my crediting him with an inside-the-park home run in the future.
Maroon got big days from James Chavana (4 for 4 with a triple) and its four mercenaries (a combined 8 for 11 with a walk and two doubles, Terry Thompson going 3 for 3 and Johnny Lee posting his second consecutive perfect game at the plate, 2 for 2 with a walk), scored in every inning, and kept the game pretty close despite Red’s offense blowing up like a Hezbollah pager. Each team turned an inning-ending double play in the first, Maroon on a 6-4-3, Joe Roche on the pivot, Red on an L-6, 6-3 play, David Kruse charging in to grab Daniel Baladez’s looper over the mound and doubling up James Chavana, running for Johnny Lee and caught in no-man’s-land.
Up by one run entering the buffet, Red got some breathing room when Donald Drummer beat out a grounder to shortstop (Jack Spellman fielded it cleanly, but Donald simply outran my throw) and David Kruse followed with his third hit of the game and second home run of the day, a drive to deep center. Mike Malay singled. Terry Thompson got Tim Bruton to hit a two-strike foul, which should have ended the inning but for my raggedy-ass arm. Maroon couldn’t get the last out. Rick Kahn, Adam Reddell, Denny Malloy, and Tommy Langa each knocked singles to right field. Hal Darman mixed it up by lining a single to left. And Boo Resnick gapped the outfielders with a double to center field, driving in the seventh and eighth runs of the inning, prompting the flip-flop to be invoked.
James Chavana completed his 4-for-4 game with a triple leading off the home half, and scored on Jimmy Sneed’s grounder to shortstop. (Jimmy was snakebit today – he absolutely crushed a line drive to deep left-center in the second inning and a liner to shortstop in the third, but each time the fielder – Tim Bruton in left-center, David Kruse at shortstop – was perfectly positioned to make the catch.) Joe Roche singled, but Tom Kelm got Joe Dayoc to ground into a 5-4 force (Adam Reddell to Boo Resnick) and Alvin Gauna to hit a foul pop to first baseman Mike Malay to end the game. Final score: Red 20, Maroon 12, Red putting an end to Maroon’s four-game winning streak.
Standings – Session Four:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Maroon 4 1 .800 — 66 53 +13 L1
Blue 3 1 .750 .5 49 39 +10 W2
Orange 3 1 .750 .5 56 55 + 1 L1
Red 2 3 .400 2 73 77 – 4 W1
Gray 1 3 .250 2.5 60 58 + 2 L1
Green 1 3 .250 2.5 43 47 – 4 L1
Purple 1 3 .250 2.5 44 62 -18 W1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Maroon 2-1 2-0 1 0-0 2-1 1-0
Blue 1-0 2-1 0 0-0 2-0 0-0
Orange 1-1 2-0 0 0-0 1-1 1-0
Red 0-2 2-1 0 0-0 1-2 0-1
Gray 0-1 1-2 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Green 1-2 0-1 0 0-0 0-1 0-1
Purple 1-2 0-1 0 0-0 0-2 0-0
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 3 2 4 4 2 4 19
Gray 4 X 3 3 4 0 5 19
Green 3 2 X 4 2 5 4 20
Maroon 2 3 4 X 5 1 3 18
Orange 1 3 3 2 X 4 3 16
Purple 4 3 3 5 3 X 1 19
Red 4 2 3 2 4 4 X 19
_______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 18 16 18 20 22 16 20 130
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 6
David Kruse – 6
Ken Brown – 3
Tim Bruton – 3
Peter Atkins – 2
Gregory Bied – 2
George Brindley – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Clint Fletcher – 2
Gary Kubenka – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Ralph Villela – 2
David Brown – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Tommy Gillis – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Rex Horvath – 1
Rick Kahn – 1
Denny Malloy – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
Eddie Ortiz -1
David Pittard – 1
Joe Roche – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Monday September 23:
10:30 a.m.: Maroon (4-1) at Gray (1-3), Purple umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Purple (1-3) at Blue (3-1), Maroon umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Green (1-3) at Orange (3-1), Blue umpiring
Red has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: We return to 10:30/11:30/12:30 game times next week, with any luck the weather accommodating us by cooling off a bit. The three teams that ended today 1-3 will face the three teams at the top of the standings. Will they all win and tighten the Session Four pennant race? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
A reminder that you can read current and past editions of this year’s Picayune at: https://austinseniorsoftball.com/picyuane/. New editions show up online shortly after they hit your email in-box. (“Shortly” meaning, when I get to it; probably not till the next morning.) The front page of the site (https://austinseniorsoftball.com/) features a red banner with late-breaking news of cancellations, etc. And you can see the schedule for upcoming games at: https://austinseniorsoftball.com/schedule/
Got a late start today, apologies for a relatively brief edition. I remain yours in malicious compliance.