B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 51 – October 10, 2024
Corrections: In the recap of the Purple-Orange game of October 7 I said, first, that Matt Levitt grounded to shortstop Rex Horvath – Rick Jensen was playing shortstop for Purple, Rex is Matt’s teammate. Then I said that Purple snapped its five-game losing streak, but of course it was Orange that won and snapped its losing streak.
Games of Thursday October 10:
10:30 a.m., Orange (4-5) at Maroon (4-5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Orange 0 9 Maroon X 10 Pitchers: Orange – Eddy Murillo; Maroon – Chunky Wright. Mercenaries: Orange – Dave Jaffe and Eddy Murillo; Maroon – Steve Sandall and Chris Waddell. Umpires: home – Jack Crosley and Jack McDermott; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Orange - ?; Maroon – Chunky Wright (2 for 2) and Scott Wright (2 for 2 with a walk). Home run: Peter Atkins (inside the park) (3).
I’ll preface by noting how much I miss Terry Watts, currently representing Austin Senior Softball out west. In Terry’s absence and with Dave Berra and I both playing, there was no one available to keep a scoresheet for the 10:30 game. I do know both teams had two mercenaries, with Dave Jaffe returning to B League play following knee-replacement surgery (hurrah!).
The theme for Maroon was Adventures on the Basepaths. We (truly, we) ran into pretty dumb baserunning outs in each of the first two innings. In the bottom of the first, Jack Spellman was deked and put out by Rex Horvath after running from second to third on a soft grounder to the 5-6 hole that got past third baseman Peter Atkins. I took a step past third, thinking Rex must have fielded the ball and thrown to second. He did field it, but he held it and then casually jogged toward third – I realized way too late he still had the ball, and he tagged me out before I could get back to the bag. Smart play by Rex, dumb play by me.
In the second, Scott Wright ran from home for Marvin Krabbenhoft, who grounded a ball to the 5-6 hole. Shortstop Rex Horvath’s throw (I think it was) sailed past first baseman Dave Berra and Scott made a tremendous, on-a-dime left turn and took off for second, and then was called out for advancing past first on what we should start calling The Scott Wright Rule.
Quote of the Day: Scott Wright:
“I’ve been called out twice this year for running to second while pinch-running from home. There is a pretty good chance it will happen again.”
And in the third, as he successfully beat a double-play relay to first, Alvin Gauna stumbled and took a header on the far side of the bags – he really didn’t have time to get his hands in front of him to absorb the fall, which he took with his chest, pretty well knocking the wind out of him. I thought he stumbled on the orange bag, Alvin thought the throw hit him in the leg, and base umpire Mike Garrison thought Alvin missed the bag altogether, but in any case he was safe and, after taking a pinch-runner and composing himself in the home dugout, was able to continue playing.
Other things that happened: Maroon had a five-run inning. Orange rallied, with Peter Atkins hammering an inside-the-park home run. In the fourth, Jack Spellman hit an RBI double down the first-base line that just missed clipping Scott Wright, who wound up at third. In the field, Spellman had another grounder go through his legs. Yadda yadda yadda.
Here’s a file photo of Peter Atkins (with Rick Jensen) following a 2023 home run.
Somehow Maroon led by one run entering the buffet, with the bottom of Orange’s order due. Dave Berra popped to shortstop. Dave Jaffe grounded to shortstop. Eddy Murillo singled. Leadoff batter Fritz Hensel came up and hit a sinking line drive to right field; Buddy Gaswint got a good jump on it, ran a great route, and made a fine basket catch for the final out. Final score: Maroon 10, Orange 9, Maroon snapping its five-game losing streak.
11:30 a.m., Green (4-4) at Purple (3-5):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 3 0 5 0 5 5 18 Purple 5 2 5 3 1 0 16 Pitchers: Green – Tommy Deleon (innings 1, 2, 5, and buffet) and David Pittard (innings 3 and 4); Purple – Rex Horvath. Mercenaries: Purple – Tommy Gillis, Rex Horvath, Bobby Miller, and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Scott Wright; bases – Chunky Wright. Perfect at the plate: Green – Mike Hill, Jim McAnelly, and Jack McDermott (each 3 for 3), David Pittard (3 for 3 with two doubles), and Ralph Villela (3 for 3 with a double); Purple – Tommy Gillis (3 for 3 with a double) and Bobby Miller (3 for 3 with two doubles and a triple).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 86 degrees (Heat Index 86), humidity 31%, wind ESE 5 MPH, sunny. Desert weather!
Session Three champion Green had all 13 of its players on hand today, and they gathered for a group picture.
Purple had the better of it in the early going, building a 15-8 lead through four. Green started off well, six of its first seven batters hitting safely (five singles and a double by Paul Rubin), but came away with just three runs in the top of the first inning thanks to a pair of outstanding throws by Purple mercenary outfielders. With two runs in and the bases loaded, Mike Garrison hit a deep fly to left field. Tommy Gillis made the catch, and while Mike Hill scored from third on the play, Tommy made a long, strong, one-hop throw to third that gunned down David Pittard trying to advance from second, an F-7, 7-5 double play. Jack McDermott advanced from first to second on the play, then, when Tommy Deleon singled to right field, attempted to score, only to be cut down by a strong throw from Bobby Miller to catcher Rip Wright – Bobby basically threw a hard grounder to the matt, straight to Rip, who caught it cleanly for the third out. Purple then scored five times on six singles and Daniel Carvajal’s double in the home half, making only one out.
Rex Horvath held Green scoreless in the top of the second, working around Phil Stanch’s two-out single. Purple added to its lead with two runs in the bottom half thanks to Bobby Miller, who knocked an RBI triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Peter Sundquist, returning to play from his recent meniscus surgery (hurrah!).
Both teams scored five times on six hits in the third, Green on four singles and doubles by Ralph Villela and David Pittard, Purple on six straight hits, Tommy Gillis knocking a two-run double, taking third on the throw home, and scoring on Jack Spellman’s hit.
Rex Horvath worked another scoreless frame in the top of the fourth, and Purple got three more runs in the home half. Bobby Miller stayed hot with a lead-off double and immediately scored on Peter Sundquist’s single. (I don’t know how he’s doing it, but Bobby somehow is getting faster as the season goes on – he was absolutely flying around the bases today.) Clint Fletcher followed with a double, Daniel Carvajal with a sacrifice fly, and Mark Hernandez with a run-scoring single.
Purple led 15-5 at this point and seemed to have the game well in hand. But Green battled back ferociously, first scoring five runs on seven singles without making an out in the top of the fifth, then holding Purple to one run on four hits in the home half. Tommy Gillis opened that frame with a single, but was erased on a double-play grounder, 4-6-3, hit by Jack Spellman. Not gonna lie, I believe I beat the throw to first. Here’s a still picture from Abe Zapruder’s film of the play:
Nothing definitive – Spellman’s foot is on the bag, the ball is in Daniel Baladez’s mitt; I think I was safe, Daniel believes I was out, and base umpire Chunky Wright agreed with Daniel. Bobby Miller then hit another double and came around to score on a single by Peter Sundquist and a double by Clint Fletcher. It might have been a bigger inning, though.
Green trailed 16-13 entering the buffet. Its first five hitters hit safely: David Pittard doubled to right-center, gapping outfielders Bobby Miller and Jack Spellman. Jack McDermott singled. Mike Garrison singled, David scoring. Tommy Deleon, totally in his groove of late, looped a single to right-center, not catchable, Jack scoring. Jack Crosley did pretty much the same thing – a hit to right-center that could not be caught on the fly, Mike scoring the tying run. Trey Wall grounded back to the box; Rex Horvath threw to third for the force on Tommy’s pinch-runner, and Clint Fletcher threw to second for the force there – from my pretty good vantage point in right field, I thought the throw beat Tommy’s pinch-runner (Ralph Villela, maybe?), but Chunky Wright called him safe. That hurt. Phil Stanch lined out to second baseman Mark Hernandez, but Daniel Baladez and Jim McAnelly both delivered clutch RBI singles, putting Green ahead by two runs.
Purple couldn’t get anything going against Tommy Deleon in the home half, going down in order: Mark Hernandez and Rick Jensen both grounded out to shortstop Ralph Villela, and Rip Wright to David Pittard, back at third base. Final score: Green 18, Purple 16
12:30 p.m., Blue (7-1) at Red (4-5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 5 2 0 0 4 11 Red 5 5 5 0 X 15 Pitchers: Blue – Jerry Mylius; Red – Donald Drummer. Mercenaries: Blue – Mark Hernandez and Scott Wrighth; Red – Peter Sundquist. Umpires: home – Dave Berra; bases – Clint Fletcher. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Richard Battle and Scott Wright (both 3 for 3) and George Romo (4 for 4); Red – Donald Drummer (1 for 1 with a double and a walk), Mike Malay (3 for 3), Bobby Miller (3 for 3 with a double), and Eddy Murillo (2 for 2 with a walk). Home run: Pat Scott (inside the park) (3).
Red just hit and hit over the first three innings, and Blue couldn’t keep up, though they did start strong as well, putting up five runs in the top of the first without making an out, on Pat Scott’s lead-off walk and six consecutive singles. Red matched that and then some, scoring five runs in each of the first three innings. In the first, Bobby Miller picked up where he left off in the 11:30 game, knocking a double to start the rally; five singles and a walk to Eddy Murillo followed, and Donald Drummer concluded the rally with a bases-loaded hit to deep left field – the fifth run scored from third, but in my mind that was a two-base hit.
Blue temporarily reclaimed the lead with two runs on four singles in the top of the second, Billy Hill and Scott Wright leading off with hits and scoring (his pinch-runner in Billy’s case). Red went ahead for good with another five-run outburst in the home half, on six singles, the last two, by Mike Malay and Tommy Langa, with two out.
The third inning was the turning point in the game. Blue loaded the bases on three singles in the top of the inning, but came away with nothing, while Red put up another five-spot in the bottom half. The first four batters reached base, on three singles and a walk to Donald Drummer. Jerry Mylius retired Tim Bruton on a fly to Richard Battle in left field and Morgan Witthoft on a two-strike foul, but couldn’t get the third out, Eddy Murillo knocking a single to drive in the third and fourth runs, and Denny Malloy delivering a double to right field that gapped the outfielders and drove in Tim Bruton, running for Eddy, from first base.
Neither team scored in the fourth, Blue stranding two more runners (two-out singles by George Romo and Tony Garcia) in the top half. Mike Malay led off the bottom of the inning with his third hit in as many at bats, but was erased on a 5-4-3 double play started by Tony Garcia, who made a nifty short-hop pickup of Tommy Langa’s grounder to his left – at the start of the game, Tony was at shortstop and George Romo at third base, but at some point they swapped positions, and that move paid off.
Red led by eight entering the buffet. Richard Battle and Jerry Mylius led off with singles, Richard collecting his third hit in as many at bats; Richard was forced out at third on Billy Hill’s grounder to third baseman Eddy Murillo. Scott Wright hit a flare over third base for a single, completing his second 3-for-3 game of the day, Jerry scoring as the ball spun into foul territory. Mark Hernandez popped out to Tim Bruton, battling the high sun, for the second out. Pat Scott then rifled a drive to right field that rolled to the fence; Pat turned on the burners and rounded the bases for a three-run inside-the-park homer, cutting Red’s lead to 15-11. Steve Sandall and George Romo followed with singles, George completing a 4-for-4 day at the plate, but Donald Drummer got Tony Garcia to foul off a two-strike pitch for the final out.
Pat Scott recreates his home run sprint.
Final score: Red 15, Blue 11, Red posting its first home victory of the session and putting an end to Blue’s six-game winning streak.
Standings – Session Four:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 7 2 .778 — 121 97 +24 L1
Green 5 4 .556 2 132 119 +13 W3
Maroon 5 5 .500 2.5 126 120 + 6 W1
Red 5 5 .500 2.5 138 145 – 7 W2
Gray 4 5 .444 3 119 130 -11 L1
Orange 4 6 .400 3.5 122 131 – 9 L1
Purple 3 6 .333 4 106 122 -16 L2
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 5-0 2-2 1 0-0 3-0 1-0
Green 2-2 3-2 1 0-0 1-2 1-2
Maroon 3-2 2-3 1 0-0 2-2 1-2
Red 1-4 4-1 0 1-0 2-3 1-1
Gray 3-2 1-3 1 0-0 2-1 2-0
Orange 2-3 2-3 0 0-1 1-2 1-2
Purple 1-3 2-3 0 0-0 1-2 0-0
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 4 2 5 5 3 4 23
Gray 4 X 4 4 5 0 5 22
Green 3 2 X 5 3 6 5 24
Maroon 2 3 4 X 6 1 3 19
Orange 1 3 3 2 X 5 3 17
Purple 4 3 3 6 3 X 2 21
Red 5 3 3 2 5 4 X 22
______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 19 18 19 24 27 19 22 148
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 6
David Kruse – 6
Ken Brown – 4
Peter Atkins – 3
Gregory Bied – 3
Tim Bruton – 3
Pat Scott – 3
George Brindley – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Clint Fletcher – 2
Doc Hobar – 2
Gary Kubenka – 2
Paul Rubin – 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
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 October 14:
10:30 a.m.: Purple (3-6) at Gray (4-5), Maroon umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Maroon (5-5) at Red (5-5), Gray umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Green (5-4) at Blue (7-2), Red umpiring
Orange has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Per B League President Anthony Galindo, beginning Monday and for the remainder of the season we will be playing at Krieg field 6. (I’ve attached a .PDF map of the Krieg complex so you can see where field 6 is.)
The big game Monday is at 12:30, with second-place Green looking to cut first-place Blue’s session lead to one game. Red and Maroon, tied for third place and each coming off a victory, square off at 11:30. One of Purple and Gray will get back on the winning track at 10:30. Will the deep power alleys at Krieg 6 combine with cooling weather to cause an increase in inside-the-park home runs? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Here’s our own Ken Brown at the Huntsman Games earlier this week, about to win the 200 meters for 80- to 84-year-olds at 30.25 seconds, a full 2.25 ahead of the second-place finisher. Ken also won the 50-meter dash in 7.6 seconds, and the week before Huntsman set a world record of 14.21 seconds in the 100-meter in Las Vegas.
Peter Sundquist left behind an item:
Hey guys this is Peter S, I left my Yeti there at the field. It does have my name on the bottom, barely. It’s all because Greg Lloyd had to mention that there were 3 the same. If you find it, bring it Monday, but it might be too late already, thanks in advance.
Scott Wright checks in:
This bat was left after the B games on Monday. Let me know if you picked it up.
Of course the big event today was the awesome post-games barbecue luncheon organized by the great Billy Hill with the help of his son Shane and Shane’s wife Rachael.
Here are Billy, Tim Bruton, Amy Hill, and Steve Sandall, with Shane in the background.
Shane and Rachael Hill.
Enjoying the spread, a season highlight.