Game Day Gazette
March 27,2025
When I went to bed on Wednesday night, I thought there was a 1 in 10 chance we would be playing softball on Thursday. The weather forecast was for steady rain starting Wednesday and throughout the day on Thursday. Imagine my surprise when I received a text from Greg Lloyd at 5:10 a.m. saying there was no rain at the fields and K3 was playable! However, the combination of threatening weather and heavier than usual traffic resulted in a dire shortage of available players for the first game.
Game 1 – 8:30 a.m. Pioneers (3-2-0) vs. Senators (2-3-0)
The visiting Senators only had four of their own players available at the start of the game. Due to the shortage of players, each side started the game with only ten (10) players. The Senators initially drew six players, but four additional Senators (Tim Coles, Raul DeLeon, Henry Flores and Roger Geras) eventually showed up, forcing Bruce to make multiple alterations to his ever-evolving lineup. The Pioneers had a better turnout with nine of their own guys to start so they ended up drawing two (Bobby Miller and Ray Pilgrim). I share all of this to show that drawing more players does not always guarantee victory!
First & Second Inning Recap:
Senators– put up a single run in the 1st as Denny Malloy singled, moved to 2B on a fielder’s choice and scored on Bruce Barnett’s infield single. 2nd – reinforcements arrived just in time as the Senators scored two runs in the inning. Phil Stanch singled with one out and scored on Raul DeLeon’s double. Henry Flores ripped a single to CF to score Raul with the 2nd run. Barry McRee singled in his only at-bat for the Senators, but the next two batters (Roger Geras and Greg Lloyd) hit groundballs to P Sal Lopez, each resulting in force outs at 3B to end the inning.
Pioneers– Scott Wright opened the game for the Pioneers with a line single and moved to 2B on Mike Carroll’s base knock. Buddy Gaswint’s double brought home both runners. Butch Barber grounded to short for an out and on the play, Buddy was thrown out at home trying to score for a double play. 2nd– Greg Lloyd shut down the Pioneers in the 2nd allowing only a single to Sal Lopez.
End of 2nd Score: Senators 3 Pioneers 2
Third Inning Recap:
Senators– Denny and Jerry Mylius led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Tim Coles hit a ball that somehow ended up about a foot in front of home plate and was thrown out at 1B by the Pioneer’s catcher (not sure who it was?). Not to be outdone, Paul Rubin followed up by failing to keep the ball in fair territory resulting in a strike out/foul out for the 2nd out of the inning. Mike Mordecai salvaged the inning with an RBI single to drive in both Senator’s runs in the inning.
Pioneers- Bobby Miller led off the inning with a single and scored on Scott’s double. Mike’s singled moved Scott to 3B and he later scored on Buddy’s fielder’s choice grounder to P Raul DeLeon. Butch absolutely crushed a ball to right center for a triple to score Buddy with the 3rd run to knot the score at 5-5.
End of 3rd Score: Senators 5 Pioneers 5
Fourth Inning Recap:
Senators- finally got untracked as they put up five runs in the inning. Henry led off with a singled but was forced out at 2B on Roger’s groundout. John Flowers (not sure when and how John joined the team but nonetheless) singled to put runners on 1B and 2B. Greg grounded back to the pitcher and Sal threw to 3B to force the runner for the 2nd out of the inning. Denny started the two-out rally with a base hit and Jerry, Tim and Paul all singled to bring in three runs. Mike’s double drove in two runs to give the Senators a 10-5 lead.
Pioneers- Raul quickly retired the first two batters in the inning but the Pioneers orchestrated their own two-out rally to tie the score. Bubba Barnett and Art Monzingo singled to kick-start the rally. Bobby doubled to drive in the 1st run. Ray followed with a line drive single to score both Art and Bobby. Scott completed a perfect 3-3 day at the plate with a slicing line drive to left center that got by Paul and rolled to the fence for a two-run inside the park home run to tie the score at 10-10.
End of 4th Score: Senators 10 Pioneers 10
Fifth Inning Recap:
Senators- could not muster any offense in the “open” inning. Phil led off the inning by grounding out to 2B. Raul hit a long drive down the left field line that curved foul for a “strike out”. Henry got his 3rd hot of the day to keep the inning alive but Sal was able to retire Roger on a groundball to 2B to end the threat.
Pioneers- only needing a run to win, Mike ground out to short for the 1st out. Buddy singled but Butch was retired on a line shot up the middle that was snagged by Raul for the 2nd out. Larry King hit a slow roller towards 3B, Raul grabbed the ball and made a quick throw to 1B. The throw was low and despite a valiant effort, Greg was unable to corral the throw before Larry reached the base. Mickey Poole followed with a fly to shallow left field that fell in front of Butch (ball was not catchable) as Buddy raced home with a walk-off single and victory for the Pioneers.
Final Score: Pioneers 11 Senators 10
Game 2 – 9:30 a.m. Keystones (3-2-0) vs. Sultans (2-4-0)
The visiting Sultans needed to draw four from the bucket (Bobby Miller, Art Monzingo, Buddy Gaswint and Scott Wright) while the Keystones only needing a pitcher, drew Tim Coles from the bucket.
First & Second Inning Recap:
Sultans- Phil Stanch opened the game with a ground out to 2B for the 1st out. Ray Pilgrim and Adam Gordon followed with back-to-back singles; Lucky hit a dribbler in front of the plate that was grabbed by P Tim Coles. Tim’s throw to 1B sailed over Robby Vickery’s head as Lucky chugged into 3B with a two RBI “triple”. Ray Saldana’s single scored Lucky for the 3rd run of the frame. 2nd– Sultans put five runs on the board in the 2nd. Don Roets singled to lead off the inning and moved to 3B on Bobby Miller’s double. Art Monzingo drove Don home with a sacrifice fly to CF. Buddy Gaswint walked and Scott Wright singled to drive in Bobby for the 2nd run. Phil laced a double down the right field line to score two more runners. Ray Pilgrim’s single moved Phil to 3B. Adam Gordon popped out to short for the 2nd out. Lucky Hoffman had an infield hit but the runners were unable to advance. Tim walked Ray S. to force in the 5th run as the Sultans raced out to an eight-run advantage.
Keystones- Mike Hill led off with a booming double to right center. Jack Kelly was able to retire the next two batters on flyballs to center and left field. Mike Mordecai singled to drive in Mike H. with the Keystones 1st run. Bobby Hawthorne and Margarito Canava had back-to-back hits to bring in the 2nd run. Robby doubled to right to drive in the 3rd run. Barry McRee’s single scored Margarito with the 4th run and Greg Tolander finished off the inning with a run scoring single. 2nd– Keystones showed no letup in the 2nd as they put up another five spot. Johnny Neville led off with a hard single to the right side. Tim Coles followed with an RBI triple to right center. Mike Hill singled to score Tim. John Flowers kept the inning going with another base hit to the right side. Alex Valles ripped a line drive that appeared to be heading down the right field line for extra bases. However, Don Roets made a spectacular leaping grab and was able to easily beat John back to the back for a double play. Mike M. singled and Bobby Hawthorne finished off the inning with a two RBI double down the left field line.
End of 2nd Score: Keystones 10 Sultans 8
Third Inning Recap:
Sultans- Mike Mordecai came into pitch for the Keystones in the 3rd and he quickly shut down the Sultans, holding them to only one hit and no runs in the inning.
Keystones- with the offense clicking on all cylinders, the Keystones out up their third consecutive five run inning to grab a seven-run lead in the contest. Again, the Sultans were able to get two quick outs before the Keystones rallied. Margarito singled to lead off and Robby followed with a singled to put runners on IB and 2B. Barry and Greg both hit into fielder’s choice outs that resulted in a run scoring. Johnny hit the ball hard as he singled up the middle. Tim singled to load the bases for the top of the order. Mike continued to swing a hot bat as he slashed a two-run double to right center. Singles by John and Alex produced another run and Mike capped off the inning with a single to score the 5th run.
End of 3rd Score: Keystones 15 Sultans 8
Fourth Inning Recap:
Sultans- Mike continued to befuddle the Sultan batters as he blanked them on no runs with only two hits in the inning. Art flew out to CF to open the inning. Buddy singled but was forced out at 2B on a Scott’s hard grounder to Robby at 1B (first time Scott did not get a hit all day!) Phil singled but was forced out at 2B on Ray’s groundout to end the inning.
Keystones- with a chance to blow this one open, the Keystones only managed to tally a single run in the inning. Bobby Hawthorne completed a perfect 3-3 day at the plate with his 2nd double on a line shot down the left field line. Margarito’s single moved him to 3B, and he scored on Robby’s base hit. Jack was able to limit any further damage getting the next two batters to ground out to end the inning.
End of 4th Score: Keystones 16 Sultans 8
Sultans- the Sultans were trailing by eight and based on their limited success against Mike’s pitching, this one appeared to be all but over. But wait just a minute, the Sultans channeled their inner Genie and conjured up NINE big runs to shockingly take the lead in this game. The first three batters (Adam, Lucky and Ray S.) all reached base to load the bases. Jeff Broussard hit a grounder to Mike and his throw just beat the speedy Adam trying to score from 3B with the 1st out. Jack and Don produced RBI singles to get the 1st two runs on the board. Bobby’s double added two more runs and cut the lead to four runs. Art’s single scored Don with the 4th run of the inning. Buddy fouled out on a pitch that was probably above the 12’ height limit but as no call was made by the home plate umpire (that’s me!) Buddy had to swing and was unable to keep the ball in play resulting in the 2nd out (sorry, Buddy!). Scott kept the inning alive with an RBI single to bring the Sultans within three runs of the lead. Phil singled to bring in the 6th run, and the Sultans only trailed by two with the bases loaded and Ray Pilgrim coming to the plate. Ray had been tearing the cover off the ball all day and this at-bat was no exception! Ray drove a ball to the deepest part of centerfield allowing all three runners to score and the Sultans to take the lead by a 17-16 score. Adam followed with a single to move the pinch runner to 3B, but Lucky was retired on a groundball to the pitcher to end the inning. But what an inning it was!!!!
Keystones- after leading comfortably for most of the game, the Keystones now found themselves down by a run. Johnny came through with his 3rd hit of the game to lead off the inning. Tim hit a hard grounder to short and Adam was able to beat the pinch runner to the bag for the 1st out of the inning. Mike H. was retired for the 1st time in the game on a flyball to right center to Phil. John smacked a sizzling ground ball to 1B that Don was able to secure and easily beat John to the bag to secure an incredible win for the Sultans!
Final Score: Sultans 17 Keystones 16
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ASSL C league 2025 1st Session | |||||||
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Win |
Loss |
Ties |
Win % |
Scored |
Given up |
Diff. |
Games Behind |
| Braves |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0.667 |
84 |
69 |
15 |
– |
| Pioneers |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0.667 |
71 |
66 |
5 |
– |
| Keystones |
3 |
4 |
0 |
0.429 |
100 |
98 |
2 |
1.50 |
| Sultans |
3 |
4 |
0 |
0.429 |
87 |
103 |
-16 |
1.50 |
| Senators |
2 |
4 |
0 |
0.333 |
82 |
88 |
-6 |
2.00 |
The Pioneers’ dramatic win over the Senators puts them in a first-place tie with the Braves after eight weeks. The Senators, after another gut-wrenching loss, are in the cellar but only two games behind the front runners. The Keystones and Sultans are locked in a tie for 3rd after the Sultans historic come from behind win on Thursday.
Thursday was also Opening Day for Major League Baseball (MLB). No matter who you root for (Go Astros!), this is a special time of year for all teams as their hopes for a pennant and maybe a world series championship remain alive at least for one day!
Next Games: Monday March 31, 2025
Game 1 8:30 a.m. Senators (2-4-0) vs. Keystones (3-4-0)
Can the Senators claw their way out of the cellar and finally win a close one? Will the Keystones right the ship after back-to-back losses?
Game 2 9:30 a.m. Braves (4-2-0) vs. Pioneers (4-2-0)
In an early battle of the two front runners, who will prevail and how many players will the Braves need to draw this week?
The Sultans have a bye on Monday and their players will have priority in the draw.
Come Monday, all will be revealed!
Have a great weekend and we will hopefully see you all on Monday!
Paul