Game Day Gazette
October 2, 2025
Not a lot of drama on the last day of the fourth session. Both games were one-sided with double digit wins by the Senators and the Keystones. The Keystones win did give them a share of the session title with the idle Braves, congrats to the men in Red!
Game 1 8:00 a.m. Senators (3-6-2) vs. Sultans (4-4-3)
First & Second Inning Recap:
Proving the adage that past performance is not always the best indicator of future performance, the Sultans failed to carry over their impressive performance on Monday into today’s game.
Senators– welcomed Bruce Barnett back to his managerial role and his impressive draw from the bucket (Bobby Miller, Patrick Schmidt and Scott Wright) gave the Senators a potent lineup for today’s game. Denny Malloy fouled out to lead off the game. Singles by Henry Flores, Raul DeLeon and Jerry Mylius led to the 1st run of the ball game. Greg Lloyd lined out to 2B, and Terry Watts bounced into a fielder’s choice to limit the damage to only one run. 2nd– Will Scheerer flew out to right center to open the 2nd inning. That would be the last batter retired in the inning. Roger Geras singled and his pinch runner moved to 3B on Bobby Miller’s double. Patrick Schmidt lined a single over 1B to bring in both runners. Scott Wright smoked a ball down the 1B line past Don Roets to move Patrick to 3B. Denny singled to bring in Scott for the fourth run. Henry finished up the scoring with a line single to left to complete the Senators five-run inning.
Sultans-Donnie Janac and Gary Coyle led off with back-to-back singles. Peter Atkins was retired on a deep fly to left center for the 1st out. Jeff Broussard ripped a single to right center to score Donnie with the 1st run. Phil Stanch lifted a flyball down the right field line that was foul by only a few inches but resulted in the 2nd out. Don Roets bounced out to Raul for the final out. 2nd– Adam Gordon led off the 2nd with a double to left center. Lucky fouled out for the 1st out. Jack Kelly smacked a single between 1B and 2B to drive in Adam with the 1st run. Ray Pilgrim laced a double to left center to bring in Jack’s pinch runner. Paul Rubin singled to left and was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double on a nice throw from Bobby Miller. Jim Foelker popped a single to CF to score Ray. Donnie kept up the hit parade with a line single to CF, but Gary flew out to CF to end the inning.
End of 2nd Score: Senators 6 Sultans 4
Third Inning Recap:
Senators- Jack Kelly held the Senators scoreless in the 3rd. Raul flew out to deep right center on a nice catch by Phil Stanch. Jerry lined out to Don at 1B for the 2nd out. Greg and Terry reached on back-to-back hits to give some hope to the Senators, but Will lined out to Jeff at 2B to close out the frame.
Sultans- Peter opened the 2nd with a booming double to left center. Jeff smacked a single to right center to bring Peter around to score. Phil fouled out but Don singled to move Jeff to 2B. Adam drove in the 2nd run with a clean single to CF to tie the score at 6-6.
End of 3rd Score: Senators 6 Sultans 6
Fourth Inning Recap:
Senators- Roger reached on an infield single to open the inning. Bobby flew out to right center on a nice catch by Phil. Patrick fouled out for the 2nd out and it looked like Jack might get through the inning unscathed. But not so fast my friend, the next three batters cracked extra base hits to plate three big runs. Scott started the onslaught with a triple to right. Denny smacked a double down the 1B line to score Scott and Henry lined a double to left to complete the scoring.
Sultans– Raul had a shutdown inning as he blanked the Sultans on two hits. Ray led off with a single up the middle. Paul followed with a single past the shortstop. Ray inexplicably tried to advance to 3B on the play and was easily gunned down on another strong relay throw from Bobby. Donnie grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the scoreless inning.
End of 4th Score: Senators 9 Sultans 6
Fifth “Open” Inning Recap:
Senators- looking to build on their three-run lead, the Senators batted around and put up seven runs in the open inning to pretty much ice this one. The first four batters reached on singles (Jerry, Greg, Terry and Will) to produce the 1st run. Roger completed his perfect 3-3 day at the plate with an RBI single to score the 2nd run. Bobby lined out to Ray in left field for the 1st out. Patrick lined a single to left to score another run. Scott launched a shot to right center that looked like extra bases, but Phil (playing great today in right center) ran the ball down for the 2nd out. Denny and Henry followed with back-to-back singles to score two m more runs. Raul lined a double to center to drive in two more runs and with the Senators up by ten runs, the teams flip flopped.
Sultans- failed to mount any semblance of a rally in the buffet. Gary ground out to 2B to start the inning and Peter followed with a fly ball out to left center. Jeff finished off a perfect 3-3 day at the plate with another base hit, but Phil grounded back to Raul for the final out.
Final Score: Senators 16 Sultans 6
Game 2 9:00 a.m. Keystones (6-5-0) vs. Pioneers (4-4-3)
First & Second Inning Recap:
Keystones– Mike Mordecai walked to open the game Patrick Schmidt slapped a single to left to move him to 2B. Ken Brown popped out to 1B for the 1st out. Bobby Hawthorne singled to left to load the bases. Tommy DeLeon drove in the 1st run with a single up the middle. Margarito Canava knocked in the 2nd run with a fielder’s choice groundout to 3B. Robby Vickery lined a shot to right to bring in the 3rd run. Barry McRee drove a single to left to plate Margarito with the 4th run. On the play, Barry ventured a little too far off 1B and Tim H. made a strong throw from 3B that beat him to the bag. Unfortunately, Barry stumbled going back to the base and turned his ankle and had to leave the game. 2nd–Johnny Neville led off the 2nd with a single. Morris Carter grounded back to the pitcher for the 1st out. Sal Lopez was able to get Jim Foelker and Raul DeLeon on pop flies to short to retire the side.
Pioneers– Sal Lopez led off the inning with a base hit to left and was able to reach 3B as the Keystones over threw the ball to 2B. Mike Carroll drove him home with a ground out to 2B. Butch Barber ground out to 1B for the second out. Scott Wright singled and scored on Gene Nelson’s triple to right center. Tim Herer ripped a clean single to left to bring in Gene with the 3rd run of the frame. 2nd– Tommy DeLeon shut down the Pioneers in the 2nd, getting all three batters to groundout in a 1-2-3 inning.
End of 2nd Score: Keystones 4 Pioneers 3
Third Inning Recap:
Keystones- Mike led off the 2nd with a ground single up the middle. Patrick moved him to 2B with a single past the second basemen. Ken followed with a single to right to load the bases. Bobby popped out to short for the first out. Tommy grounded to 3B, and Tim was able to get the force at 2B for the second out as Mike scored on the play. Margarito came up with the big hit as his single drove home two runners to complete the scoring for the Keystones.
Pioneers-Peter Atkins led off the 3rd with a single past the shortstop. Donnie Janc followed with a liner that Tommy DeLeon snagged for the out. Peter’s momentum carried him towards 2B, and he was unable to get back to 1B and was doubled off to complete the twin killing. Sal singled down the 3B line, but Tommy was able to get Mike to hit a comebacker for the final out of the inning.
End of 3rd Score: Keystones 7 Pioneers 3
Fourth Inning Recap:
Keystones- Ray Pilgrim, subbing for the injured Barry McRee, led off the inning with a booming double to CF. Johnny’s single moved him to 3B. Morris went down swinging for the first out. Jim Foelker crushed a ball to left center that gapped the fielders and rolled to the fence for a three-run inside the park homerun. Raul followed with a drive to dead center that also gapped the outfielders and he circled the bases with a inside the park home run. This one has an asterisk as Alex was unable to handle the throw to the plate that would have beaten Raul by at least 2-3 steps. Sal was able to retire Mike and Patrick on groundballs to limit any further damage in the frame.
Pioneers– Butch led off the inning with a double down the right field line. He scored on Scott’s sharp single to right. Gene fouled out, Tim hit into a fielder’s choice and Larry popped out to short to limit the scoring to a single run.
End of 4th Score: Keystones 11 Pioneers 4
Fifth Inning Recap:
Keystones- extended their already sizeable lead with a four-run outburst in the last five-run inning. The first three batters (Ken, Bobby and Tommy) singled to bring in the first run. Margarito popped out for the 1st out. Robby and Ray had back-to-back RBI singles to bring in two more runs. Johnny was retired on a fielder’s choice grounder to 2B. Morris singled to drive in the 4th run before Jim fouled out to end the inning.
Pioneers– avoided an early flip flop by putting up three runs in the inning. Alex and Chris Hurst reached on singles and scored on Peter Atkins’ home run*. Peter hit the ball well and would have had a double but for the Bad News Bears handling of throws from the outfield and to home plate allowing him to circle the bases for a three-run homer. Donne and Sal followed with back-to-back singles, but Tommy was able to retire Mike on a pop up to the pitcher for the 2nd out. Butch hit a grounder to right and Sal was unable to avoid the ball as he was running to 2B and was called out to end the inning.
End of 5th Score: Keystones 15 Pioneers 7
Sixth “Open” Inning Recap:
Keystones- with the Keystones up by eight and getting close to 10:30 a.m. probably should have called for an early flip flop but that did not happen. The good news is it only took the Keystones four batters to produce four hits and score two runs to go up by ten and invoke the flip flop rule. Raul led off with a single and Mike, Patrick and Ken followed with hits to get the two runs needed to secure a ten-run margin.
Pioneers- down by ten runs, the Pioneers failed to score despite getting three hits. Scott popped out to 2B to open the inning. Gene followed with a ringing double to right center. Tim grounded to short and Peter (pinch running for Gene) got caught in no man’s land between 2B and 3B and was forced out for the 2nd out. Larry and Alex kept the inning alive with back-to-back hits to load the bases. Tommy got Bubba to hit into a fielder’s choice to end the game with the Keystones coming out on top by a final score of 17-7.
Final Score: Keystones 17 Pioneers 7
Session Four Standings:
|
|
ASSL C league 2025 4th Session |
|||||||
|
|
Win |
Loss |
Ties |
Win % |
Scored |
Given up |
Diff. |
Games Behind |
|
Braves |
7 |
5 |
0 |
0.58333 |
162 |
152 |
10 |
– |
|
Keystones |
7 |
5 |
0 |
0.583 |
142 |
137 |
5 |
– |
|
Sultans |
4 |
5 |
3 |
0.458 |
152 |
156 |
-4 |
1.50 |
|
Pioneers |
4 |
5 |
3 |
0.458 |
118 |
134 |
-16 |
1.50 |
|
Senators |
4 |
6 |
2 |
0.417 |
167 |
162 |
5 |
2.00 |
Full Session Standings:
|
|
ASSL C league 2025 Season To-date Standings |
|||||||
|
|
Win |
Loss |
Ties |
Win % |
Scored |
Given up |
Diff. |
Games Behind |
|
Braves |
30 |
15 |
0 |
0.667 |
630 |
503 |
127 |
– |
|
Keystones |
22 |
22 |
0 |
0.500 |
524 |
524 |
0 |
7.50 |
|
Senators |
19 |
22 |
2 |
0.465 |
531 |
554 |
-23 |
9.00 |
|
Pioneers |
18 |
23 |
3 |
0.443 |
450 |
502 |
-52 |
10.00 |
|
Sultans |
17 |
24 |
3 |
0.420 |
503 |
555 |
-52 |
11.00 |
The Braves and the Keystones are co-champions for the 4th session. With only twelve games left to play, it is going to be difficult for anyone to catch the streaking Braves. Too early for a magic number but barring a total collapse by the mean Green, it looks like this will be their year!
News & Notes:
· Bobby Fund Burger Cook-out & Reunion- save the date, Bruce will be firing up the grill for the next fund raiser for the Bobby Fund on October 20th. He will be providing the main course but please bring side dishes, desserts, chips etc. to share. This is a bring your own beverage party as well. Great food and fun for a great cause, don’t miss it.
· The Austin Senior Softball League end of season luncheon will be held on Monday, October 27th. We are going to try and get an earlier start this year for those hungry C league players that want to get on with their day. No cost for players but if you want to invite a guest, the fee will be $25.00. Terry Thompson will be sending out a poll to all players to get an accurate headcount so please respond once you receive this.
· The Huntsman games for softball will be starting the week of October 13th so more opportunities to get in some extra games as mercenaries.
Next Monday’s Games:
8:30 a.m. (H) Keystones (0-0-0) vs. (V) Senators (0-0-0)
9:30 a.m. (H) Sultans (0-0-0) vs. (V) Braves (0-0-0)
Pioneers will have a bye, and their players will have priority in the draw.
Monday marks the start of the fifth and final session of the year. A chance for any team to make their mark and win a session crown. Good luck to all!
Have a great weekend and Hook ‘em Horns!
Paul