B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 16 – May 4, 2026
Department of Corrections: In addition to earlier announced corrections for April 30 – I posted the Session 1 final standings instead of the current Session 2 standings, plus I misidentified Tom Brownfield as Green’s second baseman; it was actually Doc Hobar who made the game-ending catch – I failed to note that Peter Atkins came out of Orange’s game in the buffet inning after a fly to him in right field glanced off his glove and into his face, dislodging a contact lens. Peter Sundquist stepped in as his emergency replacement.
Games of Monday May 4:
10:30 a.m.: Purple (1-6) at Gray (3-5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 4 4 5 0 4 17 Gray 5 5 3 0 3 16 Pitchers: Purple – Ray Pilgrim; Gray – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Purple – Anthony Galindo; Gray – Tim Coles and Allen Phillips. Umpires: home – David Brown; bases – Lawrence Page. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Anthony Galindo (3 for 3 with two doubles), Rick Kahn (4 for 4 with a double), and Patrick Schmidt (3 for 3 with a triple). Home run: Paul Rubin (inside the park) (2).
Weather report: 70 degrees, felt like 70; 66% humidity; wind from the South at 12 MPH; partly cloudy.
An excellent, hard-fought game, mostly a battle of offenses – the teams combined for 16 extra-base hits – that was tied 13-13 entering the buffet, after each team came up empty in the fourth. Purple’s first four batters hit safely to open the game, with Jimmy Sneed and Rick Kahn knocking doubles, all four scoring, Rick on a two-out two-bagger by Phil Stanch. Phil then took third on Billy Hill’s line single up the middle. Joe Roche tried to get Phil in with the fifth run with an opposite-field fly ball, but left fielder Paul Rubin made a strong throw home to catcher Allen Phillips that just beat Phil.
Gray then won the inning by scoring five times in the home half, its fist five batters hitting safely – four singles and a triple by Paul Rubin – and scoring. Jack Kelly drove in the fourth run with a bases-loaded walk, and Tim Coles drove in the fifth run, twice – first he knocked a drive over the outfielders to left-center, but Dave Brown had signaled “no pitch” and disallowed it; then Tim lined a clean single to left-center.
Purple in the second inning again had its first four batters hit safely (two singles and doubles by Anthony Galindo and Peter Sundquist) and score, only to once again leave the fifth run stranded in scoring position. With three runs in, none out, and Peter on second, Jack Kelly got Jimmy Sneed to pop out to shortstop Clint Fletcher, then made a really fine play on Shane Hill’s hard one-hopper back to the box, looking Peter back and throwing to first for the second out. Rick Kahn grounded a single into right field to drive in Peter with the fourth run, then took second on Ray Pilgrim’s base hit to right-center. Phil Stanch lofted a fly to right field, Dave Jaffe making the catch to end the inning.
Gray again won the inning with five runs in the bottom half on five singles and Dave Jaffe’s rally-capping two-run double, the last three singles, Dave’s knock, and all the runs coming after two were out.
Purple matched that in the top of the third, scoring five times with two out. One-out singles by Joe Roche and Patrick Schmidt put runners on first and second. Larry Shupe topped a ball in front of the mat – it only traveled a foot or two, and Gray catcher Allen Phillips made a legitimately great play on the ball, pouncing on it and snapping an off-balance throw to third that beat Jimmy Sneed, running for Joe, to the bag. The next four batters all knocked clean hits, however, and five runs came across: Anthony Galindo lined a single to center to bring in Patrick; Peter Sundquist tripled down the left-field line, driving in Larry’s runner (Phil Stanch, I think) and Anthony; Jimmy Sneed’s line single to right field brought in Anthony; and Shane Hill hit a towering fly to center field that turned Bobby Miller around and fell in safely, Jimmy easily scoring from first as he was off on contact.
Purple then won the inning by holding Gray to three runs in the bottom half. Leading off, Jack Kelly drew his second walk. Tim Coles hit a very high fly to left field that Patrick Schmidt stayed with and caught. Allen Phillips singled. Bobby Miller lined a ball up the middle that gapped the outfielders and rolled most of the way to the fence for a triple, both Clint Fletcher (running for Jack) and Allen scoring. Paul Rubin slashed a single to left field to bring Bobby in with the tying run. Clint Fletcher lined a ball back to the box that Ray Pilgrim snagged and nearly turned into a double play, Paul getting back to the bag just ahead of first baseman Shane Hill. Daniel Carvajal’s fly to left-center was caught by Anthony Galindo for the third out.
Neither team scored and both turned a double play in the fourth inning. Rick Kahn led off the top of the inning with a single, but was erased on Ray Pilgrim’s double-play grounder, a hard shot down the third-base side that Tim Coles made a terrific, clean play on to start a 5-4-3 double play, Mike Velaney on the pivot. Phil Stanch doubled to right-center, but Tim made another clean play for the third out, fielding Billy Hill’s grounder and throwing out runner-from-home Peter Sundquist.
It looked like Gray had an opening to take the lead in the home half, but Purple’s defense came up big. Mike Velaney led off with a hard grounder down the first-base side that Shane Hill made a good play on, then beat Mike to the bag. Jim Foelker doubled to left-center. Dave Jaffe grounded to shortstop Jimmy Sneed, who threw to first for the second out; when Jimmy released the ball, Jim broke for third, but he was gunned down by Shane, whose throw to Joe Roche led Joe to easily tag Jim out to end the inning.
So it was tied entering the buffet. Purple went ahead with four runs in the top of the frame. Joe Roche drew a lead-off walk, and his pinch-runner, Jimmy Sneed, scored on Patrick Schmidt’s triple, a drive to right-center over the head of Jim Foelker. Larry Shupe popped out to shortstop Clint Fletcher for the first out. Anthony Galindo lined a double to left field, completing a 3-for-3 game and driving in Patrick. Peter Sundquist came up, well aware that he needed a home run to complete the cycle, but he got under the ball and his fly to left-center was caught by Bobby Miller, Anthony tagging up and advancing to third. Jimmy Sneed drove a pitch over the head of left-fielder Paul Rubin, Anthony scoring and Jimmy taking third when the relay in was mishandled. Shane Hill singled Jimmy in, lining a pitch to left field. Rick Kahn completed a 4-for-4 day with a line single to right-center, Shane’s runner Peter Sundquist taking third, but the inning ended with Ray Pilgrim flying out to Paul Rubin in left.
Gray was chasing four to tie, five to win in the bottom half. Ray Pilgrim got Jack Kelly to ground out to shortstop Jimmy Sneed to open the inning. Tim Coles and Allen Phillips both knocked singles to left-center, Tim’s a line drive, Allen’s a Texas Leaguer. Bobby Miller drove a fly to right field that Phil Stanch caught for the second out, Mike Velaney, running for Tim, tagging up and taking third. Paul Rubin came up and lined a pitch to left field, as seen here:
Peter Sundquist got a good jump on the ball, ranged well to his right, and made a diving try for it, as seen here…
…but the ball was slicing away from him, probably pushed a bit by the right-to-left-field wind, and he missed it by inches. The ball went to the fence, and Paul circled the bases with a three-run inside-the-park home run, his second of the season, that cut Purple’s lead to one run. Clint Fletcher was next. He drove a pitch to left field, but got under it a bit and hit it almost directly at Peter Sundquist, who came in, battling the wind, and made the catch to seal Purple’s victory.
Final score: Purple 17, Gray 16
11:30 a.m.: Blue (6-0) at Maroon (5-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 4 5 0 0 2 3 14 Maroon 5 0 2 4 0 0 11 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Maroon – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Blue – Larry Fiorentino; Maroon – Peter Sundquist. Umpires: home – Jack Kelly; bases – Paul Rubin. Perfect at the plate: Blue – David Brown (3 for 3 with a double); Maroon – David Pittard and Scott Wright (both 3 for 3).
Weather update: 75 degrees, felt like 75; 63% humidity; wind SSW at 10 MPH; mostly cloudy.
Another battle, Maroon putting a scare into Blue before the Blue team rallied late to post its 11th straight victory.
Blue jumped out to a quick lead, scoring four times in the top of the first, its first six batters of the game a hitting safely – five singles and a double by Tom Bellavia. Jeff Stone retired Larry Young on a two-strike foul for the first out. Donnie Janac knocked what looked like a single to left-center field, but Peter Sundquist fielded the ball on one hop and came up throwing, his strike to third base just beating JC Schmeil to the bag for the second out. Jeff then got Daniel Baladez to ground back to the box.
Maroon won the inning, scoring five runs on Jack McDermott’s lead-off double to left-center, a walk to George Brindley, and five consecutive two-out singles. All the runs scored after two were out – Jack scored the first run on an overthrow, when David Brown fielded Ken Brown’s grounder up the middle, tagged second for the second out, but then threw past first baseman Larry Young in an effort to double up Ken, which… that’s a long shot, even for a great shortstop like David, and Jack was able to score before Larry could retrieve the ball.
Blue reclaimed the lead with five runs in the top of the second, not making an out in the process. Larry Fiorentino led off with a walk, and Blue’s 1-6 hitters all knocked hits, Joe Bernal and JC Schmeil hitting fly-ball doubles to left field.
Joe Bernal then threw a scoreless bottom of the second, retiring Peter Sundquist and Jack McDermott to start the inning, giving up a singles to George Brindley and Steve Browne, then getting Ken Brown to hit a two-strike pitch foul to left field.
Jeff Stone matched that with a quick top of the third, needing only four pitches (I think) to retire the side in order. Maroon began clawing its way back into the game, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third on four singles. Jeff Stone and Scott Wright led off with hits. Steve Browne ran for Jeff and George Brindley ran for Scott. Steve was forced out at third on Fritz Hensel’s grounder back to the box. David Pittard singled to right-center, George just beating Larry Fiorentino’s throw home. Allen Phillips lined a single through the 5-6 hole that brought in Jack McDermott, running for Fritz. The inning ended with Joe Bernal turning a 1-6-3 double play on Peter Sundquist’s hard grounder back to the box, David Brown making a good pivot and proving me wrong about the efficacy of trying to throw out a fast runner.
Jeff Stone worked a second consecutive 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fourth, retiring Larry Fiorentino (grounder to third baseman Scott Wright), Ken Mockler (fly to right fielder Allen Phillips), and Tom Bellavia (fly to left fielder Steve Browne, who made an outstanding, tumbling catch coming in).
Maroon then took the lead with four runs in the home half, rallying after Joe Bernal retired 1-2 hitters Jack McDermott and George Brindley on pops to second baseman JC Schmeil and shortstop David Brown, behind third base, to start the inning. The next six batters singled, Steve Browne starting the rally/keeping the inning going by beating out a short pop that fell behind the mound, in the unreachable no-man’s-land that Joe, David, and JC couldn’t get to. The next five hits were clean singles sprayed all over the outfield: Ken Brown liner between right and right-center field, Jeff Stone Texas Leaguer to left field, Scott Wright liner to right, and Fritz Hensel and David Pittard line singles up the middle.
Maroon was up 11-9 entering the final five-run inning. Blue got two runs to knot the score, after Jeff Stone retired Joe Bernal on a grounder to shortstop George Brindley, his sixth consecutive retired batter. George Romo and JC Schmeil then singled, David Brown lined a double to right that scored George, and Larry Young lined a ball to Peter Sundquist in left-center, deep enough for JC to tag up and score to tie the game.
Joe Bernal maintained the tie, retiring Maroon in order in the bottom half on three balls in the air: Peter Sundquist flied out to left fielder Ken Mockler, Jack McDermott flied out to Larry Fiorentino in right-center, and George Brindley hit a pop that Joe caught to end the inning.
Blue broke the tie with three runs in the top of the buffet. Its first three batters singled: Daniel Baladez grounded a single up the middle; Larry Fiorentino lined a hit to right, Daniel’s pinch-runner JC Schmeil advancing to third, and Ken Mockler lined a hit to right-center, JC scoring and Larry taking third. Tom Bellavia flied a ball to right field that Allen Phillips, playing pretty deep, caught, Larry scoring and Ken’s pinch-runner David taking second. Joe Bernal lined a hit through the 5-6 hole, David scoring. Jeff Stone then got both George Romo and JC Schmeil to ground into 6-4 force outs to end the inning.
Maroon had the heart of its order due up in the home half, but Joe Bernal shut it down, retiring the side in order. He got Steve Browne to ground out to shortstop David Brown, Ken Brown to pop out to second baseman JC Schmeil, and Jeff Stone to fly out to Larry Fiorentino in right-center field. Joe retired the last seven batters he faced to secure the victory.
“I find your lack of hits disturbing.”
Final score: Blue 14, Maroon 11
12:30 p.m.: Green (3-4) at Orange (5-2):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Green 4 5 5 0 2 16 Orange 4 0 0 4 0 8 Pitchers: Green – Spike Davidson; Orange – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Green - Anthony Galindo and George Romo. Umpires: home – Jeff Stone; bases – Jack McDermott. Perfect at the plate: Green – Spike Davidson (3 for 3 – Ohtani Award), Mike Garrison (4 for 4 with a double), and George Romo (2 for 2 with a walk); Orange – Peter Atkins (2 for 2 with a walk) and Tommy Deleon (3 for 3).
Both teams scored four times in the fourth – Green on seven singles, Orange on four singles, Peter Atkins’ walk, and Mark Hernandez’s double – but after that, Green dominated, outscoring Orange 12-4. They scored five runs in both the second (on three walks, back-to-back doubles by Mike Garrison and Terry O’Brien, and rally-capping singles by Boo Resnick and Spike Davidson) and third (on five singles and another two-run double by Terry) while Spike Davidson, making a triumphant return to the mound for the first time this season, held Orange scoreless in each home half, working around two singles in each frame. Terry O’Brien turned a nice 6u., 6-3 double play on Pat Scott’s grounder up the middle for the first two outs in the bottom of the third.
Tommy Deleon held Green scoreless in the top of the fourth, allowing a pair of two-out singles to Boo Resnick and Spike Davidson, then knocking down Ivan Budiselic’s hard grounder back to the box, retrieving the ball, and throwing to third to get Boo, who ran to the bag instead of through and was out on a close play. Orange then scored four times on six singles and Adam Reddell’s sacrifice fly to Mike Garrison in left field.
That cut Green’s lead to 14-8 entering the buffet. Needing two runs to cause a flip-flop, Green quickly got them. Anthony Galindo led off with a triple and scored on George Romo’s single, which completed his perfect game at the plate. Mike Garrison also singled, his fourth hit in as many trips. Terry O’Brien hit an (uncalled, there wasn’t enough hang time) pop to first baseman Mark Hernandez for the first out, but Larry Fiorentino’s single brought in George and made it an eight-run game – flip-flop.
Spike Davidson retired the side in order in the bottom of the buffet, getting all three batters – Matt Levitt, Tommy Langa, and Hal Darman – to fly out to left fielder Mike Garrison, a.k.a. Death to Flying Things.
Final score: Green 16, Orange 8
Spike Davidson garnered an Ohtani Award, presented by Queen Amidala and Princess Akiko, for his first pitching appearance of the season.
Tommy Deleon received the No-Tani Award, after being perfect at the plate but losing the game, in a wretched hive of scum and villainy (i.e., the Krieg 2 Beer Garden).
2026 standings:
| Session 2 standings: | ||||||||
| Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | ||||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Blue | 7 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 93 | 56 | 37 | W11 |
| Maroon | 5 | 2 | .714 | 2 | 93 | 69 | 24 | L1 |
| Orange | 5 | 3 | .625 | 2.5 | 97 | 92 | 5 | L1 |
| Green | 4 | 4 | .500 | 3.5 | 106 | 95 | 11 | W2 |
| Gray | 3 | 6 | .333 | 5 | 109 | 132 | -23 | L4 |
| Purple | 2 | 6 | .250 | 5.5 | 99 | 128 | -29 | W1 |
| Red | 1 | 6 | .143 | 6 | 79 | 104 | -25 | L2 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Blue | 3-0 | 4-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Maroon | 2-1 | 3-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Orange | 2-2 | 3-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 1-0 | ||
| Green | 2-2 | 2-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 3-1 | 0-2 | ||
| Gray | 1-4 | 2-2 | 1 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 1-2 | ||
| Purple | 0-4 | 2-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 1-1 | ||
| Red | 0-4 | 1-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-0 | ||
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |
| Gray | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| Green | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| Maroon | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |
| Orange | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
| Purple | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| Red | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| TOTAL: | 1 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 48 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Ralph Villela – 3
Tim Coles – 2
Tony Garcia – 2
Mike Garrison – 2
Allen Phillips – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Richard Battle – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
David Brown – 1
Steve Browne – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Larry Fiorentino – 1
Rick Kahn – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
Terry O’Brien – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Ohtani Awards (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 4 (March 2, March 19, March 30, April 16)
Ray Pilgrim: 3 (March 5, March 23, March 26)
Tommy Deleon: 2 (April 6, April 30)
Spike Davidson: 1 (May 4)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
Trent Peacock: 1 (March 9)
Jeff Stone: 1 (March 2)
Schedule for Thursday May 7:
10:30 a.m.: Maroon (5-2) at Red (1-6), Gray umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Gray (3-6) at Orange (5-3), Red umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Blue (7-0) at Green (4-4), Orange umpiring
Purple has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Really hoping the weather holds because I’m looking forward to some good eating Thursday (see below). (We got some good eating today, by the way, as Donald Drummer stopped by with HEB doughnuts – so good. Thanks, Donald!) The day’s first two days feature four teams that are all looking to end losing streaks – one of Maroon or Red will get back on the winning track at 10:30, likewise either Gray or Orange will end a skid at 11:30. At 12:30, Green is the latest team to take a shot at ending Blue’s double-digit winning streak. Will we mark the 597th anniversary of Joan of Arc breaking the English siege of Orleans by celebrating a Blue defeat? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Shane Hill has an announcement:
The Hill Family will host a BBQ lunch for the Austin Senior Softball B Division on Thursday, May 7, immediately following the 12:30 game.
We’ll be serving sliced beef sandwiches, sausage wraps, and Lay’s potato chips. Please note that drinks will not be provided.
Donations are not required, but if you would like to contribute, we encourage you to support the Bobby Fund.
Thank you,
Shane Hill
Scheduling announcement from President George Brindley: The park is closed on Monday, so we will play on Tuesday May 12.
Keggy’s Korner:
Podcast review: Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Pretty entertaining podcast that looks at screw-ups through history and asks, where did they go wrong and how can we avoid repeating the errors? Host Tim Harford is a Brit, and a lot of the stories are UK-based or adjacent. He loves plane crashes, shipwrecks, and conmen getting caught in a web of lies. Episodes come in at under 45 minutes, which I appreciate. Recommended listening speed: I listen at regular speed, but you probably can get away with 1.1X and not miss anything. New England content: Not especially. Canadian content: Ditto.
Rating: 🎧 🎧 🎧