B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 27 – for June 25, 2026
Games of Thursday June 25:
10:30 a.m.: Red (2-0) at Blue (1-0):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 0 2 0 0 1 0 3 Blue 5 1 5 0 X X 11 Pitchers: Red – Trent Peacock; Blue – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Red – Jim Foelker; Blue – Dean Hector and Paul Rubin. Umpires: home – Scott Wright; bases – Steve Browne. Perfect at the plate: Red – Ralph Villela (3 for 3 with a double); Blue – Joe Bernal (2 for 2 with a walk – Ohtani Award) and Dean Hector (2 for 2).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 84 degrees, felt like 90; 65% humidity; wind from the South 11 MPH; partly cloudy – not bad!
David Brown provides recaps for the day’s games in my absence:
The 10:30 game was the George Romo Show. The Red team hit seven ground balls toward third base and George converted every one of them into outs. Ralph Villela started the game with a single to left field. Mark Dolan followed with a line drive over left-fielder Paul Rubin that landed a couple of feet foul. Blue pitcher Joe Bernal took advantage by inducing a second foul ball from Mark for the first out of the game. Tommy Gillis was the first Red player to test George, who fielded Tommy’s grounder and threw to 2B to force out Ralph. Tim Coles singled to put runners on 1st and 3rd, but Joe kept Red off the board by getting Trent Peacock looking at a called third strike.
Tom Bellavia started the Blue offense with a screaming line drive to left field that Richard Battle caught while running to his left. Larry Young followed with a line drive to right center that skipped past Red outfielder Anthony Galindo. Larry turned on the jets and pulled in with a double. George Romo hit a line drive single to left field to score Larry’s pinch runner. Joe Bernal pulled a ground ball to the left side of the Red infield but the throw to 2B went past Mark Dolan. George and Joe kept running as Red right fielder Jim Foelker retrieved the ball and threw a one-hopper to Fritz Henzel that arrived a step before George crossed the line (6-10-2). With two outs, Donnie Janac plated Joe with a line drive up the middle. Ken Mockler put runners on 1st and 3rd with a broken-bat single to the outfield. David Brown followed with a line drive to right field that scored Donnie. Ken’s pinch runner, Tom Bellavia, rounded 2B and headed to 3B as the ball was thrown to the infield. Tim Coles didn’t see the ball when it was thrown to 3B and both Tom and David scored as the ball was retrieved from the outfield. The Little League home run moved the score to 5-0 after one inning.
Johnny Lee started the second inning with a lined single to right field. Anthony Galindo followed with a single to left center. Catcher Larry Shupe corralled a fouled pitch that produced the first out of the inning. Marvin Krabbenhoft loaded the bases with a ground-ball single to left field. A sacrifice fly to Tom Bellavia in LCF produced Red’s first run and the inning’s second out. Ralph plated Anthony with a single to CF. Mark followed with a single to put runners on 1st and 2nd, but George ended the threat with a fine play at 3B and strong throw to Dean Hector at 2B.
Red pitcher Trent Peacock started the bottom of the second by inducing ground outs to shortstop Ralph Villela and himself. Dean Hector, Tom Bellavia, and Larry Young had back-to-back-to-back singles to plate a run before Trent got his first K of the game with a fouled third strike.
Perhaps inspired by Trent’s strong pitching in the bottom of the 2nd, Joe Bernal had a three-up, three-down inning with a fouled third strike and ground outs to George at 3B and Dean at 2B.
With Joe and their defense playing well, Blue put the game away with a BB-1B-1B-SF-1B-BB-1B-2B sequence that produced five runs and an 11-2 lead.
Anthony Galindo started the 4th with a high fly ball to left center. Tom Bellavia and Paul Rubin both yelled, “I got it!” As they converged, it appeared that the ball would fall as they both feared a collision but Tom made a late stab that resulted in a catch and the first out of the inning. Richard’s single to left field set up back-to-back fielder’s choice plays by George, the second of which was an excellent snag on a hard hit grounder to his left. Trent worked around a couple of singles in the bottom of the 4th to shut out the Blue team and keep the score at 11-2.
With time running down, Ralph started the 5th inning with a double to complete a perfect day at the plate. Mark Dolan walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd for Tommy Gillis, who knocked in Ralph with a line-drive hit to LCF. Tom Bellavia got to the ball before it gapped him, and Paul Rubin and made a strong throw to SS David Brown. Mark Dolan had rounded 2B and then slipped as he retreated, which allowed David to throw to Dean Hector at 2B, who applied a tag to Mark to get the first out of the inning. Tim Coles singled to left field before Dean made the final two outs of the inning on a pop-up and line drive. With time having run out, home plate umpire Scott Wright called for the double flip flop into the buffet, and the game ended fittingly with a fly out to left field and two ground outs to George Romo.
Final score: Blue 11, Red 3
Joe Bernal receives his sixth Ohtani Award of the season from XG.
11:30 a.m.: Maroon (1-1) at Orange (1-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 0 1 5 2 4 6 18 Orange 5 5 3 0 2 4 19 Pitchers: Maroon – David Pittard (innings 1-2) and Trent Peacock (innings 3-buffet); Orange – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Maroon – David Brown and Trent Peacock; Orange – Tom Bellavia and Mark Dolan. Umpires: home – Anthony Galindo; bases – Ralph Villela. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – David Brown (4 for 4 with a home run), Trent Peacock (4 for 4 with a double), and David Pittard (4 for 4 with two doubles); Orange – Matt Levitt (5 for 5) and Adam Reddell (4 for 4). Home run: David Brown (inside the park) (3).
Weather update: Same.
The most entertaining game of the day was the one that started shortly after 11:30. Orange pitcher Tommy DeLeon was dominant early. After giving up a single to RF to Maroon lead-off hitter Steve Browne, he induced two fielder’s choice ground outs to shortstop Peter Atkins (filling in admirably for sports journalist [Editor’s note: pretend journalist, my wife insists I note] Jack Spellman) and one to himself to blank Maroon in the 1st. Orange then produced five runs without making an out in the bottom of the 1st with six singles and Peter Atkins’s double.
Matt Levitt made a fine catch on a sinking line drive to get the lead-off batter in the second inning. David Pittard and Alan Phillips hit well-struck singles to put runners on 1B and 2B. Dean Hector hit a ground ball to SS, where Peter made another fine play and threw to 3B to get the lead runner. In a bid for his second Little League home run of the day, mercenary David Brown grounded a ball down the 3rd base line. Adam Reddell made a fine play to field the ball, but his throw to 2B was over the head of mercenary Mark Dolan. With the ball in RCF, Dean Hector ran to 3B and headed home. Dean scored as the ball got past the Orange catcher. David rounded third and considered going home but settled for the Little League triple. Orange made an appeal at 2B and umpire Ralph Villela confirmed that Dean had missed 2B when rounding the bases. Instead of two runs scored and a runner at 3B, the inning ended with a single Maroon run.
In the bottom of the second, Orange finally made their first out, but they also scored five more runs while hitting seven consecutive singles.
Maroon’s offense woke up in the top of the 3rd with four singles and doubles by George Brindley and David Pittard, which plated five runs. Maroon manager Scott Wright went to the bullpen in the 3rd, with mercenary Trent Peacock replacing David Pittard. The move kind of worked as Orange only managed to score three runs on three singles and mercenary Tom Bellavia’s double to RF.
Maroon scored two runs in the 4th inning with two singles and a double by Trent Peacock. The score held at 13-8 as Trent prevented Adam Reddell from advancing past 1B after his lead-off single by inducing two fouled third strikes and a pop out to George Brindley at SS.
Scott Wright opened the bottom of the 5th with a double to RF. Fritz Henzel and David Pittard followed with singles to CF. Alan Phillips hit a line drive to LF that was caught by Tom Bellavia for the first out of the inning. Dean Hector hit a line drive to LCF that gapped the Orange outfielders and scored two runs. Matt Levitt hustled to the fence to retrieve the ball, which he threw to LF Tom Bellavia, who threw a strike to Adam Reddell at 3B shortly before Dean Hector arrived (8-7-5). David Brown hit a line drive to the gap in RCF. Having watched dozens of World Cup games in the past two weeks, Pat Scott decided to pass the ball to RF Jack Crosley using the outside of his boot. Unfortunately, the ball got up on his laces and he kicked the ball beyond Jack into the open pitch, which allowed David to circle the bases for his third home run of the season.
David Brown’s drive to right-center was too hot for Pat Scott and Jack Crosley to handle, and David wound up with his third home run of the season.
A single by Trent Peacock and a double by Steve Browne put the tying run on 3B, but Tommy got the third out of the inning on a fly ball to LCF that preserved the Orange 1-run lead.
Orange managed two runs in the bottom of the 5th inning with three singles which pushed their lead out to 15-12.
In the buffet, Maroon scored six runs and took an 18-15 lead on five singles and doubles by David Pittard and Steve Browne.
Trailing for the first time in the game, Orange led off the buffet with four consecutive singles including one by Adam Reddell, who was perfect at the plate. Trent Peacock got a fouled third strike to get the first out of the inning, but Tom Bellavia tied the score with a single to RCF. A pop out to 3B David Pittard left the game tied with two outs and runners on 1st and 2nd. Up stepped lead-off hitter Matt Levitt seeking to go 5-5 on the day, and he promptly lined a single to LF which plated the winning run.
His teammates carry Matt Levitt off the field following his walk-off RBI single, which completed a 5-for-5 day at the plate.
Final score: Orange 19, Maroon 18
Maroon hurlers Trent Peacock and David Pittard were both perfect at the plate, but to settle for No-tahni Awards.
12:30 p.m.: Purple (0-2) at Green (0-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 1 3 2 1 4 5 16 Green 2 5 4 5 5 X 21 Pitchers: Purple – Ray Pilgrim; Green – David Pittard. Mercenaries: Purple – Jim Foelker, Trent Peacock, Adam Reddell, and Ralph Villela; Green – Anthony Galindo and David Pittard. Umpires: home – Jack Crosley; bases – Matt Levitt and Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Rick Kahn (4 for 4 with a double) and Ralph Villela (4 for 4); Green – Anthony Galindo (2 for 2 with a walk), Doc Hobar (4 for 4 with a double and a home run), and Rex Horvath (4 for 4 with a double). Home run: Doc Hobar (inside the park) (1).
The game started promisingly enough for Purple as consecutive singles by Jimmy Sneed, Jack McDermott, and Rick Kahn plated their first run, but a 4-6-3 double play, Rex Horvath to Terry O’Brien to Tom Brownfield, ended Purple’s hopes for a big inning.
Doc Hobar got the Green offense started with a double to LF. Doc scored on a Steve Sandall single. Mike Garrison grounded into a 4u. fielder’s choice and took 3B on a Rex Horvath single to RCF. Birthday boy Gary Coyle (Happy 77th, Gary!) brought Mike home with a sacrifice fly to LF, but that would be Green’s final run of the inning as Purple pitcher Ray Pilgrim induced a fly out to mercenary Ralph Villela in LCF.
Purple retook the lead in the top of the 2nd with four singles and a double by Trent Peacock.
After a lead-off ground out to SS Jimmy Sneed, Green’s offense got rolling with a BB-1B-BB-1B-1B-1B-1B sequence that scored five runs. It would not be Green’s last five-run inning.
Trailing 7-4, Purple pulled to within 1 run in the top of the 3rd with three singles and a double by Rick Kahn. The third out of the inning came when Adam Reddell made his only out of the day on a pop out to Rex Horvath at 2B. Congrats on 7 hits in 8 at bats today, Adam!
Gary Coyle led off the bottom of the 3rd inning with a line-drive single to left field. Gary had a cheering section today as his wife and multiple children and grandchildren were in the stands waving “Happy Birthday!” signs:
Gary scored on a Terry O’Brien double to RF. Green scored three more runs in the inning to push their lead out to five.
With a run in and two runners on base in the top of the 4th, Ray Pilgrim hit a drive to CF that Steve Sandall tracked down and caught for the third out of the inning.
Green extended their lead to 16-7 in the bottom of the 4th with five runs on a walk, four singles, and Terry O’Brien’s second double.
The Purple 5th inning featured a frantic two-out rally that scored a run and loaded the bases for Jimmy Sneed, who cashed in with a bases clearing triple. Jimmy would have scored the fifth run of the inning if not for an over-the-shoulder basket catch by Rex Horvath on a flare to short RCF.
Doc Hobar opened the bottom of the 5th with his first home run of the season. The Green team scored four more runs on a walk and five singles. Green’s offensive onslaught produced 2 runs and perfect days from Doc Hobar, Rex Horvath, and mercenary Anthony Galindo.
Doc Hobar connects for his first home run of the 2026 season.
Purple entered the buffet trailing 21-11 and started the inning with six consecutive hits, including a drive to the fence in center field by Ray Pilgrim that he managed to limit to a double. A line out, fielder’s choice ground out, and pop out to SS Terry O’Brien held Purple to five runs and preserved a 21-16 victory for the Green team.
Final score: Green 21, Purple 16
2026 standings:
| Session 3 standings: | ||||||||
| Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | ||||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Blue | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 22 | 6 | 16 | W2 |
| Orange | 2 | 1 | .667 | 0.5 | 53 | 50 | 3 | W2 |
| Red | 2 | 1 | .667 | 0.5 | 32 | 31 | 1 | L1 |
| Green | 1 | 1 | .500 | 1 | 37 | 33 | 4 | W1 |
| Gray | 1 | 1 | .500 | 1 | 20 | 26 | -6 | L1 |
| Maroon | 1 | 2 | .333 | 1.5 | 38 | 42 | -4 | L2 |
| Purple | 0 | 3 | .000 | 2.5 | 44 | 58 | -14 | L7 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Blue | 1-0 | 1-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Orange | 1-1 | 1-0 | 1 | 0-1 | 1-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Red | 1-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-0 | ||
| Green | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | ||
| Gray | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 1-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Maroon | 0-1 | 1-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | ||
| Purple | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | ||
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 19 | |
| Gray | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 | |
| Green | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | |
| Maroon | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 13 | |
| Orange | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 12 | |
| Purple | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| Red | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 11 | |
| TOTAL: | 4 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 12 | 17 | 12 | 81 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 5
Ralph Villela – 5
David Brown – 3
Steve Browne – 3
Tony Garcia – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Tim Coles – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Allen Phillips – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jack Spellman – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Richard Battle – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
George Brindley – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Rick Kahn – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
Trent Peacock – 1
Scott Rokita – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Jimmy Sneed – 1
Scott Wright – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Ralph Villela – May 26
Ohtani Awards (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 6 (March 2, March 19, March 30, April 16, June 22, June 25)
Ray Pilgrim: 4 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1)
Tommy Deleon: 3 (April 6, April 30, June 11)
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 Monday June 29:
10:30 a.m.: Blue (2-0) at Green (1-1), Gray umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Gray (1-1) at Purple (0-3), Blue umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Red (2-1) at Maroon (1-2), Purple umpiring
Orange has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Blue can cement its hold on the Session Three lead with a win over Green at 10:30 – I’m interested to hear from afar whether Joe Bernal can contain Green’s high-octane offense. Green is winless in four games versus Blue so far this season. At 11:30 Purple, which has been hitting, will try to contain Gray and post its first win of the session. Red and Maroon play for only the third time this season at 12:30; Maroon has won each of their first two contests. Will I bore everyone to tears on my return to Austin with my replay of the Cranston East ’76 Reunion Golf Scramble? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Podcast review: Wild Card With Rachel Martin
With time at a premium as I try to cobble together a Picayune while traveling, I’m leaving my alphabetized approach and skipping to near the end of the alphabet for a quick review of this NPR podcast series. Rachel Martin asks woo-woo questions of her celebrity guests based on a random selection of cards. She’s big on “formative experiences,” family history, and faux empathy. Not really my cup of tea, but some of the guests are good, especially when they refuse to play into her pop psychology – the authors George Saunders and David Sedaris both were great. Noah Kahan and John C. Reilly were singularly disappointing.
New England content: Noah Kahan, disappointing me mightily. Canadian content: None that I’ve encountered, but I skip more episodes than I listen to. Listening speed: Regular speed. Rating: 