B League news for Monday October 19, 2026

B League Picayune

Often in error, never in doubt.

Volume 8, Issue 59 – October 19, 2026

Terry Watts checks in:

Tom Kelm’s Hammer Team won the Gold Medal at the Huntsman Senior Games in the 74+ AA bracket. We went 5-0 with a team Average of .746 and On Base Percentage of .753.

Tom mentions that the team defeated the number-one-seed team from Oregon 21-20 on a two-out, two-run walk-off hit by Ken Brown, a liner to right-center that brought in Terry Thompson from second with the tying run and Gary Coyle from first with the winning run.

Austin Senior Softball players in the picture above: Front row: Ken Brown – second from left; Tom Kelm – third from left; Terry Watts – second from right. Back row: Terry Thompson – far left; Tom Brownfield – third from left; Gary Coyle – third from right; Patrick Schmidt – second from right; Ken Mockler – far right.

Games of Monday October 19:

Games were played at Krieg 6, as there was a water leak at Krieg 2.

Turns out there is a formula for winning in B League: score 13 runs and play strong defense behind a good pitcher. So simple.

10:30 a.m.: Orange (4-8) at Blue (5-6):

		1	2	3	4    BUFFET  FINAL
Orange		1	0	2	0	0	 3
Blue		5	2	5	1	X	13

Pitchers: Orange – Tommy Deleon; Blue – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Orange – Daniel Carvajal, Jack McDermott, and Trent Peacock; Blue – Paul Rubin. Umpires: home – Ralph Villela and Scott Wright; bases – Trent Peacock (top of the first) and Steve Browne. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Tom Bellavia and J.C. Schmeil (both 3 for 3 with a double) and George Romo (3 for 3).  

Dave Berra’s weather report: 64°, feels like 64°; humidity 55%; wind from the ESE at 1 MPH, partly cloudy – delightful!

Blue scored more runs in the bottom of the first, five on six singles, Tom Bellavia’s double, and David Brown’s triple, than Orange was able to manage in five innings against Joe Bernal. Orange did push across a single run in the top of the first, as Jack Spellman tripled to right-center with one out and scored on Mark Hernandez’s sacrifice fly to Tom Bellavia in left-center. And the bottom of the inning saw the best defensive play of the game by Orange: after J.C. Schmeil singled leading off, Lawrence Page singled to left field; rather than throw to third, Don Solberg made a strong throw to second that cut down Lawrence trying to stretch his hit into a double. That was the only out Blue made in the inning.

Orange didn’t score in the second. Matt Levitt led off with a single, but was erased on an around-the-horn double play, George Romo to J.C. Schmeil to Larry Young, on Hal Darman’s sharp grounder. Jack McDermott followed with a double but was stranded when Daniel Carvajal grounded out to shortstop David Brown.

Blue scored two runs in the home half of the second. Daniel Baladez led off with a single. Tommy Deleon got Paul Rubin to hit a two-strike foul for the first out. J.C. Schmeil singled, and the runners wound up on second and third on a sloppy relay to the infield. Lawrence Page popped out to first baseman Mark Hernandez, who did that hilarious thing of nonchalanting the ball until the last moment, then making the catch. Tom Bellavia’s two-out single drove in both runners. David Brown made an opposite-field bid for extra bases, but right fielder Dave Schneider made a good running catch for the third out.

Orange had its best chance for a big inning in the third, when five of its first six batters reached base, on four singles and a walk drawn by Tommy Deleon. With one out there were two runs in and the bases loaded, but Joe Bernal escaped the jam thanks to an oddball double play: Matt Levitt hit a short pop in front of shortstop David Brown; the infield fly was called, so Matt was out; Mark Hernandez’s pinch-runner at second – either Jack McDermott or Trent Peacock, I think, but I’m totally not sure – was slow to get back to the base, and was tagged out by J.C. Schmeil after David made a quick flip to the base.

Blue then iced the game with five runs on five singles, J.C. Schmeil’s double (completing a 3-for-3 game), and Daniel Baladez’s sacrifice fly to Matt Levitt in left-center.

That put Blue ahead 12-3 heading into the fourth. Joe Bernal blanked Orange in that frame, working around Daniel Carvajal’s two-out single. Blue got one run on inning-opening singles by Tom Bellavia, David Brown, and George Romo, Tom and and George completing 3-for-3 games. Tommy Deleon retired the next three batters – Joe Bernal on a two-strike foul, Donnie Janac on a pop to shortstop, and Larry Young on a 6-4 force.

Orange came up chasing ten in the top of the buffet. Tommy Deleon drew his second walk of the game to start the inning. Jack Spellman flied out to Paul Rubin in right-center. Mark Hernandez singled. Joe Bernal stranded the runners, getting Don Solberg to pop out to David Brown at shortstop and Dave Schneider to fly out to Tom Bellavia in left-center.

Final score: Blue 13, Orange 3

Delighted to have great ballplayers, and greater guys, Carl Gallagher and David Kruse in attendance today.

11:30 a.m.: Red (7-5) at Purple (4-7):

		1	2	3	4    BUFFET  FINAL
Red		3	0	0	1	3	 7
Purple		3	0	5	5	X	13

Pitchers: Red – Trent Peacock; Purple – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Red – Larry Fiorentino, Steve Sandall, and Don Solberg – Mike Garrison subbed in for Don in the bottom of the fourth; Purple – Steve Browne, Jeff Stone, and Scott Wright. Umpires: home – David Brown; bases – Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Red – Mark Dolan (3 for 3 with a double) and Mike Garrison (1 for 1); Purple – Rick Jensen, Joe Roche, and Peter Sundquist (all 3 for 3) and Jeff Stone (2 for 2 – Ohtani Award). Home run: Jack McDermott (inside the park) (4).

Weather update: a bit warmer – still nice.

Close game until it wasn’t. Both teams scored three times to start it, Red on five consecutive one-out hits in the top of the first – Mark Dolan’s double and four singles (including one by Marvin Krabbenhoft, batting left-handed for the hell of it), one run scoring on an overthrow; and Purple on four singles, Rick Kahn’s line double to right field, and Shane Hill’s sacrifice fly to Steve Sandall in right-center.

Then neither team scored in the second. Steve Sandall led off the top half with a single, but was erased on Don Solberg’s grounder, converted into a 4-6-3 double play by Scott Wright and Rick Jensen. Ralph Villela and Mark Dolan followed with singles, Mark taking second on the late throw for Ralph racing to third, but Jeff Stone stranded them, getting Marvin Krabbenhoft, batting right-handed, to pop out to shortstop Rick Jensen.

Jeff Stone led off the bottom of the second with a single. Patrick Schmidt ran for him. Steve Browne popped out to shortstop Ralph Villela. Scott Wright hit a sharp grounder down the first-base side that clipped Patrick, who was called out, Scott awarded first and a hit. Jack McDermott popped out to second baseman Mark Dolan.

Jeff Stone held Red scoreless again in the top of the third, working around Donald Drummer’s two-out single.

Purple then took control of the game, scoring five times in the bottom half of the third, on seven singles and a smart base-running move by Rick Jensen. With two runs in, the bases loaded, and one out, Rick on third, Billy Hill hit a grounder to third baseman Donald Drummer. Donald stepped on third for the force there, then threw home, but Rick had stopped inches short of the commit line, and when Donald made his throw, was able to retreat to third, denying Red the inning-ending out. Jeff Stone and Steve Browne then delivered run-scoring singles, bringing in the third, fourth, and fifth runs, Purple going ahead 8-3.

Red managed one run in the top of the fourth. Larry Fiorentino led off with a single. Jeff Stone retired Steve Sandall on a pop in front of the mound, then got Don Solberg to hit a two-strike foul fly down the right side. Two-out singles by Ralph Villela and Mark Dolan brought Larry around to score, Mark completing a 3-for-3 game. The inning ended with Marvin Krabbenhoft grounding into a 6-4 force, Rick Jensen to Scott Wright.

Purple then scored five runs once again, on eight consecutive hits after Scott Wright lined out to right fielder Rich Brendahl to start the inning. Jack McDermott walloped a drive to left field, well over and past Mike Garrison, who had only just taken over there for Don Solberg, who’d left with knee discomfort. Jack circled the bases for his fourth home run of the season:

Purple’s next seven batters singled, four more runs scoring, increasing their lead to 13-4 entering the buffet.

Trent Peacock led off the inning with a single. Johnny Lee made a persuasive argument for a rule change by fouling off a two-strike pitch down the right side. Donald Drummer hit a short fly behind third base, shortstop Rick Jensen making a good play ranging to his right to run down the pop for the second out. The next four batters knocked solid base hits: line single to right-center by Rich Brendahl; two-run double to deep left-center field by Larry Fiorentino, both Trent and Rich scoring; sharp single through the 5-6 hole by Steve Sandall, Larry scoring; and a line single to left-center by Mike Garrison that turned the lineup over. Ralph Villela came up and drove a ball to left-center, but got a bit under it, and Jack McDermott was well positioned to make the game-ending catch.

Final score: Purple 13, Red 7, Purple winning for the first time as home team in Session 4, after six losses.

Jeff Stone earned his fourth Ohtani Award of the season, going 2 for 2 with two RBI while pitching Purple to victory.

12:30 p.m.: Green (4-6) at Maroon (8-3):

		1	2	3	4	5    BUFFET  FINAL
Green		2	5	0	2	4	X	13
Maroon		1	0	4	1	0	0	 6

Pitchers: Green – Spike Davidson; Maroon – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Green – Patrick Schmidt, Peter Sundquist, and Ralph Villela. Umpires: home – Rick Jensen; bases – Jack McDermott. Perfect at the plate: Green – Steve Sandall (4 for 4), Patrick Schmidt (3 for 3), and Peter Sundquist (3 for 3 with a home run); Maroon – Steve Browne and Tony Garcia (both 4 for 4). Home runs: Ralph Villela (inside the park) (10) and Peter Sundquist (inside the park) (1). 

Weather update: warmer yet, still very pleasant.

Green jumped to an early lead, winning both of the first two innings. Doc Hobar and Steve Sandall led off the game with singles, Doc taking third when Steve was erased at the front end of a 6u., 6-3 double play turned by Tony Garcia on Larry Fiorentino’s grounder up the middle. Mike Garrison ripped a double down the left-field side, driving in Doc with the game’s first run, and moments later scored the second on Spike Davidson’s ground single up the middle. Chunky Wright singled through the 5-6 hole, putting a runner in scoring position for Boo Resnick. Boo lined a ball, but second baseman Scott Wright made a leaping grab of the ball for the third out.

Maroon got one run back in the home half: Steve Browne singled to center, took third on Tony Garcia’s line single to right-center, and scored on George Brindley’s sacrifice fly to Patrick Schmidt in left-center. Ken Brown flared a ball into short center field for a single, but Spike Davidson got both Scott Wright and Jeff Stone to ground into 6u. forces to shortstop Ralph Villela.

Ralph then led off the third inning with a drive to right-center that gapped the outfielders and rolled to the fence, Ralph easily circling the bases for his tenth home run of the season, tying Terry O’Brien for the league lead:

The next five Green hitters all hit safely, four more runs coming across in quick succession: Patrick Schmidt and Peter Sundquist singled; Doc Hobar hit a fly-ball double to right, Patrick scoring; Steve Sandall hit a Texas League single to center to drive in Peter; and Larry Fiorentino hit a double to left-center that drove in Doc and Steve. It all happened so quickly that it required an out-loud reading of my scoresheet to confirm that five runs had come across.

The bottom half went pretty quickly as well, as Spike Davidson got Fritz Hensel, David Pittard, and Alan Phillips all to fly out to Peter Sundquist in right-center. I think Spike needed only four pitches to get the job done. Peter made a notably good play on Alan’s fly, coming a long way in to make a basket catch for the third out.

Maroon got back into the game in the third inning. Jeff Stone worked a scoreless top half. He retired Mike Garrison on a fly to George Brindley in deep left-center to start the inning. Spike Davidson singled through the 5-6 hole and Chunky Wright knocked a base hit over third base into left field, but Spike got Boo Resnick to ground into a 6-5 force and Ralph Villela to fly out to Steve Browne in left field. Maroon then scored four runs on seven singles and Scott Wright’s sacrifice fly to Patrick Schmidt in left-center, cutting Green’s lead to 7-5.

Green didn’t let them get any closer. They won the fourth inning, scoring two runs on four singles in the top half, kept from a bigger inning by a good play by pitcher Jeff Stone, who made a terrific grab of Larry Fiorentino’s hard grounder up the middle, which looked like a sure single off the bat, and threw to second for the force there. Spike Davidson made the third out of the inning, popping out to shortstop Tony Garcia, but then held Maroon to a single run on three consecutive one-out singles in the bottom half. He retired two tough hitters to strand two runners, getting Ken Brown to fly out to Peter Sundquist in right-center and Scott Wright to line out to Steve Sandall in right.

Green extended its lead with four runs in the top of the fifth. Chunky Wright lined out to third baseman David Pittard to start the frame, good play by David on a ball to his left. Boo Resnick singled on a short fly just behind third base, which prompted catcher Fritz Hensel to comment: “That’s a buttermilk play.” (I’d never heard this locution – Google “makes my butt crave buttermilk” for a full and hilarious explanation.) I believe Boo took a runner from first, and that runner wound up at third on Ralph Villela’s ground-ball single through the 5-6 hole, Ralph taking second on the throw to third. (Fritz: “Buttermilk 2.0.”) Patrick Schmidt beat out a grounder to shortstop for a single, Ralph holding at second and Boo’s runner scoring. Peter Sundquist then stepped up and drove a ball to deep left-center, over George Brindley’s head and to the fence, for a three-run inside-the-park home run, Peter’s first of the season, warming the hearts of his fellow New Knee Club members:

Steve Sandall beat out a two-out ground single to third base, taking second on an overthrow, but was stranded when Ken Brown ran down Larry Fiorentino’s drive to right-center, Ken moving to his right and making a very good catch.

Spike Davidson then retired Maroon in order in the bottom of the inning. He got Jeff Stone to ground to second baseman Doc Hobar. Fritz Hensel grounded a ball up the middle, but his runner, Ken Brown, was thrown out by shortstop Ralph Villela, ranging to his left to make a good play. David Pittard lofted a fly to right-center field, and Peter Sundquist made his fifth catch of the game, again coming in to make a running catch.

With Green leading by seven, the teams agreed to flip-flop. Spike Davidson got two quick outs to start the buffet: Alan Phillips flied out to Patrick Schmidt in left-center, and Dale Fugate lined a two-strike pitch foul down the third-base side. Steve Browne beat out a grounder to shortstop for a single, and Tony Garcia grounded a single past third base into left field, both of them completing 4-for-4 games. George Brindley hit a fly fairly deep to left field, but Mike Garrison was well positioned and hardly had to move to make the game-ending catch.

Final score: Green 13, Maroon 6

Session 4 standings:

 

Session 4 standings:				Games	Runs	Runs	Run dif-	W/L
	Wins	Losses	Win %:	behind:	for:	allowed:	ferential:	streak:
Maroon	8	4	.667	0	164	133	31	L1
Gray	7	4	.636	0.5	166	155	11	L1
Red	7	6	.538	1.5	167	169	-2	L1
Blue	6	6	.500	2	138	116	22	W1
Green	5	6	.455	2.5	134	129	5	W1
Purple	5	7	.417	3	151	160	-9	W1
Orange	4	9	.308	4.5	109	167	-58	L1
	Home	Visitor	Walk-off	Extra-inning	Flip-flop	1-run games	Last 5
	W-L:	W-L:	wins	W-L:	W-L:	W-L:	games:
Maroon	4-4	4-0	0	0-0	3-4	0-0	LWLWL
Gray	4-2	3-2	1	1-0	1-0	3-1	WLWWL
Red	3-2	4-4	2	0-0	3-1	2-2	WWLWL
Blue	5-2	1-4	2	0-1	2-0	2-3	WLWLW
Green	2-2	3-4	0	0-0	2-1	1-2	LWWLW
Purple	1-6	4-1	0	0-0	2-2	0-1	WLWLW
Orange	2-3	2-6	1	0-0	1-4	1-0	LLLWL

2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):

 

	Blue	Gray	Green	Maroon	Orange	Purple	Red	TOTAL
Blue		4	9	4	5	5	4	31
Gray	4		2	3	4	6	2	21
Green	1	4		3	6	6	6	26
Maroon	3	5	6		4	7	7	32
Orange	4	5	2	4		4	3	22
Purple	3	3	2	2	4		5	19
Red	4	6	3	1	5	4		23
TOTAL:	19	27	24	17	28	32	27	174

2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 10
Ralph Villela – 10
Steve Browne – 6
Mike Garrison – 6
Trent Peacock – 5
Tony Garcia – 4
Jack McDermott – 4
George Brindley – 3
David Brown – 3
Tim Coles – 3
Alan Phillips – 3
Pat Scott – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
Scott Wright – 3
Richard Battle – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Tommy Gillis – 2
Rick Kahn – 2
Bobby Miller – 2
Scott Rokita – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
Ivan Budiselic – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Jim Foelker – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Mike Malay – 1
David Pittard – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Patrick Schmidt – 1
Peter Sundquist – 1

Hit for the cycle:
Ralph Villela – May 26

Ohtani Awards (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 8 (March 2, March 19, March 30, April 16, June 22, June 25, June 29, July 9)
Ray Pilgrim: 8 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1, July 2, July 9, August 17, August 27)
Spike Davidson: 7 (May 4, July 2, July 20, August 6, August 20, September 17, October 5)
Tommy Deleon: 6 (April 6, April 30, June 11, July 6, July 30, September 24)
Jeff Stone: 4 (March 2, July 9, September 8, October 19)
Trent Peacock: 3 (March 9, August 3, October 8)
Luis Sanchez: 3 (September 8, September 28, October 8)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Jack Kelly: 1 (August 3)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
David Pittard: 1 (October 15)

Schedule for Thursday October 22:
10:30 a.m.: Purple (5-7) at Gray (7-4), Blue umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Blue (6-6) at Green (5-6), Gray umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Maroon (8-4) at Red (7-6), Green umpiring

Orange has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.

Preview: We really are supposed to be moving back to Krieg 2, effective Thursday.

Blue’s win and Maroon’s loss today tightens up both the Session 4 standings, with Gray just half a game behind Maroon, and the full-season standings:

		Wins	Losses	Win%	 GB

Maroon		32	17	.653	 0.0
Blue		31	19	.620	 1.5
Green		26	24	.520	 6.5
Red		23	27	.460	 9.5
Orange		22	28	.440	10.5
Gray		21	27	.438	10.5
Purple		19	32	.373	14.0

 

Gray faces Purple at 10:30 Thursday, with a chance to take over first place for the session with a win. They lead the season series with Purple 6-3. Blue will try to continue its domination of Green at 11:30 – they lead the season series 9-1. Maroon has had almost as much success versus Red, whom they’ll meet at 12:30 – Maroon leads that season series 7-1. Does the fact no team has won or lost more than one game in a row entering Thursday mean that we’ve reached a state of near parity or of utter mediocrity? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.

Keggy’s Korner:

(Defunct) Podcast review: Catharsis

This Bugle spinoff was hosted by British actor-comedian Tiff Stevenson, with Stevenson inviting guests to unload about pet peeves, grudges, social and political irritations, then attempt to find some resolution. Guests over the 61 episodes included Bugle regulars Nish Kumar, Alice Fraser, Josh Gondelman, and Ria Lina. It was fairly enjoyable, particularly when Tiff channeled Scottish Husband, but ran its course. New England content: None I recall. Canadian content: Ditto. Listening speed: 1X. Rating: 🎧 🎧 🎧

Reminder from Terry Thompson: