B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 11 – April 7, 2025
Correction: I wrote that Scott Wright was unable to handle a hard-hit ball by Maroon’s Steve Hamlett in Thursday’s third game, but it was actually Adam Reddell who was playing third for Gray. (To be clear, Adam (see the noon game recap) and Scott (a typically fine defensive game at second base in the 11:00 game) are both very good third baseman; it’s a difficult position.) The Picayune regrets the error.
Weather report: It started chilly, overnight and early morning temperatures in the low 40s resulting in the start times for today’s games getting pushed back half an hour, but it turned into a beauty: 59 degrees with 36% humidity and wind from the north-northwest at 8 MPH for the start of the first game, up to 66 degrees, humidity dropping to 25% for the second, wind still at 8 MPH, more from the north. It was warm in the sun and brisk in the dugouts, sunny throughout, the wind making it tricky for pop-up challenged fielders (\raising my hand\).
Games of Monday April 7:
11:00 a.m., Purple (1-1) at Maroon (1-0):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 4 5 0 0 0 6 15 Maroon 0 2 3 2 3 3 13 Pitchers: Purple – Spike Davidson; Maroon – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Purple – Jim Foelker, Jack Spellman, and Chris Waddell; Maroon – George Brindley, Gary Coyle, Ray Pilgrim, and Jimmy Sneed. Umpires: home – Chunky Wright; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Fritz Hensel (3 for 3 with a walk); Maroon – Jimmy Sneed (3 for 3). Home run: Jack Spellman (inside the park) (1).
Purple came out strong, scoring nine of a possible ten runs over its first two innings – four runs in the first, Spike Davidson clearing the bases with a two-out hit to the fence for the final three; five runs on five singles, Richard Battle’s walk, and Jack Spellman’s triple in the second – while Spike held Maroon scoreless in the bottom of the first (1-2-3 inning) and allowed only two runs on three singles, Jimmy Sneed’s double, and George Brindley’s sacrifice fly in the second.
But Purple’s bats went very cold in the middle innings, Jeff Stone retiring the side in order in both the third (three fly outs) and fourth (liner back to the mound, fly to Jimmy Sneed in left, after he’d caught two the inning before, and a two-strike foul). In the top of the fifth Fritz Hensel and Spike Davidson both singled with one out, but Tony Garcia turned a really nice double play on Jim Foelker’s grounder to his right: Tony swipe-tagged Matt Levitt, running for Fritz and trying to advance to third, then threw to Scott Wright at second to complete the 6u., 6-4 twin killing. (Matt was caught in no-man’s-land on the play – if he’d stopped or retreated, Tony would have thrown to second for the force there, and Scott would have had plenty of time to throw to third to get Matt anyway. Matt’s only choice was to try to slip past, and he just didn’t have the angle to do so.)
Maroon was able to take the lead by scoring eight times over those three innings. They got three on four singles and Jeff Stone’s double in the third, though two terrific diving stops by Mike Velaney for 4-6 force outs, on hard-hit balls by Ken Brown and Ivan Budiselic kept them getting more. In the fourth, Jimmy Sneed tripled with one out and scored on Gary Coyle’s single. Ray Pilgrim grounded to shortstop, a spinning cue ball off the end of the bat; Spellman threw to Mike Velaney at second for the force; Mike had a shot at Ray, but his throw drew Chris Waddell off the bag and Ray was safe. That hurt, as George Brindley then ran for Ray and scored from first on Ken Brown’s single, I think to right-center. Maroon then took the lead with three runs on five singles, the last with three out, in the bottom of the fifth. Coincidentally, or not, sometime during all this you could hear a trumpet player out beyond left field, around the PARD office. It was nice.
Purple trailed 10-9 entering the buffet. Chris Waddell led off with a single. Jack Spellman sliced a ball down the right-field line, about four feet fair; right fielder Gary Coyle had moved a couple steps to his right to get a line of sight on the batter’s box, and those two steps were enough that he couldn’t get to the ball, which skipped past and into the corner; both Chris and I scored, Purple taking the lead. Singles by Matt Levitt (a slow roller to shortstop) and Pat Scott and a walk to Richard Battle loaded the bases. Mike Velaney singled, everyone moving up one base, Matt scoring. Rick Jensen grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, Scott Wright to Tony Garcia to Ivan Budiselic, Pat scoring. Fritz Hensel, completing a perfect day at the plate, singled in Richard. Spike Davidson lined a hit that allowed Matt Levitt (I think), running for Fritz, to score from first; Spike’s runner from home had to stop at first, but functionally it was a run-scoring double that increased Purple’s lead to 15-10. That’s what Maroon was chasing after Jim Foelker flied out to George Brindley in left-center for the third out.
Purple manager Bay Young positively reinforces Jack Spellman with a Pluckers coupon following Spellman’s go-ahead two-run inside-the-park home run in the top of the buffet. Hey, look at my new Beebe cleats! (Photo credit: Larry Young.)
Quote of the Day (I): Bay: “Who’s a good mercenary? Jack’s a good mercenary!”
The first four Maroon batters of the home half hit safely: Ray Pilgrim and Ken Brown singled; Tony Garcia doubled, Ray’s runner scoring; and Scott Wright singled in Ken and Tony, cutting the deficit to just two runs. Spike Davidson got the next two hitters to ground into outs, Jeff Stone to shortstop for a 6-4 force at second, Jimmie Maloy to third baseman Rick Jensen, who wisely elected to get the surer out at first. Tom Kelm singled, putting the tying run on base, but the hard-fought game ended with Ivan Budiselic flying out to Pat Scott in left-center. Final score: Purple 15, Maroon 13
Noon, Green (1-0) at Gray (0-2):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Green 2 3 0 2 4 11 Gray 2 0 5 1 4 12 Pitchers: Green – Chunky Wright; Gray – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Green – George Brindley and Jeff Stone; Gray – Anthony Galindo. Umpires: home – Spike Davidson; bases – Larry Young and Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Green – Phil Stanch (4 for 4) and Jeff Stone and Chunky Wright (both 3 for 3); Gray – Tommy Gillis (4 for 4 with a double), George Romo (3 for 3), and Morgan Witthoft (4 for 4). Home run: Jeff Stone (inside the park) (1).
Terrific game came down to the last batter, neither team ever leading by more than three runs. Both scored twice in the first. Green opened the game with a single by Ralph Villela. Mike Garrison followed with a sinking line drive to left field that Tommy Gillis made an outstanding catch of, at his shoetop. Phil Stanch, Chris Waddell, and Rick Kahn followed with singles, Ralph and Phil scoring. Jack Kelly then got Donnie Janac to ground into a 6u., 6-3 double play, a nice turn by George Romo.
As they would almost all game, Gray first four batters hit safely in the home half, singles by Tommy Gillis, Morgan Witthoft, George Romo (off third baseman Jeff Stone’s glove) loading the bases, Adam Reddell driving in Tommy and Morgan with a base hit up the middle. Tommy, Morgan, and George went a combined 11 for 11 in the game, and Adam singled his first two times up. Chunky Wright got out of the first-and-second, no-out jam by retiring Dave Jaffe, Johnny Lee, and Hal Darman.
Green scored three runs with two out in the top of the second, the first two on Jeff Stone’s inside-the-park home run to right field. Ralph Villela followed with a double, also to right, and, after Mike Garrison walked, scored on Phil Stanch’s line single, once more to right field. Chunky Wright then retired the side in order in the home half, the first out coming on a nice play on Boo Resnick’s hard grounder, which third baseman Jeff Stone deflected to shortstop Ralph Villela; Ralph’s hurried throw arrived on one hop to first baseman Chris Waddell, who made a clean grab for the out.
Green skipper Chunky Wright presents Jeff Stone with a Pluckers coupon following Jeff’s two-run inside-the-parker in the top of the second.
Green sent five batters to the plate in the top of the third, four of them singled, and they came away with nothing thanks to carbon-copy 8-6-2 relays home, Anthony Galindo to George Romo to Hal Darman, that cut down first Rick Kahn and then Donnie Janac trying to score from second.
In retrospect, I think those were the key plays of the game. Gray then took the lead with five runs in the bottom of the inning, on George Romo’s double and six singles, Boo Resnick and Jack Kelly driving in the fourth and fifth runs with two-out hits.
Green briefly tied the score with two runs on singles by four of the first five batters in the top of the fourth. Jack Kelly snagged Rick Kahn’s liner up the middle for the second out, then got Donnie Janac to ground into a 5-4 force for the third.
Gray went back ahead with a single run on three consecutive one-out singles, by Tommy Gillis, Morgan Witthoft, and George Romo in the bottom half before Chunky was able to retire Adam Reddell on a pop to second baseman George Brindley and induce Dave Jaffe to ground into a 5-4 force.
Quote of the Day (II): Scott Wright, while watching the noon game: “I can’t go home. The cleaning lady’s there, and she’s got a crush on me.”
On to the buffet. Green’s first four batters, the bottom of its lineup, all singled: Chunky Wright, Billy Hill, and George Brindley’s hits loaded the bases, and Jeff Stone’s drove in Chunky and Billy’s pinch-runner, George following when the relay to the infield was boxed around, Jeff taking second on the play. Ralph Villela flied out to right fielder Dave Jaffe, and Jeff scored when the ball was again not handled cleanly on its return. One out later Phil Stanch singled, his fourth liner to the right side in as many at bats, but was stranded when Anthony Galindo ran down Chris Waddell’s fly to left center.
So that left Gray needing three to tie and four to win in the home half. Johnny Lee led off with a fly to right field, Phil Stanch moving to his left to make the catch. Hal Darman and Boo Resnick followed with clean singles, both to left-center. Jack Kelly tried to go opposite field, but got under Chunky Wright’s pitch and popped it to third baseman Jeff Stone for the second out. Anthony Galindo stepped up and lined a double to right-center, Hal (or his pinch-runner, I don’t recall) scoring, Boo advancing to third.
Tommy Gillis stepped up and hit to almost the same spot, as seen in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Boo and Anthony both scored, tying the game, and Tommy took third on the late throw home. It was Tommy’s fourth hit of the game.
Morgan Witthoft followed, and here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
It’s not easy to see, but shortstop Ralph Villela’s anguish tells the story: Morgan lined the ball to center field; Donnie Janac got to it, but the ball glanced off his glove and fell to the ground, and Tommy was able to trot home with the winning run. Final score: Gray 12, Green 11
1:00 p.m., Red (1-1) at Orange (0-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 0 2 0 2 1 0 5 Orange 3 3 3 2 0 X 11 Pitchers: Red – Joe Bernal; Orange – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Red – Tommy Gillis, Johnny Lee, and Chris Waddell; Orange – Adam Reddell and Ralph Villela. Umpires: home – Jack Kelly; bases – Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Red – Joe Bernal (3 for 3).
Red entered this game averaging over 15 runs scored per game, best in the league for the season, and proceeded to get shut down by Orange pitcher Ray Pilgrim, who threw three scoreless innings and never allowed more than two runs in any of the other three frames. He had his mojo working from the get go, escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the top of the first by getting Dale Fugate to hit a hard grounder to third baseman Adam Reddell, who made fine, clean play with the glove, stepped on third, and threw home to beat Anthony Galindo by a step for an inning-ending 5u., 5-2 double play.
Orange then scored three runs in the bottom half to establish a lead it never relinquished. Peter Atkins, Mike Malay, Terry O’Brien, and Ray Pilgrim led off with singles, Peter and Mike coming around to score. Joe Bernal got two ground ball force outs, Terry scoring on the first.
Red got on the board in the top of the second, but was held to two runs by a smart, well-executed defensive play. With one out, Donald Drummer singled and Tommy Gillis doubled him home. Tommy took third on Chris Waddell’s single, and tagged and scored on Johnny Lee’s fly to Ralph Villela in right-center; Ralph lined the ball up and made a strong throw home, not in time to get Tommy, but Chris took off for second on it, only to be gunned down by catcher Marvin Krabbenhoft, who snapped off a strong throw to shortstop David Brown to complete the SF-9, 9-2-6 double play that preserved Orange’s lead.
Which they added to with three runs in the home half, Orange’s first three batters again hitting safely and scoring: Ralph Villela and Adam Reddell singled; Peter Atkins doubled, Ralph scoring and Adam taking third. Adam then scored on Mike Malay’s grounder to second baseman Johnny Lee, Peter advancing to third. Peter scored on Terry O’Brien’s single. A single by Ray Pilgrim and a walk to Ken Mockler loaded the bases with one out, but Gary Coyle made a good play on Marvin Krabbenhoft’s grounder down the third-base side, just fair – Gary grabbed it, stepped on third, and fired home to put out Terry, catcher Jim McAnelly reaching to his right, across his body, to make the catch while staying anchored to the mat, for a very nice 5u., 5-2 double play.
Red did not score in the top of the third, the tone of the inning set by Ralph Villela. Jack Spellman led off with a sinking line drive to right-center, and I’m still in some disbelief at the great jump Ralph that enabled him to make a shoestring catch. Absolutely superb outfield play. It doesn’t feel fair that Ralph is an excellent shortstop and an outstanding outfielder.
Orange then added three more runs in the bottom of the third, on five consecutive one-out hits. Larry Shupe started the rally with a hard single past shortstop. Ralph Villela popped a ball to short left field – off the bat, Jack Spellman raced out as fast as his rebuilt knee would take him (not very), only to seriously overrun the ball, which fell in safe just ten feet or so beyond the infield dirt. (High comedy for those who stuck around – you’re welcome.) Adam Reddell singled to right-center; Larry scored on the hit and Ralph took third; Donald Drummer threw for Ralph, and when Adam tried for second, Gary Coyle’s throw to Joe Bernal covering just beat him, a bang-bang play for a 9-5-1 out. Peter Atkins and Mike Malay followed with back-to-back RBI doubles, and Orange’s lead was 9-2.
Red managed two runs in the top of the fourth, but left the bases loaded. Two walks and Chris Waddell’s single loaded the bags for Jack Spellman, who lined a hit to right field, Tommy Gillis and Chris scoring. A walk to Anthony Galindo re-loaded the bases, but Ray Pilgrim got Gary Coyle to ground into a 5-4 force.
Orange then got those runs back in the home half, the first four batters knocking singles, Ray Pilgrim (or his runner, not sure) scoring. Larry Shupe made a serious bid for a grand slam, driving a fly to left-center that caught Anthony Galindo playing him on the line; but Anthony got a good jump on the ball and, moving back and to his left, was able to make an outstanding over-the-shoulder catch, Ken Mockler tagging up and scoring on the play.
Red actually won the fifth inning, as Joe Bernal led off the top half with a single (completing a 3-for-3 game – he was the only batter not to make an out in this contest), and came around to score on two-out hits by Donald Drummer and Tommy Gillis (his second double). Joe then blanked Orange in the bottom half, working around Terry O’Brien’s two-out single.
That left Red trailing by six entering the buffet. They got nothing. Johnny Lee grounded out to second baseman Terry O’Brien, who had an excellent day on defense, with two assists and five putouts, including an excellent play running down Dale Fugate’s pop into short right field in the fifth. Jack Spellman poked a single to center field. But that was all: Ray Pilgrim got Anthony Galindo to ground into 5-4 force and Gary Coyle to hit a two-strike foul to end the game. Final score: Orange 11, Red 5
Session 2 standings:
| Session 2 | Games | Runs | Runs | Run dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Blue | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 30 | 18 | 12 | W4 |
| Purple | 2 | 1 | .667 | 0.5 | 38 | 36 | 2 | W1 |
| Green | 1 | 1 | .500 | 1 | 33 | 25 | 8 | L1 |
| Maroon | 1 | 1 | .500 | 1 | 26 | 27 | -1 | L1 |
| Orange | 1 | 2 | .333 | 1.5 | 29 | 33 | -4 | W1 |
| Red | 1 | 2 | .333 | 1.5 | 36 | 43 | -7 | L1 |
| Gray | 1 | 2 | .333 | 1.5 | 29 | 39 | -10 | W1 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | Wins: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Blue | 1-0 | 1-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Purple | 0-1 | 2-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-0 | ||
| Green | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0-1 | ||
| Maroon | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Orange | 1-1 | 0-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | ||
| Red | 0-1 | 1-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-0 | ||
| Gray | 1-1 | 0-1 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-1 |
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | X | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Gray | 1 | X | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Green | 0 | 1 | X | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Maroon | 1 | 2 | 1 | X | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Orange | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Purple | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | X | 1 | 6 |
| Red | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | X | 5 |
| TOTAL: | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 33 |
2025 season home run leaders:
Bobby Miller – 4
Tim Coles – 3
George Brindley – 2
Tim Bruton – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Tom Belavia – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Mike Garrison – 1
Tommy Gillis – 1
Rex Horvath – 2
Mike Malay – 1
Pat Scott – 1
Jimmy Sneed – 1
Jack Spellman – 1
Jeff Stone – 1
Mike Velaney – 1
Chris Waddell – 1
Chunky Wright – 1
Schedule for Thursday April 10:
10:30 a.m.: Orange (1-2) at Green (1-1), Gray umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Gray (1-2) at Purple (2-1), Orange umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Maroon (1-1) at Blue (2-0), Purple umpiring
Red has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Today’s results – all three games were won by the team with the worse Session 2 record entering the contest – tightened the standings, just a game and a half separating Blue, the last undefeated team, from the four teams tied for fourth. A win by Maroon over Blue at 12:30 Thursday could further bunch things up, especially if Gray builds on today’s momentum and knocks off Purple at 11:30. Will we hear a sousaphone out beyond right field before the season is out? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Boo Resnick and Hotcakes will be playing at Donn’s Depot at 1600 West Sixth Street this Saturday night, from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. – should be fun!