B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 31 – July 17, 2023
B League president Jack McDermott alerts us of a change of game times:
Greetings, fellow players,
Temperature forecasts are into the triple digits all of next week and most likely beyond. Heat index values rise quickly even before noon and push over 110 by early afternoon. In order to try and get some relief, even if only minimal, we will be revising the schedule for games to start 30 minutes earlier. With cooperation from the C-division, their games will be scheduled to start at 8:00 and 9:00 (draw at 7:45 and 8:45), and B-division games at 10:00, 11:00, and 12:00. This will be a temporary situation and we will evaluate as temperatures return to a more tolerable level.
Please share this information with your teammates that might not otherwise get the information. We appreciate your patience and cooperation. Thanks to the C-division for joining in this effort.
Jack McD
Weather: Moving the start times up half an hour worked well, but it was still wicked hot. It was in the mid-90s during the 11:00 game, crept over 100 by the end of the noon game. Bright sun, but the humidity was relatively bearable, around 25%.
The Krieg 2 infield is pretty dried out, though. (Photo and joke credit: Dave Berra)
Injured list:
Blue team: Stan Fisher – Dupuytren’s contracture
Gold team: manager Dave Berra – knee surgery
Green team: Jeff Broussard – recovering from heart surgery
Red team: George Brindley – injured right rotator cuff
Alvin Gauna – broken finger
Jeff Broussard shows off his awesome scar.
Returned to action:
Gold team: Jeff Stone
Red team: Gregory Bied
Games of Monday July 17:
10:00 a.m., Maroon (1-3) at Gold (2-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 3 0 1 2 0 2 8 Gold 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 Pitchers: Maroon – Tom Kelm; Gold – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Maroon – Tom Brownfield, Gary Coyle, Anthony Galindo, and Eddy Murillo. Umpires: home plate – George Romo and Larry Fiorentino; bases – Jack Crosley and Morgan Witthoft. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – I don't have a scoresheet; Gold – Jeff Stone (2 for 2 with a walk and a double) and James Chavana (1 for 1 with a walk).
With the rover employed and two good pitchers both dealing, this was a low-scoring affair. Maroon scored three times in the top of the first inning, the third run scoring on Larry Shupe’s line single to right field, and never relinquished that early lead, adding one run in the third before Maroon finally got on the board, scoring all its runs in the bottom of that inning. Joe Dayoc led off with a walk, advanced on Larry Young’s ground out to shortstop, and scored on Tim Bruton’s double to center field. Tim advanced on Jack McDermott’s ground out to short and scored on Joe Roche’s single. Jack McDermott ran for Joe and scored from first on Jeff Stone’s double to left-center.
That was it for Gold. Maroon scored two runs in the fourth and two in the buffet. Gold left two runners stranded in the fourth, went out in order in the fifth, and Tom Kelm retired the first two batters in the buffet – that made for seven consecutive batters retired before Gold loaded the bases on a single by Jeff Stone (2 for 2 with a walk and a double in his first game back from injury). The game ended with Larry Bunton’s sharp grounder to shortstop Rex Horvath, who flipped to second for the game-ending force. Final score: Maroon 8, Gold 3
Johnny Lee Quote of the Day (I), after I took second on an overthrow after hitting a single in the second: “If I’d grabbed you by the shirttail, would you have squawked?”
11:00 a.m., Green (3-2) at Blue (4-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 2 5 1 5 0 4 17 Blue 0 5 3 0 1 0 9 Pitchers: Green – Tommy Deleon; Blue – Spike Davidson. Umpires: home plate – Mick Parker and Rick Jensen; bases - Rick Jensen and Jim McAnelly. Perfect at the plate: Green – Gary Coyle, Clint Fletcher, and Mike Hill (each 4 for 4), Buddy Gaswint and Boo Resnick (each 3 for 3); Blue – Eddy Murillo (3 for 3).
Terrific game. Green broke on top, scoring twice in the first (on Don Solberg’s line double to center, which drove in Clint Fletcher and Donnie Janac) and, after blanking Blue in the bottom of the first, five more in the second, on seven singles, Don Solberg’s hit capping the rally. Blue battled back, however, scoring five times in the bottom of the second, on five singles and doubles by George Romo and Dale Fugate (with the bases loaded, driving in all three runners). Green got a single run on three singles in the top of the third, and Blue then tied the game at 8-8 with three runs in the home half, on three singles and two walks, all the runs scoring with two out. Dale Fugate drove in the last two runs with a line single to center, giving him five RBI in his first two at bats, but Green recorded the third out of the inning when Jack Crosley was thrown out trying for the third on the throw home – the relay went 8-2-5, Jeff Fisher to Ray Pilgrim to Gary Coyle, nicely executed play.
Green took control in the fourth, scoring five times in the top half on five singles and Donnie Janac’s double, and holding Blue scoreless in the bottom half. Green didn’t score in the fifth, but held Blue to just one run despite three of three of the first four batters hitting safely. Anthony Galindo led off with a double and, after Morgan Witthoft flied out to left, advanced and scored on singles to left by George Romo and Eddy Murillo. Fritz Hensel came up and lined a pitch up the middle, but Tommy Deleon made an excellent, gut-assisted catch for the second out, and rover Clint Fletcher caught Jack Crosley’s liner to the right of second base to end the inning.
Green led 13-9 entering the buffet, and proceeded to add four more runs, as seven of the first eight batters singled. In the process, Clint Fletcher, Mike Hill, and Gary Coyle completed 4-for-4 days; Boo Resnick opened the inning with his third hit in as many at bats; and Don Solberg’s single netted him his fourth RBI of the game. Chasing eight runs, Blue went out quietly in the home half, on three ground balls, to shortstop Mike Hill, third baseman Gary Coyle, and second baseman Boo Resnick. Final score: Green 17, Blue 9, snapping Blue’s four-game winning streak and knocking Blue out of first place.
Noon, Gray (3-1) at Red (2-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gray 1 1 1 0 3 5 11 Red 0 2 3 1 0 4 10 Pitchers: Gray – Greg Lloyd; Red – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Red – Clint Fletcher, Johnny Lee, Jack Spellman, Jeff Stone, and Ralph Villela. Umpires: home plate – Gary Coyle and Jeff Fisher; bases – Tim Balke. Perfect at the plate: Gray - ?; Red – Gregory Bied (2 for 2 with a triple and two walks) and Johnny Lee (3 for 3).
Another excellent game. Apologies for not providing a lot of detail on Gray’s run-scoring, as I didn’t have a scoresheet for them. Gray scored single runs in each of the first three innings, good defensive play limiting the damage. Red third baseman Adam Reddell made a great play on a hard smash down the third-base line in the top of the first, knocking the ball down and retrieving it in time to get the third out of the inning on a force at third. In the second Red turned a 6-rover-3 double play, Jack Spellman (lucky diving grab to his left) to Clint Fletcher (excellent pivot) to Johnny Lee. In the third, a 9-6-2 relay cut down David Kruse trying for an inside-the-park homerun – David Ferley’s throw bypassed the cutoff, rover Clint Fletcher, but went straight to shortstop Jack Spellman, whose relay home to catcher Jeff Stone (nice play to handle the low throw) beat David by a step and a half after David had run through the third-base coach Tom Brownfield’s “stop” signal.
Johnny Lee Quote of the Day (II), when he saw David Kruse heading for home: “Meat! Meat!”
David more than made up for the baserunning gaffe with stellar defensive play. He started an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play in the bottom of the first, and an inning-ending 6u., 6-3 double play in the fourth. In between, Red built a 6-3 lead, scoring twice in the second (on four hits and Jack Spellman’s sacrifice fly), three times in the third (on four singles and Gregory Bied’s triple to right field), and once in the fourth (on three singles).
Gray tied the game with three runs in the top of the fifth. (Red felt there was a missed call at home, umpire Jeff Fisher not seeing catcher Jeff Stone return to the matt after having to come off to corral a somewhat errant throw home; I couldn’t tell for certain from my position and angle, but it was close.) Red did not score in the bottom half. Adam Reddell led off with a single, but was forced out at second when David Kruse fielded Mike Mordecai’s grounder up the middle; David made the force at second himself and threw to first, but Mike beat that throw to deny the double play. The next two batters went out in any case.
It was 6-6 entering the buffet. Gray scored five times in the top half – no details, sorry, it was a bunch of hits. Red needed to match that in the home half, and came very close. Jack Spellman led off with a double to center field, and the next five batters singled, three runs scoring and the bases left loaded for the heart of the Red batting order. Greg Lloyd retired David Ferley on an infield fly to second baseman Tom Brownfield for the first out. Adam Reddell hit a grounder to the 5-6 hole; David Kruse moved to his right, fielded the ball cleanly, and threw to Gary Coyle for the force at third, Clint Fletcher scoring on the play to draw Red within a run, with the tying run at second. Mike Mordecai came up and lined a pitch, also toward the 5-6 hold, but David Kruse, dag nab him, was perfectly positioned and grabbed the ball for the final out. Final score: Gray 11, Red 10, Gray taking over first place for the session.
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Gray 4 1 .800 — 67 59 + 8 W1
Blue 4 2 .667 .5 86 74 +12 L1
Green 4 2 .667 .5 83 75 + 8 W4
Maroon 2 3 .400 2 49 53 – 4 W1
Gold 2 4 .333 2.5 67 77 -10 L4
Red 2 4 .333 2.5 71 81 -10 L1
Purple 0 2 .000 2.5 29 33 – 4 L3
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Gray 2-1 2-0 1 0-0 0-0 2-0
Blue 1-2 3-0 0 0-0 4-1 0-0
Green 1-1 3-1 0 0-0 1-1 1-0
Maroon 0-2 2-1 0 0-0 1-1 0-0
Gold 1-2 1-2 0 0-0 1-1 0-1
Red 1-3 1-1 0 0-0 0-3 0-1
Purple 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 3 2 2 1 2.5 2 12.5
Gold 2 X 2 5 1 1 2 13
Gray 2 2 X 2 2 2 4 14
Green 2 1 2 X 1 4 4 14
Maroon 3 4 1 3 X 3 1 15
Purple 1.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 6.5
Red 3 1 1 1 3 3 X 12
______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 13.5 12 10 13 9 15.5 14 87
Schedule for Thursday July 20 (National Lollipop Day):
10:00 a.m.: Green (4-2) at Maroon (2-3), Red umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Gold (2-4) at Red (2-4), Blue umpiring
Noon: Blue (4-2) at Gray (4-1), Gold umpiring
Preview: Just half a game separates the session’s top three teams, so a shuffling of the standings is practically inevitable. Green (longest extant winning steak) faces Maroon (fewest runs scored and allowed for the session) at 10:00. Gold and Red have identical records (2-4) and run differentials (-10) so far this session; the loser of the 11:00 game will fall into last place. At noon, Blue (best run differential, +12) and Gray (best record, 4-1) will battle for first place. Who will be the biggest sucker? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
This is the 20th season of Austin Senior Softball, which began in spring 2004. Three players have been (and remain) with the league from the get-go: Gene Nelson, Dale Fugate, and Billy Hill. So much greatness.