B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 4 – March 11, 2024
Weather: Happy Frankenstein Day! It was a beauty, sunny and very dry throughout, temperature in the low 60s at the start of the 10:30 game, rising to 70 degrees with 37% humidity for the 12:30 contest. If only it was always so pleasant here.
Quote of the Day (pre-game): Rip Wright to Gill Delossantos: “If you have to run, you’re never catching that dog.”
Games of Monday March 11:
10:30 a.m., Red (1-1) at Gray (1-0):
1 2 3 4 5 6 BUFFET FINAL Red 3 4 0 0 2 2 5 16 Gray 1 5 0 5 0 5 1 17 Pitchers: Red – Donald Drummer; Gray – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Red – Jimmy Sneed; Gray – Jack Spellman. Umpires: home plate – Tom Kelm; bases – Rick Jensen and Mike Velaney. Perfect at the plate: Red – Tim Bruton (5 for 5 with two doubles and a triple), Adam Reddell (5 for 5 with a double), and Boo Resnick (3 for 3 with a walk); Gray – Ken Brown (4 for 4 with a double) and Mike Mordecai (3 for 3).
An excellent, hard-fought game, the first one-run contest of the season, and the first walk-off. Five of Red’s first six batters hit safely, Tim Bruton, Donald Drummer, and Adam Reddell knocking doubles, to open the game. With one out, three runs in, and runners at the corners, Jack Kelly escaped the jam by getting Gil Delossantos to ground a ball hard up the middle; Jack got a piece of it and deflected it to shortstop David Kruse, whose momentum carried him to the bag at second; David turned a 1-6u., 6-3 double play to squash the rally. Ken Brown led off the bottom half with a double and scored on a two-out single by Tommy Gillis to get Gray on the board.
Red put across four runs in the top of the second, Boo Resnick getting things going with a one-out single. (Boo was a thorn in Jack Kelly’s side the entire game, reaching base all four times up.) Jimmy Sneed and Bobby Miller followed with line drive singles, and then Tim Bruton (5 for 5 in the game) tripled. Tim easily scored on Donald Drummer’s sacrifice fly to left fielder Don Solberg. Gray responded with five runs in the home half, on four singles, a walk, and a double.
Neither team scored in the third. Adam Reddell and Morgan Witthoft singled to start the top of the frame, but Jack Kelly got both Gil Delossantos and Hal Darman to ground to shortstop David Kruse, who threw to third each time to force the lead runner. Jack then walked Boo Resnick, which, not gonna lie, Gray’s defense questioned the wisdom of loading the bases for Jimmy Sneed, but Jimmy got under a pitch just a bit and skied it to right-center, where it was gathered in by Ken Brown (I think – Ken started in left-center, but at some point switched positions with Tommy Gillis) for the third out. (The moral of the story being: Trust Jack Kelly.) Gray was unable to take advantage, however, as Donald Drummer tossed a scoreless bottom half, working around Gary Coyle’s one-out single.
Jack Kelly threw a second consecutive scoreless inning in the top of the fourth, allowing just a one-out infield single to Tim Bruton – shortstop David Kruse made a good play to his backhand of Tim’s grounder, but Tim, one of the fastest players in the league, tore down the line and beat David’s throw. Jack got Donald Drummer and Rick Kahn on flies to left and right-center to end the inning. Gray then took the lead, 11-7, with five runs on six singles and Ken Brown’s double.
Red clawed back, scoring two runs on three singles and Morgan Witthoft’s double in the fifth, and two more on three singles and Donald Drummer’s double in the sixth. That inning ended with David Kruse turning another 6u., 6-3, this time without Jack Kelly’s assistance, on a grounder by Gil Delossantos.
Gray had gotten the first two batters aboard in the bottom of the fifth, on singles by Tommy Gillis and Don Solberg, but did not score, Donald Drummer keeping the next three batters from getting the ball out of the infield. The inning ended with about 24 seconds left on the clock, so this became the first seven-inning game of the season.
It was 11-11 entering the bottom of the sixth. Gray put up five runs again, on four singles, Jack Spellman’s sacrifice fly to right-center, and doubles by David Kruse and Gary Coyle.
Red needed five to tie in the buffet, and that’s what they got. With one out, Boo Resnick again got the rally going, knocking his third hit of the game. Jimmy Sneed and Bobby Miller also singled, Boo scoring. Tim Bruton’s double, his fifth hit of the game, and his third for extra bases, scored Jimmy. Donald Drummer’s single brought in Bobby and Tim.
Exchange of the day, between Donald Drummer and Rick Kahn, when Rick came up with Donald on first in the top of the buffet:
Donald: “Stay hot, Rick!”
Rick: “I’m 0 for 4.”
Rick was a never-before-seen 0 for 5 when he lined a ball within the reach of shortstop David Kruse, who snagged it for the second out. Donald wound up scoring the tying run on Adam Reddell’s fifth hit of the game. The inning ended on Morgan Witthoft’s fly to left fielder Don Solberg, Morgan out for the first time after ripping four hits.
Gray needed just one run to win in the bottom of the buffet. Don Solberg led off with a long drive down the line in right field. I was certain off the bat it would go for extra bases, but Gil Delossantos moved to his left and made a terrific backhanded snow-cone catch to rob Don. It was a great play, but only temporarily staved off defeat. Jack Kelly followed with a line single over first base. Pinch-runner Ken Brown raced to third on Donnie Janac’s line single to the left of second base. (As David Kruse subsequently pointed out: speed kills. Not sure anyone else on Gray could have made it to third on that hit.)
That brought up Johnny Lee, who smacked Donald Drummer’s first pitch back up the middle for a clean, game-winning hit. I caught the moment of contact…
[Ooh, photojournalism-y black and white!]
…but missed Johnny Lee’s subsequent epic bat-flip as Ken loped home with the winning run. Final score: Gray 17, Red 16
11:30 a.m., Purple (1-0) at Blue (1-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 0 0 5 3 0 0 8 Blue 0 1 4 3 4 X 12 Pitchers: Purple – Jeff Stone; Blue – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Purple – Mike Garrison and Anthony Galindo. Umpires: home plate – Adam Reddell; bases – Donald Drummer. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Jeff Stone (2 for 2 with a double and a walk); Blue – George Brindley (2 for 2 with two walks), Pat Cook (3 for 3 with a double and a triple), Jeff Fisher (3 for 3 with a double), and Terry Thompson (3 for 3 with a walk).
Two of the league’s best pitchers hooked up in a low-scoring duel. The defenses combined to turn three double plays in the first four half-innings. Blue’s Joe Bernal blanked Purple in the top of the first, getting three outs on balls hit to third baseman George Romo: Clint Fletcher’s lead-off grounder, Clint out on a bang-bang play at first; and, following singles by Rick Jensen and Jeff Stone, another grounder to George for a force at second, then a liner by Larry Young. Terry Thompson and George Brindley, who did not make an out between them in eight trips to the plate, opened the bottom half with singles, but Jeff Stone got David Brown on a fly to Rip Wright in left, then snagged George Romo’s liner back to the box and snapped a throw to first to double up George Brindley.
Purple loaded the bases on singles by Mike Velaney, Rip Wright, and Tom Kelm to start the second, but came away with nothing, as Joe Bernal struck out Jim Foelker, then got Mike Garrison to hit a grounder down the third base side – George Romo fielded it cleanly, stepped on third for the force there, then threw home to double up Mike Velaney. Blue drew first blood in the bottom of the second. Jeff Fisher knocked a single to center and took third on Joe Bernal’s single to right. Dale Fugate grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, Rick Jensen to Mike Velaney to Daniel Carvajal. Jeff held at third on that play, then trotted home on Pat Cook’s triple to center field. Jeff Stone stranded Pat by getting Jerry Mylius to foul off a two-strike pitch.
The offenses got untracked in the third. Purple scored five times in the top half on six hits, three for extra bases. Anthony Galindo led off and legged out a double on a hit through the 5-6 hole, then scored on Clint Fletcher’s line single off shortstop David Brown’s glove into center field. Clint was forced at second on a grounder back to the box by Rick Jensen, who then scored on Jeff Stone’s double to right field, a drive that one-hopped the fence. Daniel Carvajal flied out to left-center for the second out, but Larry Young extended the inning with a single. Mike Velaney ripped a two-run triple down the left-field line; Larry made an epic run from first to home to score, surprising and impressing the Beer Garden denizens. Rip Wright punched a single through the 5-6 hole that drove in Mike with the fifth run.
Blue rallied to tie with four runs in the home half, on two walks, two singles, Jeff Fisher’s double to right-center, and Joe Bernal’s sacrifice fly to left-center.
Both teams scored three runs after two were out in the fourth inning, Purple on two singles and doubles by Anthony Galindo and Clint Fletcher, Blue on two singles, a walk, and David Brown’s double off Mike Garrison’s glove, very nearly a great catch in center field.
So it was still a tie game entering the fifth, 8-8. Joe Bernal worked a 1-2-3 top half, Mike Velaney retired 6-3 on an excellent play by Dan Brown.
Jeff Fisher, completing a perfect day at the plate, and Joe Bernal singled to start the bottom of the fifth. Dale Fugate grounded a ball to the 5-6 hole that Rick Jensen got to, then made a nifty backhanded flip to third baseman Clint Fletcher to force the lead runner. The next five batters hit safely, however, Pat Cook driving in the go-ahead run with a double to right, and the next four batters hitting singles. (That included a base hit down the third-base line by Lucky Hoffman, who had a runner from home and was called out for crossing the commit line.) Four runs came across before Jeff Stone froze David Brown with a great two-strike pitch on the front half of the plate for called strike three. Blue took a 12-8 lead to the buffet.
Tom Kelm led off with a single between third base and shortstop, but Purple was unable to get a runner past first. Joe Bernal got Jim Foelker to hit a two-strike foul. Mike Garrison grounded to shortstop David Brown, who threw to second for the force there. Anthony Galindo squared up on a pitch, but lined it to David for the final out. Final score: Blue 12, Purple 8
12:30 p.m., Orange (1-1) at Green (0-2)
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 5 0 5 5 3 X 18 Green 1 0 2 1 3 0 7 Pitchers: Orange – Spike Davidson; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Orange – Adam Reddell and Scott Wright; Green – Tom Brownfield. Umpires: home plate – Terry Thompson; bases – David Brown. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Spike Davidson, Jim Maloy, and Ray Pilgrim (each 3 for 3), Larry Fiorentino (4 for with two doubles), and Howard Spates (4 for 4 with three doubles); Green – Paul Rubin (4 for 4 with two doubles).
Orange jumped to a quick lead, scoring five times without making an out on game-opening doubles by Doc Hobar and Howard Spates followed by five singles, and never looked back. Green scored a single run in the bottom half, on back-to-back one-out doubles by Paul Rubin and Mike Hill, but didn’t score again until the bottom of the third, by which point Orange had put up another five-run innings, on two doubles (by Howard Spates and Larry Fiorentino to start the frame) and six singles.
Green scored two in the bottom of the third, as the first four batters hit safely (another double by Paul Rubin and three singles). Second baseman Howard Spates made an excellent play on Tommy Deleon’s pop to the right side, fighting off the high sun, for the first out, and Spike Davidson got force-play grounders to mercenary shortstop Scott Wright for the second and third.
Again in the fourth Orange scored five runs on seven hits without making an out. That made it 15-3. Orange scored one run in the home half after Scott Wright made two good plays to start the inning, first snagging Larry Shupe’s line drive to his backhand, then battling the sun to catch Tom Brownfield’s high pop. Jack McDermott followed with a single to center and scored from first on Paul Rubin’s third double in as many at bats.
Scott Wright caught Larry Shupe’s liner, robbing Larry of a hit. [Note: The Picayune has flagged this image because closer inspection reveals the source manipulated the image in a way that may not meet the Picayune’s photo standards. For instance, the photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Scott Wright’s left hand.]
Orange scored three runs on back-to-back two-out doubles in the top of the fifth by Howard Spates (his third of the game) and Larry Fiorentino (his second). Six of Green’s first seven batters in the bottom half singled, three runs scoring, but the rally was short-circuited by an inning-ending double play: with the bases loaded, Jack McDermott grounded back to the box; Spike Davidson threw to third for the force there, and Adam Reddell threw home to catcher Matthew Levitt for the force there.
With Orange ahead by 11 runs, the teams flip-flopped for the buffet. Paul Rubin (completing a 4-for-4 day) and Mike Hill led off with singles. Dave Pittard, who’d hit safely his first three at bats, squared up on a pitch, but Spike Davidson caught his liner back to the box. Jack Crosley flied out to Matthew Levitt, who’d moved to right field. Tommy Deleon hit a little pop down the first-base side that landed fair, headed for foul territory, and hit the inside bag for a glorious single, loading the bases. Trey Wall followed and lofted a fly to right-center – Larry Fiorentino gathered it in for the final out of the day. Final score: Orange 18, Green 7
Standings – Session One:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Gray 2 0 1.000 — 30 24 + 6 W2
Orange 2 1 .667 .5 54 35 +19 W2
Blue 2 1 .667 .5 33 28 + 5 W1
Maroon 1 1 .500 1 26 26 0 W1
Purple 1 1 .500 1 27 27 0 L1
Red 1 2 .333 1.5 54 57 – 3 L2
Green 0 3 .000 2.5 39 66 -27 L3
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Gray 2-0 0-0 1 0-0 0-0 1-0
Orange 0-1 2-0 0 0-0 2-0 0-0
Blue 2-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Maroon 1-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Purple 0-0 1-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Red 0-1 1-1 0 0-0 0-1 0-1
Green 0-2 0-1 0 0-0 0-1 0-0
Schedule for Thursday March 14:
10:30 a.m.: Green (0-3) at Purple (1-1), Blue umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Blue (2-1) at Red (1-2), Green umpiring
12:30 a.m.: Gray (2-0) at Maroon (1-1), Red umpiring
Orange has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Gray is now the only undefeated team – it’s Maroon’s turn to try to knock them off their early-season pedestal, at 12:30. Green at 10:30 will try again to post its first victory, against a Purple team coming off its first loss of the season today. Blue and Red, which have both looked unbeatable and thoroughly beatable so far, face off at 11:30. Will it be SXSW traffic or bad weather that derails play Thursday? Only one thing is certain: Time will tell.