B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 5 – March 17, 2025
Weather report: The stretch of beautiful weather continued: after a cool morning for the C League games, around 60 degrees at the start of the 10:30 game, humidity at 47%, light wind from the south at 9 MPH. It warmed to 82 degrees for the 12:30 game, humidity dropping to 20%, wind picking up a bit, to 14 MPH, still from the south. Sunny throughout.
Games of Monday March 17:
10:30 a.m., Blue (2-1) at Purple (1-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 1 1 0 0 5 0 7 Purple 5 0 4 0 2 X 11 Pitchers: Blue – Tommy Deleon; Purple – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Blue – David Brown, Tim Coles, and Ray Pilgrim; Purple – Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Mike Garrison; bases – Ralph Villela. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Tim Coles (3 for 3); Purple – Larry Fiorentino (3 for 3 with two doubles), Mark Hernandez (3 for 3 with a double), and Jack Spellman (2 for 2 with a double). Home run: Tom Bellavia (over the fence)
Purple jumped to a quick lead and never gave it up, solid pitching, by Spike Davidson, and defense holding Blue to just two runs over the first four innings. Their first run came in the top of the first, when Don Solberg singled with one out and scored from first on David Pittard’s double. Purple’s first five batters of the game hit safely and scored in the bottom half, Larry Fiorentino and Mark Hernandez smacking doubles.
Spike held Blue to a single run in the second as well. Tommy Deleon led off with a single, his pinch-runner took second on a ground out back to the box, and Tim Coles drove him in with a single. Spike then started an inning-ending 1-4-3 double play on Ray Pilgrim’s grounder up the middle, Mike Velaney turning the pivot. Purple didn’t score in the home half: Rick Jensen led off with a single but was erased on Spike’s 6-4-3 double play grounder, Tim Coles to David Brown to Tom Brownfield.
Blue got its first two batters aboard to start the third, David Brown knocking a single and Tom Bellavia drawing a walk, but came away empty as Spike retired 2-3-4 hitters Tom Brownfield (fly to Pat Scott in left-center, the runners advancing), Don Solberg (two-strike foul), and David Pittard (fly to Matt Levitt in right field). Purple then increased its lead to 9-2 with four runs on seven hits in the bottom half, back-to-back one-out doubles by Larry Fiorentino and Rex Horvath driving in three. Purple left the bases loaded, as Tommy Deleon got Spike Davidson to hit a two-strike foul, but Purple led by seven at the half-way mark.
Blue was frustrated again in the fourth. Jim Foelker led off with a single, but was forced out 4-6 on Tommy Deleon’s grounder to Mike Velaney; Rex Horvath had a shot at doubling up Tommy’s runner from home, but threw past first baseman Mark Hernandez. No matter: Spike Davidson got the next hitter, Rip Wright, to ground to third baseman Larry Young, who started an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play, Mike Velaney again on the pivot.
Purple didn’t take advantage, going scoreless in the home half. Tom Bellavia couldn’t handle Jack Spellman’s drive to center field, but his strong throw to shortstop Tim Coles set up an 8-6-5 relay that put me out trying for a triple. Tom then ran down Matt Levitt’s drive for the third out.
Blue then got back in the game, cutting Purple’s lead to two runs by scoring five times in the top of the fifth. The first three came on Tom Bellavia’s line-drive homer over the fence in left-center, an exceptionally well-struck drive. Tom Brownfield singled and David Pittard walked. Jim Foelker singled, and when he got the relay, Rex Horvath, thinking time had been called, made an unserious throw toward first base; instead of the bases loaded, Tom Brownfield (or a pinch-runner, not sure) scored and David wound up at third. Tommy Deleon then singled through the 5-6 hole to deliver the fifth run.
Tom Bellavia receives a Pluckers coupon from Tom Brownfield following his three-run homer in the top of the fifth, his first home run of the season.
Purple got five hits in the bottom of the inning, but only managed two runs, due to an oddball double play. Pat Scott and Larry Fiorentino led off the inning with singles, putting runners on the corners. (Larry completed a 3-for-3 game with his hit.) Rex Horvath grounded up the middle; Tommy Deleon snagged the ball and threw to Tom Brownfield at first for the out; Pat broke for home, and Tom made a quick peg to catcher Rip Wright – it wasn’t a good throw, short-hopping Rip, but Rip made a tremendous play to catch it cleanly before Pat reached the line, for a 1-3-2 double play. Mark Hernandez (also completing a 3-for-3 game), Fritz Hensel, and Mike Velaney followed with singles, Larry and Mark’s pinch-runner scoring. Tommy got the third out and stranded two runners by getting Rick Jensen to hit a grounder up the middle; Tim Coles was shading toward second base and made a good play on the ball and flipped to second baseman David Brown for the force.
Blue was chasing four runs entering the buffet. Rip Wright led off with a fly to left that hung up long enough for Jack Spellman to come in and catch at waist height. Tim Coles followed with a clean single to Pat Scott in left-center. Ray Pilgrim flied out to Larry Fiorentino in right-center. David Brown sliced a liner to right field, and Matt Levitt made a very nice catch, moving to his left, for the final out. No idea whether he was doing it on purpose, but Spike Davidson got Blue’s four hitters in the inning to hit one ball each, in order, left to right, to each of his outfielders – pretty cool. Final score: Purple 11, Blue 7
11:30 a.m., Green (2-1) at Gray (2-1):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Green 4 0 5 5 3 17 Gray 0 5 4 5 1 15 Pitchers: Green – Johnny Wimpy; Gray – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Green – Bobby Miller; Gray – Anthony Galindo and Scott Wright. Umpires: home – David Brown; bases – Rip Wright. Perfect at the plate: Green – Tim Colels (4 for 4 with two home runs), Bobby Miller (3 for 3 with a triple), Phil Stanch (3 for 3), and Chunky Wright (1 for 1 with two walks); Gray – Anthony Galindo (3 for 3), Tommy Gillis (4 for 4), Dave Jaffe (2 for 2 with a walk), Paul Rubin (2 for 2 with two walks), and Scott Wright (3 for 3 with a double). Home runs: Tim Coles (2, both over the fence) (3 on the season).
As one would expect, a hard-fought game between two evenly matched teams, Green predictably prevailing on St. Patrick’s Day, though the outcome was in doubt down to the final batter.
Green jumped ahead with four runs on five hits in the top of the first, Ralph Villela leading off with a double to the fence in left field and Mike Garrison driving in a run with a ground double down the third-base side. Phil Stanch singled in the third and fourth runs. Gray loaded the bases to start the bottom half, singles by Tommy Gillis and Morgan Withhoft sandwiching a walk to Paul Rubin, but Johnny Wimpy got out of the jam unscathed: he got Adam Reddell to line out to Bobby Miller in right-center, the runners holding; caught Johnny Lee looking at a called strike three; and got Jack Crosley to ground into a 6-4 force.
Green couldn’t add to its lead in the second, kept from scoring by two good defensive plays. Morgan Witthoft in right-center made an excellent catch of Johnny Wimpy’s opposite-field drive, reaching down to grab the ball at knee height. Chunky Wright walked and Bobby Miller singled, but Jack Kelly got Ralph Villela to ground into a 6-5 force for the second out, then made a terrific grab of Doc Hobar’s hard grounder back up the middle, tossing to first for the third out.
Both teams’ bats came alive at that point, and they scored a combined 24 of a possible 25 runs over the next five half-innings. Gray took the lead in the bottom of the second, scoring five runs on five singles and two walks. Tim Coles led off the third with a sky-high drive over the fence in center, and his Green teammates followed with six singles and a walk for four more runs. Jack Crosley started the home half of the third with a triple down the right-field line, five subsequent singles resulting in four runs and a 9-9 tie through three.
Tim Coles receives a Pluckers coupon from Chris Waddell after bashing an over-the-fence home run in the top of the third. (Tim got another coupon for his second home run, but not another picture – Google is stingy about how many photos it lets me include in any one issue of the Picayune.) Chris contributed singles in each of Green’s five-run innings and made two good plays in the field, at first base, but didn’t get mentioned elsewhere in this recap because there is no justice.
Both teams scored five times in the fourth, Green on Ralph Villela’s lead-off triple, five singles, and Johnny Wimpy’s double. Gray matched that with three singles, Jack Crosley’s carbon-copy triple to right field, Dave Jaffe’s walk, and Scott Wright’s opposite-field double to left-center.
So entering the buffet it was a tie game, 14 apiece. Chunky Wright led off with a liner to third base that Adam Reddell got a glove on, but couldn’t hold, Chunky reaching on a single. Bobby Miller drove a ball to the fence in center; Chunky scored, but Bobby came nearly to a stop rounding third, only to try for home when the relay to catcher Jack Crosley, a bit up the first-base side, squibbed away from him. Except it didn’t squib far – Jack retrieved it quickly and needed just two steps to get to the mat, beating Bobby to the line for the first out. Tommy Gillis caught Ralph Villela’s drive to deep left field for out number two. Doc Hobar’s drive to right-center glanced off Morgan Withhoft’s glove, and Doc wound up at third with a triple. Tim Coles then came up and launched his second over-the-fence home run of the game, a towering drive to left-center that put Gray up by three.
Rick Kahn took himself out of the game, having injured his hip – hoping it’s not too serious. Mike Garrison flied out to Tommy Gillis in left for the third out.
Gray needed three to tie. Paul Rubin led off the home half with a single to right field, completing a perfect day (2 for 2 with two walks) at the plate. Johnny Wimpy got Morgan Withhoft to hit a two-strike foul. Adam Reddell drove a ball to the fence in right-center for a double, Paul scoring from first. Phil Stanch made a good running catch of Johnny Lee’s fly to right field for the second out. Jack Crosley worked a walk, putting the tying run on base. But Johnny got the third out, getting Jack Kelly to foul off a two-strike pitch. Final score: Gray 17, Green 15
Adam Reddell on third base after his double in the buffet. It’s Adam’s birthday. Already about the best-liked guy in the league, Adam increased his popularity by bringing cupcakes. There’s Tim Coles at shortstop for Green, and Bobby Miller in the outfield.
12:30 p.m., Red (1-3) at Maroon (4-0):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Red 5 1 5 0 4 15 Maroon 0 1 1 5 4 11 Pitchers: Red – Joe Bernal; Maroon – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Red – Donald Solberg; Maroon – Adam Reddell. Umpires: home – Jack Crosley; bases – Jack Kelly. Perfect at the plate: Red – Tim Bruton (3 for 3 with a walk and a triple), Anthony Galindo (3 for 3 with a walk and two doubles),and Donald Solberg (3 for 3 with a double and a triple); Maroon – Jeff Stone (3 for 3 with two doubles). Home run: Donald Drummer (inside the park) (1).
It was a tale of two pitchers in this one, as Maroon’s Jeff Stone uncharacteristically struggled with his control while Red’s Joe Bernal allowed just two runs over the first three innings and put an end to Maroon’s undefeated season. Jeff walked eight batters over five innings, including three in a row in the top of the first, pushing across the fourth and fifth runs of that inning. Joe worked around Tony Garcia’s two-out single and kept Maroon off the board in the bottom of the frame.
Red seemed poised to blow the game open when its first four batters reached in the second inning. Donald Solberg led off with a double, took third on Jack Spellman’s single, and scored on Tim Bruton’s base hit. A walk to Anthony Galindo loaded the bases, but Jeff escaped the jam: he got Joe Bernal to line out to third baseman Adam Reddell, Dale Fugate to pop out to shortstop Tony Garcia, and Jim McAnelly to bounce back to the box.
But Maroon wasn’t able to take advantage, scoring only once in the bottom half, on Tom Kelm’s two-out RBI single – Joe Bernal got three ground ball force outs, to third base, second base, and shortstop, himself taking the throw at second for the third out.
Red then exploded for another five runs in the top of the third. Mark Dolan walked and raced to third on Rolando Rodriguez’s double to start the inning. Donald Drummer drove a pitch to right-center that gapped the outfielders and rolled to the fence, and he circled the bases for a three-run inside-the-park home run. Donald Solberg followed with a triple, and scored on Jack Spellman’s sacrifice fly to Ken Brown in right-center. Tim Bruton tripled and scored the fifth run on Anthony Galindo’s single, which completed the team cycle.
Picayune scribbler Jack Spellman was delighted to present Red skipper Donald Drummer with a Pluckers coupon following Donald’s inside-the-park home run in the top of the third.
Again Maroon got just one run in the home half. With one out Adam Reddell singled on a grounder to second base, taking second on an overthrow. Dale Fugate made a terrific play on Ken Brown’s short foul pop in front of third base, charging in hard and making the catch while somehow managing not to run into the dugout fence. Adam scored on Bobby Miller’s single, but the inning ended with Dale snagging Tony Garcia’s line drive.
Red did not score in the fourth, the inning ending with Adam Reddell making a nice backhanded grab of Rolando Rodriguez’s low liner down the third-base side. Maroon finally broke through in the bottom half, scoring five runs. The first six batters hit safely (five singles and Jeff Stone’s double), three runs scoring. Skipping over Tom Fink’s spot in the order, as Tom left to yet another in-game injury, Maroon got the fourth and fifth runs in with sacrifice flies to Donald Drummer in right field by Adam Reddell and Ken Brown.
That cut Red’s lead to 11-7 entering the buffet. Jeff Stone retired two of the first three hitters on ground balls, Donald Drummer going out 6-3 and, after Donald Solberg singled, Jack Spellman on a 4-6 force, but the third out was hard to come by. Tim Bruton walked, completing a perfect day at the plate. Anthony Galindo smacked a double, Spellman scoring. Joe Bernal doubled also, Tim and Anthony scoring. And Dale Fugate singled, Joe scoring Red’s fourth run of the frame. Jim McAnelly hit into a 6-4 force for the third out, but Red had a relatively comfortable eight-run lead going into the bottom half.
Maroon made it interesting. Bobby Miller led off with a double and scored on Tony Garcia’s base hit. Scott Wright pulled a drive down the right-field line, but Donald Drummer got a great jump on the ball and made a fine running catch to his left for the first out. Jeff Stone doubled, completing his perfect day at the plate. Jimmie Maloy singled, both Tony and Jeff scoring. Ivan Budiselic singled to right, Jimmie advancing to third. Tom Kelm grounded to shortstop Tim Bruton, who dealt with a bad hop, corralled the ball, and flipped to Joe Bernal covering second for the force, Jimmie scoring on the play. Joe Dayoc hit a short pop in front of third base that Jack Spellman was able to basket-catch for the final out. Final score: Red 15, Maroon 11
Standings – Session One:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Maroon 4 1 .800 –- 78 62 +16 L1
Green 3 1 .750 .5 55 49 + 6 W3
Blue 2 2 .500 1.5 56 47 + 9 L1
Gray 2 2 .500 1.5 54 58 – 4 L1
Purple 2 2 .500 1.5 48 56 – 8 W1
Red 2 3 .400 2 75 75 0 W1
Orange 0 4 .000 3.5 45 64 -19 L4
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Maroon 2-1 2-0 1 0-0 2-0 1-0
Green 0-1 3-0 0 0-0 1-1 0-0
Blue 1-0 1-2 0 0-0 1-0 0-1
Gray 1-2 1-0 0 0-0 0-1 0-0
Purple 2-1 0-1 1 0-0 0-0 1-0
Red 1-1 1-2 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
Orange 0-2 0-2 0 0-0 0-2 0-0
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down) – includes Session 1 and the end-of-season tourney:
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 0 1 0 0 0 1 2
Gray 0 X 0 0 1 1 0 2
Green 0 1 X 0 1 0 1 3
Maroon 1 1 0 X 1 1 0 4
Orange 0 0 0 0 X 0 0 0
Purple 1 0 0 0 0 X 1 2
Red 0 0 0 1 1 0 X 2
_______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 2 2 1 1 4 2 3 15
2025 season home run leaders:
Bobby Miller – 4
Tim Coles – 3
Tim Bruton – 2
Tom Belavia – 1
George Brindley – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Larry Fiorentino – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Mike Garrison – 1
Rex Horvath – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Chris Waddell – 1
Chunky Wright – 1
Schedule for Thursday March 20:
10:30 a.m.: Maroon (4-1) at Green (3-1), Gray umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Gray (2-2) at Blue (2-2), Maroon umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Purple (2-2) at Orange (0-4), Blue umpiring
Red has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Three dates left in the Grapefruit session. Maroon and Green will battle for first place at 10:30, Maroon coming off its first loss of the season, Green riding a three-game winning streak. Gray and Blue both loss today and fell to .500; one will get back over when they meet at 11:30. Orange, still looking for its first win, will host Purple at 12:30. Which team will be the next to chance picking me up as a mercenary and playing me in the outfield? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Red’s Jim McAnelly (awesome socks) and Mark Dolan, properly attired for St. Patrick’s Day. I’m kicking myself for having forgotten to bring my tricorner hat and celebrate Evacuation Day.