B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 7 – March 27, 2023
Correction: In the extra inning of the March 23 Red-Purple game at 12:30 it was Scott Sovereen, not Donald Drummer, who was playing first base for Red in the bottom half. The Picayune regrets the error.
In the words of Tom Brownfield: Hey, lookie here! Awesome new Beebe kicks. Who’s the smart and handsome devil sporting these cleats?
It’s Scott Sovereen, again! Be like Scott, support our B League sponsor!
www.beebesports.com
Weather: Somewhat chilly at the start of the 10:30 game, 56 degrees with 72% humidity and quite a bit of cloud cover. It warmed to 61 degrees with 65% humidity for the 11:30 game, the sun peeking through, and it was clear and sunny and a bit warmer by 12:30.
Games of Monday March 27:
10:30 a.m., Green (2-2) at Red (2-2):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Green 5 5 2 5 X 17 Red 0 3 3 3 0 9 Pitchers: Green – Chunky Wright; Red – Donald Drummer. Mercenaries: Green – Daniel Carjaval, David Kruse, and Jim Maloy; Red – Jeff Stone. Umpires: home plate – Rex Horvath and Scott Wright; bases – Tom Kelm and Peter Sundquist; scoreboard – Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Green – Jeff Broussard, Daniel Carjaval, Jeff Fisher, and Chunky Wright (each 3 for 3), and Buddy Gaswint and Jim Malloy (each 3 for 3 with a double); Red – Daniel Baladez, Hal Darman, and Donald Drummer (each 3 for 3).
The Green Machine came out loaded for bear, scoring five times in three of the first four innings, getting to double digits before Red got its first hit. Green knocked eight hits in each of the first two innings while making just one out. In the mix were doubles by Buddy Gaswint, David Kruse, Jim Maloy, and Clint Fletcher. Chunky Wright retired Red in order in the bottom of the first, so the home team was chasing ten runs when David Ferley opened the bottom of the second with a double to right field. The next five batters singled, three runs scoring, before Chunky retired three batters to leave the bases loaded, on a pop to first, a grounder back to the box (force at home), and a lineout to shortstop.
Green got two runs on four singles in the top of the third – over its first two times through its lineup, Green saw its batters go a collective 20 for 22. Red got three in its half of the inning, with George Brindley leading off with a triple to right and scoring on Ken Mockler’s sacrifice fly. David Ferley, previous to Ken, walked and took second on that fly, then scored on Daniel Baladez’s single, but limped the last part of the way home – not an Achilles tendon issue, according to the medical experts in the peanut gallery, perhaps plantar fasciitis or some other heel/foot/lower leg issue. David played one more inning in the field, moving from right-center to right in the top of the fourth, in which frame Green scored five more runs on a walk, five singles, and Jim Maloy’s double. When his turn came up in the bottom of the inning, David bowed out, with Jeff Stone entering in his place.
Red scored three runs on five singles in that inning, as time ran out. With Green leading 17-9, the teams agreed to flip-flop. Chunky Wright worked a scoreless buffet, working around Terry Thompson’s two-out single. Final score: Green 17, Red 9
11:30 a.m., Maroon (2-1) at Purple (1-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 5 4 0 0 0 2 11 Purple 3 5 3 1 5 X 17 Pitchers: Maroon – Joe Bernal; Purple – Gil Delossantos. Mercenaries: Purple – Tom Brownfield. Umpires: home plate – Dave Berra and Joe Roche; bases – Mike Garrison and Larry Young. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Tom Kelm (3 for 3); Purple – Tom Brownfield (3 for 3), Adam Reddell (3 for 3 with a double and a walk), and Ralph Villela (4 for 4 with a triple).
Visiting team again started strong, Maroon putting across five runs in the top of the first on five singles and Rex Horvath’s double, Chris Villareal driving in the fifth run with a sacrifice fly to Don Solberg in left-center field, then four more in the second, the last two on Peter Atkins’ two-out triple that gapped the outfielders in right field. Purple managed to keep it close, scoring three runs in the first (the first four batters reached on three singles and a walk, the singles hitters scoring; Joe Bernal started a 1-6-3 double play that limited the damage), and then five runs on six singles and a walk in the second.
Ken Brown doubled to right to open up the third, and Maroon looked like it would add to its lead. But the next two batters grounded to shortstop Ralph Villela, who threw to first for the outs; on the second grounder, Ken Brown broke for third after Ralph threw to first, but Adam Reddell made a strong throw across the diamond, and Larry Bunton a terrific catch on the ball, which was sailing to his right, keeping his foot on the third-base bag for the 6-3-5 double play, the best defensive play of the day. Purple then scored three runs on four singles and a walk in the bottom half, taking the lead, 11-9. Gil Delossantos then shut out Maroon in both the fourth and fifth, in each inning working around a pair of singles.
Purple loaded the bases on three singles to start the bottom of the fourth, but came away with just one run. Doc Hobar squared up on a pitch and lined it up the middle, but Joe Bernal snagged it for the first out. Mike Mordecai grounded to third baseman Scott Wright, who tagged third for the force, then threw home, just missing putting out Adam Reddell for the third out. Marvin Krabbenhoft took a called strike three that just ticked the front edge of the plate for the third out.
Purple put the game away in the bottom of the fifth, scoring five runs on six consecutive one-out hits, the last two of which were two-run extra-base hits by Adam Reddell (double to left-center) and Ralph Villela (triple to left). (Adam and Ralph combined to go 7 for 7 with a walk and ten total bases.) Don Solberg’s sacrifice fly to right-center brought in Ralph, putting Purple up 17-9 entering thte buffet. Maroon rallied for two runs on a walk, three singles, and a sacrifice fly before running out of outs. Final score: Purple 17, Maroon 11
Tommy Deleon has been cleared to play, and DH’d for Purple in the 11:30 game, knocking two hits in three at bats. Rumor has it a GoFundMe has been set up to purchase Tommy an iron.
12:30 p.m., Blue (2-1) at Gold (1-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 1 2 5 2 1 4 15 Gold 3 5 1 1 0 2 12 Pitchers: Blue – Spike Davidson; Gold – Jeff Stone. Umpires: home plate – Marvin Krabbenhoft; bases – Mike Mordecai. Homerun: Tim Bruton (inside the park). Perfect at the plate: Blue – Spike Davidson (3 for 3 with a walk) and Bobby Miller (5 for 5 with a triple); Gold – Tim Bruton (4 for 4 with a homerun), Joe Dayoc (3 for 3), and Jack Spellman (3 for 3 with a walk).
This game’s leadoff hitters did exemplary work, Bobby Miller and Tim Bruton combining to go 9 for 9, each knocking an extra-base hit and scoring in the first inning. Bobby led off the game with a triple down the left-field, fair by inches, and scored on Larry Fiorentino’s two-out single. Tim led off the bottom half with a drive to right-center for an easy triple; he took a wide turn at third and came up to the commit line, started to retreat, but when the relay got past catcher Fritz Hensel, Tim scooted home with the day’s only homerun.
Dave Berra uncharitably described it as a Little League homerun, but Tim Bruton still scored himself a Plucker’s gift certificate.
Gold added another two runs in the bottom of the first, as Jeff Stone and Joe Roche singled with one out, then both came around to score when Jack Spellman lined a ball down the right-field line (technically a single as I’m still taking a runner from home). Blue knocked six singles in the top of the second, but came away with only two runs, as there was an out on the bases (Jimmy Shull tried to score from second on Bobby Miller’s hit, but hesitated rounding third – he might have been hearing conflicting instructions – then was gunned down 10-6-2, Denny Malloy to Tim Bruton to Oscar Ledesma, Oscar making a terrific clean catch of a relay home that short-hopped him.
Gold grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the third with five runs on, technically, seven singles – a ball Jeff Stone lined to left field resulted in Tim Bruton being forced at third 7-5. Blue came right back with five runs in the following half-inning, on six hits, Dale Fugate’s walk, and a sacrifice fly by Richard Battle, caught by Larry Young in foul territory. In the bottom of the third, James Chavana got his first hit for Gold, a one-out triple to center field, and scored on Joe Dayoc’s single, but that was all Gold could manage. Blue outscored Gold again in both the fourth inning (two runs, on Anthony Galindo’s double and singles by Larry Fiorentino and Spike Davidson, to just one by Gold on three singles) and then the fifth inning (a single run on three singles; Spike Davidson held Gold scoreless in the bottom half, the inning ending with Larry Fiorentino starting and George Romo pivoting on a 4-6-3 double play).
Leading 11-10 entering the buffet, Blue saw its first four hitters reach base, on three singles and a walk, George Romo coming around to score. Jeff Stone recorded a pair of strikeouts, but singles by Bobby Miller (his fifth hit of the game) and Richard Battle brought in three more runs, giving Blue a five-run cushion entering the bottom half. Gold saw its first four batters hit safely, three singles and Jeff Stone’s double to right field, but lost an out on the bases when Oscar Ledesma was thrown out 8-6-5 trying for third on Tim Bruton’s single. Jeff’s double scored Tim and Mike Garrison. Joe Roche hit a hard grounder up the middle, but Spike Davidson made a terrific play on the ball and threw Joe out, Jeff holding at seconds. Walks to Jack Spellman and Denny Malloy loaded the bases and brought up James Chavana, representing the winning run. James lined a ball to shortstop, and George Romo corralled it for the final out. Final score: Blue 15, Gold 12, Blue winning bragging rights for truncated Session One with a league-best record of 3-1.
Final standings – Session One:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 3 1 .750 — 57 46 +11 W1
Green 3 2 .600 .5 72 69 + 3 W3
Gray 2 2 .500 1 44 36 + 8 L1
Maroon 2 2 .500 1 51 59 – 8 L1
Purple 2 2 .500 1 61 63 – 2 W2
Red 2 3 .400 1.5 70 74 – 4 L2
Gold 1 3 .250 2 47 55 – 8 L3
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 1-0 2-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Green 1-1 2-1 1 0-0 1-2 1-0
Gray 1-1 1-1 0 0-0 1-0 0-1
Maroon 1-0 1-2 1 0-0 1-0 1-0
Purple 2-1 0-1 1 1-0 0-0 1-0
Red 2-1 0-2 0 0-1 0-1 0-1
Gold 1-2 0-1 0 0-0 1-1 0-1
2022 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 1 1 0 0 1 0 3
Gold 0 X 0 1 0 0 0 1
Gray 0 1 X 0 0 0 1 2
Green 0 0 1 X 0 1 1 3
Maroon 0 1 0 1 X 0 0 2
Purple 0 0 0 0 1 X 1 2
Red 1 0 0 0 1 0 X 2
____________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 1 3 2 2 2 2 3 15
Schedule for Thursday March 30:
10:30 a.m.: Blue at Gray, Purple umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Purple at Maroon, Blue umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Green at Red, Maroon umpiring
Gold has the bye – players from that team will have priority out of the bucket.
Preview: First games of Session Two! All teams start with a clean slate. Blue and Gray, the teams with the best run differential in the first session, square off at 10:30.
Keggy’s Korner:
Morgan Witthoft checks in:
This weekend is the Honk!TX festival –
Fri Sat Sun –
A raucous festival with a nonstop lineup of too-fun-to-look-away bands.
(I’m playing clarinet in Der Austiner Klezmer Bund)