B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Inaccuracy in Reporting
Volume 7, Issue 1 – March 3, 2025
Happy Opening Day! The B League’s 2025 season got under way with pretty nice weather – 74 degrees at the start of the 10:30 game, rising to 77 degrees by the end of the 12:30 game, with humidity starting at 73% and dropping to 64%; it was overcast throughout, with a southerly wind blowing about 14 MPH.
PARD’s Arthur Gagliano, Recreational Program Specialist and liaison to the B League, threw out the ceremonial first pitch, then shook hands with B League president Anthony Galindo.
Players then gathered to pray for softball brothers David Kruse, Earl King, and Daniel Baladez. George Brindley led the prayer; pictured above, left to right, are Tommy Deleon, Donnie Janac, Mike Malay, George Brindley, league president Anthony Galindo, Mike Velaney, and Doc Hobar; visible behind Doc are Trey Wall and Jeff Broussard.
Games of Monday March 3:
10:30 a.m., Purple at Maroon:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 3 4 0 0 1 8 Maroon 4 4 5 5 x 18 Pitchers: Purple – Spike Davidson; Maroon – Tom Kelm. Mercenaries: Purple – Tommy Gillis; Maroon – Paul Rubin. Umpires: home – David Brown; bases – Peter Atkins. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Tommy Gillis and Mike Velaney (both 2 for 2); Maroon – Ken Brown (4 for 4 with two doubles), Tom Kelm and Tommy Langa (both 3 for 3), Bobby Miller (4 for with two doubles and a home run), and Paul Rubin (3 for 3 with a double). Home runs: Rex Horvath (over the fence) and Bobby Miller (inside the park).
Both teams came out hitting, Purple scoring three times in the top of the season’s first inning on two singles and Rex Horvath’s towering home run down the left field line. Maroon responded with four runs in the home half. Ken Brown led off with a double and Bobby Miller followed with an inside-the-park homerun to right field, a line drive over Rick Jensen’s head. Maroon added two more runs on four singles to take the lead.
Purple manager Larry Young takes a moment off from coaching third base to present Rex Horvath with a Pluckers coupon following Rex’s three-run homer in the top of the first.
Maroon manager Dave Berra was nowhere to be found, so Joe Dayoc presented Bobby Miller with a Pluckers coupon after Bobby legged out an inside-the-park homerun in the bottom of the first.Both teams scored four runs in the second inning, Purple on Larry Young’s walk and four singles, Maroon on Bobby Miller’s double to center field and four singles.
Maroon put the game away in the next two innings, blanking Purple while twice scoring five times. Tony Garcia started the season’s first double play, 6u., 6-3, to end the top of the third, and Tom Kelm worked around singles by Mike Velaney and Tommy Gillis, both perfect on the day, in the fourth. Maroon smacked six hits in the bottom of the third, with Paul Rubin, Ken Brown, and Bobby Miller knocking consecutive doubles. Tommy Langa completed a perfect day at the plat with a two-out single to drive in the fifth run. In the fourth Maroon knocked seven singles while making just one out. Maroon batters were 24 for 33 (.727) for the game.
Larry Fiorentino led off the buffet with a double to right field and scored on Mark Hernandez’s one-out double to center, closing out the scoring. Final score: Maroon 18, Purple 8
11:30 a.m., Orange at Red:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Orange 3 1 3 3 4 14 Red 5 5 5 3 X 18 Pitchers: Orange – Gary Bowles (first inning and six batters in the second inning) and Tom Kelm; Red - Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Orange – George Brindley; Red – Rip Wright. Umpires: home – Rex Horvath; bases – Larry Young. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Mike Malay (4 for 4 with a home run); Red – Joe Bernal (1 for 1 with two walks); Mark Dolan (3 for 3); Donald Drummer, Dale Fugate, Anthony Galindo, and Jim McAnelly (each 2 for 2 with a walk); and Jack Spellman (2 for 2 with two walks). Home runs: Tim Bruton (inside the park) and Mike Malay (over the fence).
Maybe it’s a lie that pitchers are ahead of hitters this time of year. Orange scored in every inning against the always excellent offerings of Joe Bernal, putting up crooked numbers in four of their five at bats. Red trumped that, making only four outs in four innings, one of those on a base-running gaffe that was the only reason they didn’t score five runs in each of their at bats.
Mike Malay led Orange, knocking singles in each of his first three at bats, and then a booming home run over the left-center field fence in his fourth. A slimmed-down Marvin Krabbenhoft, running for himself, ripped a two-run double in the first inning and added two singles. Clint Fletcher and Peter Atkins legged out triples and Ray Pilgrim a double. All told Orange collected 22 hits.
Orange skipper David Brown presents Mike Malay with a post-game Pluckers coupon for Mike’s homerun in the buffet.Red knocked 18 hits, but also drew ten walks, as Gary Bowles struggled with his control in his return to B League play. Seven different Red players were perfect at the plate, and one of the three who weren’t, Tim Bruton, might actually have had the best game – Tim tripled in Red’s first run, hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning, and drove in the final three runs in the third with an inside-the-park home run.
Tim Bruton receives a Pluckers coupon from Red manager Donald Drummer after circling the bases for a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth.Tim was on deck when the fourth inning ended. With two runs in, two out, and the bases loaded, Jack Spellman singled up the middle. Dale Fugate scored on the play, and Rolando Rodriguez would have as well except that he ran to the mat instead of to the line, and was called out – a classic new-to-B-League-rules mistake that he’ll never make again.
Orange came up in the buffet trailing 18-10 and cut Red’s lead in half before running out of outs. Final score: Red 19, Orange 14
12:30 p.m., Blue at Green:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 3 5 5 3 X 16 Green 2 0 2 1 3 8 Pitchers: Blue – Tommy Deleon; Green – Chunky Wright. Mercenary: Green – Hal Darman. Umpires: home – Donald Drummer; bases – Jim McAnelly and Jack Spellman. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Tom Bellavia (3 for 3 with a double), George Brindley (2 for 2 with a walk), and Tom Brownfield and Tommy Deleon (both 3 for 3); Green – Ralph Villela (3 for 3).
Blue came out hot, knocking 18 hits over the first three innings and building an insurmountable 13-4 lead through three. Blue’s Killer Bs, 3-4-5 hitters Tom Bellavia, George Brindley, and Tom Brownfield, went a combined 8 for 8 with a walk and a double, scoring six runs and driving in six. George also scored three runs pinch-running for Tommy Deleon, who was 3 for 3 with three line-drive singles in the nine hole.
Blue also played solid defense, turning three double plays, third baseman David Pittard starting two of them. The second inning ended with a 5-4-3 double play, and the game ended with a really nice 5u., 5-3 twin killing. Jimmy Sneed started a 6-4-3 double play in the third inning.
Those rally killers made it hard for Green to get much going. When the teams flip-flopped for the buffet, Green was trailing by 11. Their first four batters singled, two runs scoring, and Chris Waddel came across with a run on a smart base-running move when Chunky Wright’s pop in front of home plate stayed fair – catcher Rip Wright grabbed the ball before it could go foul and threw to first for the out, but Chris, seeing no one covering home, was able to scoot in from third base for what turned out to be the final run of the game. Final score: Blue 16, Green 8
Standings – Session One:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Maroon 1 0 1.000 –- 18 8 +10 W1
Blue 1 0 1.000 — 16 8 + 8 W1
Red 1 0 1.000 –- 19 14 + 5 W1
Gray 0 0 — .5 0 0 0 —
Orange 0 1 .000 1 14 19 – 5 L1
Green 0 1 .000 1 8 16 – 8 L1
Purple 0 1 .000 1 8 18 -10 L1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Maroon 1-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Blue 0-0 1-0 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Red 1-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Gray 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Orange 0-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Green 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0-1 0-0
Purple 0-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Gray 0 X 0 0 0 0 0 0
Green 0 0 X 0 0 0 0 0
Maroon 0 0 0 X 0 1 0 1
Orange 0 0 0 0 X 0 0 0
Purple 0 0 0 0 0 X 0 0
Red 0 0 0 0 1 0 X 1
______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 3
2025 season home run leaders:
Tim Bruton – 1
Rex Horvath – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
Beebe Sports is returning as a sponsor of Austin Senior Softball! I’ll be showcasing in future editions of the Picayune the excellent new shoes B League players have purchased for the 2025 season.
Schedule for Thursday March 6:
10:30 a.m.: Green (0-1) at Orange (0-1), Red umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (1-0) at Purple (0-1), Green umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Maroon (1-0) at Gray (0-0), Purple umpiring
Blue has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Gray plays for the first time at 12:30, facing a Maroon team that posted Opening Day’s most lopsided victory. One of Green and Orange will get its first win at 10:30. Purple will try to knock down Red at 11:30. I’m still getting used to seeing most of the league’s players in different colors from last year, I still don’t have a good sense of each team’s capabilities. It was great seeing new (and newish) players getting off to strong starts today. Plus no injuries!
Keggy’s Korner:
Results of the pre-season survey – all three proposals were defeated:
1. Once a priority player has played in a game, he cannot play again until all other players’ chips have been drawn.
2. We will play with ten players in the field.
3. Session One will count in the overall season standings.
Something I learned in the off season: The Texas Deer Association is made up of people, not deer.