B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 2 – March 4, 2024
Some housekeeping, as the Picayune is the closest thing we have to a paper of record. League president Anthony Galindo checked in prior to Opening Day:
First, an update on the number of players in our league. We currently have 92 players registered, but only 80 on our team rosters. Three new players will be added to the rosters during the first session and nine more regular players later in the season as they return from injuries or other reasons. Our goal is to cap the rosters at 13 per team, so we are one over the limit, but we expect to have an opening for the extra player soon. In order to maintain the roster limit, the Board has decided to implement a waiting list for players interested in joining our league in the future. They will be given the opportunity to play at least one game in order to assess their skills and determine where they can be placed when we have an opening.
Second, it turns out we do not have a Gold Team this year – we only have enough Orange jerseys, so that is the correct color. You can use either schedule, but just remember Orange is the new Gold.
Third, the Board is trying something new this year to hopefully entice more volunteers for umpiring. We plan to have a raffle at the end of each session for a $25 or $50 gift card to HEB. Players will get one ticket for each time they umpire, so the more you umpire, the better your chances to win a gift card. Details will be announced later.
Fourth, I have asked Liz Tajchman with the Parks Department to throw out the first pitch, so please be sure to say hello and thank her for everything they do for our league.
PARD’s Liz Tajchman throws the ceremonial first pitch to open the 2024 B League season.
Finally, I have attached the rules supplement document with red highlighted words that are new from last year. Some rules were already listed in the USA Handbook, but were not included in our supplement, so they just add more details to our supplement. However, we do have some major rule changes so here’s a summary list for quick reading:
1. We are going back to playing only 10 fielders. Last year the optional rule was a bit controversial deciding when to play 10 or 11, so the Board decided to eliminate that rule.
2. A courtesy runner from home plate is OUT if he advances and touches or runs through second base. If the runner does not touch or run through second, he may return to first base if not tagged prior to doing so. We hope to eliminate some of the confusion for the defense when someone does run to second.
3. A courtesy runner is out if he is replaced or leaves the bag/home plate (except for injuries). This is an existing rule in USA, but was not in our supplement.
4. A courtesy runner from home plate may run again in the same inning if the batter strikes out or fouls out. We need to help our teams that use a lot of courtesy runners.
5. Pitching screen rules: Someone has asked to use a screen this year, so please get familiar with these rules.
Weather: An overcast start, in the 70s, but the sun broke through and the temperature rose into the low 80s, with humidity at 55% – a nice start to the new season.
Games of Monday March 4:
10:30 a.m., Maroon at Blue:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 0 0 0 4 3 0 7 Blue 5 0 3 0 5 X 13 Pitchers: Maroon – Chunky Wright; Blue – Joe Bernal. Umpires: home plate – Adam Reddell; bases – Morgan Witthoft and Eddy Murillo. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Dale Fugate (3 for 3 with a double), Jeff Fisher (3 for 3), and George Romo (3 for 3 with a triple). Homerun: Jimmy Sneed (over the fence).
With their pitcher Joe Bernal already in mid-season form, Blue blanked Maroon over the first three innings and built an 8-0 lead that proved insurmountable, though Maroon did get within a run at one point. Joe struck out the first batter of the season, Scott Wright, then worked around a pair of singles in the top of the first, and in the bottom half drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to left-center. The first five Blue batters of the game hit safely and scored, Dale Fugate and, making his B League debut, Lucky Hoffman following Joe’s fly with run-scoring singles. Neither team scored in the second, Joe giving up a lead-off single to Chunky Wright in the top half, then getting three grounders to the middle infield for outs. Blue then scored three times in the home half, David Brown’s run-scoring triple the big hit – David also was making his B League debut, and knocked hits his first two at bats.
Maroon got on the board at last in the fourth inning, when Anthony Galindo led off with a single and Jimmy Sneed lined a ball over the fence in left field for the first homerun of the 2024 B League season.
League president/teammate Anthony Galindo presents Jimmy Sneed with the season’s first Pluckers Homerun Coupon® following Jimmy’s over-the-fence homer.
Like David Brown, Jimmy was making his B League debut and hit safely in his first two at bats.
Maroon added two more runs on a single by Joe Roche, two walks, a run-scoring but rally-limiting 6-4-3 double play grounder (David Brown to George Brindley to Dale Fugate, first twin killing of 2024), and Phil Stanch’s RBI single.
Billy Hill smacked a line-drive single to left-center to start the bottom of the fourth (I loved seeing this), but Chunky Wright retired the next three hitters, getting Jerry Mylius on a liner to Jimmy Sneed at third base and Mike Garrison on a hard grounder to the 5-6 hole that Jimmy made a good play on, moving to his left, Mike beating the relay to first.
Maroon cut Blue’s lead to one run in the top of the fifth as the first three batters hit safely and scored: James Chavana singled; Scott Wright’s double scored James from first; and Jack Spellman’s hit up the middle got between outfielders Jeff Fisher and Mike Garrison and rolled to the fence, Scott scoring and Spellman ending up at third. Two outs later, Joe Roche’s single made it an 8-7 game.
Not for long, though, as Blue scored five times in the bottom half, on five singles, George Romo’s triple, and Dale Fugate’s double – George, Dale, and also Jeff Fisher completed 3-for-3 days at the plate with their hits that inning.
That left Maroon chasing six runs in the buffet. Alvin Gauna drew a one-out walk, but Blue manager-second baseman George Brindley recorded the final two outs of the game, catching Phil Stanch’s pop and cleanly fielding Chunky Wright’s grounder and throwing to first for the game-ender. Final score: Blue 13, Maroon 7
11:30 a.m., Red at Green:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 5 5 2 5 5 7 29 Green 5 0 4 5 5 0 19 Pitchers: Red – Gil Delossantos and Eddy Murillo (Eddy faced four batters and got the final two outs in the bottom of the third); Green – Tommy Deleon (first, second, and fourth innings) and David Pittard (third, fifth, and buffet innings). Umpires: home plate – Scott Wright and Alvin Gauna; bases – Jack Spellman. Perfect at the plate: Red – Donald Drummer (3 for 3 with a walk and a double), Rick Kahn (4 for 4 with a double and a triple), and Morgan Witthoft (4 for 4 with two doubles); Green – Jeff Broussard (3 for 3), Jack Crosley (2 for 2 with two walks, a double, and a homerun), Tommy Deleon (2 for 2 with two walks), Mike Hill (4 for 4 with a double), and David Pittard (4 for 4 with a homerun). Homeruns: Tim Bruton, Jack Crosley, and David Pittard (all inside the park).
A lot of fireworks in this one, by both teams, Red confirming my suspicion that they have the highest-octane lineup in the league, at least to start the season. Not going to get too granular, else I’ll be scribbling till midnight. Everyone in the Red lineup hit, only three three players making as many as two outs apiece, and three of those six outs were sacrifice flies. Tim Bruton hit safely his first four times up, with a double in his third at bat and an inside-the-park homer in his fourth. (Tim also got himself into the first rundown of the season when he took a wide turn after he singled in the top of the first; he escaped it.) Rick Kahn and Morgan Witthoft each went 4 for 4 with a pair of extra-base hits. Denny Malloy missed the cycle by a homerun. Manager Donald Drummer batted himself last and singled, walked, singled, and doubled. Green was able to record three outs in only two innings, the third (Ralph Villela made a terrific catch of Denny Malloy’s opposite-field fly) and the buffet (in which Red scored seven runs). Red never trailed in a game in which it allowed 19 runs.
Green hit, too, but just couldn’t keep up. Jack Crosley led the way, legging out in inside-the-park park grand slam in the bottom of the first, smacking a three-run double in the third, and drawing a bases-loaded walk to drive in Green’s fifth run in the fourth – eight RBI in three plate appearances, not shabby. (Jack also was thrown out at home trying to score on Daniel Baladez’s fly to right-center in the bottom of the third, out 9-1-2, Denny Malloy to Eddy Murillo to Boo Resnick for the season’s first outfield-originating double play.) Jack walked again his final time up, and was one of five Green players who were perfect at the plate on the day – notable among these was David Pittard, making a memorable B League debut in which he singled his first three times up, then hit what I’m ruling a three-run inside-the-park homerun, though technically the fifth run of the fifth inning scored ahead of him.
Jack Crosley (bottom of the first), Tim Bruton (top of the fifth), and David Pittard (bottom of the fifth) each hit inside-the-park homeruns in today’s 11:30 game, posing an immediate threat to the B League’s strategic stockpile of Pluckers coupons.
Red led by only three runs entering the buffet, but ran that to double digits in the top half of that inning. Green didn’t score in the bottom half, which saw the season’s first collision: running for Tommy Deleon, at second base with a runner on first behind him, Ralph Villela raced for third on Tommy Langa’s grounder to third baseman Adam Reddell; Adam got to the bag just before Ralph, for the second out, Ralph winding up on the ground, but basically okay. Moments later, Daniel Baladez grounded to second baseman Boo Resnick, who tossed to shortstop Tim Bruton for the game-ending out. Final score: Red 29, Green 19
Quote of the Day (I): Denny Malloy, asked if he was all right after he took a tumble in right-center while trying unsuccessfully to corral Jack Crosley’s drive, resulting in an inside-the-park grand slam: “Pride. My pride.”
12:30 p.m., Purple at Orange:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 0 5 4 5 0 5 19 Orange 1 0 3 5 3 3 15 Pitchers: Purple – Jeff Stone; Orange – Spike Davidson. Umpires: home plate – Jack Crosley; bases – Mike Hill. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Gregory Bied (4 for 4 with a double and a triple) and Jeff Stone (4 for 4 with two doubles and a triple); Orange – Larry Fiorentino (3 for 3 with a walk and a double), Doc Hobar (4 for 4 with a triple), and Spike Davidson (3 for 3).
Orange briefly led, shutting out Purple in the top of the first (Spike Davidson got three outs in the air, Rex Horvath making an excellent backhanded grab of Clint Fletcher’s liner for the second out) and scoring once in the bottom half (lead-off singles by Doc Hobar and Larry Fiorentino, neither of whom made an out in the game, and a sacrifice fly by Rex to score Doc), but after that Purple dominated, scoring 19 of a possible runs over the next three innings: five runs on six singles and the first of Jeff Stone’s two doubles in the second; four runs on five singles and Jeff’s second double in the third; and five runs without making an out in the top of the fourth on this sequence – Peter Sundquist double, Gregory Bied triple, Clint Fletcher double, Daniel Carvajal line-drive single, Jeff Stone triple, Rick Jensen single.
Meanwhile, Orange went out in order in the bottom of the second, then scored three runs in the third, Doc Hobar’s triple the big hit. They put across five runs in the fourth on six hits, three of them doubles – by Ray Pilgrim, Larry Fiorentino, and Rex Horvath, Rex’s short-hopping the fence in left field. Orange shut out Purple in the top of the fifth, Spike Davidson working around Tom Kelm’s two-out single, and then scored three runs on four singles in the bottom half.
Eddie Ortiz (2 for 3 in his B League debut) started Orange’s rally in the bottom of the fifth with a single on this swing. (Sorry, I’m a words guy, not a good-picture-taking guy.)
That cut Purple’s lead to 14-12 entering the buffet. But eight of the first nine Purple batters hit safely in the inning – seven singles and Gregory Bied’s double – and five runs scored. Spike Davidson did well to strand three runners: with the bases loaded and one out, he got Tom Kelm to ground to shortstop, Rex Horvath throwing home for the force; then he got Rip Wright to ground to third baseman Tony Garcia (I think, not 100% certain), who threw to Howard Spates at second for the force there.
That left Orange chasing seven in the bottom half. Doc Hobar and Larry Fiorentino completed their perfect days at the plate with a single and a walk to start the frame. Rex Horvath skied a ball left-center, caught by Gregory Bied (I think it was) for the first out. Eddie Ortiz then walked to load the bases for Tony Garcia, who cleared them with a double to right field. That drew Orange to within four, but they got no closer, as Jeff Stone got the next three batters to hit ground balls to middle infielders: Jim Maloy went out 6-3; Ray Pilgrim was safe when shortstop Rick Jensen’s throw was short and skipped past first baseman Daniel Carvajal; and Howard Spates grounded into a game-ending 4-6 force, Mike Velaney to Rick Jensen. Final score: Purple 19, Orange 15
Quote of the Day (II, Beer Garden Edition): Scott Wright to Eddy Murillo: “I told your wife you saw my ass in Florida, and you liked it.”
Standings – Session One:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Red 1 0 1.000 — 29 19 +10 W1
Blue 1 0 1.000 — 13 7 + 6 W1
Purple 1 0 1.000 — 19 15 + 4 W1
Gray 0 0 — .5 0 0 0 —
Orange 0 1 .000 1 15 19 – 4 L1
Maroon 0 1 .000 1 7 13 – 6 L1
Green 0 1 .000 1 19 29 -10 L1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Red 0-0 1-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Blue 1-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Purple 0-0 1-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Gray 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Orange 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Maroon 0-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Green 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Schedule for March 7:
10:30 a.m.: Orange (0-1) at Red (1-0), Green umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Green (0-1) at Maroon (0-1), Orange umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Blue (1-0) at Gray (0-0), Maroon umpiring
Preview: Gray team makes its debut at 12:30 versus Blue. Either Green or Maroon will win at 11:30; the losing team’s manager may find himself on the heat seat. Red will be trying to build on its offensive outburst at 10:30 versus Orange, looking to put a number up in the winning column. Will the great New England band Guster play a bunch of new stuff Thursday night at the Moody Center, or cater/pander to longtime plans and play the beloved classics? Only one thing is certain: Time will tell. Though either way I’ll probably be late with the Picayune because I’ll be at the show.
Keggy’s Korner:
A reminder that you can read current and past editions of this (and last) year’s Picayune at: https://austinseniorsoftball.com/picyuane/. New editions show up online shortly after they hit your email in-box. (“Shortly” meaning, when I get to it; probably not till the next morning.) The front page of the site (https://austinseniorsoftball.com/) features a red banner with late-breaking news of cancellations, etc. (I mention because there’s a chance of rain Thursday.) And you can see the schedule for upcoming games at: https://austinseniorsoftball.com/schedule/