B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 3 – March 6, 2023
Weather: Opening day! We got some nice weather for it: 71 degrees and partly cloudy with 80% humidity at 10:30, temperature rising over the course of the day’s games to the upper 70s while the humidity dropped to 60% and we got enough sun to challenge our outfielders.
Greg Lloyd, about to deliver the ceremonial first pitch of the season to Red catcher Gene Nelson. Looking on are Red shortstop George Brindley, Red pitcher Jack Kelly (in a gray shirt – for shame!), and B League president Jack McDermott.
Worth mentioning: Today marked the start of the 20th season of Austin Senior Softball, which began in spring 2004. Three players have been (and remain) with the league from the get-go: Dale Fugate, Billy Hill, and Gene Nelson. (It’s on me for failing to get pictures of the three of them. Watch this space.) (C-Leaguer Tom Foster rounds out the quartet.)
Games of Monday March 6:
10:30 a.m., Maroon at Red:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 2 5 4 0 1 0 12 Red 5 5 1 5 3 X 19 Pitchers: Maroon – Joe Bernal; Red – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Maroon – Peter Atkins and Tom Brownfield; Red – Terry Thompson (entered mid-game for Gene Nelson). Umpires: home plate – Jeff Broussard and Jeff Fisher; bases – David Ferley and Mike Hill; scoreboard – Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Rex Horvath (3 for 3 with a walk); Red – George Brindley (3 for 3 with a walk), Ken Mockler (4 for 4, two doubles), Scott Sovereen (4 for 4), and Paul Rubin (3 for 3 with a double and a triple).
The 2023 season opened with Maroon leadoff hitter Scott Wright grounding a ball up the middle that George Brindley fielded cleanly, throwing to first for the out.
Jack Kelly delivers the first official pitch of the 2023 season to Scott Wright, hidden from view by catcher Gene Nelson.
Four of the next five batters singled, resulting in two runs for Maroon. The inning ended with Daniel Baladez ranging into foul territory by third base to make a nice grab of Larry Shute’s pop. Red came out hitting in the bottom half, loading the bases on two singles and a walk for Ken Mockler, who socked a deep fly to left-center that Ken Brown couldn’t handle, the two-base hit scoring two runs. Singles by Scott Sovereen and Daniel Baladez brought in two more. Joe Bernal got Hal Darman to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, Rex Horvath to Scott Wright to Johnny Lee (outstanding scoop of a throw in the dirt), but Gene Nelson followed with a single to score Scott with the fifth run of the inning.
Each team scored five times in the second, Maroon on four singles, doubles by Peter Atkins and Joe Bernal, Scott Wright’s triple, and Tom Brownfield’s sacrifice fly, Red on seven singles and Paul Rubin’s double. Maroon went ahead 11-10 with four runs in the top of the third on five consecutive two-out singles. Red tied in the bottom half when Paul Rubin tripled (new dude can hit) and scored on when Gregory Bied’s grounded back to the box, Joe Bernal making an excellent play on a well-struck ball to get the out at first.
Joe’s gem was the high-water mark for Maroon, which only scored one run over its last three at bats, in the fifth inning when Peter Atkins knocked his second double (new dude can hit) and scored on Scott Wright’s second triple (veteran dude can hit). Red took the lead with five runs in the bottom of the fourth on five singles (one by Paul Rubin, getting three-quarters of the cycle in his first three at bats in his first B League game), and Gregory Bied’s bases-loaded triple, then added three more in the bottom of the fifth, on four singles and Ken Mockler’s second double. Joe Bernal started an excellent 1-6-3 double play on a grounder up the middle by Daniel Baladez, who’d hit safely his first three at bats, then got Terry Thompson, who’d entered the game to give Gene Nelson a breather, to foul off a two-strike pitch. But Red led 19-12 going into the buffet.
Peter Atkins about to double in the fifth inning.
That’s how it ended. Ken Brown and Larry Shupe singled, but Jack Kelly got a force-out grounder from Chris Villareal, a lineout to shortstop from Billy Hill, and finally a towering fly to left-center by Peter Atkins that Gregory Bied hauled in about eight feet in front of the fence (might have hit or gone over the fence at Krieg 3). Final score: Red 19, Maroon 12
11:30 a.m., Green at Gold:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 5 5 0 0 1 1 12 Gold 5 5 5 5 X X 20 Pitchers: Green – Chunky Wright and Ray Pilgrim (entered in the third); Gold – Jeff Stone. Umpires: home plate – Rex Horvath; bases – Mike Velaney. Perfect at the plate: Green – Jeff Fisher (3 for 3 with a double and a triple); Gold – Mike Garrison (1 for 1 with two walks), Joe Roche, Jack Spellman, and Rip Wright (each 3 for 3), Jeff Stone (1 for 1 with a triple and a walk), Denny Malloy (3 for 3 with two doubles), and Oscar Ledesma (2 for 2).
Hitters dominated in the early going, each side scoring five times in each of the first two innings. Green made Jeff Stone’s B League pitching debut a somewhat rocky one to start, with five runs on seven hits in the first, Jeff Fisher’s bases-loaded triple the big hit, and five more in the second, without making an out, on three singles and doubles by Mike Hill, Donnie Janac, and, driving in the fifth run, Buddy Gaswint.
Gold treated Chunky Wright even more roughly: five runs on six hits without making an out in the bottom of the first, with Tim Bruton, Joe Roche, and Jeff Stone hammering triples; five runs on five singles, a walk, and Jack McDermott’s double in the second; and five more, again without making an out, in the third on seven consecutive hits, the rally opening and closing with two-base hits by Denny Malloy and Tim Bruton. (Somehow in there Gold managed to skip Jeff Stone’s spot in the order, depriving him of an at bat; he wasn’t as peeved about it as I would have been.) Ray Pilgrim took over on the mound for Green in the bottom of the fourth, but didn’t have any greater success, allowing five runs on two walks, four singles, and Denny Malloy’s second double.
Meanwhile, Jeff Stone found his sea legs and held Green to just two runs over the final four innings. He worked around Jeff Fisher’s one-out double to keep Green off the board in the third, then struck out the side in the fourth – a called third strike followed by two fouled-off two-strike pitches. Green got a single run in the fifth when Mike Hill tripled (three-quarters of a cycle in his first three at bats) and scored on Donnie Janac’s base hit.
Trailing by nine, Green agreed to flip-flop and go straight into the buffet. Jeff Fisher led off with a single (like Mike, achieving three-quarters of the cycle) and was forced at second on Tom Mecredy’s hard grounder to shortstop Tim Bruton, who beat Jeff to the bag (second baseman Rip Wright was playing Tom to pull). Tom came around to score on singles by Jeff Broussard and Boo Resnick. A walk to Chunky Wright loaded the bases, but Jeff Stone got Tim Balke to ground back to the mound, getting a force at home, and Mike Hill to fly deep to left, Larry Young making his second excellent catch of the game for the final out. Final score: Gold 20, Green 12
12:30 p.m., Blue at Gray:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 3 4 1 5 2 15 Gray 0 2 5 0 0 7 Pitchers: Blue – Spike Davidson; Gray – Greg Lloyd and Jerry Mylius (second inning). Umpires: home plate – Jack McDermott; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Bobby Miller (4 for 4 with a double), Anthony Galindo (4 or 4), and George Romo (3 for 3 with a double); Gray – David Kruse (3 for 3 with two doubles).
Blue got off to a strong start, scoring three times in the top of the first when Larry Fiorentino drove a two-run triple to right-center and scored on George Romo’s single, then holding Gray scoreless in the bottom half, Spike Davidson working around one-out singles by Greg Lloyd and David Kruse. Blue never relinquished the lead, though Gray kept it close through three innings.
Blue scored four times in the top of the second, which saw the season’s first infield fly controversy (won’t be the last). The first five batters hit safely (four singles and a double by Jimmy Shull), three scoring. The fourth run came in on Larry Fiorentino’s sacrifice fly to Jim Maloy in right field. George Romo’s single put runners on first and second for Fritz Hensel. Fritz hit a short pop – almost more of a looper – that fell between shortstop David Kruse and third baseman Rick Jensen. Neither umpire called “infield fly,” which is why Morgan Witthoft took off from second for third. Rick Jensen grabbed the ball and beat Morgan to the bag for the force out. George Romo, thinking it should have, must have been called an infield fly, never left first base. The ball made its way back to pitcher Jerry Mylius, who tossed to shortstop David Kruse at second for the force on George, ending the inning with one of the weirder double plays we’ll see this season.
Gray got two runs back in the bottom half of the inning. Jimmy Maloy tripled to center field leading off and scored when he beat the throw home by George Romo on Rick Jensen’s grounder to shortstop. (Official scoring: base hit for Rick.) Frank Delmonte singled, Rick moving to third. Rick held up on Jim McAnelly’s ground ball to third, Frank’s pinch-runner forced at second, then scored on Jerry Mylius’s sacrifice fly to Bobby Miller in right-center.
Blue scored one run in the third: Richard Battle tripled with one out and scored on Dale Fugate’s sacrifice fly to Mick Parker (I think) in left-center. Gray then put across five runs in the home half, as the first six batters hit safely (five singles and David Kruse’s double), Frank Delmonte delivered a sacrifice fly to left-center, and Jerry Mylius came through with a two-out single to right to score the fifth run.
That brought Blue to within a run, trailing 8-7, but was as close as they would get. Blue responded with five runs on six hits, including a double by Morgan Witthoft and Larry Fiorentino’s second triple of the game, in the fourth, then held Gray scoreless in the bottom half – David Kruse’s second double of the game put runners on second and third with two out, but Spike Davidson got Tom Brownfield on a high fly to Bobby Miller.
On to the buffet. Greg Lloyd recorded two quick outs, getting Richard Battle to ground out 5-3, Rick Jensen to Jerry Mylius, who made a terrific play on a throw in the dirt, and Dale Fugate to pop out to shortstop David Kruse. Jimmy Shule singled and took third on Bobby Miller’s double, his fourth hit of the game. Anthony Galindo hit a ball hard to shortstop David Kruse’s backhand; David made an outstanding play on a short hop to field the ball cleanly, but hurried his throw, which sailed past first, allowing both Jimmy and Bobby to score. That made it 15-7 in Blue’s favor, but actually didn’t make a huge difference, as Spike Davidson retired Gray 1-2-3 in the bottom half. Final score: Blue 15, Gray 7
Quote of the Day: Jeff Broussard: “Nobody’s gotten hurt yet – that’s a successful Opening Day.”
Standings – Session One:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Gold 1 0 1.000 — 20 12 + 8 W1
Blue 1 0 1.000 — 15 7 + 8 W1
Red 1 0 1.000 — 19 12 + 7 W1
Purple 0 0 .000 .5 0 0 0 —
Maroon 0 1 .000 1 12 19 – 7 L1
Green 0 1 .000 1 12 20 – 8 L1
Gray 0 1 .000 1 7 15 – 8 L1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Gold 1-0 0-0 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Blue 0-0 1-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Red 1-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Purple 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Maroon 0-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Green 0-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-1 0-0
Gray 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
2022 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Gold 0 X 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Gray 0 0 X 0 0 0 0 0 0
Green 0 0 0 X 0 0 0 0 0
Maroon 0 0 0 0 X 0 0 0 0
Purple 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 0 0
Red 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 X 1
_____________________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 3
Schedule for Thursday March 9:
10:30 a.m.: Red at Gray, Purple umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Purple at Blue, Red umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Maroon at Green, Blue umpiring
Gold has the bye – players from that team will have priority out of the bucket.
Keggy’s Korner:
Scott Sovereen reports a lost left-hand batting glove (that is, a glove for one’s left hand). Above is a picture of its forlorn brother. (If you hold this picture up to a mirror, that’s what the left-handed glove looks like.)
And above is a picture of my brand-spanking-new Beebe cleats. Not for nothing, these are, in addition to being super comfortable, nicer than anything anyone else was wearing today. Don’t be jealous.