B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 62 – November 20, 2023
Weather: Kind of chilly to start, in the mid to high 40s, but it warmed up to 56 degrees during the second game, with humidity at a pleasant 40%. Mix of sun and clouds – for a while during the first game, the low-lying sun was tough on the outfielders.
Games of Monday November 27:
11:00 a.m., Red (sixth seed) at Gray (third seed):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Red 5 5 4 4 X 18 Gray 2 0 0 3 3 8 Pitchers: Red – Jack Kelly; Gray – Greg Lloyd. Umpires: home plate – Terry Watts; bases – Tom Kelm. Perfect at the plate: Red – Ken Mockler, Adam Reddell, Jack Spellman, and Terry Thompson (all 3 for 3); Gray – Rick Jensen (3 for 3) and Rick Kahn (3 for 3 with a double).
Red knocked six hits in each of its at bats and scored 18 of a possible 20 runs, and that pretty much was the ballgame. In the first inning, singles by the first six hitters, the fifth run scoring on an infield ground out; in the second, five runs on five singles and Paul Rubin’s double; in the third, four runs on six singles, the last three with two out; and in the fourth, five singles and David Ferley’s double.
Four of Gray’s first five batters hit safely in the bottom of the first, four singles and a double by Rick Kahn, two runs scoring, but Jack Kelly from the start had Gray’s hitters hitting the ball into the ground – two of those singles were grounders to shortstop that Jack Spellman threw away (Doc Hobar would have beaten a good throw anyway), and Jack K. escaped a first-and-third, one-out jam by getting grounders for outs to third baseman Adam Reddell by Tony Viera (force at second, and Howard Spates, rather than make a futile throw to first to not get speedy Tony, instead froze Rick Kahn at third) and Jim McAnelly (another force at second).
Jack Kelly then worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the second and what amounted to a 1-2-3 bottom of the third – with one out, David Kruse singled to left field, but, trying to make things happen for Gray, was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double, Ken Mockler making an excellent throw to second baseman Howard Spates that beat David by a step. (Shortstop Jack Spellman’s best play of the day was not cutting off Ken’s throw.)
Five of the first six Gray hitters singled to begin the bottom of the fourth, three runs scoring, but Jack Kelly got three more force outs on ground balls. Gray still trailed by 13 as time ran out, so the teams flip-flopped for the buffet. David Kruse led off the frame with a double, and the next three batters singled, Ricks Kahn and Jensen completing 3-for-3 days at the plate, two runs scoring. Jack Kelly got Tony Viera to hit into a force out at third for the first out, then got Jim McAnelly to foul off a two-strike pitch. Greg Lloyd and Jerry Mylius both singled, Rick Jensen coming around to score, but the game ended with Alex Valles hitting a hard grounder back to the box that Jack Kelly gloved and threw to first for the final out. Final score: Red 18, Gray 8
Noon, Green (fifth seed) at Gold (fourth seed):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 4 3 1 4 5 X 17 Gold 2 0 5 2 0 3 12 Pitchers: Green – Tommy Deleon; Gold – Jeff Stone. Umpires: home plate – Terry Watts; bases – Tom Kelm. Perfect at the plate: Green – Jeff Fisher (3 for 3 with a double and a triple) and Ray Pilgrim (3 for 3); Gold – Tim Bruton (4 for 4 with two doubles). Homerun: Tim Coles (over the fence).
Green scored four runs in the top of the first, Jeff Fisher’s two-run triple to the fence in right field the big hit, Jeff scoring the fourth run of the inning on Gary Coyle’s sacrifice fly. Green never relinquished the lead, though Gold did battle back in the middle innings to make a game of it. In the bottom of the first they got two runs back as Ralph Villela and Tim Bruton led off with doubles and scored, Ralph on Tim’s knock, Tim scoring from second on Tim Coles’ sacrifice fly to deep right-center, an excellent catch by Tommy Gillis. Two out singles by Jack McDermott and James Chavana put runners on the corners, but Tommy Deleon got Mike Garrison to hit a two-strike foul.
Green added three runs on six singles in the top of the second, the last two coming with two out, the last of those a little pop by Donnie Janac between the pitcher and first base – its off-the-end-of-the-bat spin sent it toward first baseman Larry Young, who stretched for it while keeping a foot on the bag, only to have the infield’s just-turned dirt slow the ball down sufficiently that Donnie was able to beat it out. That loaded the bases for Don Solberg, who drove a ball to right field, caught by Denny Malloy ranging in and to his left. Denny then led off the bottom half with a sharp single up the middle, but Tommy Deleon retired the next three hitters.
Green made it 8-2 with a single run on three one-base hits in the top of the third, but left two runners stranded (five left on base in two innings). Gold then got back in the game with five runs in the home half. Tim Bruton led off with a single on a grounder back to the box that Tommy Deleon deflected toward shortstop – Mike Hill had no chance of throwing out Tim, blazing up the line. Jeff Stone flied out to right-center. Tim Coles followed with a drive to the same part of the park, but his carried out, glancing off the top of the fence in right-center and over for a very impressive two-run homer.
Dave Berra was busy coaching third base, so B League president Jack McDermott had the honor of presenting Tim Coles with a Plucker’s coupon following his two-run homerun.
Jack McDermott grounded out to second baseman Clint Fletcher for the second out, but the next five batters hit safely to complete the rally: James Chavana tripled to left field; Mike Garrison, Denny Malloy, and Rip Wright lined singles to left, center, and right field; and Larry Young drove in Denny with the fifth run when he topped a ball down the first-base side, just a few feet in front of the plate – catcher Boo Resnick got to the ball quickly, but double-clutched before throwing, and Larry beat it out: an RBI single in the scorebook.
That cut Green’s lead to 8-7. Green got itself some breathing room with four runs in the top of the fourth, all scored with two out. After Tommy Deleon grounded back to the pitcher leading off, Green loaded the bases on singles by Chunky Wright, Clint Fletcher, and Mike Hill. Donnie Janac’s sacrifice fly to left-center brought home Chunky. Don Solberg lined a single to right that scored Clint. Jeff Fisher’s double to right-center drove in Mike and put the potential fourth and fifth runs in scoring position. Gary Coyle lined a single to left-center that scored Don, but a great 8-4-2 relay, Jack McDermott to Tim Coles to Rip Wright, gunned down Jeff trying to score.
Gold could have tied with five runs in the bottom of the fourth, but got only two. As they had in the first inning, Ralph Villela and Tim Bruton led off with doubles – Tim’s was on a hard grounder to third base that hit one of the countless infield clumps and bounced up badly, clipping Gary Coyle’s right ear and rolling into foul territory, Ralph scoring while Tim made it to second. As Tom Brownfield would say, “Lookie here!”:
Gary Coyle’s ear, mercifully still fully attached.
Jeff Stone followed with a single to drive in Tim, but Tommy Deleon retired the next three hitters, getting Tim Coles on a fly to left-center (nice basket catch by Jeff Fisher), Jack McDermott on a grounder to shortstop (Jeff forced at second), and James Chavana on a foul pop down the third-base side, Gary Coyle making a backhanded snow-cone catch to end the inning.
The game was no longer close when Green scored five runs on Buddy Gaswint’s lead-off double (one hop to the fence in left-center) and six singles, the last three with two out, in the top of the fifth. Mike Garrison and Denny Malloy led off the home half with singles, but Tommy Deleon got ground balls to escape the jam: Rip Wright’s grounder to shortstop Mike Hill resulted in a force at second, and then Mike turned the pivot on an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play started by Clint Fletcher on Larry Young’s sharp grounder.
With Green leading by nine, the teams flip-flopped for the buffet. Gold, looking for a miracle comeback, had the top of its order up, and the fist four batters reached: Ralph Villela walked, Tim Bruton and Jeff Stone singled (Ralph coming around to score), and Tim Coles walked. Tommy Deleon got two dangerous hitters, Jack McDermott and James Chavana, to ground to shortstop for 6-4 force outs, Tim Bruton and Jeff Stone scoring. Mike Garrison singled to extend the inning. Denny Malloy hit a grounder down the first-base side; Buddy Gaswint was playing well off the bag, but was able to move to his left, field the ball, and beat Denny to the bag, as seen in this superlative piece of photojournalism:
Buddy Gaswint had a shorter trip and won his race with Denny Malloy to the bag.
Final score: Green 17, Gold 12
Tuesday seedings, based on full-season record:
W L Win %:
1. Blue 34.5 19.5 .639
2. Maroon 28 23 .549
5. Green 26 29 .473
6. Red 24 30 .444
Tentative schedule for day two of the end-of-year tourney:
Tuesday November 28:
11:00 a.m.: Red (sixth seed) at Blue (first seed).
11:30 a.m.: Green (fifth seed) at Maroon (second seed)
12:30 p.m.: Championship game, higher-seeded semifinal winner at lower-seeded semifinal winner.
Note that there will be no dugout coolers Tuesday – it’s BYOH20.
Who will win the coveted championship tee-shirts? Who but time will tell?
Keggy’s Korner:
Sunday night league commish Scott Sovereen checks in:
If you are interested in playing on Sundays, please get a hold of Commissioner Scott Sovereen at (512) 751-1981 or email to SeniorSoftballAustin@yahoo.com. Games in the spring and fall are at 3,4 & 5 and are moved back to 5,6 & 7 in the summer months. Rosters are limited to 12 players and there are only two times a year that player adds occur. Annual cost is $90, but includes these really cool jerseys. Hope to hear from you soon.
