B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 59 – October 13, 2025
Games of Monday October 13:
10:30 a.m., Gray (3-6) at Blue (3.5 – 5.5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Gray 4 2 0 3 6 15 Blue 2 0 0 5 2 9 Pitchers: Gray – Jack Kelly; Blue – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Gray – Larry Fiorentino; Blue – Raul Deleon, Donnie Janac, Matt Levitt, Ray Pilgrim, and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Spike Davidson; bases – Mike Velaney. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Larry Fiorentino (2 for 2 with a walk), Tommy Gillis (4 for 4 with a double), and Mike Malay (4 for 4); Blue – Tommy Deleon (2 for 2). Home run: Jimmy Sneed (inside the park) (3).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 80 degrees, felt like 82. Humidity 56%, wind from the South at 7 MPH. Sunny – beautiful weather continues.
Gray won its second game in a row, continuing its resurgence with Jim Aaron re-installed at shortstop. They never trailed in this game, scoring four times in the top of the first inning, the first four batters of the game hitting safely and scoring – Jim and Tommy Gillis both doubled to start the game, and Adam Reddell and George Romo followed with singles, Tommy scoring on Adam’s. Tommy Deleon retired Johnny Lee on a liner and Hal Darman on a pop, both to second baseman David Pittard, but Mike Malay and Jack Kelly delivered two-out RBI singles.
Blue got two back quickly in the bottom of the first when Steve Sandall singled, Jimmy Sneed doubled, and they both scored on David Pittard’s base hit. But Jack Kelly got Daniel Baladez to pop out to Jim Aaron at shortstop for the first out, and Jim then made a good play on Rip Wright’s hard grounder to start a 6-4-3 double play.
Gray scored twice in the top of the second, Jim Aaron tripling home Larry Fiorentino, who’d led off with a single, and then scoring on Tommy Gillis’s hit. Jack Kelly threw a scoreless bottom half, working around Tommy Deleon’s lead-off single, then neither team scored in the third. Gray loaded the bases on two singles and a walk to Larry Fiorentino in the top half, but Steve Sandall caught Jim Aaron’s drive to deep left-center – Steve basically was playing about two steps in front of the fence, and moved back one step to haul in the fly. Jack Kelly threw a four-pitch bottom of the frame, retiring Blue in order.
Gray scored three runs in the top of the fourth on six singles and George Romo’s sacrifice fly. With one out and the bases loaded, Tommy Deleon escaped the inning by getting Dave Jaffe to ground into a 5u., 5-2 double play.
Blue then got back into the game by scoring five times in the home half. Jimmy Sneed led off with an inside-the-park home run, his third homer of the season, as seen here:
Jack Kelly retired David Pittard on a fly to Larry Fiorentino in right-center, but the next four batters singled, two runners scoring. Matt Levitt’s double brought in two more, and Raul Deleon’s sacrifice fly to Tommy Gillis in left field was deep enough to bring in the fifth.
Blue trailed by only two entering the buffet, but Gray came out hitting, nine of the ten players in its lineup rapping base hits to start the inning – eight singles and a double by George Romo – five runs scoring. With the bases loaded and one out, Dave Jaffe hit a grounder to the left of third baseman Jack Spellman, who moved left to field the ball, moved right to tag third base, and then threw home, but had no chance of catching Jim Aaron, running for Johnny Lee, even if I’d made a good throw, which I did not. Jim scored Gray’s sixth run of the inning, and with Gray now up by eight, the teams flip-flopped.
Ray Pilgrim led off the home half of the buffet with a solid double to center, took third on Steve Sandall’s one-out single, and scored on Jimmy Sneed’s sacrifice fly to Tommy Gillis in left field. Singles by David Pittard and Daniel Baladez extended the inning, but the game ended when Jim Aaron made a good play to his left of Rip Wright’s hard grounder up the middle, Jim stepping on second for the game-ending force.
Final score: Gray 15, Blue 9
11:30 a.m., Purple (5-5) at Maroon (5-5):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 0 5 1 0 0 2 8 Maroon 5 1 2 1 5 X 14 Pitchers: Purple – Spike Davidson; Maroon – David Pittard. Mercenaries: Purple – Tommy Gillis, Jimmy Sneed, and Peter Sundquist; Maroon – Peter Atkins, Donnie Janac, Marvin Krabbenhoft, Jack McDermott, David Pittard, Adam Reddell, George Romo, and Steve Sandall. Umpires: home – Jack Spellman and Donald Drummer; bases – Clint Fletcher. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Tommy Gillis, Fritz Hensel, and Larry Young (all 3 for 3); Maroon – Jack McDermott and George Romo (both 3 for 3) and David Pittard (2 for 2 with a walk – Ohtani Award).
Dave Berra’s weather update: Same as at 10:30, maybe three degrees warmer.
A rainbow coalition made this game happen, 11 mercenaries filling out the lineups, eight of them for Maroon, and for much of the game Spellman umpired solo, somewhat to the disgruntlement of Purple, which didn’t care for my hitter-friendly too-high calls on a number of Spike Davidson’s pitches, nor my out call in the top of the fourth (details to follow).
Maroon started strong, David Pittard holding Purple to one hit, Raul Deleon’s two-out single, in the top of the first, then scoring five times without making an out in the bottom half, on four singles and doubles by Tony Garcia and Steve Sandall.
Purple got back into the game with five runs and seven singles in the top of the second, the fifth run coming in on Matt Levitt’s bad-hop grounder to shortstop Tony Garcia. Maroon scored one run on three singles in the home half to reclaim the lead.
Larry Fiorentino led off the third with a line triple to right field and scored on Raul Deleon’s sacrifice fly to Peter Atkins in left-center field. That briefly tied the game; Maroon won the inning and went back ahead with two runs in the bottom half on David Pittard’s lead-off walk and three singles.
Controversy in the top of the fourth. Larry Young led off with a line single to left field, and Tommy Gillis followed with a pop-fly single in back of the 5-6 hole. Tony Garcia hustled to retrieve the ball and snapped a throw to second baseman Adam Reddell, whose swipe tag caught Larry’s pinch-runner, Mike Velaney, who’d rounded second and now was retreating back, before his foot came down on the bag. That’s how I saw it, anyway, and I made an out call that Purple, it is fair to say, collectively disagreed with. Peter Sundquist followed with a double off Peter Atkins’ glove in left-center, putting runners on second and third with one out, but David Pittard worked out of the jam, retiring Jimmy Sneed on a very high foul pop to third baseman George Romo, then getting Matt Levitt on a line drive to left fielder Jack McDermott.
Maroon got a single run on three singles in the bottom of the fourth, Purple shortstop Jimmy Sneed sprinting back and making a good catch in short left field of Steve Sandall’s pop fly for the third out.
Purple trailed 9-6 entering the final five-run inning, the fifth. Larry Fiorentino slashed a grounder hard to the right side, but second baseman Adam Reddell made a good play to his left to glove the ball and throw Larry out. Raul Deleon singled. Spike Davidson lined back to the box for the second out. Fritz Hensel, hitting machine, delivered his third line-drive single of the game, but David Pittard escaped the jam, getting Henry Flores to pop out to shortstop Tony Garcia.
His teammates then gave David some breathing room, scoring five times on six singles in the bottom of the fifth, with Jack McDermott and George Romo completing 3-for-3 games with their hits.
That left Purple chasing eight runs entering the buffet. Larry Young doubled and Tommy Gillis singled to start the inning, each completing 3-for-3 games. For Tommy, it was his seventh straight base hit of the day, an achievement worthy of this dumb picture:
Peter Sundquist followed with a fly to his Red teammate Jack McDermott in left field, deep enough to score Larry’s pinch-runner from third. Jimmy Sneed for the second time in as many at bats lofted a foul pop down the third-base side; George Romo made a very good catch, hard by the fence, for the second out; Tommy alertly tagged up and took second on the play. Matt Levitt walked. Larry Fiorentino slashed a ground ball past third base and into left field for a double, Tommy scoring and Matt taking third. That cut Maroon’s lead to 14-8. But the game ended on Raul Deleon’s fly to Peter Atkins in left-center.
Final score: Maroon 14, Purple 8
David Pittard received his second Ohtani Award of the season while soaking his arm in the hot springs of the Jigokudani Monkey Park. (As one does.)
12:30 p.m., Red (4-5) at Orange (8-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 0 0 0 0 3 2 5 Orange 5 5 5 0 0 X 15 Pitchers: Red – Joe Bernal; Orange – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Red – Raul Deleon, Tony Garcia, and Donnie Janac; Orange – Johnny Lee, Matt Levitt, and Steve Sandall. Umpires: home – Adam Reddell; bases – Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Red – Tony Garcia (3 for 3 with a double); Orange – Peter Atkins (3 for 3 with two doubles), David Brown (3 for 3 with a double), and Matt Levitt (2 for 2 with a walk).
Weather update: More of the same, a few degrees warmer.
Sure, it looks like a blowout, but technically Orange was not able to flip-flop Red in this game, though base umpire Dave Berra tried, calling for the flip after Red batted (and finally scored) in the top of the fifth. But there were four minutes-plus left on the clock, and Orange wanted to hit some more, so the teams played on – no flip-flop. (Red teams has learned to take its moral victories when it can.)
As the line score shows, it was all Orange in the early going, as they scored 15 runs while making a total of three outs over the first three innings. There were no cheap hits that I can recall, just a succession of well-struck balls resulting in 20 hits over the first three innings, including four doubles, two of them by Peter Atkins, and a triple by Clint Fletcher. Matt Fletcher mixed things up by drawing a walk to lead off the bottom of the second.
Peter Atkins celebrated Columbus Day by knocking the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria out of the ball in three trips to the plate.
Red couldn’t have kept up with that if they’d been hitting, which they weren’t. Jack McDermott walked and Jack Spellman singled to start the game, but Ray Pilgrim got Peter Sundquist to hit a two-strike foul and Joe Bernal to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, David Brown to Terry O’Brien to Johnny Lee (holy cow, I just realized professional hitter Daniel Carvajal wasn’t in attendance today).
Ray got lineouts to start the second inning, catching Don Williams’ ball himself, Mark Dolan’s grabbed by David Brown. Jim McAnelly and Tony Garcia followed with singles, but Tony was thrown out 9-5-6, Steve Sandall to Clint Fletcher to David Brown, trying to take second when the throw back to the infield was mishandled.
More futility followed. Red went out 1-2-3 in the third, and Ray Pilgrim retired Jack Spellman and Peter Sundquist to start the fourth. Joe Bernal and Don Williams singled, but Matt Levitt caught Mark Dolan’s fly to left for the third out.
Ray Pilgrim led off the bottom of the fourth with a single, and to this point Orange’s hitters had gone 21 for 24 with that walk for a combined .875 average, .880 on-base percentage, and 1.125 slugging percentage. Red finally began to turn some batted balls into outs at this point. Marvin Krabbenhoft hit a hard one-hopper back to the box that Joe Bernal turned into a 1-6-3 double play, Tony Garcia making a terrific pivot and throw to get David Brown, running for Marvin. Boo Resnick’s hard grounder down the third-base side found Jack Spellman’s glove and resulted in the third out.
Red’s mercenaries finally got the team on the board in the top of the fifth when Tony Garcia doubled with one out and scored on Raul Deleon’s single to right-center. Three of the next four batters singled as well, two more runs scoring.
Dave Berra suggested a flip-flop, but the teams played on, and Joe Bernal threw another scoreless inning. He allowed a two-out single to Matt Levitt, completing a perfect game at the plate, but retired Clint Fletcher on a drive to left-center, Peter Sundquist charging in and making a good play on a sinking liner.
Red needed a dozen to tie entering the buffet, and that wasn’t going to happen. They did get two more runs on four singles before running out of outs, the game ending with Steve Sandall running down Jack McDermott’s liner to right-center.
Final score: Orange 15, Red 5, Orange remaining undefeated as home team for the session.
Session 4 standings:
| Session 4 | Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Orange | 9 | 1 | .900 | 0 | 133 | 85 | 48 | W6 |
| Maroon | 6 | 5 | .545 | 3.5 | 122 | 115 | 7 | W1 |
| Purple | 5 | 6 | .455 | 4.5 | 123 | 131 | -8 | L1 |
| Green | 4.5 | 5.5 | .450 | 4.5 | 116 | 115 | 1 | L1 |
| Red | 4 | 6 | .400 | 5 | 113 | 121 | -8 | L2 |
| Gray | 4 | 6 | .400 | 5 | 102 | 113 | -11 | W2 |
| Blue | 3.5 | 6.5 | .350 | 5.5 | 96 | 125 | -29 | L1 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Orange | 6-0 | 3-1 | 2 | 0-0 | 3-0 | 2-1 | ||
| Maroon | 4-2 | 2-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1-1 | ||
| Purple | 3-2 | 2-4 | 2 | 0-0 | 2-1 | 2-2 | ||
| Green | 3-2 | 1.5-3.5 | 1 | 0.5-0.5 | 0-0 | 2-2 | ||
| Red | 2-2 | 2-4 | 1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1-0 | ||
| Gray | 2-2 | 2-4 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0-2 | ||
| Blue | 2.5-3.5 | 1-3 | 0 | 0.5-0.5 | 1-2 | 0-0 |
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | X | 2 | 6.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 5 | 24 |
| Gray | 6 | X | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 22 |
| Green | 3.5 | 6 | X | 3.5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 23 |
| Maroon | 4 | 5 | 6.5 | X | 4 | 6 | 3 | 28.5 |
| Orange | 5.5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | X | 5 | 5 | 29.5 |
| Purple | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | X | 7 | 25 |
| Red | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | X | 19 |
| TOTAL: | 25 | 26 | 25 | 21.5 | 18.5 | 24 | 31 | 171 |
Green and Maroon tied their game of August 7; Orange and Blue tied their game of August 28; Green and Blue tied their game of October 2; these are counted as half a win and half a loss for each team.
2025 season home run leaders:
David Brown – 7
Bobby Miller – 6
Mike Garrison – 6
Tim Coles – 5
Ralph Villela – 5
George Brindley – 4
Anthony Galindo – 4
Tommy Gillis – 4
Larry Fiorentino – 3
Doc Hobar – 3
Mike Malay – 3
Paul Rubin – 3
Jimmy Sneed – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
Tim Bruton – 2
Tony Garcia – 2
Rex Horvath – 2
Matt Levitt – 2
Terry O’Brien – 2
George Romo – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Scott Wright – 2
Jim Aaron – 1
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Ken Brown – 1
Gary Coyle – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Jack McDermott – 1
Ken Mockler – 1
Ray Pilgrim – 1
Jeff Stone – 1
Mike Velaney – 1
Chris Waddell – 1
Chunky Wright – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Scott Wright – June 5
Walk-off grand slam:
David Brown (inside the park) – August 4
Ohtanis (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Jeff Stone – 9 (March 20, April 17, July 17, July 21, July 28, September 11, September 15 (2), September 29)
Spike Davidson – 8 (June 19, June 30, August 4, August 7, August 14 (2), September 8, October 9)
Tommy Deleon – 6 (March 3, March 13, April 14, April 28, May 12, September 8)
Joe Bernal – 4 (March 3, April 3, June 5, October 2)
Tom Kelm – 4 (March 3, March 13, May 1, June 16)
Ray Pilgrim – 3 (April 14, August 4, August 7)
Terry Thompson – 3 (July 31, September 15, September 29)
Donald Drummer – 2 (May 1, August 11)
Jack Kelly – 2 (March 10, May 12)
David Pittard – 2 (June 2, October 13)
Greg Lloyd – 1 (June 26)
Chunky Wright – 1 (June 9)
Schedule for Thursday October 16:
10:30 a.m.: Orange (9-1) at Gray (4-6), Green umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Green (4.5 – 5.5) at Red (4-6), Gray umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Blue (3.5 – 6.5) at Purple (5-6), Red umpiring
Maroon has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: With Maroon getting the day off, only one team above .500 will be playing on Thursday – that would be Orange, putting its six-game winning streak on the line against Gray, which has the second-longest active winning streak going, a two-gamer. One of Green and Red will get back into the win column at 11:30. Blue (24-25) and Purple (25-24) have nearly identical full-season records, are 4-4 in head-to-head play so far this year, and each lost today. As Diane Keaton (R.I.P.) might say, something’s gotta give.
Between Maroon’s bye and his 24-hour celebration Wednesday of National Grouch Day, will we see Don Solberg at Krieg on Thursday? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Reprinting this reminder from Terry Thompson:
If you have not already signed up to attend the ASSL Annual Picnic, please click the link below and let us know if you will attend. We need a headcount for our caterer, Lupe Tortilla, to ensure that we have food for everyone. The Picnic will be held at Krieg Fields from 10:45a – 1:00p, Monday, Oct. 27.
If you’ve already signed up, you’re good to go. If not, please click the link below and respond:
Pretty great post-game hang today with (left to right) B League president emeritus Larry Bunton, Tommy Deleon, Don Williams, the great Archie Baker, and the incomparable Johnny Lee.