B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 61 – October 20, 2025
Department of Corrections:
No excuse, I fell down on the job when I failed to list Tom Brownfield, third from right in the top row, as a member of the Huntsman championship 70s Team. And Tom’s so nice, he won’t even kick my ass over it. Additional clarification: Frank Lyle and Michael Hale are not from Sun City; they play on the Relentless 70s Team. I see them at Sun City, hence my confusion. The Picayune regrets all the errors.
Games of Monday October 20:
10:30 a.m., Blue (4.5 – 6.5) at Red (5-6):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 0 5 5 1 1 0 12 Red 2 0 5 3 5 X 15 Pitchers: Blue – Tommy Deleon; Red – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Blue – Tim Coles, Larry Fiorentino, Bobby Miller, and Ray Pilgrim. Umpires: home – David Brown; bases – Peter Atkins. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Larry Fiorentino and Rip Wright (both 3 for 3) and Bobby Miller (3 for 3 with a double); Red – Dale Fugate and Jack Spellman (both 3 for 3), Jack McDermott (3 for 3 with a home run), and Peter Sundquist (4 for 4). Home run: Jack McDermott (inside the park) (2).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 82 degrees, felt like 86. Humidity 58%, wind from the South at 14 MPH, gusting to 25. Partly cloudy.
Well-played game had a bit of everything – some good pitching, fine plays in the field, and timely hitting. Joe Bernal held Blue scoreless in the top of the first by starting an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play on George Brindley’s sharp grounder back to the box after Steve Sandall and Daniel Baladez had sandwiched singles around Jimmy Sneed’s force-out grounder. Red then took the lead with two runs on singles by four of its first five batters, though the fourth, Joe Bernal grounded into a 6u., 6-3 double play, well turned by Jimmy Sneed, that limited the damage.
Blue jumped into the lead with five runs in the top of the second on six singles and Steve Sandall’s triple, which drove in the fourth run, Steve scoring the fifth on Jimmy Sneed’s base hit. The last four hits came with two out, those outs coming on a 10-6-5 relay (Rolando Rodriguez to Jack Spellman to Gary Coyle) that cut down Rip Wright trying to go first to third on Larry Fiorentino’s opposite-field single, the second on Tim Coles’s grounder back to the box for a 1-6 force, Tim beating the throw to first easily as Spellman had to come over from shifting toward the 5-6 hole to cover the bag.
Tommy Deleon gave up lead-off singles to Dale Fugate and Rolando Rodriguez to start the bottom of the second, then retired the next three batters on balls in the air: Mark Dolan popped out to third baseman Ray Pilgrim, and Jim McAnelly and Donald Drummer both flied out to left fielder Steve Sandall.
Blue then extended its lead to 10-2 with another five-run outburst in the top of the third, on four singles, George Brindley’s walk, and a double by Bobby Miller that drove in the fourth and fifth runs, all while making just one out.
Red responded with five runs in the home half, not making an out, on two singles, Anthony Galindo’s walk, two more singles, and Gary Coyle’s outfielder-gapping extra-base hit to the fence in left-center.
Joe Bernal held Blue to a single run in the top of the fourth, on this sequence: Ray Pilgrim singled leading off, then was forced out at second on Steve Sandall’s grounder to shortstop; Jimmy Sneed walked; Joe knocked down Daniel Baladez’s bouncer back to the box and threw to third to force Steve, the lead runner; and George Brindley doubled, Jimmy scoring from second. Tommy Deleon squared up and lined a pitch, but right back at Joe, who snagged it for the third out.
Red loaded the bases on singles by Dale Fugate, Rolando Rodriguez, and Mark Dolan to start the bottom of the fourth, but it looked like Tommy Deleon might escape the jam when he got Jim McAnelly to fly out to Steve Sandall in left field, not deep enough to score Dale’s pinch-runner from third, then got Donald Drummer to line out to shortstop, an outstanding play to his left by Jimmy Sneed. But Peter Sundquist delivered a clean single, both Dale’s runner and Rolando scoring, and Jack Spellman followed with a line single to right-center that brought in Mark. That cut Blue’s lead to 11-10 entering the final five-run inning.
Rip Wright and Larry Fiorentino opened the inning with singles, both completing 3-for-3 games. Rip’s pinch-runner scored and Larry took third on Tim Coles’s sacrifice fly to Peter Sundquist in right-center. Bobby Miller followed with a line single to right field; Rolando Rodriguez fielded it on one hop and made a strong throw to first baseman Dale Fugate, who turned and fired home to catcher Jim McAnelly, a tremendous 10-3-2 relay cutting down Larry trying to score – in retrospect, this might have been the biggest out of the game. Ray Pilgrim grounded out to shortstop, and Red came up trailing by only two.
Joe Bernal led off the bottom of the fifth with a single, and Jack McDermott followed with a drive to left-center that rolled to the fence, Jack legging out an inside-the-park home run, his second of the season. Here he is, sort of, his bat so hot that apparently he needed only to bunt the ball to ignite it and send it past the outfielders, to the delight of the time-traveling punks celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall and also Jack’s 3-for-3 day at the plate:
Red pushed across three more runs, on three singles, Jim McAnelly’s sacrifice fly to Larry Fiorentino in right-center, and Donald Drummer’s walk, which set up Peter Sundquist’s fourth hit of the game, driving in the fourth and fifth runs and giving Red a 15-12 lead entering the buffet.
Joe Bernal got two quick outs to start the inning, as Steve Sandall grounded out to second baseman Mark Dolan (fine play on a hard-hit ball to his left) and Jimmy Sneed hit a two-strike foul. Daniel Baladez’s third single of the game extended the inning. George Brindley grounded a ball up the middle and past Joe, but shortstop Jack Spellman, leaving his feet, was able to lay out and catch the ball cleanly, then flip to Joe covering second for the game-ending force out.
Final score: Red 15, Blue 12
11:30 a.m., Orange (10-1) at Green (4.5 – 6.5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Orange 4 0 3 3 11 21 Green 3 5 5 0 2 15 Pitchers: Orange – Terry Thompson; Green – Chunky Wright. Mercenaries: Green – George Brindley, Jack Spellman, and Peter Sundquist. Umpires: home – Donald Drummer; bases – Jim McAnelly and Jack McDermott. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Daniel Carvajal (4 for 4); Green – George Brindley and Rick Kahn (both 3 for 3), Steve Browne (4 for 4 with a double), and Ralph Villela (4 for 4 with three doubles).
Dave Berra’s weather update: See Game 1.
Green played Orange really tough in this one, but Orange’s refusal to make a third out in the buffet resulted in 11 runs, a flip-flop, and Orange’s eighth consecutive victory.
Orange broke on top in the first, scoring four times on six consecutive one-out hits – four singles and doubles by Peter Atkins and Ray Pilgrim. Chunky Wright stranded the fifth runner, getting the second out by deflecting Marvin Krabbenhoft’s hard grounder back to the box to shortstop Ralph Villela, who made a terrific play, reversing direction and moving to his right to field the ball, then making a strong throw to second for the force there; and then stranding the runner on third by retiring Boo Resnick on a fly to left fielder Mike Garrison.
Green’s first six batters hit safely to start the bottom of the first, four singles and back-to-back doubles by Steve Browne and Mike Garrison, three runs scoring and the bases loaded with none out. But Terry Thompson escaped the jam, first getting Chunky Wright to ground to third baseman Ray Pilgrim, who turned a 5u., 5-2 double play, then getting Peter Sundquist to ground to the shortstop hole, David Brown making the play to his right and throwing to third for the inning-ending force there.
Chunky Wright held Orange scoreless in the second. Larry Shupe and Clint Fletcher singled to start the inning; the throw back to the infield from right-center fielder Rick Kahn on Clint’s hit skipped past third baseman Jack Spellman, and Larry tried to take an extra base, but I retrieved the ball and flipped to Chunky, alertly covering the bag, and Larry was out at third 9-5-1, Clint taking second on the play. Terry O’Brien hit a hard smash to the right side, but second baseman George Brindley made an outstanding play to his left to grab the one-hop grounder, throwing to first for the second out. Chunky then got Peter Atkins to fly out to Steve Browne in left-center.
Green won the inning and took the lead by scoring five times in the home half without making an out, on five singles, Ralph Villela’s double, and Mike Garrison’s walk.
Green won the third inning as well. Chunky Wright held Orange to three runs in the top of the frame, all scored with two out: Terry Thompson’s sacrifice fly to Mike Garrison in left field brought in the first, and singles by Boo Resnick and Larry Shupe the second and third. Ralph Villela ranged over from shortstop to make a terrific catch of Clint Fletcher’s short fly to right-center for the third out. Green then scored five times again, on six consecutive one-out hits, four singles and doubles by Ralph Villela and Mike Garrison.
Over the second and third innings Green sent 15 hitters to the plate, resulting in 13 hits and a walk. Entering the fourth inning, it held a 13-7 lead. But as the Grateful Dead warned, there was trouble ahead. Orange rallied for three runs on six singles in the top of the inning, the last four hits coming after two were out. Chunky Wright did manage to leave the bases loaded by getting Larry Shupe to pop out to shortstop Ralph Villela. Green then did not score in the bottom half. Rick Kahn completed a perfect day at the plate in his return to B League play by knocking his third single with one out, but was erased when David Brown turned a 6u., 6-3 double play on Donnie Janac’s hard grounder up the middle.
By the way, it is so great to have Rick back on the field. I was inspired to write a haiku for Rick after he made a good catch on David Brown’s fly to right-center to start the top of the third inning, seen here, more or less:
Rick Kahn plays again!
We missed his good looks, humor,
And wiseassery.
Green held a 13-10 lead entering the buffet. Clint Fletcher walked and Terry O’Brien singled to start the inning, but Chunky Wright got Peter Atkins to fly out to Mike Garrison in left for the first out, so hope wasn’t yet lost. But David Brown doubled, Clint scoring, and then Ray Pilgrim singled in Terry and David to tie the score. Daniel Carvajal singled, completing a 4-for-4 game at the plate. Terry Thompson singled, Ray’s pinch-runner scoring the go-ahead run. Marvin Krabbenhoft walked, loading the bases. Boo Resnick also walked, forcing in Daniel, making it 15-13 Orange. Larry Shupe’s sacrifice fly to Steve Browne in left-center brought in Terry Thompson’s runner, Clint Fletcher, who then stepped up and singled in Marvin’s runner. That made it 17-13. Terry O’Brien doubled, his second hit of the inning, driving in Boo – 18-13. Peter Atkins hit his second double of the game, Clint and Terry scoring – 20-13. And David Brown knocked his second single of the inning, his fourth hit of the game, driving in Peter – 21-13, and the teams flip-flopped.
Chunky Wright singled to start the home half, but Terry Thompson retired the next two batters, getting Peter Sundquist to hit into a 6-4 force, David Brown to Terry O’Brien, and Jack Spellman to fly out to Clint Fletcher in right-center field. Green’s next three batters hit safely, all completing perfect days at the plate: George Brindley (3 for 3) singled; Ralph Villela (4 for 4) ripped his third double, Peter scoring; and Steve Browne (also 4 for 4) singled, driving in George. Mike Garrison hit a sharp grounder to the 5-6 hole, but David Brown moved smoothly to his right to field the ball and made a quick, precise throw to Ray Pilgrim for the game-ending force at third.
Final score: Orange 21, Green 15
12:30 p.m., Maroon (6-5) at Gray (4-7):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 1 2 2 5 1 11 Gray 5 1 0 3 0 9 Pitchers: Maroon – Tom Kelm; Gray – Terry Thompson. Mercenaries: Maroon – Gary Coyle, Clint Fletcher, Anthony Galindo, and Doc Hobar; Gray – David Brown, Mike Garrison, and Terry Thompson. Umpires: home – Chunky Wright and Jack Spellman; bases – Jack Spellman and Peter Sundquist. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Ken Brown (3 for 3 with a walk), Ivan Budiselic (3 for 3 with a double), and Anthony Galindo (3 for 3); Gray – Mike Garrison (3 for 3 with a double) and Paul Rubin (2 for 2 with a walk).
Weather update: I forgot to check. It was still dry and gusty, but sunnier and warmer, probably low 90s.
Another well-played, close game. It started inauspiciously for Maroon, as four of its first five batters singled, but they came away with just one run in the top of the first, the rally squelched by a 6u., 6-3 double play turned by David Brown on Don Solberg’s grounder up the middle after Ken Brown and Bobby Miller had opened the game with singles. Ken scored on the GIDP, and Tom Kelm and Ivan Budiselic followed with hits, but David Brown turned Tommy Langa’s grounder into a 6-4 force.
Gray then took the lead with five runs in the home half on two walks (to Tommy Gillis and Johnny Lee), four singles, and Terry Thompson’s double over the heads of the drawn-in outfielders, squeezing him with the fifth run on second and just one out – very nice situational hitting by Terry to pop the ball past them and drive in Jack Crosley from second.
Maroon methodically came back after that, however, winning each of the next four innings. They scored two runs in the top of the second, on singles by the first three hitters, Anthony Galindo scoring the first run on Clint Fletcher’s hit, Doc Hobar scoring the second when Gary Coyle’s grounder up the middle was turned into yet another 6u., 6-3 double play by master of the genre David Brown; then held Gray to one run in the home half: Mike Garrison doubled with one out and scored on Tommy Gillis’s single to center field.
In the third, four straight one-out hits resulted in two runs for Maroon in the top half. Tom Kelm started the rally with a single past third base and into left field. Ivan Budiselic followed with a truly delightful double: he popped a ball down the third base side, and it landed with so much spin that it crossed the foul line beyond the base, allowing Tom’s runner to take third and Ivan to race to second. Tommy Langa and Anthony Galindo followed with run-scoring singles.
That cut Gray’s lead to 6-5. Tom Kelm then blanked Gray in the bottom half despite walking Jack Crosley and Dave Jaffe to start the inning. He got Hal Darman to ground into a 6-4 force (good play to his backhand by shortstop Bobby Miller), caught Terry Thompson looking at a called strike three, and got David Brown to ground to third baseman Gary Coyle, who stepped on third for the inning-ending force.
Maroon surged into the lead with five runs in the top of the fourth, that inning seeing the day’s most controversial play. (Maybe “controversial” isn’t the right word for it, as the facts of the matter aren’t in dispute. Most-commented-upon, at least.) Gary Coyle walloped a triple to left-center to start the inning, and Ken Brown walked. Bobby Miller lined a double to right field, Gary scoring and Ken taking third. Don Solberg stepped up and hit a sinking liner to left field. Mike Garrison came in on the ball, went down to his knees, and, it seemed to both base umpire Peter Sundquist and myself, umpiring at home, caught the ball, though perhaps not as cleanly as this AI re-creation makes it seem:
(Also, not for nothing, why is it nigh-on impossible to get Google AI studio to show an umpire making a raised-fist out call?) Both Peter and I called it an out, and Ken and Bobby tagged up and advanced on the play, Ken scoring. But then Tom Kelm asked Mike whether he’d made a clean catch, and Mike truthfully answered that, in fact, he had not – the ball definitely hit the ground, he had trapped it. (In our defense, Peter and I have seen Mike catch balls at shoe-top height, so we were primed to give him the benefit of the doubt.) What to do? Well, we’d made a unanimous call, time had been called, the runners had stopped running… We decided to let the call stand and have the game continue. Tom Kelm wasn’t happy in the moment, though I will note that he was at pains to apologize to me after the fact, not that any apology was needed – in point of fact, Tom wasn’t wrong; we just decided that the perfect was the enemy of the good enough and couldn’t we move this along and get to eating Bruce Barnett’s hamburgers? (Incidentally, Tom subsequently sent me this link – https://macshieldonline.com/
In any case, it really didn’t make a lot of difference, as Maroon wound up scoring five runs in the inning anyway, as the next five batters all singled, Maroon going ahead 10-6.
Gray rallied for three runs on five singles in the home half of the fourth, and entered the buffet trailing by a run.
Maroon scored one run on three singles to open the buffet, Ken Brown completing a perfect day at the plate with a line single back to the box that Terry Thompson couldn’t handle, Clint Fletcher scoring. But Terry retired the next three batters, and Gray came up needing just two runs to tie.
Tom Kelm didn’t let them do so. He got Terry Thompson to line out to Don Solberg in left field and David Brown to fly out to Ken Brown in right-center to start the inning. Tom couldn’t handle Mike Garrison’s hard grounder back to the box, which went for Mike’s third hit in as many at bats. Tommy Gillis, representing the tying run, came up and crushed a pitch to deep left-center. Anthony Galindo, who’d dropped a relatively easy fly off Tommy’s bat an inning earlier, broke back and to his left; the ball curved back and to the left, from the perspective of the infield, but Anthony stayed with it, reaching back and making a tremendous over-the-shoulder catch to end the game.
Final score: Maroon 11, Gray 9
Session 4 standings:
| Session 4 | Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Orange | 11 | 1 | .917 | 0 | 169 | 112 | 57 | W8 |
| Maroon | 7 | 5 | .583 | 4 | 133 | 124 | 9 | W2 |
| Red | 6 | 6 | .500 | 5 | 139 | 143 | -4 | W2 |
| Purple | 5 | 7 | .417 | 6 | 127 | 144 | -17 | L2 |
| Green | 4.5 | 7.5 | .375 | 6.5 | 141 | 147 | -6 | L3 |
| Blue | 4.5 | 7.5 | .375 | 6.5 | 121 | 144 | -23 | L1 |
| Gray | 4 | 8 | .333 | 7 | 123 | 139 | -16 | L2 |
| 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 | 5-1 | 2 | 0-0 | 4-0 | 2-1 | ||
| Maroon | 4-2 | 3-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1-1 | ||
| Red | 4-2 | 2-4 | 1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 2-0 | ||
| Purple | 3-3 | 2-5 | 2 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 2-2 | ||
| Green | 3-3 | 1.5-4.5 | 1 | 0.5-0.5 | 0-1 | 2-3 | ||
| Blue | 2.5-3.5 | 1-4 | 0 | 0.5-0.5 | 2-2 | 0-0 | ||
| Gray | 2-4 | 2-4 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0-2 |
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 | 5 | 5 | 25 |
| Gray | 6 | X | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 22 |
| Green | 3.5 | 6 | X | 3.5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 23 |
| Maroon | 4 | 6 | 6.5 | X | 4 | 6 | 3 | 29.5 |
| Orange | 5.5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | X | 5 | 5 | 31.5 |
| Purple | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | X | 7 | 25 |
| Red | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 2 | X | 21 |
| TOTAL: | 26 | 28 | 27 | 21.5 | 18.5 | 25 | 31 | 177 |
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.
Full-season standings:
| Wins | Losses | Win % | GB | |
| Orange | 31.5 | 18.5 | .630 | 0.0 |
| Maroon | 29.5 | 21.5 | .578 | 2.5 |
| Purple | 25 | 25 | .500 | 6.5 |
| Blue | 25 | 26 | .490 | 7.0 |
| Green | 23 | 27 | .460 | 8.5 |
| Gray | 22 | 28 | .440 | 9.5 |
| Red | 21 | 31 | .404 | 11.5 |
2025 season home run leaders:
David Brown – 7
Mike Garrison – 7
Bobby Miller – 6
Ralph Villela – 6
Tim Coles – 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
Jack McDermott – 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
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 – 4 (April 14, August 4, August 7, October 16)
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 23:
10:30 a.m.: Orange (11-1) at Blue (4.5 – 7.5), Red umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (6-6) at Purple (5-7), Blue umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Green (4.5 – 7.5) at Maroon (7-5), Purple umpiring
Gray has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Orange has a four-game lead for the session with six games to play, pretty well exemplifying the concept of “foregone conclusion,” and also has the best full-season record, currently two and a half games ahead of Maroon. But the season standings for the three-through-seven teams are pretty tightly bunched, only five games separating Purple (third place overall) from Red (seventh place overall). Might be too much for Red to hope to overtake Purple, whom they play at 11:30, but they might yet escape the overall cellar. Orange can clinch a tie for the Session Four title with a win over Blue at 10:30; a Purple victory combined with Green defeating Maroon at 12:30 would effectively clinch the Session for Orange. Will David Brown’s crew extend their winning streak all the way to the end-of-season tourney? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Apparently a drone’s-eye-view of Bruce Barnett’s Bobby Fund Burger Cookout and Austin Senior Softball Reunion has us all looking like characters in The Sims. Many thanks to Bruce (upper right) and Terry (upper left) Barnett for a wonderful luncheon and hang today.
Congratulations to Jeff Stone and the Sun City Warriors, who defeated the Alberta Grizzlies for the second straight year to win the 60s championship at the Huntsman Games.
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:
Did anyone pick up a pair of left-behind black Ray-Ban sunglasses from the visitors dugout? Clint Fletcher left his behind.
Johnny Lee and Arctic Blues Band are playing at Bar Louie at the Embassy Suites, 270 Bass Pro Drive in Round Rock, this Friday night from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m.