B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 47 – September 18, 2023
Games of Thursday September 14 were cancelled when overnight rains left the Krieg fields unplayable.
Weather: Just as all the tourney players vacated town for the Worlds in Las Vegas, it got beautiful in Austin: 75 degrees with 73% humidity (not sure I believe that humidity reading, it was pretty pleasant) at the start of the 10:00 game, warming to 90 degrees with the humidity down to 33% by the time we finished up, with blue skies throughout.
Games of Monday September 18:
10:00 a.m., Red at Green:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 5 0 5 1 5 X 16 Green 1 4 2 0 1 1 9 Pitchers: Red – Jack Kelly; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Green – Carl Gallagher, Pat Scott, Peter Sundquist, and Scott Wright. (Red was the only team that didn't need mercenaries today.) Umpires: home plate – Jim McAnelly; bases – Dave Berra, Jack McDermott, and Tim Bruton. Perfect at the plate: Red – Daniel Baladez, Gregory Bied, Adam Reddell, Jack Spellman, and Scott Sovereen (all 3 for 3); Green – Carl Gallagher (3 for 3 with at least one double; not sure about the rest of the team).
Red came out hitting: George Bridley led off the game with a liner up the middle that Tommy Deleon snagged, but the next seven batters singled, five scoring. Green got one back in the home half, then retired Red in order in the second, with shortstop Mike Hill making a terrific play to his backhand and a strong throw to first to take a hit away from Mike Mordecai leading off. Green then had its biggest inning of the game, scoring four times in the bottom of the second, the inning ending with Mike Hill trying to score the fifth run from second on a single to right-center; David Ferley made a great throw home to catcher Scott Sovereen to cut Mike down.
That briefly tied the game, but Red took control for good in the top of the third, the top of its order again scoring five runs on seven singles. Green got a couple back in the bottom half, but third baseman Adam Reddell snagged a liner down the third-base line for the third out, taking away what looked like it would be an extra-base hit. (I’m not sure who hit that, but it may have been Peter Sundquist, who was snakebit today.) Green then held Red to one run on three singles in the fourth, but wasn’t able to capitalize, held scoreless in the bottom half, the inning ending on a 4-6-3 double play, second baseman Mike Mordecai making an excellent play to start it and first baseman Daniel Baladez making a terrific catch of a low throw to his right on the relay, just the first of a number of iffy throws shortstop Jack Spellman made over the course of the day.
Red in the fifth inning once again scored five times, the big hit Mike Mordecai’s two-run triple, Red’s only extra-base hit of the game. (Daniel Baladez preceded Mike’s hit with a drive to left-center that gapped the outfielders, but he held at first base.) Jack Kelly followed with a grounder to second baseman Clint Fletcher’s right; Clint got to it and threw home, but Mike beat the play for the fifth run, moments after time had run out.
Green got only one run back in the bottom of the fifth. Carl Gallagher completed a perfect day at the plate with a one-out double that put runners on second and third. Peter Sundquist then hit a grounder to the 5-6 hole; shortstop Jack Spellman got to it, and came up apparently throwing, but it was a fake (I owe Mike Hill a dollar), and it actually worked, as I caught Carl a couple or three steps off second, heading for third. I threw behind him to second baseman Mike Mordecai, who then executed a perfect rundown with third baseman Adam Reddell: Mike threw to Adam; Carl reversed course; Adam threw to Mike; Carl reversed course; Mike threw to Adam, and Adam caught up to Carl and tagged him out – score the play 6-4-5-4-5. The inning ended with first baseman Daniel Baladez, the game MVP, making a tremendous play on Jeff Fisher’s hard one-hop shot down the first-base side, Daniel fielding it cleanly and beating Jeff to the bag.
With Green chasing eight runs, the teams flip-flopped for the buffet. Green got one more run before running out of outs. Final score: Red 16, Green 9
11:00 a.m., Gold at Gray:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Gold 5 4 5 5 X 19 Gray 0 4 0 5 2 11 Pitchers: Gold – Gil Delossantos; Gray – Greg Lloyd. Mercenaries: Gold – Tommy Gillis and Jack Spellman; Gray – Carl Gallagher, Adam Reddell, Boo Resnick, and Phil Stanch. Umpires: home plate – Spike Davidson; bases – Larry Fiorentino. Perfect at the plate: Gold – Tim Bruton and Joe Roche (each 4 for 4 with two doubles), Gil Delossantos (3 for 3), Denny Malloy (3 for 3 with a double), and Jack Spellman (2 for 2 with a walk); Gray – Carl Gallagher (3 for 3 with two doubles) and Rick Kahn and Phill Stanch (each 3 for 3).
Similar to the first game, only more so, the visiting team came out hitting, and never really stopped, Gold putting up five runs in three of its four at bats, and four runs in the second, the only inning in which it made three outs. And Gold did it while hitting a bunch of doubles – four in the first inning, two in the second, and another in the fourth, five different players collecting a two-bagger, Tim Bruton and Joe Roche knocking two apiece.
Gray couldn’t match that output, though it did put up a respectable 11 runs over its final four at bats. A strong 7-6-2 relay kept a fifth run from scoring in the bottom of the second: with runners on first and second, none out, and one run already in, Gil Delossantos got a strike on Carl Gallagher, then tried to quick-pitch him, but Carl hit a sharp grounder down the third-base side, fair by inches; Boo Resnick tried to score from second, but strong throws from left fielder Tommy Gillis to shortstop Tim Bruton and from Tim to catcher Larry Bunton beat Boo to the plate. A walk and two singles got three more runs in.
Gil then retired Gray in order on four pitches in the bottom of the third, missing on his first pitch to Boo Resnick. Gray broke through for five runs in the bottom of the fourth, as the first six batters reached base (Phil Stanch single, Carl Gallagher double, walk to Greg Lloyd, then singles by Tony Viera, Daniel Carvajal, and Rick Kahn), four scoring. Gil got Jerry Mylius to pop out – infield fly was called on Jerry’s short pop to second, so he was out even though the ball fell in front of second baseman Denny Malloy, the other runners advancing – and Jim McAnelly to line out to third, but Adam Reddell’s base hit brought in the fifth run.
Still, Gray trailed 19-8 entering the buffet, so the teams flip-flopped. Boo Resnick and Phil Stanch singled and Carl Gallagher doubled to start the inning, Boo scoring. That brought up the top of Gray’s order, but Gil Delossantos retired the next three hitters, getting Greg Lloyd on a pop to second, Tony Viera on a grounder to third base (Phil scoring), and Daniel Carvajal on a drive to Jack McDermott in left-center for the final out. Final score: Gold 19, Gray 11
Noon, Blue at Maroon:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 5 1 0 5 0 0 11 Maroon 0 5 3 0 0 4 12 Pitchers: Blue – Spike Davidson; Maroon – Tom Kelm. Mercenaries: Blue – George Brindley, Adam Reddell, and Jack Spellman; Maroon – Daniel Baladez, Tim Bruton, Jack McDermott, and Phil Scott. Umpires: home plate – Dave Berra; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Adam Reddell and Jack Spellman (each 3 for 3); Maroon – Daniel Baladez (3 for 3), not sure about the rest of the team. Homerun: Pat Scott (inside the park).
Blue broke out on top, scoring five times in the top of the first on a lead-off walk to Spike Davidson and seven singles. Maroon didn’t score in the home half, but held Blue to one run on three hits in the second, then no runs in the third, which saw Larry Fiorentino get thrown out 8-4, Peter Sundquist to Mike Velaney, trying to stretch his single to left-center into a double. (Larry said he didn’t realize he was challenging Peter’s arm; he thought he was running on Scott Wright, which… burn!) Maroon took the lead, scoring five times in the second and three in the third – Tim Bruton had a double in the second and a triple in the third, and in one of those innings, I think the third, Pat Scott legged out an inside-the-park homerun on a drive that rolled to the fence in center, the day’s only homer.
I didn’t take pictures today, too busy playing in all three games, but here’s a shot of homerun hitter Pat Scott from a couple weeks ago.
Maroon led 8-6 through three, but Blue reclaimed the lead with five runs in the fourth, on seven singles and Morgan Withhoft’s sacrifice fly to left field.
Maroon was held scoreless in the bottom half in the worst possible way. With one out, Ken Brown lined a ball between the left and left-center fielders. I figured Ken would easily get a double out of it, but when I turned to watch Morgan Witthoft’s throw come in to second base, I heard Ken grunt and then saw him crumple to the ground, about ten feet short of the bag. Second baseman Phil Stanch reluctantly and gently tagged Ken out. Ken was assisted off the field, having torn a hamstring. You hate to see it.
Jack McDermott replaced Ken in Maroon’s lineup in the top of the fifth inning. Neither team scored in that frame. Blue loaded the bases in the top half on three one-out singles, but Jack Spellman was forced out at home on Fritz Hensel’s grounder to shortstop (not gonna lie, I was running hard but not fast, pretty gassed at the end of my third game of the day), and Tom Kelm got Dale Fugate to foul off a two-strike pitch. I have no memory of how Maroon went out in the bottom half.
Looking to add to its lead in the top of the buffet, Blue again came up empty. Morgan Witthoft and Phil Stanch singled with one out, putting runners on first and second for Larry Fiorentino, who got a pitch he liked, only to ground sharply to shortstop Tim Bruton, who turned an inning-ending 6u., 6-3 double play.
Maroon rallied to win in the bottom half. Phil Scott and Daniel Baladez led off the inning with infield singles that traveled a total about 40 feet, Phil’s a dribbler down the third-base side, Daniel’s down the first-base side, neither one playable. (Mike Velaney ran from home for Daniel.) Peter Sundquist lined out to Morgan Witthoft in left-center, the runners holding. Scott Wright singled, Pat scoring to cut Blue’s lead to 11-9. Jack McDermott, batting in Ken Brown’s spot, lined a single that scored Mike Velaney to make it 11-10 Blue, Scott halting at second. Johnny Lee then grounded a ball to the 5-6 hole. Shortstop Jack Spellman made a diving play to his backhand to field the ball cleanly, but the dive left me misaligned and sitting on my butt; a good throw would have beaten Scott to the bag, but I shanked it, short-hopping third baseman Adam Reddell and pulling him off the bag.
That left the bases loaded for Marvin Krabbenhoft, the man with the league’s sharpest sense of the strike zone. Marvin of course worked a base on balls, forcing in Scott with the tying run. Mike Velaney then lofted a fly to left field; George Brindley caught it and made as quick an underhanded relay to Jack Spellman at shortstop as he was able, but my throw home was both late and wide of the mark, Jack McDermott scoring the winning run. Final score: Maroon 12, Blue 11
Umpires Dave Berra (center left) and Mike Garrison (center right) watch Mike Velaney’s walk-off sacrifice fly.
Standings – Session Four:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Gold 1 0 1.000 — 19 11 + 8 W2
Red 1 0 1.000 — 16 9 + 7 W2
Maroon 1 0 1.000 –- 12 11 + 1 W1
Blue 0 1 .000 1 11 12 – 1 L2
Green 0 1 .000 1 9 16 – 7 L1
Gray 0 1 .000 1 11 19 – 8 L4
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Gold 0-0 1-0 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Red 0-0 1-0 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Maroon 1-0 0-0 1 0-0 0-0 1-0
Blue 0-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
Green 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0-1 0-0
Gray 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0-1 0-0
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 6 5 4 3 2.5 4 24.5
Gold 2 X 3 6 4 1 4 20
Gray 2 5 X 3 3 2 6 21
Green 3 3 4 X 3 4 4 21
Maroon 5 4 3 4 X 3 4 23
Purple 1.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 6.5
Red 4 2 2 5 3 3 X 19
______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 17.5 21 19 22 17 15.5 23 135
Schedule for Thursday September 21:
10:00 a.m.: Blue (0-1) at Red (1-0), Maroon umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Gray (0-1) at Maroon (1-0), Green umpiring
Noon: Green (0-1) at Gold (1-0), Gray umpiring
Preview: An odd quirk: one game into the session, Thursday’s three home teams are all undefeated, the three visiting teams winless. We’ll probably see a roster adjustment, as Maroon is now a short a player due to Ken Brown’s injury. With so many players in Las Vegas this week, and most teams filling out lineups with help from the bucket, it’s hard to have a really accurate sense of the relative strength of the six teams. Will some of our Vegas-bound comrades bring home championship rings? I sure hope so, but only one thing is certain: time will tell.