B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 34 – July 27, 2023
Weather: Maybe I’m just acclimating somewhat, but it didn’t seem quite so terribly hot today. By the noon game it was 94 degrees, with a bearable relative humidity of 33%. Blue skies throughout the day’s action.
Injured list:
Blue team: Stan Fisher – Dupuytren’s contracture
Green team: Jeff Broussard – recovering from heart surgery
Alvin Gauna – broken finger
Returned to action:
Gold team manager Dave Berra returned from knee surgery (excellent scar above) to lead the team.
Games of Thursday July 27:
10:00 a.m., Gold (3-5) at Green (4-4):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gold 2 0 0 5 5 1 13 Green 1 1 0 2 5 3 12 Pitchers: Gold – Jeff Stone; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Green – Scott Wright. Umpires: home plate – Rick Jensen and Jack Kelly; bases – Mick Parker and Jim McAnelly. Perfect at the plate: Gold – Gil Delossantos (3 for 3); Green – Jeff Fisher (3 for 3 with a walk, a double, and a triple).
Hard-fought game between two evenly matched teams, with not much scoring over the first three innings. Gold jumped ahead in the top of the first with two runs on a double (Jack Spellman), single (Tim Bruton), sacrifice fly (Jeff Stone, to right-center), and another double (Mike Garrison, scoring Tim). Green clawed back with single runs in the bottom of the first (Clint Fletcher led off with a single, advanced on Mike Hill’s walk, and scored on Gary Coyle’s single) and second (Jeff Fisher led off with a triple and scored on Boo Resnick’s sacrifice fly to left-center). Neither team scored in the third, Tommy Deleon working around a pair of two-out singles in the top half, Jeff Stone limiting Green to Don Solberg’s one-out single in the bottom half.
Gold broke through in the fourth and fifth, putting up five runs in each frame, on five singles and a walk in the fourth, and six singles and Joe Dayoc’s double in the fifth. Green got two back in the bottom of the fourth, on a lead-off walk to Jeff Fisher, two singles, and an errant throw by second baseman Larry Young, trying to double up Clint Fletcher (wasn’t going to happen) and allowing Chunky Wright to score. Green got five runs on a walk and six singles in the bottom of the fifth, cutting Gold’s lead to 12-9 entering the buffet.
Gold managed just a single run in the top half, Tim Bruton knocking a one-out double and scoring on Joe Roche’s two-out single. That left Green chasing four runs with the heart of its order coming up in the bottom half. Jeff Stone got lead-off hitter Mike Hill to foul off a two-strike pitch for the first out. Donnie Janac singled. Don Solberg lifted a high pop behind second base that Jack Spellman got under while shedding his mask, hat, and sunglasses (I ran out of time, else shirt and knee pads would have been next); I managed to catch and hold on for the second out. Gary Coyle singled and Tommy Deleon walked, loading the bases. Jeff Fisher completed his perfect day at the plate with a line drive off second baseman Rip Wright’s glove, Donnie and Gary scoring, Tommy’s pinch-runner winding up at third and Jeff at second. The score was 13-11. Chunky Wright singled to left, Tommy’s pinch-runner scoring to make it a one-run game, Jeff, representing the tying run, moving to third. (Jeff had no shot at scoring on the play.) Boo Resnick came up and took a called, unhittable third strike that ticked the front of the mat to end the game. Final score: Gold 13, Green 12
11:00 a.m., Maroon (3-4) at Gray (5-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 2 5 0 0 0 7 14 Gray 3 5 3 5 X X 16 Pitchers: Maroon – Tom Kelm; Gray – Greg Lloyd. Mercenaries: Gray – Richard Battle and Anthony Galindo. Umpires: home plate – Jack Kelly; bases – David Ferley and Mike Mordecai. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Chris Villareal (4 for 4) and Scott Wright (4 for 4 with a double); Gray – Richard Battle and Rick Jensen (each 3 for 3), David Kruse (2 for 2 with a walk and two doubles), and Mick Parker (4 for 4).
Even though Gray scored 16 of a possible 20 runs over the first four innings and the teams flip-flopped for the buffet, Maroon put together a big final inning to make the game almost as close at the end as it was over the first two innings. Maroon came out hitting, scoring two runs on Peter Sundquist’s lead-off walk and four singles in the first inning, then, after Gray took the lead with three runs on four hits and a walk in the bottom half, scored five in the second on six singles, Johnny Lee’s sacrifice fly to right-center, and Scott Wright’s RBI double.
Gray reclaimed the lead with five runs in the bottom of the second, an inning that had so much going on that I’m compelled to give it a proper, two-paragraph play-by-play accounting. Anthony Galindo led off by flying out to Peter Atkins in left-center field. The next seven batters hit safely. Richard Battle doubled and took third on Mick Parker’s single. David Kruse doubled to right field, Richard scoring, Mick holding at third. Tom Brownfield hit a hard ground ball to the right of second base that Mike Velaney made a terrific play on, to his backhand; but rather than get the sure out at first, Mike saw that he had a shot at David Kruse, hung up between second and third. (Meanwhile, Mick broke for home and scored.) Mike threw to third baseman Marvin Krabbenhoft; David started back toward second base; Marvin threw to shortstop Scott Wright, but the ball ticked off Scott’s glove and dribbled into left field, and David was able to race home with the third run of the inning.
Singles to right field by Rick Jensen and Greg Lloyd loaded the bases. Frank Delmonte grounded a single through the 5-6 hole, Tom Brownfield scoring, the bases remaining loaded. Jim McAnelly came up and hit a hard grounder to third base. Marvin Krabbenhoft made a good play with the glove to snag it, and stepped on third to force out Greg Lloyd; Marvin had Rick Jensen dead to rights, but threw home to catcher Billy Hill before Rick reached the commit line; Rick alertly reversed course and made it back to third base, the force on him having been eliminated when Marvin forced out Greg. After a bit of confusion, home plate umpire Jack Kelly got all this sorted out properly. Jerry Mylius, the tenth batter of the inning, came up with runners on first and third, two out, and knocked a single to left field that drove in Rick with the fifth run, which put Gray ahead 8-7.
Greg Lloyd proceeded to shut out Gray over the next three innings, working around Tom Kelm’s single in the third, a walk to Mike Velaney and a single by Chris Villareal in the fourth, and singles by Scott Wright and Tom Kelm in the fifth, that inning ending with a 6-4-3 double play, David Kruse to Tom Brownfield to Frank Delmonte.
Gray had scored three runs on five consecutive one-out hits in the bottom of the third. The first out of that inning came on a nice grab by catcher Billy Hill of Anthony Galindo’s foul pop – tough play on a spinning ball coming at Billy from a weird angle. There followed four singles and David Kruse’s second double. The inning ended with Tom Kelm starting a 1-6-3 double play, Scott Wright on the pivot.
Gray scored five times without making an out in the bottom of the fourth, on six consecutive singles. Frank Delmonte led off with a pop to the right side that fell between second baseman Mike Velaney and first baseman Johnny Lee, and how great was it that Frank beat out the hit for himself, running from home for the first time this season? (Rhetorical question. It was very, very great.)
After Maroon went out in the top of the fifth, with Gray leading 16-7, the teams agreed to flip-flop for the buffet. Maroon commenced to put together a big inning. After Billy Hill grounded out to shortstop Davd Kruse to open the frame, nine of the next ten batters reached base: Peter Sundquist singled. Peter Atkins walked. Mike Velaney flied out to left fielder Richard Battle for the second out. Chris Villareal lined a ball to second base that short-hopped Tom Brownfield and deflected off Tom’s glove into right field for a single (Chris to Tom: “What are you gonna do with that one?”), Peter Sundquist scoring on the play, Chris completing a perfect day at the plate. Johnny Lee singled to left field, Peter Atkins scoring from second. Scott Wright singled to right field, Chris scoring and Johnny Lee’s runner advancing to third. Marvin Krabbenhoft singled to left, Johnny Lee’s runner scoring. Tom Kelm grounded a ball to shortstop, but for the second time in the game David Kruse was victimized by a bad hop (the first came on Mike Velaney’s single in the top of the second), and everyone was safe, the bases loaded. Larry Shupe, 11th batter of the inning, came up and smacked a double to left, Scott and Marvin’s pinch-runner scoring, Tom holding at third. Billy Hill came up for the second time in the inning and hit a grounder to the right of second base; Tom Brownfield came up with it, but pinch-runner Chris Villareal busted his tail down the line and beat the throw to first, a very close play, to extend the inning and score Tom Kelm, drawing Maroon to within two runs with the top of Maroon’s order up. Peter Sundquist hit the ball hard but within reach of third baseman Rick Jensen, who fielded it cleanly and snapped a throw to Tom Brownfield for the game-ending force at second. (Tom celebrated the end of a frustrating inning in the field by heaving the ball over the visitors dugout.) Final score: Gray 16, Maroon 14
The great Mike Gideon came by Krieg to visit and take in the action. That’s Jack Crosley in the near background. Further back are Gray first baseman Frank Delmonte and Maroon baserunner Peter Atkins. And in the far left background is right-center fielder Anthony Galindo in his distinctive hat.
Noon, Red (3-5) at Blue (6-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 3 2 1 5 1 4 16 Blue 1 5 0 4 4 0 14 Pitchers: Red – Jack Kelly; Blue – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Red – David Kruse and Jack Spellman; Blue – Peter Sundquist. Umpires: home plate – Marvin Krabbenhoft; bases – Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Red – David Kruse (4 for 4 with a double – on the day, 6 for 6 with a walk and three doubles; Blue - ? (no scoresheet, sorry).
Another close contest, a see-saw battle that saw five lead changes. Red broke on top, scoring three times in the top of the first on five singles, then held to Blue to a single run in the home half, that inning ending with fine catches in right-center by David Ferley and left-center by Paul Rubin.
Red mercenaries David Kruse and Jack Spellman opened the second with a double and a triple, both scoring, Spellman on Paul Rubin’s base hit. Blue briefly took the lead in the bottom of the inning, scoring five times without making an out, on (I think) seven hits – two were Texas Leaguers, but the rest were line drives. Red tied the game with a single run in the top of the third: Daniel Baladez singled to left leading off, and Mike Mordecai drew a base on balls. George Romo started a 6-4-3 double play on Hal Darman’s grounder, Jimmy Shull on the pivot, Daniel advancing to third. Jack Kelly then delivered a run-scoring single to right field to tie the score at 6-6. Blue put a couple of runners on base in the bottom of the frame, but third baseman Daniel Baladez made a nice play on a hard grounder down the line and beat the runner from second to the bag at third for the inning-ending force.
Red went ahead with five runs in the top of the fourth, on a walk and five singles by the top of its order, the rally capped by Hal Darman’s two-run single. Blue got four back in the bottom half, but Red turned a 6-4-3 double play (David Kruse to Jack Spellman to Adam Reddell) to get out of the inning.
The mercenaries, Kruse and Spellman, hit one-out singles in the fifth, putting runners on the corners. Red got a single run out of it, David scoring on Paul Rubin’s 4-6 ground out. Blue went back ahead in the home half, scoring four times, again denied a fifth run by a couple of good defensive plays: Jack Kelly deflected a hard grounder up the middle to second baseman Jack Spellman for an out at first, and the inning ended with David Ferley making a fine running catch in and to his left on a short fly to right-center.
Blue led 14-12 entering the buffet. David Ferley and Adam Reddell singled to start the inning, and advanced to secod and third on Daniel Baladez’s ground out to first baseman Dale Fugate. Mike Mordecai singled, David scoring. Hal Darman hit a foul down the left field line for the second out. Jack Kelly delivered a clutch single to right field that scored Adam with the tying run. David Kruse’s single, his fourth hit of the game (and sixth of the day, without making an out, while also drawing a walk in the 11:00 game) loaded the bases. Jack Spellman’s pop fly to right field fell in the no-man’s-land between the right-center fielder, right fielder, and second baseman, and scored both Mike Mordecai and Jack Kelly’s pinch-runner, Red going ahead 16-14.
Jack Kelly got two quick outs on balls in the air to start the bottom of the buffet, the first on a pop fly behind shortstop – Paul Rubin called for it, but David Kruse caught it, and they managed to avoid a serious collision. The next batter flied out to George Brindley in left field. Next batter singled. The next hitter hit a sharp grounder down the third-base side – Daniel Baladez managed to get a piece of it, deflecting it to the 5-6 hole, where David Kruse was moving to back up the play. David scooped it up and whipped the ball to second, a chest-high throw that beat the runner to the bag for the final out. Final score: Red 16, Blue 14, Blue knocked out of first place for the session.
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Gray 6 2 .750 — 110 98 +12 W2
Blue 6 3 .667 .5 125 104 +21 L1
Green 4 5 .444 2.5 114 113 + 1 L3
Red 4 5 .444 2.5 104 112 – 8 W2
Gold 4 5 .444 2.5 102 112 -10 W1
Maroon 3 5 .375 3 81 93 -12 L2
Purple 0 2 .000 3 29 33 – 4 L3
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Gray 3-2 3-0 1 0-0 1-0 2-0
Blue 2-3 4-0 0 0-0 5-1 0-0
Green 1-2 3-3 0 0-0 1-1 1-1
Red 2-4 2-1 0 0-0 0-3 0-1
Gold 1-3 3-2 0 0-0 1-1 1-1
Maroon 1-2 2-3 0 0-0 1-3 0-0
Purple 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 3 3 2 2 2.5 2 14.5
Gold 2 X 2 6 1 1 3 15
Gray 2 3 X 2 3 2 4 16
Green 2 1 2 X 1 4 4 14
Maroon 3 4 1 4 X 3 1 16
Purple 1.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 6.5
Red 4 1 1 2 3 3 X 14
____________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 14.5 13 11 16 11 15.5 15 96
Schedule for Monday July 31:
10:00 a.m.: Blue (6-3) at Gold (4-5), Maroon umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Red (4-5) at Maroon (3-5), Green umpiring
Noon: Gray (6-2) at Green (4-5), Red umpiring
Preview: Monday’s games mark the halfway point for Session 3, and still only three games separate first from last place. Blue, which has the best run differential despite being knocked out of first place today, will try to get back on the winning track against Gold, looking to get back to .500. Red and Maroon battle at 11:00 to stay out of, or escape, last place. At noon, Green will look to end its three-game losing streak and knock Gray out of first place.
July 30 is National Cheesecake Day. July 31, 1970 was the final Black Tot Day, the last day on which sailors of the British Royal Navy received an officially sanctioned rum ration, a practice begun in 1740. Will B Leaguers arrive at Krieg Monday morning bloated from too much Sunday cheesecake? Will Gray and Maroon overindulge their rum ration while waiting to play at noon? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
A reminder that you can read current and past editions of this year’s Picayune at: https://austinseniorsoftball.com/picyuane/. New editions show up online shortly after they hit your email in-box. (“Shortly” meaning, when I get to it; probably not till the next morning.) The front page of the site (https://austinseniorsoftball.com/) features a red banner with late-breaking news of cancellations, etc. And you can see the schedule for upcoming games at: https://austinseniorsoftball.com/schedule/