B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 26 – June 15, 2023
Weather: Hot and very humid, though not oppressively so until the morning haze (reportedly from Mexican agricultural fires) burned off and we got some more direct sun. It was 81 degrees with 88% humidity and haze at the start of the 10:30 game, up to 90 degrees with the humidity supposedly dropping to 68% (I dispute this).
Injured list:
Blue team: Stan Fisher – Dupuytren’s contracture
Gold team: Jeff Stone – broken left pinky finger
Green team: Reed Durant – bruised shoulder
Maroon team: Chris Villareal – hamstring
Alvin Gauna – broken finger; made an appearance to say hello today
Games of Thursday June 15:
10:30 a.m., Red at Purple:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 5 5 5 0 0 4 19 Purple 0 4 2 4 5 1 16 Pitchers: Red – Eddy Murillo; Purple – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Red – Peter Atkins, Ken Brown, and Eddy Murillo; Purple – Gary Coyle, Rick Jensen, Jack McDermott, and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home plate – Jeff Fisher and Gary Coyle; bases – Tim Balke and Mike Hill. Perfect at the plate: Red – Ken Brown and Scott Sovereen (both 4 for 4); Purple – Jim Aaron (4 for 4 with two homeruns) and Gil Delossantos (1 for 1). Homeruns: David Ferley (inside the park) and Jim Aaron (two, both over the fence).
Red jumped to a big early lead, scoring five runs in each of its first three at bats: on seven hits (Terry Thompson triple, Ken Mockler double, and five singles, the lst four with two out) in the first; on six consecutive one-out hits in the second (five singles and then David Ferley hit what amounted to an inside-the-park homerun to right-center, though the fifth run scored ahead of him); and on seven hits (six singles and Peter Atkins’ double) in the third. Red batters only made four outs over the first three frames.
This is a picture of David Ferley from earlier in the season. I owe him a Pluckers coupon.
Purple did not score in the first. After Larry Bunton drew a lead-off walk, Tommy Deleon lined a ball up the middle that Eddy Murillo made a nice grab of, and then flipped over to first baseman Daniel Baladez to double up Rick Jensen, running for Larry. Adam Reddell and Jim Aaron singled, but David Ferley caught Don Solberg’s drive to right-center. Purple broke through for four runs on seven hits in the bottom of the second, however. Gil Delossantos led off with a line single, and was granted first base after he did not run out the hit – the knob came off Gil’s bat as he swung, exposing a metal rivet that tore the heck out of Gil’s left hand, so much blood.
The exposed knob of Gil Delossantos’ bat (left), which tore up his left hand (right – bandaged, this is a family-friendly publication).
Six of the next seven batters also singled, four runs scoring, though Purple also recorded a second out on the bases when Jack Spellman ran to the wrong side of second base on Gary Coyle’s grounder to second baseman Terry Thompson; I ran to the right of the bag and got in between Terry’s throw and shortstop Ken Brown, and base umpire Tim Balke correctly called me out. Just boneheaded base-running at my end.
Jack McDermott entered in Gil’s place in the third inning and chipped in a single as Purple scored twice in the bottom of the inning, on five hits, including a double by Don Solberg. The inning ended with Paul Rubin, playing way too deep, catching Jack Spellman’s hard line drive to left-center, Paul not having to move at all. (Way. Too. Deep.)
Those runs cut Red’s lead to 15-7. Tommy Deleon kept Red from scoring in both the fourth (working around two singles) and fifth. Red loaded the bases on singles by Sam Baker, Ken Brown, and Peter Atkins, but Purple third baseman Rick Jensen made a terrific play on Eddy Murillo’s hard grounder, tagging third and throwing a strike to catcher Billy Hill for a 5u., 5-2 double play. Terry Thompson grounded into a 6-4 force to end the inning.
Purple continued to chip away at Red’s lead, scoring four runs in the fourth and five in the fifth, Jim Aaron hitting over-the-fence homeruns in each inning, the second tying the game at 15-15 entering the buffet.
Rick Jensen presents Jim Aaron with a Pluckers coupon. Rick Jensen presents Jim Aaron with a Pluckers coupon.
Paul Rubin flied out to Gary Coyle in left field to open the buffet, but six of the next seven batters reached: Scott Sovereen knocked his fourth straight single, Ken Mockler walked, and David Ferley, Daniel Balaldez, and Hal Darman all singled. With three runs in and runners on first and second, Sam Baker, who’d singled in each of his first three at bats, grounded to second base; Hal (or his pinch-runner, can’t remember whether he took one) was forced out at second, but Sam easily beat the relay. Ken Brown then completed his perfect day at the plate with a single that scored Daniel (or his pinch-runner, can’t remember whether he took one). Peter Atkins flied out to left-center to end the inning, but Red was back in the lead, 19-15.
Not an insurmountable lead, and Purple looked like it had a shot at least to tie, as Don Solberg doubled (his third hit and second two-bagger) and Jack McDermott singled to start the bottom half, Don scoring. Jack Crosley popped out to second baseman Terry Thompson. Billy Hill grounded a ball to third base, but the throw pulled Terry off the bag and the runners were save. Rick Jensen’s grounder to shortstop Ken Brown resulted in a force at second for the second out. Jack Spellman came up and hit the ball hard toward the 5-6 hole, but Peter Atkins made an excellent play to cleanly glove the one-hopper and throw to second for the game-ending force. Final score: Red 19, Purple 16
11:30 a.m., Green at Gold:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 1 2 5 0 3 0 11 Gold 4 0 3 5 1 X 13 Pitchers: Green – Chunky Wright; Gold – Joe Roche. Mercenaries: Green – Fritz Hensel and David Kruse; Gold – Tom Brownfield. Umpires: home plate – Terry Thompson; bases – David Ferley. Perfect at the plate: Green – Fritz Hensel (2 for 2 with a walk); Gold – Tim Bruton (4 for 4 with two doubles) and Larry Young (3 for 3).
Green scored one run in the top of the first when Mike Hill doubled and scored on Gary Coyle’s single. Walks to Jeff Fisher and Chunky Wright loaded the bases with two out, but the inning ended as it began, with Gold shortstop Tim Bruton making an excellent defensive play. He threw out Clint Fletcher to start the inning, coming in on a grounder and making a snap throw that beat Clint by half a step. Then Tim ranged to his right to glove Buddy Gaswint’s grounder to the 5-6 hole and threw to third for the inning-ending force. Gold took the lead with four runs in the bottom half, as the first five batters reached base (three singles and walks to Jack Spellman and Joe Roche), Larry Young driving in the fourth run with a two-out single.
In the second Green got two runs on four singles and Mike Hill’s sacrifice fly to Denny Malloy in right field, then shut out Gold in the bottom half, Chunky Wright working around Tim Bruton’s one-out single. Green then took the lead with five runs in the third, seven consecutive batters reaching base with one out: Chunky Wright walked, Buddy Gaswint doubled, Boo Resnick and David Kruse singled, Fritz Hensel walked, and Clint Fletcher and Mike Hill singled. All the hits were solidly struck. So were Purple’s in the bottom half, resulting in three runs and cutting Red’s lead to 8-7: Joe Roche led off with a triple; Mike Garrison, Denny Malloy, and Larry Young singled; and Joe Dayoc doubled in Denny and Larry. (Mike was put out on the bases following his single to left; he took a wide turn and head for second, realized two-thirds of the way there that the throw from Donnie Janac (I think) was going to beat him, turned around and headed back to first, and got into a pickle; eventually he was put out 7-6-4-6-4, I think, Mike Hill applying the tag. Green executed the rundown perfectly; all our Little League coaches would be proud.)
Donnie Janac led off with a single, but Green did not score in the top of the fourth. Gold batted around and reclaimed the lead with five runs in the home half, Tim Bruton leading off with a double, then seven consecutive batters reaching base after Jack Spellman (short-hopped liner to Mike Hill at second base, throw to first baseman Gary Coyle, who boxed the ball briefly before picking it up to record the out) and Jack McDermott (fly to Donnie Janac in left) went out. Joe Roche and Mike Garrison singled, and Denny Malloy tripled them both in. Rip Wright’s single scored Denny. Larry Young’s third hit and a walk to Joe Dayoc loaded the bases for Tom Brownfield, whose line single to right-center scored Rip with the fifth run, Gold now leading 12-8.
Buddy Gaswint led off the fifth with a double to left. Boo Resnick fouled out to first baseman Larry Young. David Kruse squared up on a pitch and lined it hard, but within reach of shortstop Jack Spellman, who’d switched places with Tim Bruton and managed to snag it. Fritz Hensel singled, completing his perfect day at the plate, Buddy scoring, and Clint Fletcher tripled in Fritz’s pinch-runner. A single by Mike Hill scored Clint, cutting Gold’s lead to 12-11. Donnie Janac grounded into a force to end the inning. Tim Bruton led off the bottom of the fifth with a double, his second of the game, completing his 4-for-4 day at the plate. Tim took third on Jack Spellman’s single and scored on Joe Roche’s sacrifice fly to right field.
Entering the buffet, Green needed two to tie. Gary Coyle led off with a single. Jeff Fisher popped out to second baseman Rip Wright. Chunky Wright grounded a ball to the 5-6 hole; shortstop Jack Spellman made an awkward, sprawling dive to his backhand and managed to come up with the ball, then threw from a sitting position to Rip at second to get the force on Gary, on a bang-bang play. (Gary was certain he was safe; Gold was certain we got him; I couldn’t tell from my angle.) Buddy Gaswint then hit a mercifully normal grounder to shortstop for a straightforward force at second for the final out. Final score: Gold 13, Green 11
Rip Wright’s new Beebe Oahu Turf Shoes, which not only look great, but are, Rip says, “very comfortable.”
12:30 p.m., Maroon at Blue:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 5 3 5 5 X X 18 Blue 0 0 4 0 1 7 12 Pitchers: Maroon – Joe Bernal (1-3, took back over in the buffet) and Tom Kelm (4-5 and seven batters in the buffet); Blue – Chunky Wright. Mercenaries: Blue – Clint Fletcher and Chunky Wright. Umpires: home plate – Dave Berra and Jack Spellman; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Joe Bernal and Tom Kelm (each 3 for 3), Ken Brown and Larry Shupe (each 3 for 3 with a double), Johnny Lee (4 for 4), and Dave Jaffe (2 for 2 with a walk); Blue – Clint Fletcher (3 for 3) and Jimmy Shull (2 for 2 with a walk).
Maroon ran it up early on, scoring 18 of a possible 20 runs over the first four innings, its first 12 batters all reaching base safely: Five runs on seven singles in the first inning, the only out coming when Dave Jaffe was thrown out 8-6-2, Anthony Galindo to George Romo to Fritz Hensel, trying to score on Mike Velaney’s single up the middle. Three more runs in the second inning, the first five batters reaching on two walks and three singles, though there was another out on the bases, as Johnny Lee forgot he did not have a pinch-runner and was thrown out at first 9-4-3 (Clint Fletcher to Jimmy Shull to Dale Fugate) after he’d started back to the dugout after knocking an RBI single. The next two batters made Red’s first batting outs of the game, Rex Horvath flying out to Clint Fletcher (good catch in deep right-center) and Mike Velaney flying out to Richard Batte in left field. Then five more again in the third, while making just one out, on six singles and Ken Brown’s double.
Meanwhile, Joe Bernal mowed down Blue early on, retiring the side in order in both the first and second – on just three pitches in the second – and getting Fritz Hensel on a grounder back to the box to start the third. Blue bats finally came to life, with six of the next seven batters hitting safely, five singles and a double by George Romo. That cut Maroon’s lead to 13-4.
But Maroon continued to pour it on, scoring five times again in the top of the fourth, on six singles, a double by Larry Shupe, and a sacrifice fly by Peter Atkins. With Maroon ahead 18-4, Tom Kelm took over on the mound for Maroon and worked a scoreless bottom of the fourth, aided by a 6-4-3 double play, Rex Horvath to Mike Velaney to Johnny Lee, following Eddie Murillo’s lead-off single.
The teams agreed to double flip-flop at that point, which meant Blue batted three times in a row. They got a single run in the fifth, as Richard Battle led off with a single and scored on Morgan Withhoft’s double. Trailing by 13 entering the buffet, Blue’s first seven batters all reached, on four singles, a walk to Chunky Wright, and two more singles. Joe Bernal returned to the mound at that point, and gave up singles to the first two batters he faced, Morgan Withhoft and George Romo, the sixth and seventh runs of the inning scoring for Blue. Dale Fugate grounded into a 6-5 force for the first out. Eddie Murillo singled, loading the bases, but the game ended with Fritz Hensel hitting into a 1-6-3 double play, Joe Bernal to Rex Horvath to Johnny Lee. Final score: Maroon 18, Blue 12
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Maroon 1 0 1.000 — 18 12 + 6 W2
Red 1 0 1.000 –- 19 16 + 3 W2
Gold 1 0 1.000 –- 13 11 + 2 W1
Gray 0 0 — .5 0 0 0 W3
Green 0 1 .000 1 11 13 – 2 L1
Purple 0 1 .000 1 16 19 – 3 L2
Blue 0 1 .000 1 12 18 – 6 L6
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Maroon 0-0 1-0 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Red 0-0 1-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Gold 1-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Gray 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Green 0-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Purple 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Blue 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 2 2 1 0 2.5 1 8.5
Gold 2 X 2 5 1 1 1 12
Gray 2 1 X 2 1 1 3 10
Green 1 0 1 X 1 4 3 10
Maroon 3 3 1 3 X 3 1 14
Purple 1.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 6.5
Red 3 1 1 1 2 3 X 11
_____________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 12.5 8 9 12 6 14.5 10 72
Schedule for Monday June 19:
10:30 a.m.: Blue (0-1) at Green (0-1), Gold umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Gold (1-0) at Red (1-0), Blue umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Purple (0-1) at Gray, Red umpiring
Maroon has the bye – players from that team will have priority out of the bucket.
Preview: By end of day Monday somebody will be 2-0, one or two teams will be 0-2, and two or three teams will be 1-1. Who? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.