B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 4 – March 9, 2023
Weather: It was 67 degrees and partly cloudy at the start of the 12:30 game, humidity at 90%. A little cooler for the earlier games, and generally pleasant. We played at Krieg 3, the field in good condition.
Games of Thursday March 9:
10:30 a.m., Red (1-0) at Gray (0-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 2 0 3 1 0 0 6 Gray 5 0 1 0 5 X 11 Pitchers: Red – Jack Kelly; Gray – Jerry Mylius. Mercenary: Red – Peter Atkins. Umpires: home plate – Marvin Krabbenhoft; bases – Ralph Villela and Larry Bunton; scoreboard – Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Red – Ken Mockler (3 for 3, two doubles)and Gene Nelson (3 for 3); Gray – Tom Brownfield (3 for 3 with a double), Rick Jensen, Jerry Mylius, and Greg Lloyd (all 3 for 3).
A pretty low-scoring affair. Ken Mockler drove in Red’s first four runs with doubles in the top of the first and third, and then scored the fifth on Terry Thompson’s single. The team’s only non-Ken run came in the top of the fourth, when David Ferley doubled in Hal Darman, pinch-running for Jack Kelly, who’d singled. Jerry Mylius did a solid job on the mound for Gray, issuing a single walk (to George Brindley, understandably). He was helped by a pair of inning-ending 6u., 6-3 double plays turned by David Kruse, in the first and fifth.
Gray scored five runs on seven hits, including two-base hits by David Kruse and Rick Kahn, in the bottom of the first, seizing control of the game. After Red tied in the top of the third, Gray reclaimed the lead in the bottom half when Tom Brownfield turned a pop to short right field into a hustle double, then scored on Rick Jensen’s single to center. After Red re-tied the game in the top of the fourth, Gray wasted a bases-loaded, one-out opportunity in the bottom of the frame. Jack Kelly made a nice play to corral Mick Parker’s hard grounder back to the box, throwing home for the second out, then got Daniel Caraval to ground to shortstop George Brindley, who threw to Rick Jensen at third for the inning-ending force.
Gray broke through in the bottom of the fifth. David Kruse and Tom Brownfield led off with singles, putting runners on the corners. David scored on Rick Kahn’s fly to right field. Starting with Rick Jensen, the next four batters singled, three more runs scoring. On Trey Wall’s hit, Rick rounded third and headed home, then came up short, but not short enough, stepping on the commitment line; he saw that the throw home was going to beat him easily, so he retreated to third. The peanut galley, Red fielders, and everyone in the Gray dugout saw what had happened, but the two who did not – umpires Marvin Krabbenhoft and Larry Bunton – were the only ones whose opinion counted, and per protocol they did not call what they did not see.
Quote of the Day (I): Rick Jensen: “Good thing we don’t have softball investigators, or else the footprint on the commitment line might be misinterpreted… The beautiful thing about softball is that you don’t have to tell the truth.”
It didn’t make any difference. Greg Lloyd’s two-out single, the sixth of the inning, scored Trey with the fifth run, so Gray took an 11-6 lead into the buffet. Terry Thompson led off that inning with a single, and Gene Nelson ripped a two-out single up the middle to complete his 3-for-3 day, but David Kruse had grabbed Daniel Baladez’s liner for the second out, then fielded Jack Kelly’s grounder up the middle and stepped on second to end the game. Final score: Gray 11, Red 6
11:30 a.m., Purple (0-0) at Blue (1-0):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 4 1 0 0 5 0 10 Blue 1 5 2 0 5 X 13 Pitchers: Purple – Gil Delossantos; Blue – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Purple – Clint Fletcher and Jack McDermott. Umpires: home plate – Jack Kelly; bases – David Ferley. Homerun: Morgan Witthoft (over the fence). Perfect at the plate: Purple – Adam Reddell and Don Solberg (both 3 for 3); Blue – Fritz Hensel and Richard Battle (both 2 for 2 with a walk).
Purple team started strong, in its first inning of the season putting across four runs on four singles, a double by new guy Don Roets that drove in two, and a walk to Marvin “Walking Man” Krabbenhoft. Blue got one back in its half when Bobby Miller doubled leading off and scored on Anthony Galindo’s single. The next three batters went out, with Purple right-center fielder Ralph Villela hauling in Larry Fiorentino’s deep drive about five feet in front of the fence.
Purple got a run on three singles in the top of the second; Blue took the lead with five runs on seven singles and sacrifice flies by Jimmy Shull and Morgan Witthoft in the bottom half. Purple did not score in either the third (Spike Davidson allowed a pair of two-out singles to Adam Reddell and Don Solberg, both 3 for 3 in the game, but got Gil Delossantos to pop to second) or fourth. New guy Clint Fletcher led off the fourth with his first B League hit, a single to left field, but was forced at second on Jack McDermott’s grounder to the pitcher. Mike Mordecai hit a hard grounder to the right of second base that Larry Fiorentino fielded smoothly; Larry flipped to George Romo for the force at second, and George’s throw to Dale Fugate beat Mike to first for an inning-ending twin killing.
Larry and George had scored in the bottom of the fourth, increasing Blue’s lead to 8-5. Larry led off with a triple to right field and scored on George’s double. Singles by Fritz Hensel and Richard Battle brought George around. Gil Delossantos worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth, helped by a couple of strong defensive plays. Jack McDermott made a fine over-the-shoulder catch of Jimmy Shull’s fly to short left for the first out, and the inning ended with Mike Mordecai making, first, a clean grab of Anthony Galindo’s hard grounder to third and, second, a strong throw to first to put Anthony out.
Clint Fletcher collects his first B League hit, a single to left.
Purple grabbed the lead with five runs on six hits in the top of the fifth. The second hit was Ralph Villela’s double; the last was Gil Delossantos’s triple to drive in the fourth and fifth runs, on a drive over left-center fielder Bobby Miller to the fence. Blue responded with five in the bottom half. Morgan Witthoft led off with a line-drive, over-the-fence homerun to left-center field, the first homerun of the B League’s 2023 season. Larry Fiorentino followed with his second triple in as many at bats and scored on George Romo’s single. Two walks and two singles resulted in three more runs and a 13-10 lead for Blue entering the buffet.
Morgan Witthoft fist-bumps David Ferley after hitting the first homerun of the 2023 season.
Morgan followed up on his homer with two good defensive plays for the first two outs of the buffet. He fielded Clint Fletcher’s grounder and threw him out to start the frame, then, after Jack McDermott singled, caught Mike Mordecai’s liner. Doc Hobar follwed with a single to left field, but Larry Fiorentino played Don Roets’s grounder to second cleanly and threw to first for the final out. Final score: Blue 13, Purple 10
12:30 p.m., Maroon (0-1) at Green (0-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 5 0 1 5 4 X 15 Green 1 1 2 1 1 5 11 Pitchers: Maroon – Joe Bernal; Green – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Maroon – Rick Jensen and Trey Wall; Green – George Brindley. Umpires: home plate – Spike Davidson; bases – Richard Battle and Larry Fiorentino. Homerun: Buddy Gaswint (over the fence). Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Chris Villareal and Rick Jensen (both 3 for 3), Johnny Lee and Trey Wall (each 3 for 3 with a double).
Maroon scored five times without making an out in the top of the first, on two walks, two singles, and Johnny Lee’s double to left over the outfielders, and never gave up the early lead, though Green did wind up scoring in every inning, beginning with a singleton on three singles in the first.
Baserunning adventures for both teams in the second. In the top half, Rick Jensen singled with two out, took second on Trey Wall’s single, and then tried to score on Scott Wright’s hit to right field, but was thrown out 9-6-2, George Brindley to Mike Hill to Tim Balke. In the bottom, Green got one run in on three singles, but the third out was recorded when Tim Balke held up rounding third on Donnie Janac’s hit to Ken Brown in left-center; George Brindley got more than halfway to third before realizing Tim had stopped, and found himself hung up and tagged out by shortstop Rex Horvath, who’d taken Ken’s throw.
Maroon got a run on three singles in the third, Green recorded two runs on three singles and a walk in the bottom of the frame. Jeff Fisher had the first hit and scored the first run, barely, as the throw home beat him, but Larry Shupe’s foot left the matt as he corralled the short-hop toss.
Something very similar happened in the top of the fifth. Peter Atkins walked and Rick Jensen singled* to start the inning. Trey Wall rifled a double to right-center; Peter scored easily, and Rick attempted to do so as well; the throw home beat him, but catcher Tim Balke’s foot left the matt for just a moment while he caught the relay, and Rick was safe.
* Quote of the Day (II): Fritz Hensel, commenting on Rick Jensen’s golf-swing single down the third-base line: “Ted Williams’ head would thaw out if he saw that swing.”
Maroon went on to score three more runs in the fourth, with Rex Horvath’s double, on a hard-hit ball that took a brutal hop and caromed off Gary Coyle’s wrist, the big hit. Green got one back in its half. Mike Hill singled, reaching despite Rick Jensen making a great play on his hard grounder to the right side, as Rick’s throw sailed past first baseman Johnny Lee. (Fritz Hensel: “Million-dollar stop and a five-cent throw.”) Mike scored from first on Gary Coyle’s double.
More of the same in the fifth. Maroon got hits from its first five hitters, including a double by Peter Atkins, and four scored. In the bottom half, Green got four hits, including a double by Buddy Gaswint, from its first four hitters, and later a walk, but scored only one run as Ray Pilgrim was thrown out trying to stretch his single to the fence in left-center into a double to start the frame.
With Maroon leading 15-6, the teams flip-flopped for the buffet. The heart of the Green order came up and delivered five straight hits: Donnie Janac doubled, Gary Coyle singled, and Jeff Fisher doubled them both home. (It was the third hit of the game for each of the trio.) Ray Pilgrim singled, and Buddy Gaswint followed with an opposite-field, over-the-fence homerun to right-center field. That got Green to within four runs, but that was as close as they could manage, as Joe Bernal retired the next three batters to end the game. Final score: Maroon 15, Green 11
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Standings – Session One:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 2 0 1.000 — 28 17 +11 W2
Gold 1 0 1.000 .5 20 12 + 8 W1
Red 1 1 .500 1 25 23 + 2 L1
Maroon 1 1 .500 1 27 30 – 3 W1
Gray 1 1 .500 1 18 21 – 3 W1
Purple 0 1 .000 1.5 10 13 – 3 L1
Green 0 2 .000 2 23 35 -12 L2
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 1-0 1-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Gold 1-0 0-0 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Red 1-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Maroon 0-0 1-1 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Gray 1-1 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Purple 0-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Green 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-2 0-0
2022 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2
Gold 0 X 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Gray 0 0 X 0 0 0 0 1 1
Green 0 0 0 X 0 0 0 0 0
Maroon 0 0 0 1 X 0 0 0 1
Purple 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 0 0
Red 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 X 1
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TOTAL: 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 1 6
Schedule for Monday March 13:
10:30 a.m.: Green at Purple, Blue umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Blue at Red, Green umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Gray at Gold, Maroon umpiring
Maroon has the bye – players from that team will have priority out of the bucket.
Keggy’s Korner:
Don Solberg reviews Pearl Beer: “Pearl is like drinking fucking laxative.”
Keggy got this from his ankle guy at Austin Foot & Ankle Specialists:
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