B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 18 – May 11, 2023
Weather: Very humid again, around 98% at the start of the 10:30 game, but not too hot – 73 degrees at 10:30 – and there was enough cloud cover and breeze to keep it from being terribly unpleasant.
Games of Thursday May 11:
10:30 a.m., Green (4-5) at Gold (5-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 Gold 2 3 3 4 X X 12 Pitchers: Green – Chunky Wright; Gold – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Green – Tom Brownfield, Ray Pilgrim, Peter Sundquist, and Scott Wright; Gold – George Brindley. Umpires: home plate – Gil Delossantos and Jack Crosley; bases – Jack Crosley and Rick Jensen. Perfect at the plate: Gold – Tim Bruton (3 for 3 with three doubles) and Joe Roche (3 for 3 with a double).
Couldn’t tell you why, but Green batters kept hitting the ball to third baseman Jack Spellman in the first three innings: a ground out and a line out in the first inning; three consecutive ground outs in a 1-2-3 top of the second; and a sharp grounder by Peter Sundquist after Tom Brownfield and Scott Wright singled to start the third, resulting in a 5u., 5-4 double play. The next three batters hit safely – Mike Hill doubled and Donnie Janac and Clint Fletcher singled – resulting in two runs, but that was the only scoring Green managed against Jeff Stone, who got another double play in the fourth inning after Chunky Wright knocked a lead-off single: Boo Resnick grounded to shortstop Tim Bruton, who fed to Rip Wright for the force at second; the runner made contact with Rip and interference was called, Boo ruled out.
Meanwhile, Gold put up crooked numbers in each of its at bats, with doubles by Tim Bruton key hits in three of the four rallies, and Joe Roche going 3 for 3 with a lead-off double in the fourth, the one inning Tim did not bat. Tim led off the bottom of the first with a two-base hit and scored the game’s first run on Jack Spellman’s single up the middle. I took third on Joe’s single and scored on Mike Garrison’s sacrifice fly to left. In the second, three of the first four Gold batters singled, Denny Malloy coming around to score, and Tim drove in the other two with his second double. In the third, Joe’s double was followed by three singles and James Chavana’s sacrifice fly, for three more runs. And in the fourth Tim again led off with a double, four of the next five batters hit safely, three runs scoring, and Denny Malloy brought in the fourth with a sacrifice fly.
When Jeff Stone retired Green in order in the top of the fifth, the teams agreed to flip-flop. Mike Hill opened the inning with a grounder that second baseman Rip Wright made a good glove play on, but threw wildly to first, Mike winding up at second. That was a minor glitch for Jeff Stone, who retired the next three batters, on a grounder to short, Clint Fletcher’s fly to left center – George Brindley initially broke in on the ball, then reversed course and raced back to make a terrific over-his-left-shoulder catch – and ending the game by catching Jeff Fisher looking at an unhittable called strike three on the edge of the mat. Final score: Gold 12, Green 2
11:30 a.m., Purple (3-5) at Blue (4-5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET EXTRA FINAL Purple 0 0 4 3 3 1 11 Blue 1 0 4 5 0 1 11 Pitchers: Purple – Tommy Deleon; Blue – Gary Bowles (innings 1-4) and Spike Davidson (buffet and extra inning). Floater: Carl Gallagher played for Purple. Mercenaries: Purple – Rick Jensen; Blue – Jack Spellman. Umpires: home plate – Jeff Stone; bases – Mike Garrison; scoreboard – Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Rick Jensen (1 for 1 with two walks); Blue – Eddy Murillo (3 for 3) and Jack Spellman (3 for 3 with a double).
Low-scoring affair early on, Purple managing just one single off Gary Bowles in each of the first two innings, Blue scratching out a run on two singles and a walk in the bottom of the first, then getting two singles but no runs in the bottom of the second.
Each team broke through for four runs in the third inning, Purple on four singles and three walks in the top half. Blue responded in the home half with five singles to start the frame, three runs scoring, and the fifth coming across on Morgan Witthoft’s sacrfice fly to left field. Eddy Murillo followed with a single, but Tommy Deleon started 1-6-3 double play, Jim Aaron on the pivot, to end the inning.
Purple scored three times after the first two batters were retired in the top of the fourth. Carl Gallagher tripled, and Rick Jensen walked. Doc Hobar singled, Carl scoring, and Don Solberg singled as well, Rick scoring. Ralph Villela and Jim Aaron both walked, Doc advancing to third and home with the third run. Jack Crosley flied out to Morgan Witthoft in right to end the inning. Blue won the inning by posting the game’s only five-spot in the bottom half, on eight hits and sacrifice flies by George Romo and Morgan Witthoft (Morgan’s second in as many at bats).
Entering the Buffet, Blue led 11-8 and had Spike Davidson taking over at pitcher, looking for the save. Tommy Deleon and Gil Delossantos singled to start the inning. Larry Bunton came up and caught me, playing second base, leaning right; Larry grounded a ball to my left, and while I was able to reverse course, dive left, and snag the ball in the web of my mitt, my hurried throw sailed past George Romo into short left field. Gil, running from first, ran through at second, then started for third without backtracking to touch second base. He was caught in a rundown between third baseman Eddie Murillo, who’d retrieved my errant throw, and George, who tagged Gil out. (If Gil had stood still after running through at second, he’d have been fine – hindsight is 20/20 – but he put himself in jeopardy by starting for third.) Tommy’s pinch-runner scored on the play, and Larry wound up at first base. Billy Hill singled. Carl Gallagher grounded to shortstop, George Romo throwing to Eddy Murillo for the force at third. Singles by Rick Jensen and Doc Hobar brought the runners around, tying the score at 11-11. Don Solberg had a chance to put Purple ahead, but Morgan Witthoft caught his fly to right for the third out.
Blue needed just one run to win in the bottom half. Jack Spellman led off with a single to the 5/6 hole. Morgan Witthoft pinch-ran, but was forced at second on Richard Battle’s grounder to shortstop Jim Aaron. Larry Fiorentino flied out to left-center. Anthony Galindo squared up on a pitch, but Jim Aaron moved to his left and snagged the liner for the third out.
On to extra innings. Ralph Villela led off for Purple, with Don Solberg at second, one out, and one-pitch rules in effect. Spike Davidson got Ralph to foul out down the third-base side for the second out. Jim Aaron reached for a low pitch and stroked a double, Don scoring the go-ahead run. Jack Crosley took a one-pitch walk. Tommy Deleon hit a sharp grounder to shortstop, George Romo throwing to second for the inning-ending force.
Blue came up with Anthony Galindo on second, needing one to tie and two to win. George Romo singled cleanly up the middle, Anthony scoring to tie the game. But Tommy Deleon got Fritz Hensel to pop out to third baseman Rick Jensen and Spike Davidson to fly out to Ralph Villela in left-center. The teams agreed to call the game a tie and allow the 12:30 game to get under way more or less on time. Final score: Purple 11, Blue 11
12:30 p.m., Red (4-4) at Gray (4-5):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 4 0 1 4 1 X 10 Gray 0 0 2 0 0 6 8 Pitchers: Red – Jack Kelly; Gray – Greg Lloyd. Umpires: home plate – Anthony Galindo; bases – Richard Battle. Perfect at the plate: Red – Sam Baker (1 for 1 with a walk), Gregory Bied (2 for 2 with a walk and two doubles), and David Ferley (3 for 3).
Red had the better of this contest through the first five innings, holding Gray to just two runs in the bottom of the third while escaping bases-loaded jams in each of the first three innings. (For the game, Gray outhit Red 19-14, but left 12 runners stranded; Red left only four runners on base.) Red never trailed in the game, jumping to a lead with four runs in the top of the first, as three of its first four hitters – Gregory Bied, Paul Rubin, and Ken Mockler – smacked doubles and scored. A pair of two-out walks in the second, to Sam Baker and Gregory Bied, provided an RBI opportunity for Paul Rubin, but David Kruse, who’d swapped positions with Tom Brownfield, moving from shortstop to second baseman with the left-handed hitter up, made a nice move to his left to play Paul’s sharp grounder, throwing to first for the third out.
Red scratched out a single run in the top of the third: George Brindley singled leading off, took second on Ken Mockler’s deep fly to Rick Kahn in right-center, and scored on David Ferley’s single to right field. Gray’s runs in the bottom half came on five singles. Jim Maloy drove in the first run with his base hit to center field, after he’d popped a ball in front of home plate that twisted foul, catcher Hal Darman skipping away to avoid making contact with it. (Trying to work the umpires, Rick Jensen claimed Hal had touched the ball (he had not) and told home umpire Anthony Galindo “You owe us one for missing that.” Anthony gave that all the consideration it deserved.) Rick followed with a single to drive in Tom Brownfield, and Greg Lloyd with a Texas League pop-fly single to right to load the bases, but Jack Kelly escaped the mess, getting Jerry Mylius to line out to shortstop and Jim McAnelly to ground into a 6-4 force, George Brindley making both plays.
Red extended its lead to 9-2 with four runs in the top of the fourth on four singles and Gregory Bied’s second double, which drove in the first two runs. Jack Kelly threw a scoreless bottom half, working around David Kruse’s one-out single. In the fifth, Red got another run, David Ferley leading off with a single, taking third on Daniel Baladez’s hit to left field, and scoring on Donald Drummer’s grounder to shortstop David Kruse, Daniel’s pinch-runner forced at second. Terry Thompson followed with a hard-hit liner, but David Kruse caught it and doubled up Donald off first.
David Kruse bats for Gray. Sam Baker caught for Red team, playing so deep he’s out of frame in this picture. The Picayune approves this strategy.
Rick Kahn led off the bottom of the fifth with a single, but Jack Kelly, dealing, got the next three batters on infield outs: Jim Maloy grounded into a 6-4 force, George Brindley to Terry Thompson; Rick Jensen lined out to Terry; and then Terry made an excellent play to his right to grab Greg Lloyd’s hard-hit grounder, flipping to George at second for the force.
With Red leading 10-2, the teams agreed to flip-flop for the buffet. Gray got its offense into gear, the first six batters of the inning hitting safely, five singles and then a double by Tom Brownfield, four runs scoring. Rick Kahn popped out to second baseman Terry Thompson for the first out. Jim Maloy’s single to right field drove in Daniel Carvajal, drawing Gray to three runs behind. Rick Jensen grounded to shortstop, George Brindley throwing to second for the force there, Tom Brownfield scoring to make it a 10-8 game. Greg Lloyd came up, representing the potential tying run, but Jack Kelly got him to bounce a ball back to the box, Jack gloving it and tossing to first for the final out. Final score: Red 10, Gray 8
Standings – Session Two:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Maroon 6 3 .667 — 108 90 +18 W2
Gold 6 3 .667 — 111 93 +18 W1
Red 5 4 .556 1 106 108 – 2 W3
Blue 4.5 5.5 .450 2 128 135 – 7 T1
Gray 4 6 .400 2.5 123 114 + 9 L3
Green 4 6 .400 2.5 104 125 -21 L4
Purple 3.5 5.5 .389 2.5 95 110 -15 T1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Maroon 3-1 3-2 1 0-0 2-1 1-1
Gold 3-1 3-2 2 2-0 2-0 3-1
Red 3-2 2-2 1 0-0 2-1 1-1
Blue 0.5-4.5 4-1 0 1.5-0.5 1-2 0-1
Gray 1-3 3-3 1 0-2 2-2 1-2
Green 2-4 2-2 1 0-1 1-3 1-0
Purple 2-3 1.5-2.5 0 0.5-0.5 0-1 0-1
[Purple and Blue tied their game of May 11; it is counted as half a win and half a loss in the standings.]
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 0 7.5
Gold 1 X 1 3 1 0 1 7
Gray 1 1 X 1 1 0 2 6
Green 1 0 1 X 0 2 3 7
Maroon 1 1 1 3 X 2 0 8
Purple 0.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 5.5
Red 2 1 1 0 2 1 X 7
______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 6.5 6 8 8 5 7.5 7 45
Schedule for Monday May 15:
10:30 a.m.: Red (5-4) at Blue (4.5-5.5), Green umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Green (4-6) at Purple (3.5-5.5), Blue umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Maroon (6-3) at Gold (6-3), Purple umpiring
Gray has the bye – players from that team will have priority out of the bucket.
Preview: We’re just over halfway through Session Two, and just two and a half games separates first from last place. The two first-place teams, Maroon and Gold, with identical 6-3 records and +18 run differentials, face off at 12:30 – should be a terrific game. Red and Blue, in third and fourth place, play at 10:30; Red has the longest active winning streak, Blue has a chance to get to .500 and tie for third. Green hopes to end its four-game losing streak at 11:30 versus Purple; loser of the game falls to last place for the session, winner, passes idle Gray for fifth (fourth, if Blue loses).
Keggy’s Korner:
Bruce Barnett checks in:
As previously mentioned the Bobby Fund is in good shape with $3316, so no donations needed at this time, plus if there is a major need, YOU the players can ALWAYS step up to help your fellow players.
The burger cookout mention will be Thursday June 15, weather permitting. If not it will be the following game day that the weather allows. This will be the First Annual Welcome Back Burger Cookout, so please invite any Austin Senior Softball Player you know that does not play any longer to come back and share a burger and rekindle friendships. I hope this can become an nnnual event, but it is up to you softball players to make it happen if you want it to happen.
The following will be provided: burgers, buns, fixings to include, cheese, lettuce, onion, tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, mayo & hot spice (if wanted on your burger), pickles; plates, country napkins (paper towel), utensils, and chips.
Please bring a dish or something to share if you want. Please email me & let me know what you will bring so I can provide enough table space and possibly an outlet if needed.
Your Bobby Fund Burger Cook
Bruce Barnett
512-923-4409
And so does Scott Sovereen:
The Sunday ‘A’ league (50+) will have their annual draft at the end of June. Games are at played at 3,4,5 & 6 at Kreig 3. Cost is $40 and covers the rest of the calendar year. If you are interested in playing or have any questions, please see Commissioner Scott Sovereen or Consigliere Daniel Carvajal in the next few weeks.