B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 17 – May 1, 2025
Department of Corrections: I wrote in Monday’s edition that Purple’s tying rally came in the bottom of the fourth inning, but in fact it was the top of the fifth, as accurately depicted in the line score. Sorry for any confusion. And, not a correction, but a pre-apology, I’m in the process of acquiring and setting up a new laptop, and I’m writing this edition on my work computer, which doesn’t have the Picayune template in place. So the look of this edition might be a little different, and who knows what kind of keyboard mistakes will creep in. Also it’s my excuse for the late delivery time.
Weather report: Sunny and 78 degrees at the start of the 10:30 game, fairly humid (70%), nominal breeze (7 MPH) from the northeast.
Games were played at Krieg field 2; field 3 is still wet from the week’s rain.
Games of Thursday May 8:
10:30 a.m., Maroon (5-3) at Red (2-6):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 1 2 2 0 1 6 Red 5 4 5 0 X 14 Pitchers: Maroon – Jeff Stone; Red – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Maroon – George Brindley, Hal Darman, Ray Pilgrim, and Chris Waddell; Red – Time Coles, Tommy Deleon, and Tommy Gillis. Umpires: home – Jack Kelly and Paul Rubin; bases – Paul Rubin and Terry Watts. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Ray Pilgrim (2 for 2); Red – Anthony Galindo (3 for 3 with two doubles) and Tommy Gillis (3 for 3).
Red got a strong performance from mercenary pitcher Tommy Deleon, who effectively worked the upper end of the height limit, walked only one batter, and didn’t allow a tough Maroon lineup more than two runs in any inning. Maroon got a single run in the top of the first, as Scott Wright led off the game with a single, tagged and took second on Tony Garcia’s fly out to Rolando Rodriguez in right field (the first of three good catches Rolando made in the game), and scored on Don Solberg’s two-out single to right-center.
Red came out hitting, scoring 14 of a possible 15 runs over the first three innings, starting with five runs on six hits while making just one out in the bottom of the first, Anthony Galindo driving in the first run with a double and Rolando Rodriguez pushing across the fourth and fifth with an extra-base hit over the outfielders in left-center – I’m crediting Rolando with a triple; he kept running, not realizing the fifth run had scored ahead of him, but neither did Don Solberg hurry to retrieve the ball once he saw there was no way to prevent that fifth run coming across.
Maroon scored twice in the top of the second, as the first three batters reached: Jimmie Maloy singled, George Brindley walked, and Ray Pilgrim ripped a single to left-center, Jimmy scoring and George taking third. Tommy Deleon got Chris Waddell to ground to the 5-6 hole, within reach of shortstop Jack Spellman, who started a 6-4-3 double play, Tim Coles making a nice pivot on the play, Dale Fugate at the back end, George scoring. Hal Darman’s single to center extended the inning, but Scott Wright flied out to Rolando Rodriguez in right for the third out.
Red’s first four batters singled and scored in the bottom half, the first two runs coming in on Jack McDermott’s hit. Jack Spellman’s sacrifice fly to Jimmie Maloy in right field brought in the third. Anthony Galindo hit his second double of the game, Jack McDermott advancing to third, and Gary Coyle brought Jack home with a sacrifice fly to George Brindley in right-center.
The third inning played out similarly. Maroon got two runs on four singles in the top half, but the rally was short-circuited by a 6-4-3 double play, on Tom Langa’s hard, one-hop grounder, for the first two outs. Red then pushed across five runs, on Jim McAnelly’s lead-off walk, doubles by Rolando Rodriguez and Jack Spellman, four singles, and Tommy Deleon’s sacrifice fly to right field.
Neither team scored in the fourth. Ray Pilgrim (2 for 2 in the game) and Chris Waddell started the top half with singles, but Hal Darman’s hard grounder to shortstop resulted in Red turning its third 6-4-3 double play in as many innings. Scott Wright then flied out to Rolando Rodriguez in right field. Jeff Stone worked a scoreless bottom half, working around singles by Jim McAnelly with one out and Tommy Gillis with two out.
Maroon was chasing nine runs entering the buffet. Tony Garcia led off with a double and Jeff Stone singled, putting runners on the corners with one out. Tommy Gillis in right-center hauled in Don Solberg’s deep drive for the first out, Tony tagging and scoring. Tommy Deleon got Tommy Langa to hit a two-strike foul for the second out. Jimmie Maloy hit a short pop in front of third base; Gary Coyle charged in hard and got to it in time to make a basket catch for the final out. Final score: Red 14, Maroon 6
Quote of the Day: Rick Kahn, on why he’s choosing not to fill out an emergency medical tag, as helpfully provided by Terry Thompson today: “My wife told me not to take one of those since I’m on a DNR order.”
11:30 a.m., Gray (2-6) at Orange (4-4):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gray 0 0 3 0 1 6 10 Orange 1 1 4 3 2 X 11 Pitchers: Gray – Jack Kelly; Orange – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Gray – Tony Garcia and Jim Maloy; Orange – Don Solberg. Umpires: home – Jim McAnelly; bases – Jack McDermott. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Paul Rubin (3 for 3 with a walk); Orange – Peter Atkins (3 for 3 with a walk and a double) and David Brown and Don Solberg (both 3 for 3).
Save one brief moment in the third inning, Orange led this one throughout, though Gray very nearly stole a march in the buffet. The game was a defensive battle over the first two innings, Ray Pilgrim keeping Gray off the board in the first two innings. The game opened with Orange left fielder Don Solberg making a terrific catch, going back and to his left, of Tommy Gillis’s deep drived. Ray walked Paul Rubin and gave up a two-out single to Morgan Witthoft, but got Mike Malay to ground a two-strike foul down the third-base side. In the second Ray issued a lead-off walk to Dave Jaffe, got two ground ball outs, allowed Tony Garcia’s two-out single, and retired Jim Maloy on a fly to left field.
Orange scored a single run off Jack Kelly in each of the first two innings. In the first, Peter Atkins doubled to left-center with two out and scored on Daniel Carvajal’s line single through the 5-6 hole. In the second, singles by David Brown, Marvin Krabbenhoft, and Boo Resnick loaded the bases with none out. (David took a wide turn on Marvin’s hit, a looped single just out of the reach of shortstop Tony Garcia, and got himself into a rundown, but was able to retreat back to second base safely.) Larry Shupe hit a short pop in front of the mound; Jack Kelly couldn’t get to it in the air, but had time to throw home for the force on David Brown for the first out. Don Solberg singled to right, Marvin scoring. But that was all Orange would get, as Jack got Clint Fletcher to pop out to second baseman Mike Malay and Terry O’Brien to ground into a 4-6 force, Mike to Tony.
Gray got on the board and briefly took the lead in the top of the third, scoring three runs on singles by the first six batters in the Gray order. Knocks by Tommy Gillis, Paul Rubin, and Adam Reddell loaded the bases. Morgan Witthoft’s pop-fly single to center scored Tommy, but Paul was thrown out on a nicely executed 9-6-2 relay, Clint Fletcher to David Brown to Marvin Krabbenhoft, Marvin making a clean catch of the short-hopped throw home. Singles by Mike Malay and Dave Jaffe scored Adam and Morgan, putting Gray ahead 3-2. Hal Darman’s grounder to shortstop David Brown resulted in a 6u., 6-4 double play – David fielded the ball, tagged out Mike Malay, and flipped to second baseman Boo Resnick for the force on Dave Jaffe.
Gray’s lead was short-lived, however, as Orange first four batters in the home half all reached and scored – Peter Atkins drew a lead-off walk, and Daniel Carvajal, Ray Pilgrim, and David Brown each singled, Peter and Daniel scoring. The runners held on Marvin Krabbenhoft’s fly to short left field and Boo Resnick’s pop to the middle of the diamond, caught by Jack Kelly. Larry Shupe’s single to the 5-6 hole loaded the bases, and Don Solberg knocked in Ray (or his pinch-runner, not sure) and David with a line single to right field. Clint Fletcher made a bid for extra bases with a drive to left-center, but Paul Rubin, going back and to his left, ran it down for the third out.
Ray Pilgrim retired the side in order in the top of the fourth, David Brown making a nice play on Tony Garcia’s grounder up the middle and throwing him out for the second out, and then Orange added to its lead with three runs in the home half, each of the first three hitters – Terry O’Brien, Peter Atkins, and Daniel Carvajal – ripping singles to right-center and eventually scoring, David Brown singling in Daniel.
Orange won the fifth inning as well, holding Gray to a single run in the top half (Paul Rubin and Adam Reddell singled, and Paul scored on Morgan Witthoft’s sacrifice fly to Clint Fletcher in right-center; the inning ended with a 1-6-4 force, Ray Pilgrim deflecting Mike Malay’s grounder up the middle to David Brown, who flipped to Boo Resnick for the force) and scoring two in the bottom half, Peter Atkins doubling in Don Solberg and Clint Fletcher, who’d singled ahead of him.
So Orange had an 11-4 lead entering the buffet. Gray made a go of a big rally, however, nine of its first ten batters reaching base. Dave Jaffe singled leading off. Hal Darman grounded to the 5-6 hole; David Brown fielded the ball, but threw past second base, Dave able to advance to third. Jack Kelly hit a sharp grounder down the first-base side that clipped Hal off the foot, for the first out, Jack credited with a single and Dave forced to return to third base. Tony Garcia singled off the pitcher and to shortstop, Dave scoring. Jim Maloy doubled to left-center, Jack’s pinch-runner scoring. Tommy Gillis walked, loading the bases. Paul Rubin singled through second base and into right field, Tony and Jim scoring, Tommy advancing to third. Adam Reddell’s fly to Clint Fletcher in right-center brought in Tommy. Line singles by Morgan Witthoft (to left-center) and Mike Malay (through the 5-6 hole) brought Paul in, cutting Orange’s lead to just one run. Dave Jaffe batted for the second time in the inning and grounded to shortstop David Brown, who threw to Boo Resnick at second for the game-ending force. Final score: Orange 11, Gray 10
12:30 p.m., Blue (6-1) at Green (2-5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 3 0 5 0 0 8 Green 1 5 0 3 X 9 Pitchers: Blue – Tommy Deleon (innings 1, 3, and 4) and David Pittard (inning 2); Green – Chunky Wright. Mercenaries: Blue – Anthony Galindo and Adam Reddell; Green – Clint Fletcher and Don Solberg. Umpires: home – David Brown; bases – Daniel Carvajal. Perfect at the plate: Blue – George Brindley and Steve Sandall (both 3 for 3); Clint Fletcher (2 for 2 with a double), Mike Garrison (3 for 3), Donnie Janac (2 for 2), and Ralph Villela (3 for 3 with a double and a triple).
Terrific game, and the best ending to a contest so far this season.
Blue jumped to a quick lead, as its first four batters singled and three scored to open the game. George Brindley’s knock to right-center scored Jim Foelker and Steve Sandall with the first two runs. Tom Brownfield fouled out to first baseman Chris Waddell for the first out. David Pittard’s line single to center scored Jimmy Sneed and sent George to third, but Chunky Wright escaped the inning by getting Daniel Baladez to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, Ralph Villela to Clint Fletcher to Chris.
Ralph then led off the home half with a pop fly hit to right field that got past George Brindley, Ralph winding up at third. He tagged and scored on Rick Kahn’s fly to Jim Foelker in right-center. Mike Garrison singled, but it was Blue’s turn to get out of the inning with a 6-4-3 double play, Jimmy Sneed to Tom Brownfield to Daniel Baladez (I think – I didn’t catch all of Blue’s defensive rotations), on Tim Coles’ grounder. (Tim, battling a muscle pull, used a runner from home in the 10:30 game, but went without in this one, and wisely did not run hard on his grounder.)
Blue went out in order in the top of the second, and Green grabbed the lead against David Pittard with five runs on six singles and Don Solberg’s triple in the bottom half, Don’s two-RBI hit and the last four singles all coming after two were out.
Blue matched that in the top of the third: five runs on eight consecutive one-out hits, seven singles and Jimmy Sneed’s double. Green did not score in the bottom of the third, Tommy Deleon returning to the mound and working around singles by Tim Coles and Donnie Janac.
Blue led 8-6 entering the fourth, but wasn’t able to add to the lead. Chunky Wright gave up a two-out single to Steve Sandall, his third hit in as many at bats, but got Jimmy Sneed to ground out to second baseman Clint Fletcher. Green then reclaimed the lead with three runs in the bottom half. Clint Fletcher led off with a drive to left field that Anthony Galindo, moving to his left, got to and got a glove on, but wasn’t able to hold; Clint, running hard out of the box, wound up at second with a double. Don Solberg popped a two-strike pitch foul down the first-base side for the first out. Ralph Villela lined a double to left-center, his third hit in three at bats (and three-quarters of a cycle), Clint scoring. Rick Kahn flied out to Jim Foelker in right-center, Ralph taking third. Mike Garrison lined a single past shortstop and into left field, Ralph trotting home with the tying run. Tim Coles slashed a double to right field, Mike scoring the go-ahead run from first. Chris Waddell flied out to Anthony Galindo in left to end the inning.
Blue needed one to tie entering the buffet and looked poised to do so when George Brindley and Tom Brownfield opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Jim Foelker ran for Tom. The tying and go-ahead runs were on base for David Pittard, 2 for his first 2 at bats. David squared up a pitch and hit a low line drive to the left of second base, right at a perfectly positioned Ralph Villela. I’m not sure I can do it justice, but Ralph made an amazing play on the ball: he somehow faked that it was going to short-hop him, by a shoulder shake and kind of stutter-stepping, but he caught it cleanly about six inches above the ground. The fake was enough to make George start for third base, and his momentum had him past Ralph by the time he saw that Ralph had caught the ball on the fly. Ralph took a step and a half and stepped on second base to double up George, and then had an easy throw to triple up Jim coming from first. For those scoring at home, it was a game-ending L-6, 6u., 6-3 TRIPLE PLAY, a stunning end to a close game.
Green first baseman Chris Waddell and shortstop Ralph Villela moments after they turned a game-ending triple play.
Final score: Green 9, Blue 8
Session 2 standings:
| Session 2 | Games | Runs | Runs | Run dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Blue | 6 | 2 | .750 | 0 | 99 | 70 | 29 | L1 |
| Purple | 6 | 2 | .750 | 0 | 94 | 88 | 6 | L1 |
| Maroon | 5 | 4 | .556 | 1.5 | 109 | 102 | 7 | L1 |
| Orange | 5 | 4 | .556 | 1.5 | 99 | 98 | 1 | W1 |
| Green | 3 | 5 | .375 | 3 | 101 | 107 | -6 | W2 |
| Red | 3 | 6 | .333 | 3.5 | 106 | 114 | -8 | W2 |
| Gray | 2 | 7 | .222 | 4.5 | 95 | 124 | -29 | L3 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins: | wins: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Blue | 3-0 | 3-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 3-0 | 0-1 | ||
| Purple | 2-2 | 4-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 | ||
| Maroon | 2-1 | 3-3 | 2 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 2-1 | ||
| Orange | 3-2 | 2-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 2-0 | ||
| Green | 2-3 | 1-2 | 1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 2-1 | ||
| Red | 2-4 | 1-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0-1 | ||
| Gray | 1-3 | 1-4 | 1 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | X | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| Gray | 1 | X | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Green | 1 | 2 | X | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Maroon | 1 | 3 | 2 | X | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Orange | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | X | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Purple | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | X | 2 | 10 |
| Red | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | X | 7 |
| TOTAL: | 5 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 54 |
2025 season home run leaders:
Bobby Miller – 4
George Brindley – 3
Tim Coles – 3
Anthony Galindo – 3
Tommy Gillis – 3
Tim Bruton – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Rex Horvath – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
David Brown – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Tony Garcia – 1
Mike Garrison – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Terry O’Brien – 1
Jimmy Sneed – 1
Jack Spellman – 1
Jeff Stone – 1
Mike Velaney – 1
Chris Waddell – 1
Chunky Wright – 1
Schedule for Monday May 12:
10:30 a.m.: Green (3-5) at Maroon (5-4), Purple umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Purple (6-2) at Blue (6-2), Maroon umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Red (3-6) at Gray (2-7), Blue umpiring
Orange has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: We are just over halfway through Session 2, 11 dates played out of 21, with two rainouts. (Still kicking myself for my misplay of Scott Wright’s pop this past Monday, which cost Gray a win and effectively made May 5 a total washout.) Purple and Blue will battle for first place in the 11:30 game, Red and Gray to escape the cellar at 12:30. Green will try to turn another triple play at 10:30, versus Maroon. I think most of the players absent the last week-plus, due to the Grapevine tourney and/or commitments to appear at the Met Gala, will be in attendance Monday. I’ll be taking the first of three season-interrupting mini-vacations beginning the middle of next week, possibly messing up the Picayune delivery schedule. Will the air-traffic-control issues at Newark’s Liberty International Airport result in a delayed return flight to Austin? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Jeff Broussard passes along the sad news of the death last week of longtime B Leaguer Herb Kneisley at age 78: https://www.dignitymemorial.