B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 65 – November 6, 2025
Department of Corrections:
Dave Berra checks in about mis-reporting concerning game two on Monday, the Maroon-versus-Orange contest:
Often in error: David Brown did NOT flip to David Pittard for a putout at third in game two; notice Pittard batted for Maroon three sentences later.
Also, I believe it was Ivan [Budiselic] thrown out at home on a questionable send by the addled-brain third base coach, me.
Dave is correct on both counts: (1) David Brown made the backhanded flip to third base in the top of the third inning to his teammate Ray Pilgrim, not David Pittard, playing for Maroon; and (2) it was Ivan, running for Tom Brownfield, who was thrown out at home 9-4-2 in the top of the second inning. The Picayune regrets the errors.
And Anthony Galindo corrects my (woeful) reporting on his remarks at the end-of-season luncheon: (1) Daniel Baladez and Marvin Krabbenhoft were members of the board this year; their terms are expiring; new board members have yet to be determined; and (2) it was Terry Watts, not Terry Thompson, who worked up the Texas Senior Softball Hall of Fame applications resulting in the induction of Jeff Broussard and Doc Hobar. The Picayune regrets these errors, too.
Games of Thursday November 6:
10:30 a.m.: Maroon (9-6) at Purple (6-9):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 5 5 1 1 1 3 16 Purple 1 2 5 0 2 1 11 Pitchers: Maroon – Jeff Stone; Purple – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Maroon – Donnie Janac, Ray Pilgrim, Jack Spellman, and Rip Wright; Purple – Peter Atkins and George Brindley. Umpires: home – David Brown and Daniel Carvajal; bases – Ken Mockler and Clint Fletcher. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Donnie Janac (4 for 4 with a double) and Jeff Stone (4 for 4 – Ohtani Award); Purple – Peter Atkins (1 for 1 with a double), Henry Flores (2 for 2 with a walk and a triple), and Mark Hernandez (4 for 4).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 71 degrees, felt like 71; humidity 75%; wind from the south, 5 MPH; sunny – wish every day was like this!
Maroon jumped to an early lead, scoring five runs on six hits in each of its first two at bats, building enough of a cushion that, even aided by series of pops dropped by fumble-fingered mercenary Jack Spellman, Purple couldn’t overcome the early deficit.
Maroon got four singles and run-scoring doubles by Don Solberg and Spellman to push across five runs in the top of the first, then somehow held Purple to a single run in an eventful bottom half. Richard Battle led off with a pop fly behind second and into short center field that Spellman reached, only for it to bang off the heel of my glove for a single. Raul Deleon followed with another pop to second, this one just beyond the infield and toward first base. I got under it, dropped it, but was able to recover and throw to second for the force on Richard or his runner, who was unable to head for second until the misplay was confirmed. Mark Hernandez and Spike Davidson both singled, loading the bases. Fritz Hensel grounded to shortstop Tony Garcia, who threw to second for the force; I had no chance of doubling up Fritz’s runner at first, so what the hell, I threw home, not coming close to getting Raul even with a good throw, which isn’t what I made – I skipped it past catcher Tom Kelm, Mark’s runner taking third. Rick Jensen grounded a ball to Tony at shortstop; Tony wasn’t about to throw to me at second, choosing instead to make a lollipop throw to Scott Wright at first for the third out.
Maroon scored another five in the top of the second, on Ray Pilgrim’s lead-off walk and six consecutive one-out singles. Purple got two back in the home half, further damage limited by an injury. Henry Flores walked and Larry Young singled to open the inning. Matt Levitt grounded into a 6-5 force, Tony Garcia to Spellman, whom Dave Berra wisely moved to third after the first-inning fiasco. George Brindley hit a hard grounder to the right of second base, and Dave’s managerial genius manifested as Scott Wright, newly installed at second base, made an outstanding play to his right to backhand the smash and toss to Tony for the force at second. Peter Atkins then stepped up and drove a pitch to right-center that gapped the outfielders and rolled to the fence; Larry’s runner and George both scored, but as he was rounded first Peter pulled a hamstring, which forced him to stop at second and then leave the game. I think Peter had at least a 50-50 chance of getting an inside-the-park home run on the ball before his hammy popped. Purple had been playing with 11, so they didn’t draw to fill Peter’s spot in the lineup. The inning ended with Richard Battle taking a called strike three.
Up by seven through two, Maroon wasn’t able to put Purple away. They scored a single run on two singles and some aggressive base running in the top of the third: Jack Spellman and Donnie Janac led off with hits; I tagged up on Ray Pilgrim’s fly to left, and when the relay to third skipped past, took off for home and scored. Spike Davidson retired the next two batters, getting Rip Wright on a two-strike foul and Ken Brown on a grounder to third base, good play and a strong cross-diamond throw by Larry Young. Purple then got back in the game by scoring five times in the bottom of the inning on six consecutive one-out hits: three singles, Rick Jensen’s RBI double, Henry Flores’s very well struck two-run triple to right-center, and Larry Young’s hit to deliver Henry with the fifth run.
Maroon opened the fourth inning with three consecutive singles, by Tony Garcia, Scott Wright, and Jeff Stone, but only managed to get a single run in, Tony scoring on Jeff’s hit. Tony then ran for Jeff. Don Solberg, batting right-handed, hit a fly to left field; Richard Battle made a good running catch, then threw to second trying to get Scott returning to the bag; but the throw skipped past Raul Deleon and continued on to first baseman Mark Hernandez. Tony thought he might be able to make second, but hesitated because it wasn’t clear Scott would advance, and he wound up being too far off the bag and was tagged out by Mark for a truly weird F-7, 7-3 double play. Tom Kelm followed with a single, the fourth in five batters, Scott taking third, but the runners were stranded when Spike Davidson caught Jack Spellman’s liner back to the box for the third out.
Purple wasn’t able to take advantage, however, going scoreless in the home half. Matt Levitt led off with a single on a ball that prompted one of the best exercises of umpiring I’ve seen in the B League. Matt hit a pop right behind third base – I knew I couldn’t get to it, so I called for Tony Garcia to go for it, but it didn’t have enough hang time for Tony to reach it. It landed… well, here, see for yourself:
This picture of the mark the ball left is untouched; I had AI add a ruler for scale, and hilariously, ChatGPT counted the inches 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 4. (It didn’t do any better on the other two iterations I tried before giving up: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 4 and 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7. Don’t even look at the centimeter count. It makes me think the AI apocalypse may not be quite so nigh.) Anyway, the picture is oriented so foul territory is to the left, fair territory to the right. You can see the circular mark that the ball left when it landed, the center of the mark lined up at “4” (the first “4”, oy) – clearly the ball hit the line, and therefore was fair. David Brown stopped play to go out to the spot and examine the evidence, and kudos to him for taking the time to get the call right.
Unfortunately for Purple, Matt had stopped at first base, and he was deprived of a double. George Brindley was next up and flied out to right-center, Donnie Janac making a good running catch. Richard Battle hit a short pop in front of third base, and Jack Spellman continued his adventures in the field, coming in and attempting a basket catch, dropping the ball, but able to corral it and throw to second for the force, Matt out after he’d held up thinking I’d make the catch. That made me 0 for 3 on pops on the day, and it felt like this:
Raul Deleon followed with a line single up the middle, but the inning ended with Richard thrown out 8-6-5, Ken Brown to Tony Garcia to Jack Spellman, trying for third – Tony made a laser strike of a throw from the grass behind second base, to the left of Richard coming into the bag.
Tony then hit the third of three singles by Maroon that resulted in the one run they scored in the top of the fifth. Purple won the inning, scoring two runs on Spike Davidson’s walk and three singles, Jeff Stone escaping without further damage thanks to a beautifully executed, inning-ending 4-6-3 double play: Larry Young grounded a ball to Scott Wright’s left; Scott fielded it cleanly, made a strong leading throw to Tony Garcia; and Tony made a smooth pivot and a strong throw to first baseman Ray Pilgrim to complete the deuce.
Maroon led 13-10 entering the buffet. Jeff Stone completed a 4-for-4 game with a lead-off single, and one out later Tom Kelm’s grounder to the 5-6 hole became his third hit of the game thanks to Ken Brown, running for Jeff, who beat the relay to second. Jack Spellman grounded into a 4-6 force, Raul Deleon to Rick Jensen, for the second out. Donnie Janac completed his 4-for-4 day by ripping a double to right-center, both Jeff’s runner and Spellman scoring. Ray Pilgrim’s single to left brought in Donnie, giving Maroon a six-run cushion entering the bottom of the inning.
Jeff Stone got two quick outs to start the inning, retiring Matt Levitt on a grounder to shortstop Tony Garcia and George Brindley on a pop to second baseman Scott Wright, who made catching a ball in the air look so, so easy. (So easy. How did he do that?) Richard Battle singled and Raul Deleon walked. Mark Hernandez completed his 4-for-4 day at the plate with a single to left that scored Richard. Spike Davidson came up and hit a sharp grounder up the middle, but Jeff made a terrific play with his glove hand to stab the ball, then made a clean throw to first for the game-ending out.
Final score: Maroon 16, Purple 11
Jeff Stone receives his league-leading tenth Ohtani Award of the season – so many, he can’t hold them all at once – as pop star Fujii Kaze looks on.
11:30 a.m.: Orange (12-3) at Red (7-7):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Orange 3 4 5 0 0 12 Red 3 2 1 5 2 13 Pitchers: Orange – Ray Pilgrim; Red – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Orange – Jim Foelker; Red – Tommy Gillis. Umpires: home – Rick Jensen; bases – Larry Young. Perfect at the plate: Orange – David Brown (2 for 2 with a walk and a double) and Ray Pilgrim (3 for 3); Red – Joe Bernal (3 for 3 – Ohtani Award), Jack McDermott (4 for 4 with a triple), and Peter Sundquist (4 for 4).
Weather update: a little warmer, still sunny and dry.
Looked through three like this would be bit of a blowout, but Joe Bernal retired Orange’s last six batters of the game while his Red teammates rallied over the final two innings to pull off a come-from-behind win.
Both teams scored three times in the first. Joe Bernal retired Orange’s first two hitters, but the next five reached, on four singles and a walk to David Brown, three coming across. Red’s first three hitters – Peter Sundquist, Jack McDermott, and Jack Spellman – singled, Peter and McDermott both scoring on Spellman’s base hit to right field. Spellman then advanced and scored on ground outs by Anthony Galindo, to third baseman Ken Mockler, and Gary Coyle, to shortstop David Brown.
Orange took the lead in the second, scoring four runs on five singles and aggressive base-running in the top of the inning – Jim Foelker, Clint Fletcher, and Daniel Carvajal all went first-to-third on singles and then scored, and David Brown scored the fourth run from second on Ray Pilgrim’s hit. Ken Mockler was next, and he hit a pop fly down the right-field line, a little ways behind first base, that Mark Dolan raced a long way to try to make a play on, only for the ball to glance off the brim of his hat and clip him in the face, bloodying him above his lip and below his nose, and precipitating his coming out of the game. Paul Rubin took over for Mark, playing left field while Jack McDermott moved to second base. Paul immediately made a good catch of Ken’s line drive to end the inning. (Incidentally: hat tip to Clint Fletcher for clarifying this sequence of events. I wouldn’t have gotten it so close to right without his invaluable input.)
Red got two back in the bottom of the inning on four consecutive one-out singles. Red had runners on second and third with one out, but dd not get either in, as Ray Pilgrim got Jack Spellman to ground out weakly to first baseman Daniel Carvajal and Anthony Galindo to line out to Clint Fletcher in left-center field.
Joe Bernal got two outs to start the third inning, but couldn’t get the third, Orange rallying on four singles, a walk to Daniel Carvajal, and David Brown’s double, which drove in the fourth and fifth runs of the inning. Ray Pilgrim then held Red to one run on three singles in the bottom half.
Orange led 12-6 entering the final five-run inning, but didn’t add to its lead in the top half. Ray Pilgrim led off with a single, completing a 3-for-3 day, but Joe Bernal got Ken Mockler and Terry Thompson to fly out, to Tommy Gillis in right field and Anthony Galindo in left-center, respectively, and Marvin Krabbenhoft to swing through a two-strike pitch. (Paul Rubin struck out swinging in the bottom of the third; as Terry O’Brien noted, it’s not often you see two swing-and-miss strikeouts in a B League game.)
Red rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fourth, on five singles, a walk, and Jack McDermott’s triple, cutting Orange’s lead to one run.
Joe Bernal kept Orange from adding to its lead in the top of the buffet. He got Larry Shupe to hit a pop in front of shortstop to open the inning, and Jack Spellman miraculously managed to hold on to the ball, albeit in the ugliest manner available, with a basket catch, the ball rattling around and then hugged to my gut. (One for four, baby!) Jim Foelker followed with a pop down the third-base side, Gary Coyle making a fundamentally sound and much more aesthetically pleasing catch for the second out. Clint Fletcher lofted a fly to left field, right at Paul Rubin, who squeezed it for the third out.
Red came up needing one run to tie and two to win. Jim McAnelly led off and squared up on a pitch, but his liner was hit directly to Clint Fletcher in left-center and was caught. That turned out to be the only out Red would make. Tommy Gillis singled down the third-base side. Peter Sundquist lined a single to left, his fourth in as many at bats, Tommy stopping at second. Hot-hitting Jack McDermott completed a 4-for-4 game with a single up the middle, Tommy scoring the tying run from second while Peter advanced to third. Jack Spellman came up needing to find the green, and he managed to do so, lining a single past third base, Peter trotting home with the winning run.
Final score: Red 13, Orange 12
Joe Bernal receives his sixth Ohtani Award of the season from chief engineer Masao Yoshida.
12:30 p.m.: Blue (5.5 – 8.5) at Gray (4-10):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 2 5 5 0 1 13 Gray 3 4 5 0 2 14 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Gray – Terry Thompson. Mercenaries: Blue – Joe Bernal and Peter Sundquist; Gray – David Brown, Jack McDermott, and Terry Thompson. Umpires: home – Jim McAnelly; bases – Jack Spellman. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Steve Sandall (3 for 3) and Jimmy Sneed (3 for 3 with a double); Gray – Johnny Lee (3 for 3) and Paul Rubin (4 for 4).
Another walk-off! Both teams had mercenaries on the mound, Terry Thompson filling in for Gray’s Jack Kelly, Joe Bernal pitching in place of Tommy Deleon, taking it easy (and beer-free, to the amazement of many) in advance of an afternoon doctor’s appointment. Hitters ruled in the early innings, as the teams battled to a 12-12 deadlock through three.
Blue scored two in the top of the first. Steve Sandall and Jimmy Sneed led off the game with singles, and Steve scored on George Brindley’s 6-4 force-out grounder. George moved up when Tom Brownfield drew a walk. Jim Foelker hit a pop toward shortstop, pushing David Brown back onto the outfield grass; I was umpiring the bases, and I judged it a routine play for David, and called it an infield fly. George Brindley saw that third baseman George Romo was not near third base, so he tagged and took off, and then was able to score when David’s throw got past George Romo. Something like that – it was pretty chaotic – but in any case, it was a very B League play, a fast runner creating a scoring opportunity out of a pop-up caught ten feet beyond the infield dirt by the player with the best infield arm in the league.
Gray shook it off and scored three runs in the home half to win the inning. George Romo’s triple was the big hit, a line drive to left-center that Peter Sundquist made a diving attempt to catch, only for the ball to skip past, Paul Rubin scoring from first after he’d led off the inning with a single. The next three batters singled: Morgan Witthoft to shortstop, a ball Jimmy Sneed couldn’t make a play on, George scoring; Johnny Lee on a hard-hit ball up the middle that deflected off Joe Bernal and into right field, Morgan moving to third; and Dave Jaffe on a grounder to third base, no play to be made, that loaded the bases. Jimmy Sneed fielded Hal Darman’s grounder to the 5-6 hole and threw to third for the force there, Morgan scoring to put Green ahead 3-2. Joe Bernal got David Brown to fly out to Jim Foelker in right field for the third out, stranding two runners.
The two teams combined to score 19 of a possible 20 runs in the second and third. Blue got five and five, scoring five times on six singles and George Brindley’s double in the top of the third, all the runs coming across after Morgan Witthoft made excellent back-to-back catches of line drives by Alvin Gauna and Peter Sundquist; and then five times on four singles, Rip Wright’s walk, and Jimmy Sneed’s double, which drove in the fifth run. No way of knowing it at the time, but Blue’s 1-2 hitters, Steve Sandall and Jimmy, would not hit again after the third inning, both finishing 3 for 3 at the plate.
Gray scored four runs in the bottom of the third on five singles. A walk to Dave Jaffe put the fifth run at second, but second baseman Rip Wright fielded Hal Darman’s grounder and took the force at second himself to end the inning. Gray got the full five runs in the fourth, on seven singles, Johnny Lee driving in the fifth run with his third hit of the game, a single to left field, just fair, that surprised Blue defenders looking for him to go oppo.
Neither team scored in the fourth. Terry Thompson retired Blue’s 3-4-5 hitters, George Brindley, Tom Brownfield, and Jim Foelker, in order in the top of the frame. Joe Bernal got Dave Jaffe to fly out to George Brindley in left-center to start the home half. Hal Darman and David Brown both grounded back to the box, but, uncharacteristically, Joe wasn’t able to get a handle on either ball, both going for infield singles. Didn’t matter: Joe got Jack McDermott to ground to Jimmy Sneed, who got the force at second himself for the second out; and then Joe got Terry Thompson to hit another fly to left-center; George Brindley got a late break on the ball, but made a good running catch for the final out.
So it was still 12-12 entering the buffet. Daniel Baladez led off for Blue and singled to start the top of the inning. Jimmy Sneed pinch-ran and took second on Rip Wright’s 1-3 ground out, on a little loop to the right of the mound. Alvin Gauna grounded a ball to third baseman George Romo; George’s throw sailed past Johnny Lee, Alvin safe and Jimmy able to score from second. Peter Sundquist walked. Joe Bernal grounded to shortstop David Brown, who turned a terrific 6u., 6-3, inning-ending double play: David had to take two full steps to just beat Peter to second, then made a strong throw to Johnny Lee to beat Joe by a step.
Gray, like Red in the previous game, came up needing one to tie, two to win. They didn’t make an out in putting together the winning rally. Paul Rubin singled up the middle. Tommy Gillis lined a single to left, Paul stopping at second. George Romo ripped a base hit to left-center, Paul scoring to tie the game. Morgan Witthoft grounded a ball up the middle – Joe Bernal couldn’t get a handle on it, it took two more hops, bounced off the second-base bag and past shortstop Jimmy Sneed, who’d been anticipating taking Joe’s throw and going for a double play. Off on contact, Tommy easily scored the winning run.
Final score: Gray 14, Blue 13, Gray ending its four-game losing streak.
Session 4 standings:
| Session 4 | Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Orange | 12 | 4 | .750 | 0 | 209 | 169 | 40 | L2 |
| Maroon | 10 | 6 | .625 | 2 | 184 | 165 | 19 | W3 |
| Red | 8 | 7 | .533 | 3.5 | 166 | 173 | -7 | W2 |
| Green | 7.5 | 7.5 | .500 | 4 | 176 | 161 | 15 | W3 |
| Purple | 6 | 10 | .375 | 6 | 167 | 196 | -29 | L3 |
| Blue | 5.5 | 9.5 | .367 | 6 | 164 | 175 | -11 | L2 |
| Gray | 5 | 10 | .333 | 6.5 | 145 | 172 | -27 | W1 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Orange | 6-1 | 6-3 | 2 | 0-0 | 5-2 | 2-2 | ||
| Maroon | 5-3 | 5-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1-1 | ||
| Red | 6-2 | 2-5 | 2 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 4-0 | ||
| Green | 4-3 | 3.5-4.5 | 1 | 0.5-0.5 | 1-1 | 2-3 | ||
| Purple | 4-5 | 2-6 | 2 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 2-2 | ||
| Blue | 3.5-3.5 | 1-6 | 0 | 0.5-0.5 | 3-2 | 0-1 | ||
| Gray | 3-5 | 2-5 | 1 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 1-3 |
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | X | 2 | 6.5 | 3 | 4.5 | 5 | 5 | 26 |
| Gray | 7 | X | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 23 |
| Green | 3.5 | 7 | X | 4.5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 26 |
| Maroon | 5 | 6 | 6.5 | X | 5 | 7 | 3 | 32.5 |
| Orange | 5.5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | X | 6 | 5 | 32.5 |
| Purple | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | X | 8 | 26 |
| Red | 3 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 2 | X | 23 |
| TOTAL: | 28 | 30 | 27 | 22.5 | 21.5 | 28 | 32 | 189 |
Green and Maroon tied their game of August 7; Orange and Blue tied their game of August 28; Green and Blue tied their game of October 2; these are counted as half a win and half a loss for each team.
Full-season standings:
| Wins | Losses | Win % | GB | |
| Orange | 32.5 | 21.5 | .602 | 0.0 |
| Maroon | 32.5 | 22.5 | .591 | 0.5 |
| Green | 26 | 27 | .491 | 6.0 |
| Purple | 26 | 28 | .481 | 6.5 |
| Blue | 26 | 28 | .481 | 6.5 |
| Gray | 23 | 30 | .434 | 9.0 |
| Red | 23 | 32 | .418 | 10.0 |
2025 season home run leaders:
David Brown – 8
Mike Garrison – 7
Bobby Miller – 6
Ralph Villela – 6
George Brindley – 5
Tim Coles – 5
Anthony Galindo – 4
Tommy Gillis – 4
Jack Spellman – 4
Larry Fiorentino – 3
Doc Hobar – 3
Mike Malay – 3
Jack McDermott – 3
Paul Rubin – 3
Jimmy Sneed – 3
Tim Bruton – 2
Tony Garcia – 2
Rex Horvath – 2
Matt Levitt – 2
Terry O’Brien – 2
George Romo – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Scott Wright – 2
Jim Aaron – 1
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Ken Brown – 1
Gary Coyle – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Ken Mockler – 1
Ray Pilgrim – 1
Jeff Stone – 1
Mike Velaney – 1
Chris Waddell – 1
Chunky Wright – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Scott Wright – June 5
Walk-off grand slam:
David Brown (inside the park) – August 4
Ohtanis (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Jeff Stone – 10 (March 20, April 17, July 17, July 21, July 28, September 11, September 15 (2), September 29, November 6)
Spike Davidson – 7 (June 19, June 30, August 4, August 7, August 14, September 8, October 9)
Joe Bernal – 6 (March 3, April 3, June 5, October 2, November 3, November 6)
Tommy Deleon – 6 (March 3, March 13, April 14, April 28, May 12, September 8)
Tom Kelm – 4 (March 3, March 13, May 1, June 16)
Ray Pilgrim – 4 (April 14, August 4, August 7, October 16)
Terry Thompson – 3 (July 31, September 15, September 29)
Chunky Wright – 3 (June 9, October 30, November 3)
Donald Drummer – 2 (May 1, August 11)
Jack Kelly – 2 (March 10, May 12)
David Pittard – 2 (June 2, October 13)
Greg Lloyd – 1 (June 26)
Schedule for Monday November 10:
10:30 a.m.: Red (8-7) at Green (7.5 – 7.5), Purple umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Purple (6-10) at Blue (5.5 – 9.5), Green umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Gray (5-10) at Orange (12-4), Blue umpiring
Maroon has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Penultimate set of games for the regular season, and as you can see above, they all matter in determining seeding for the end-of-year tourney, still very much up in the air. Maroon, which has the bye, is just half a game behind Orange for the first seed. Orange can guarantee itself the bye on tournament day one by beating Gray Monday at 12:30 and Green next Thursday. Gray has just a one-game lead over Red for the sixth seed, which will play either Blue, Green, or Purple on the first day of the tourney; the seventh seed has to play whichever of Orange and Maroon finishes second. Red, playing its best ball of the season recently, faces Green at 10:30. Green is half a game ahead Blue and Purple in the scrum for the 3-4-5 seeds. The 3-4 seeds play as home team on day one of the tourney. Green can just about secure the 3 seed with a win over Red Monday. The winner of Monday’s Purple-Blue game might be stuck at 5, playing as visitor in the tourney. Meanwhile, the early forecast for Monday is for a high of around 60 degrees. Will this be an advantage for Red, with cold-weather guys Spellman and Sundquist at the top of its lineup? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Happy Four Seasons Total Landscaping Day tomorrow to those who celebrate. Keep an eye on your email Sunday for word about possible change of game times on Monday.