Game Day Gazette
April 21,2025
Another beautiful day to play ball. Great seeing so many guys out here to enjoy the games. Despite having a bye, there were five players for the Keystones that showed up this morning including three that took advantage of their priority status and were able to play in the 1st game.
Game 1 8:30 a.m. Sultans (4-7-0) vs. Pioneers (5-6-0)
This game had a little bit of everything. Big innings, strong pitching and a come-from-behind walk off win. The Pioneers were clearly helped by the four mercenaries that they picked up in the draw including the three Keystone players noted above (Ken Brown, Patrick Schmidt and Barry McRee) along with Henry Flores.
First & Second Inning Recap:
Sultans– picked up three runs in the 1st in what could have been a bigger inning after the first five batters reached base. Phil Stanch led off with a single and scored on Donnie Janac’s double. Peter Atkins hit a short fly to right field and with the outfield shifted the other way, he was able to circle the bases for an unlikely inside the park two-run homer. Jeff Broussard and Lucky Hoffman followed with back-to-back singles to put men on 1B and 2B with no outs. Gary Coyle hit into a fielder’s choice at 2B for the first out and Ray Pilgrim bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. 2nd– Adam Gordon singled leading off the 2nd. Don Roets reached on an infield hit and Chris Hurst singled to left to load the bases with nobody out. Ray Saldana ground into a force at 3B as Adam scored the 1st run. Chris Villareal doubled on a hit to CF to drive in the 2nd run. Phil’s single brought in the 3rd run. Donnie drove in Chris with a single for the 4th run. After Peter flew out to CF, Jeff picked up an RBI on an infield hit to complete the scoring and put the Sultans ahead by eight runs.
Pioneers- Ray Pilgrim took the mound for the Sultans as manager, Jack Kelly, sat this one out. Early on, this looked to be a brilliant managerial decision as Ray shut down the Pioneers on no runs and only two hits in each of the 1st two innings. Lead off hitter, Scott Wright, collected his 11th hit to go along with a walk in his twelfth leadoff at-bat for the Pioneers this season! Larry King fouled out for the 1st out and Sal Lopez popped out to SS for the 2nd out. Butch Barber had a two-out single but was forced out at 2B on Gene Nelson’s grounder to SS to end the inning. 2nd– Mickey Poole led off the inning with a single. Jack Adams popped out to 2B ahead of Ken Brown’s double. Patrick Schmidt ground out to 1B for the 2nd out and the runners were unable to advance. P Ray Pilgrim then got Barry McRee to ground out to SS for the final out as the Sultans jumped to an early 8-0 lead.
End of 2nd Score: Sultans 8 Pioneers 0
Third Inning Recap:
Sultans– with the Pioneers down by eight runs, it was up to their ace pitcher, Sal Lopez, to keep them in the game by shutting down the Sultan bats to allow his team to mount a comeback. The Sultans complied by going down in order in the 3rd as Lucky fouled out, Gary popped out to SS and Ray grounded out to Ken at short for the final out.
Pioneers- got themselves back in the game with a big five-run outburst in the 3rd. Henry Flores singled to open the inning. Scott walked and Larry ripped a single to left to load the bases. Sal slapped a single to left to bring in the first two runs of the day for the Pioneers. Butch doubled to right center to score Larry with the 3rd run. Gene popped out for the 1st out but Mickey and Jack Adams came through with back-to-back run scoring singles to complete the five-run inning and narrow the Sultans lead to three runs.
End of 3rd Score: Sultans 8 Pioneers 5
Fourth Inning Recap:
Sultans- Sal had his 2nd consecutive shutout inning as he retired all three batters he faced in the 4th. Adam bounced out to SS Ken Brown. Don flew out to CF and Chris grounded to SS to end the inning (see last edition of the Gazette for Rule # 1 of C league softball, regardless of where he is playing, try to avoid hitting the ball to Ken Brown if you have any hope of getting on base).
Pioneers- Ray shut the Pioneers down on one hit to keep the Sultans lead at three runs. Ken hit a ball back to P Ray Pilgrim to open the inning and Chris H. made a great play on a low throw to 1B for the first out. Patrick singled but was forced out at 2B on Barry’s groundball and Henry struck out to end the inning.
End of 4th Score: Sultans 8 Pioneers 5
Fifth Inning Recap:
Sultans- Ray S. led off the 5th with a groundball to where else (SS) for the 1st out (7th consecutive out for the Sultans!). Chris V. broke the streak with a line single up the middle. Phil fouled out on a nice catch by C Gene Nelson for the 2nd out and Donnie ended the inning with a fielder’s choice grounder to short.
Pioneers- were able to put up a couple of runs to close the Sultans lead to one run. Scott, showing some heretofore unseen power, blasted a shot to right center for a lead-off home run to get things started for the Pioneers. Larry and Sal followed with back-to-back singles. Butch flew out to CF, but Mickey came up with a big two-out shot to CF to score Larry with the 2nd run of the inning.
End of 5th Score: Sultans 8 Pioneers 7
Sixth Inning Recap:
Sultans- Sal hurled his 4th consecutive shutout inning as he set the Sultans down in order in the 6th. Peter led off with a popup to 2B. Jeff lined out to Sal for the 2nd out and Lucky lined out to short to end the inning with the Sultans hanging on to a precarious one-run lead.
Pioneers- Ken led off the Pioneers final at-bat with a double down the left field line. Patrick singled to drive in Ken with the tying run. Barry singled to move Patrick to 2B. Henry bounced into a fielder’s choice at 2B for the 1st out. Scott ended the game with a walk-off hit to score Patrick and give the Pioneers a thrilling come from behind 9-8 victory!
Final Score: Pioneers 9 Sultans 8
Game 2 9:30 a.m. Senators (6-5-0) vs. Braves (8-3-0)
First & Second Inning Recap:
Senators- riding a four-game winning streak that included a commanding 13-5 win over the Braves, the Senators were looking to knock off the front-running Braves. Terry Thompson opened the game by flying out to Bobby Miller in CF. Henry Flores followed with a line drive to LC that SS Paul Rubin was able to spear for the 2nd out (proving that “white men” can jump at least a little!) Greg Lloyd ended the inning by grounding out to SS. 2nd– Raul DeLeon singled to lead off the 2nd but was forced out at 2B on Terry Watts groundout. Curt Ashmos flew out to Bobby in CF for the 2nd out but Terry W. not realizing this was only the 2nd out was running with the hit and ended up getting doubled off at 1B for an inning ending double play.
Braves-Bobby Miller led off with a booming triple over Terry T.’s head and scored on Paul Rubin’s double to left. Lynn Simpson rapped a single up the middle to score Paul with the 2nd run. Doc Hobar singled and Tom Kelm was retired for the 1st out. Tom Brownfield ripped a two-run single to score Lynn and Doc. Joe Dayoc and Brian Rider had back-to-back singles to bring in the 5th run of the inning. 2nd– Raul DeLeon was able to retire the first two batters (Dave Jaffe and Jim Foelker) in the 2nd but Gene Nelson (Brave’s only mercenary) extended the inning with a two-out single. Bobby doubled to put runners on 2B and 3B and Paul singled up the middle to score both runners and put the Braves up by seven runs.
End of 2nd Score: Braves 7 Senators 0
Third Inning Recap:
Senators– finally got on the scoreboard with two runs in the 3rd. Jerry Mylius flew out to RF to open the inning. Will Scheerer followed with a single, but Roger Geras fouled out for the 2nd out of the frame. Scott Wright crushed a ball to right that split the outfielders for an RBI triple. Donne Janac singled to score Scott with the 2nd run. Terry T. made the final out of the inning as he flew out to Dave Jaffe in RF.
Braves– bounced back with two runs in the 3rd with the key hit being a two-run home run over the left field fence by slugger, Tom Brownfield, scoring Doc who led off the inning with a single.
End of 3rd Score: Braves 9 Senators 2
Fourth Inning Recap:
Senators- put up two more runs in the 4th. Henry led off with a single and moved to 3B on Greg’s double to right. Raul singled to drive in Henry with the 1st run of the inning. Greg scored the 2nd run on Terry W.’s sacrifice fly to RF. Curt ripped a one-out line drive to short that Paul was able to hold on to for the 2nd out. Jerry made the final out as he fouled out to the right side.
Braves- extended their lead to ten runs with a five-run outburst in the 4th. Dave led off the inning by lining out to Raul for the 1st out. Jim and Gene followed with back-to-back singles. Bobby continued to swing a hot bat with his 2nd triple of the game to score both runners. Paul’s single to left scored Bobby with the 3rd run of the frame. Lynn grounded into a fielder’s choice for the 2nd out. Doc singled and Tom Kem drove the ball to deep center field for a two-run triple as the Braves put up their 2nd five-run inning of the game.
End of 4th Score: Braves 14 Senators 4
Fifth Inning Recap:
Senators- continued to chip away at the Braves lead as they scored two more runs in the 5th. Will doubled leading off the inning and scored on Scott’s 2nd triple of the contest. Donnie came through with an RBI single to score Scott with the Pioneer’s 2nd run of the inning.
Braves- further stretched their lead with their third five-run inning of the game. Tom B. led off with a double and his pinch runner scored on Joe’s base hit. Brian struck out but Dave and Jim had back-to-back hits to load the bases. Gene stepped up and drove a ball to deep right center for a bases clearing triple to bring in three more runs. Bobby completed the scoring with his 4th hit of the day to score Gene with the 5th run.
End of 5th Score: Braves 19 Senators 6
Sixth Inning Recap:
Senators- continued to battle as the Senators put up four runs on six hits in the buffet before falling by a final score of 19-10.
Final Score: Braves 19 Senators 10
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|
ASSL C league 2025 1st Session- Final Standings |
|||||||
|
|
Win |
Loss |
Ties |
Win % |
Scored |
Given up |
Diff. |
Games Behind |
|
Braves |
9 |
3 |
0 |
0.750 |
171 |
124 |
47 |
– |
|
Senators |
6 |
6 |
0 |
0.500 |
159 |
158 |
1 |
3.00 |
|
Pioneers |
6 |
6 |
0 |
0.500 |
131 |
144 |
-13 |
3.00 |
|
Keystones |
5 |
7 |
0 |
0.417 |
155 |
155 |
0 |
4.00 |
|
Sultans |
4 |
8 |
0 |
0.333 |
142 |
177 |
-35 |
5.00 |
Congratulations to Tom Kelm and the Braves for winning the first session championship in runaway style. We will be playing a total of five sessions for the full season (twelve games spread over 15 play dates). After the 2nd session, the Board will look at the overall competitive balance in the league and determine if any rebalancing is needed based on our current rules.
Next Games: Thursday April 24, 2025
Thursday marks the first game in the 2nd session so all teams start the race with a clean slate!
Game 1 8:30 a.m. (H) Braves (0-0-0) vs. (V) Keystones (0-0-0)
Game 2 9:30 a.m. (H) Pioneers (0-0-0) vs. (V) Senators (0-0-0)
The Sultans will have a bye on Thursday and their players will have priority in the draw.
Just a friendly reminder that the annual Bobby Fund burger cookout (with master chef Bruce Barnett!) is scheduled for next Monday, April 28th. All current and former players are invited. This event is a fund raiser for the Bobby Fund that helps Senior softball league players and families in times of need. Please consider bringing a dessert to share and making a financial contribution to help this worthy cause. Thanks.
Paul Rubin