Game Day Gazette
August13, 2026
Special thanks to our intrepid reporters, Johnny Neville and Dave Berra, for their first-hand accounts of the goings on at Krieg #2 this morning as I was unable to make the game in person due to illness. I hope nobody got caught up in the traffic delays along IH35 this morning. It’s been nice to be able to breeze in without a worry over the last few months but with kids back in school it’s all going to change. It looks like my fears of being short-handed due to the tournament in Colorado were not realized as all the mercenaries in the first game came from the Orange team, which were on a bye, giving them priority in the draw. Green was down five players but only one (Luis Sanchez) was off to the mountains to play ball.
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Game 1: Green (5-5-1) vs. Blue (5-8-0) 8:00 a.m. 8/13/26 |
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
Total |
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Green |
5 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
X |
17 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Blue |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
7 |
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Starting pitchers- Green- Tom Kelm; Blue- Tommy DeLeon |
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Mercenaries: Green- Scott Wright, Gary Coyle, Bobby Hawthorne, Barry McRee and |
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Greg Tolander; Blue- Jim Foelker |
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Home Plate Umpire- Morris Carter |
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First & Second Inning Recap:
Green- P Tommy DeLeon struggled to find the plate early on and walked the first two batters. Mickey Poole made him pay with an RBI single to score Jack Spellman with the 1st run. Tom Kelm followed with a two-run double and Green was off and running. William Powell was retired on a groundball to 3B for the 1st out. Robby Vickery singled to move Tom’s pinch runner to 3B. He scored on Scott Wright’s single. Not exactly sure what happened here but apparently home plate umpire Morris Carter thought the 5th run had scored and the inning was over. Upon further review with Bobby, it was determined that only four runs had scored so the inning was concluded in Green’s next at bat (?). 2nd – Bobby Hawthorne led off the 2nd with a base hit. Barry McRee and Greg Tolander followed with back-to-back hits to load the bases. Leadoff man, Jack Spellman drove a single to right to bring in two runs. Denny knocked in two more runs with an RBI double. After Mickey went down on strikes for the 1st out, Tom smacked a single to drive in the 5th run and complete the inning with Green up by ten runs.
Blue– having to dig themselves out of a big hole, Blue struggled against P Tom Kelm. Tommy DeLeon led off with a single and moved to 2B on Mike Hill’s walk. Tom was able to retire Tim Coles on a fielder’s choice groundout to 3B for the 1st out. Raul DeLeon drove in the 1st run with a sacrifice fly to right center. Don Roets bounced into a fielder’s choice to end the frame. 2nd– P Tom Kelm, building on his masterful pitching performance on Monday against Red, set down the Blue hitters in order in the 2nd. Henry Flores went down on strikes, Johnny Neville grounded out to 2B, and Donnie Janac fouled out as Tom ran his streak of consecutive batters set down to six.
End of 2nd Score: Green 10 Blue 1
3rd Inning Recap:
Green– P Tommy D. kept things from getting out of hand by shutting down Green on a hit and no runs in the 3rd inning. William singled to open the frame, but Tommy retired Robby on a pop fly to 1B, Scott on a flyball to right center and Gary on a fielder’s choice to close out the inning.
Blue– P Tom Kelm ran his streak of consecutive batters retired to nine by shutting Blue down in order in the 3rd. Dave Berra flew out to center to start the frame. Lucky Hoffman popped out to 1B, and Daniel Baladez grounded out to short for a quick 1-2-3 inning.
End of 3rd Score: Green 10 Blue 1
Fourth Inning Recap:
Green- extended their lead with a couple of runs in the 4th inning. P Tommy D. quickly got tow outs from the bottom of the lineup, but the top came through as Jack S. singled and Denny drew his 2nd walk of the game to load the bases. Mickey came through with the big hit as his single drove in two runs,
Blue– lone mercenary, Jim Foelker, finally got to bat in the bottom of the 4th, Jim took full advantage as he blasted a leadoff triple. Tommy lined out to 2B for the 1st out, but Mike delivered an RBI single to get Blue on the board. Tim followed with an RBI double before P Tom K. retired Raul and Don to get out of the inning.
End of 4th Score: Green 12 Blue 3
Fifth Inning Recap:
Green- put this one away with yet another five-run inning to extend their lead to fourteen runs. The rally started after Willima was retired on a grounder to 3B. Robby and Scott had back-to-back singles. Gary drove in the 1st run with a base hit. Bobby’s single loaded the bases and Barry knocked in the 2nd run with a single. Greg’s sacrifice fly to left allowed Gary to come home with the 3rd run in the frame. Jack S. completed his perfect day at the plate (3-3 with a walk) with an RBI single. Denny did likewise (2-2 with two walks and a double) to complete Green’s five run inning. Barry was also perfect at the plate with three hits in as many at bats in this one-side affair.
Blue– another frustrating at bat for Blue as they were held scoreless despite a couple of hits. Henry opened the inning with a single but the next two batters hit into fielder’s choice groundouts. Dave smacked a two-out single, but Tom got Lucky on a comebacker to end the inning,
End of 5th Score: Green 17 Blue 3
Sixth “Open” Inning Recap:
At this point with Blue trailing by more than ten runs, the teams flip flopped.
Blue– finally woke up the bats but too little too late. Daniel led off the buffet with a double and scores on Jim’s two-base hit. Tommy put up the 3rd consecutive double to bring in the 2nd run. Mike fouled out for the 1st out and Tom retired Tim on a grounder to short. Raul smacked Blue’s 4th double of the frame to bring in the 3rd run. Don single to move Raul to 3B and he scored on Henry’s base hit. Johnny lined out to short to end the ball game with Green coming out victorious.
Final Score: Green 17 Blue 7
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Game 2: Red (5-7-0) vs. Gray (6-5-1) 9:00 a.m. 8/13/26 |
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
Total |
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Red |
0 |
2 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
X |
17 |
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Gray |
5 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
X |
12 |
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Starting pitchers- Red- Jack Kelly; Gray- Ray Pilgrim |
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Mercenaries- Red- Jack Adams and Jim Foelker |
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Gray- Adam Gordon and Barry McRee |
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Umpires- Home Plate- Johnny Neville and Bases- Don Roets |
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First & Second Inning Recap:
Red– loaded the bases with one out on singles by Patrick Schmidt and John Flowers and a walk to Ken Brown. Scott Wright turned a 6U 6-3 double play on Terry Watt’s grounder to get P Ray Pilgrim out of a jam and close out the scoreless first inning. 2nd– Bobby Hawthorne and Gene Nelson opened the 2nd with back-to-back singles. Jack Kelly bounced into a force out at 2B for the first out. Morris Carter knocked in Red’s first run with a single to score Bobby. Jack Adams drew a walk to load the bases for Jim Foelker. Jim responded with an RBI single to up Red’s lead to two runs. Ray managed to stop the bleeding by getting Scotty on a pop fly to short and Patrick on a grounder to 2B to retire the side.
Gray- last time these teams met, Gray eked out a walk off 10-9 win. It looked like more of the same as Gray put up a five-spot in the 1st. Mr. Leadoff, Scotty Wright, singled to get things started for Gray. Mike Carroll grounded out to 2B for the 1st out. Peter Atkins drove in the 1st run with a single. Gary Coyle reached on an infield single. Ray Pilgrim reached due to some shaky infield play allowing Peter to score the 2nd run. Lynn Simpson smashed a two-run double to keep the rally going. New guy, Louie Caputo, drove in the 5th run with a base hit to wrap up the inning. 2nd– P Jack Kelly retired the first batter in the 2nd but Margarito Canava singled. Adam Gordon bounced into a force out at 2B for the 2nd out. Barry’s single put runners on 1B and 2B for Mr. Leadoff. Scott came through with a bases clearing double (I’m imagining a deep flyball down the right field line!). Jack managed to avoid any further damage as he retired Peter on a flyball to center.
End of 2nd Score: Gray 7 Red 2
Third Inning Recap:
Red-marched eight batters to the plate without making a single out in route to their 1st five-run inning (spoiler alert, there will be more!). P Ray Pilgrim did not help matters by interspersing three walks throughout the lineup. John singled and Ken doubled to open the frame. Terry walked to load the bases. Bobby knocked in the 1st run as the bases remained loaded. Gene’s walk forced in the 2nd run. Jack K. stroked an RBI single for the 3rd run. Morris took a free pass to force in run #4. Jack Adams smacked an RBI single to put a bow on Red’s five run inning and knot the score at 7-7.
Gray- failed to take back the lead as Jack pitched carefully around the potent Gray lineup. He retired the always dangerous, Gary Coyle, on a groundball to short for the 1st out. Ray smacked a single but was forced out at 2B on Lynn’s grounder to 3B. Louie stayed perfect at the plate in a Gray uniform with a base hit but Larry Coons popped out to 1B to end the threat.
End of 3rd Score: Gray 7 Red 7
Fourth Inning Recap:
Red- continued to get runners on and move them around with six hits and a walk in the 4th. Jim F. started the frame with a single. Doc picked up his first hit and Patrick followed with a base hit to load the bases. John picked up his 3rd hit of the game to drive in the 1st run, Ken grounded one to 3B and Gary made the unassisted putout for the 1st out as Doc scored from 3B. Terry walked to fill the bases for the 2nd time. Bobby lined a single to drive in two more runs before Gene’s single knocked in the fifth run.
Gray- P Jack Kelly continued to mystify the Gray hitters with his dazzling assortment of slow stuff. Margarito ground out to short to start the inning. Adam reached on a single before Barry flew out to right field and Scotty bounced into a fielder’s choice to retire the side.
End of 4th Score: Red 12 Gray 7
Fifth “Open” Inning Recap:
Red- after their slow start, Red went on a hitting rampage with their 3rd consecutive five-run inning. Jack K. reached on an infield hit, but Morris went down looking for the 1st out. The mercenaries flexed their collective muscle as Jack A. boomed a triple and Jim followed with a double. Between the two of them, they were 5-5 at the plate with three runs scored and four runs batted in. Not a bad day work! Not to be outdone, the top of the order stepped up as Doc and Patrick singled to bring in the 3rd run. John completed a perfect 4-4 day at the plate with an RBI single. Ken matched that perfection with an RBI single to go 3-3 with a walk, The last run gave Red a ten-run lead and the teams flip flopped. I would be remiss if I did not mention that Gene and Bobby were also perfect at the plate in this contest.
Gray- playing for pride, Gray finally solved the Jack Kelly riddle and put up five runs to make the final score a little more respectable. Mike and Peter led off with back-to-back single, but Gary bounced into a fielder’s choice for the 1st out. Ray blasted a two-run double to cut into the lead. Lynn drove home his pinch runner with a single. Louie capped his perfect 3-3 day with another single to move Lynn to 3B. He scored on Larry’s base hit, and the lead was down to six. Margarito’s single loaded the bases, but Jack was able to get both Adam and Barry to hit fielder’s choice grounders to 3B and get the final two outs.
Final Score: Red 17 Gray 12
Current Session Standings:
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ASSL C league 2026 3rd Session Standings |
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Win |
Loss |
Ties |
Win % |
Scored |
Given up |
Diff. |
Games Behind |
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Orange |
8 |
4 |
0 |
0.667 |
132 |
111 |
21 |
– |
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Green |
6 |
5 |
1 |
0.500 |
147 |
133 |
14 |
1.50 |
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Gray |
6 |
6 |
1 |
0.462 |
132 |
154 |
-22 |
2.00 |
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Red |
6 |
7 |
0 |
0.462 |
114 |
121 |
-7 |
2.50 |
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Blue |
5 |
9 |
0 |
0.357 |
152 |
158 |
-6 |
4.00 |
Orange solidified their hold on first place with Gray’s loss to Red.
Season-to-date Standings:
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ASSL C league 2026 Season to-date Standings |
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Win |
Loss |
Ties |
Win % |
Scored |
Given up |
Diff. |
Games Behind |
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Gray |
21 |
13 |
2 |
0.583 |
412 |
377 |
57 |
– |
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Green |
18 |
11 |
1 |
0.600 |
387 |
305 |
68 |
0.50 |
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Orange |
17 |
13 |
1 |
0.548 |
338 |
298 |
19 |
2.00 |
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Blue |
12 |
20 |
0 |
0.375 |
286 |
378 |
-86 |
8.00 |
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Red |
10 |
21 |
0 |
0.323 |
282 |
347 |
-58 |
9.50 |
This is the closest the season long race has been since the start of the first session. Green now trails by only .50 game, and Orange is only two games out of the lead. Red has closed the gap on 4th place Blue as they look to climb out of the cellar.
Next Games: Monday August 17, 2026
Game 1 8:00 a.m. Green (6-5-1) vs. Blue (5-9-0)
Rematch of Thursday’s beatdown by Green. Which Blue team will show up and can Tom Kelm continue to dominate on the mound?
Orange has umpiring duties for this one.
Game 2 9:00 a.m. Orange (8-4-0) vs. Gray (6-6-1)
This one has all the makings of an instant classic. The team that has been atop the standing for the entire season vs. the upstart Orange team that has racked up six wins in a row despite the absence of their best hitter, Bobby Miller. Are we in for a major shakeup or a return to business as usual. All will be revealed on Monday.
Green will be taking on the umpire responsibilities in this game.
Red will have a bye on Monday allowing their players to have priority in the draw.