Scores

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Sometimes players have their worst game on a day their team is playing lights out.  George Gobel's question speaks directly to how it makes you feel.  "Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo, and you were a pair of brown shoes?"  

The Draft was that lights out team today as they jumped out to a 13-4 lead after three innings.  At that point they put the SS Draft in cruise control and maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the way.  That Pizza Place showed some life in the eighth, posting seven runs and pulling within seven of the eventual winners.  The Draft barrage of runs came from heavy hitters Jack Schwarzel and Barry Stangl at 7/7, Roney Lewis at 6/7, David Erwine at 5/5 with a homer and sub Kevin Davidge also hit a home run.

TPP had some heroes of their own with Pat Steele hitting 5/5 with a homer, Manager Dan Smith hit 4/4, Michael Berry went 4/5 and the inimitable Bob Porter also hit a home run.  TPP loaned two defensive players and DR loaned one.  TPP is grateful for the substitute services of Andy Boyer and Frank Weishaar and The Draft was mightily served by sub Kevin Davidge.  

Thanks also are expressed for the umpiring skills of league legend Gene LaChimia.  Now, for me, I guess it's time to bury some ugly memories and go put away my brown shoes.

Whoever thought we would be playing softball with two rock stars at Calavera today. But it happened when Keith Richard's PG team "rolled" over Santana's WW team in a low scoring game for these two teams at or near the top of the standings. Good pitching by Jimmie Martin and Pete Zavala and the defenses of the two best defensive teams in the league kept the scores low and at the end PG won 13 to 7 over WW. WW only scored in three innings and PG in five with no five run innings.

For PG, Oscar Castillo was 4 for 4 with a home run and 3 RBIs, Keith was 4 for 4 including a wouldabin homer turned into a triple by his injured calf muscle, and Joe Uribe's 3 for 4 including a homer and 4 RBIs. Lou Chartz continued to contribute toward the bottom of the batting order with a 3 for 3 and an RBI.

Scoring for WW was primarily from Tom Benacka 3 for 4 with a HR and 4 RBIs and Ken Auerbach 2 for 4 with an RBI. WW thanks Craig Wheatcroft and Karen Smith for subbing in for a shorthanded team.

Thanks also go to Greg Lorton for umping and to Santana (Dario that is) for helping PG set up the field by dragging the infield.

For the first six innings, Carlsbad Inn and Pizza Port Brewery played a fairly close game. CBI took an early 4-2 lead after two and then scored five runs in the top of the third to increase the lead to 9-2, before PPB came back to score seven runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 9-9. Over the next three innings CBI increased its lead to 14-11. CBI scored four runs in the seventh to lead 18-12 after eight. Then in the 9th inning, CBI exploded for seven runs on nine hits to take a lead of 25-12. But PPB did not go quietly, closing the gap by rallying to score five runs the bottom of the inning, and CBI came away with a 25-17 win.

The CBI hitting attack today was led by the top and middle of the order. Leadoff hitter, Jerry Smith, led the way, going 5 for 5, with two home runs and 3 RBIs. Randy Agadoni also went 5 for 5, with a home run and 5 RBIs, and Larry Wadalavage also went 5 for 5. Randy Baird went 4 for 4, with a home run, sacrifice fly and 3 RBIs. Rick Skidmore and Russ Roopenian both went 4 for 5.

On the defensive side, Randy Baird in right center and Jerry Smith in left center made some great diving catches of hard-hit balls. Tom Carney played a great game at shortstop, keeping many runners off the bases with his excellent fielding.

PPB hitters up and down the lineup had good day at the plate. Al Castaneda went 3 for 4, Cord Cameron went 3 for 5 with a home run and 3 RBIs, Tom Carney went 3 for 5 with a triple, Mark Riserbato went 3 for 4, Vern Blough went 3 for 5 with a 3-run homer, Jerry Galiley went 3 for 4, and Karl Stern went 2 for 4 with a home run and 3 RBIs. PPB thanks Steve Sexton for substituting and also pitching most of the game, which he had not anticipated. He got two hits as well.

The teams thank Barry Anderson for a fine job of umpiring.

 No matter how these highlights are written, the [sportsmanlike] competitiveness of the game cannot be conveyed well enough.  GA (visitors) started off very strong with 3 runs in the first inning and 2 runs in their 4th inning.  VPS answered back with zero runs in the first three innings.  Then VPS was able to post three runs in their 4th and 2 runs in their 5th to tie the score at five each.  Not to be outdone, GA added five runs in their 6th inning pulling ahead of VPS with a score of 10-5.  While their bats didn’t fall silent, GA was unable to put a runner across the scoring line for the rest of the game.  VPS posted five runs in their 8th inning to bring the score to an even 10 to 10.  

Now it becomes a nail-biter game in the 9th inning. With some of the GA power hitters coming up in their 9th inning, the VPS defense was able to prevent any GA runners from crossing the scoring line to break the tie.  Then the middle of the VPS line-up came up in their final at-bat and was able to fill the bases.  With memories of Kirsten Mildbrandt’s base clearing home run approximately three seasons ago to help her [then] team win in post season play, she did it again today.  With bases loaded and no outs, Kirsten blasted a shot to the outfield allowing the winning run to cross the scoring line leading to a win for VPS.  

Some of the fielding highlights defensively for GA: don’t hit the ball to Steve Doan at rover or Joe Dimambro (sub) at third.  VPS hitting came alive in their 4th, 5th, 8th (five runs) and 9th innings which contributed to this win.  

For GA, Dan Hacker, Dennis Rayford, Steve Doan and Jim Goertzen each hit 3/4.  Steve Doan also hit a home run during the game.  Frankie Burns and [Honey] Leigh Peterson hit 3/3. 

For VPS, Jeff Schneider and Jeff Payton hit 4/4.  Phil Kay and David Hartzog hit 3/4.  

GA sends their thanks to sub players Joe Dimambro and Kathy O’Neal.  Thanks to Al C for a fine job of umpiring. 

  Bye: Hennessey's

          Nucci's