Scores

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For the highly anticipated Battle of Carlsbad (round 2), the Carlsbad Innuendos hosted the Carlsbad Police Constables at beautiful Pine Park.  Unfortunately, it was the dreaded 8:30 game, and by all appearances, the offenses on both sides slept in, repeatedly hitting the snooze button.  The Innuendos’ offense apparently roused a bit sooner.

CBI was coming off a nearly month-long vacation.  Up through March 4, the Innuendos were 10-0, but were weary from the incredibly onerous task on managing the top position in the league.  Fortunately, they were able to find a somewhat adequate party (Nucci’s Ling-weenies) to temporarily take over the role.  CBI was 0-3-1 during their “vacation”.  The writeup reporter had to chisel the rust and cobwebs off of his keyboard.

The game was truly a defensive battle, and much closer than the original matchup (25-9).  The Constables scored in five of their nine innings, but no more than two runs in any of them.  The Innuendos scored in only four of their eight innings, but scored the max in two of them.  CBI scored five in the bottom of the third to break a 1-1 tie.  CPA scored two in the top of the sixth to close to 6-4, but CBI pulled away with a run in the bottom of the sixth and five in the seventh.  One CPA run in the ninth wasn’t enough.

The Constables were particularly snake-bit, with only Gary Fischer avoiding a second out at bat.  He finished 3 for 4.  Six Constables went 2 for 4.

For the Innuendos, Oscar Delgado, Kevin Lynch, and Mark Remas all hit 4 for 4.  Shockingly, all of Kevin’s hits were singles.  Jim Goertzen and Greg Lorton were 3 for 4.  Al Galaviz (“Algae”), on loan from the sub pool, was a mere 1 for 3 plus a sacrifice fly, but that one was what would have been a grand slam if the league had a six-run rule.  Altogether, he popped for four RBIs.  The CBI team members were careful to exit the park at the lawfully prescribed speed limit.

Both teams were depleted, with thanks to Phil Kay subbing for the Constables, and Algae for the Innuendos.  The Innuendos hope to welcome manager Randy Agadoni back from Maui with the plausible argument after today’s game that he is not totally “Inndispensable”. 😊

 This game had it all like a Recreation Softball game should including a long 2.5 hours of fun exercise that was very close throughout with incredible performances from players from both teams. Pizza Port Brewery was lucky enough to score 9 runs in the top of the 9th to break open a tie game, but give Worden Williams credit for staging a rally to score 3 in the bottom of the 9th and it took a great defensive play by PPB’s Ron Silverman, who also had 4 hits, to end the game.

Leading hitters for PPB were Roney Lewis, who was 5/6 w/a big 3 run homer in the 9th to break a tie game. Pat Steele was 5/6 w/3 rbi. David Erwin was 5/6 w/2 doubles, a homer & 7 rbi. Dan Menendez was 5/6 w/3 rbi. Andy Balas was 4/6 along with complete game pitcher Ken Thompson, who had 4 rbi. Joel Kudren had 3 rbi singles. Great defensive plays by Andy Balas, Joe Dimambro, David Erwin and Roney Lewis stopped Worden Williams rallies.

Leading hitters for Joe Paul’s powerful team were Bill Mead 5/5, Bob Buscher, Tom Bernacka, Ken Auerbach, Gordon Recht, Lloyd Thorne were all 4/5. Mark Riserbato was 3/5 w/a home run. Super Subs Rich Lavacot was 3/5 w/a home run & Tom Winterbourne made some great catches along with Ron Bondsu. Mike Endeman pitched well. 

Both teams came out hot, scoring 5 in the first inning despite the chilling early morning start time. NU took a 5 run lead in the bottom of the 5th and it looked like this number one team was going to rack up another win.  TPP scored 8 unanswered runs in the next two innings to take a 3 run lead. With NU scoring 3 in the bottom of the 8th it all game down to the last inning with the score tied at 15. With the game on the line and a chance to go ahead, the cardinal sin of hitting it to Tom Carney was made for the third out. Fortunately for the coach of TPP, great pitching by Gary Soper and good defense, the tie was preserved. Both teams played some good defense to keep these two high scoring teams in check.

Tom Carney lead NU going 4 for 4, 1 HR, and 5 RBIs. Big HRs by Jack Schwarzel and David Surh . Reliable Laurie Mills was 3 for 4. 

TPP also had 3 HRs: Brian Turner, Larry Weinberger, and a grand slam by Dan Smith. Johnny Brand was his usual 5 for 5, 1 RBI, and 4 runs scored. Dan Smith was 4 of 5 with 5 RBIs and 4 runs scored. Larry Weinberger was 2 of 3 with 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored. And Brian turner had 4 RBIs, 1 run scored, and a big home run.

Taking up the second leg of the twin bill scheduled for Alga 3 was Plotkin Group versus Gaspar Physical Therapy.  The field was already warm from the previous battle and both teams continued the scorching action by scoring 5 each in the first inning. The game had all the markings of an old fashioned barn burner!

While scoring slowed in the pursuing innings, GPT slowly gain control by scoring 8 runs in next 3 innings to take the advantage.  Leading the attack for Gaspar was SUPER sub Robert Tahimic who went 4 for 4 and scored 4 runs.  Phil “mooch bat” Urbina was also 4 for 4 and 3 RBIs for GPT. Other Gaspar players with a multiple hit day were Oscar “Dawg” Castillo, Gene Smith, Dennis Rayford, Barry Stangl and Steve Berry who pitched a magnificent game.

The Plotkin Group manifested their own share of hitting stars despite falling short.  Dennis O’Hern went 4 for 4 with a home run.  Daniel Griffin posted a 4 for 4 performance also. Keith Richards also had a home run for PG while going 3 for 4.  Robert Kroger, Oscar Lara and Daniel Akers were also 3 for 4.

Special thanks to Gary Soper for a superb job as umpire! Thanks to Leigh Peterson for subbing for Plotkin Group and manager Janet Wood for supplying GPT with a catcher.

 The late (10:30am) show was at Pine Park today, with VPS hosting The Draft. It was eerily quiet without soft spoken, mild mannered Joe Raffa in the dugout cheering on his Pie People! Maybe because of that (?) The Dodgers continued their recent streak and pulled out a win thanks to strong defense (most of the time) and some nice 2-out rallies. The Dodgers came out swinging with 3 in the 1st and 4 in the 2nd, and tacked on a couple more to go up 9-4 though the 4th. 3 more in both the 7th and 8th for the DR against 2 in the 6th for VPS brought the contest to 14-6. The Dodgers added an insurance run in the 9th, and then had to survive a furious 4 run 9th inning rally by the Shoppe-ers before the teams could shake hands. 

Leading the way offensively for the Pie Shoppe were Phil Kay (3/4, RBI) Jerry Smith (3/4, HR, RBI); and Dario Santana (3/4, RBI). The Dodger attack was highlighted by Bob Tompkins (3/4, BB, 2 RBIs); Dale Miller (4/5, 2 RBIs); Mike Berry (4/5, RBI); Jeff Payton (2/5, 3 RBIs); and Steve Doan (3/5, 2 RBIs). 

There were several nice defensive plays throughout the game, most notably a life-saving but never-the-less great stab by VPS pitcher Rod Johnson of a wicked line shot by Kevin McBarron, and some nice running catches by both teams. Margo Jacobo for The Draft and Rod Johnson for VPS both pitched very well.

The Draft wishes to thank Sheree Parsons, and VPS wishes to thank Bob Loperena for subbing, and both teams extend their thanks to Bob "Crash" Porter for calling a good game behind the plate.