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Image created by Oscar Dawg Castillo
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Thursday, April 17th
Carlsbad Inn 16 Gaspar 6
Worden Williams 17 Nucci's 10
Worden Williams 17 Nucci's 10
Thursday morning dawned damp and the drive to Alga 3 was intermittently drizzly. But the weather gods relented and the drizzle went away for batting practice and the game. The field dried surprisingly quickly and the Gaspar Masseuses hosted the rebounding Carlsbad Innebriants in pleasant playing conditions.
The game started off reminiscent of a baseball game, with the Innebriants holding a 5-3 lead after five innings, with CBI scoring no more than two runs in any inning and Gaspar just one. Finally, in the top of the sixth, the Innebriants strung together eight straight hits starting with the bottom four in the lineup to max out and take a 10-3 lead. After CBI scored one more in the seventh, the Masseuses staged their biggest rally to close to 11-6. The outcome still felt uncertain until the Innebriants capitalized on a two-out rally to score five more in what would be the final 16-6 score. The Masseuses were unable to close the gap in their last two innings.
While most writeups focus on the offensive performances, the defense on both sides was uncharacteristically unseniorlike. Highlights abounded including Erin Spoden’s running shoestring catch in left field for CBI and Dan Frye’s bobbling snag not unlike a wide receiver running a pattern all alone on a Hail Mary 40 yards down the field for Gaspar. CBI managed to pull off several rally-killing double plays including the final play.
Oscar “Dawg” Castillo led the Masseuses going 3 for 3. Paul Thomas, David Bosque, Phil Urbina (along with a home run), and Gene Smith all went 2 for 3.
Hardly surprisingly, Randy Agadoni and Joe Uribe were both 4 for 4 for the Innebriants. While Joe put together a series of singles, Randy hit two home runs and two doubles for five RBIs, bumping his batting average to .893 and his slugging percentage to 1.696. Lou Chartz, Erin Spoden, and Greg Lorton were each 2 for 3. Kevin Lynch was “only” 2 for 4, but one of the hits was launched out of Alga 3 as a three-dimensional message that it’s probably not a good idea to park just beyond the left-field fence. Jim Goertzen hit CBI’s fourth home run.
Thanks to Barry Anderson for umpiring.
Worden Williams 17 Nucci's 10
Worden Williams 17 Nucci's 10
Worden Williams 17 Nucci's 10
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost; or as Yogi might have said “When you get to the fork in the road, take it.”
Exhortations were made, and Worden Williams answered the call. Facing off against first-place Nucci’s Italian Restaurant, the Dubs brought their “A” game—and then some. This wasn’t your classic Scenes from an Italian Restaurant with a bottle of red, a bottle of white, or perhaps a bottle of rosé instead. No sir. This one felt more like a Jerry Lee Lewis track—blazing hot, fast, and full of fire.
WW came out swinging, lit up the scoreboard early, eased into the middle innings, then slammed the door shut with a ten-run explosion between the fifth and seventh. Final score: WW 17, Nucci’s 10.
Sure, Nucci’s was missing a couple of key players—but so was WW and the score may have been closer or maybe reversed. But to be clear, this wasn’t about defensive slip-ups or lack of offensive punch. Nucci’s played tight in the field. It was just that WW unleashed its most potent offensive showing of the season. There were no little league homers, no routine errors by NU—just clean, solid hits and defense too by WW.
The top of the Dubs’ lineup came out firing. Bob Buscher led the charge from the leadoff spot with a perfect 5-for-5 performance, scoring 3 runs and knocking in 2. Right behind him, David Hartzog and John Symanski each went 4-for-5 in the three and four holes. The rest of the lineup chipped in with two or three hits apiece—an absolute clinic.
Big props to Jeff Payton and Mark Pedote, who stepped in as subs and played pivotal roles in the victory.
For Nucci’s, Al Cabacungan was a standout on both sides of the ball, launching a home run and making slick plays at Rover. Credit where it’s due: Nucci’s outfield defense, led by Laurie Mills saved several more runs from scoring. The scoreboard could’ve told an even louder story.
In the end, WW never looked finer or were more of a hit at the Parkway diner. Ohh, ohh, ohhh-oh Ohh, ohh, ohhh-oh
That Pizza Place 16 Village Pie Shop 13
That Pizza Place 16 Village Pie Shop 13
That Pizza Place 16 Village Pie Shop 13
This was a very evenly matched game, with VPS jumping out to a 5 to 4 lead in the first inning. VPS maintained their lead through the first 4 until TPP score 5 in the 5th to take a 2 run lead. TPP added 4 more and VPS added 3 in the next 4 innings to finish with a score of 16 to 13.
Village Pie's Phil Kay and Rick Shaw were 5 for 5. Rick also had a home run. Three batters were 3 for 4 : Dario Santana, David Ward, and Teddy Badillo. VPS had some hot bats but just could not finish off TPP.
VPS played some good defense with Johnny Brand and Tom Winterbourne making game saving catches. We were also led by outstanding play by our pitcher Gary Soper who was 4 for 4 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Johnny Brand was consistent again going 4 for 5 with 4 runs scored. Jeff Van Siclen hit a home run and played some great defense at shortstop.
We would like to thank Donato Domaguin for umping our game.
Pizza Port Brewery 20 Plotkin Group 8
That Pizza Place 16 Village Pie Shop 13
That Pizza Place 16 Village Pie Shop 13
PPB played its best overall game of the season and that was unfortunate for their opponent, who actually played an overall decent game. In fact, newly drafted Bill Ginty for PG hit 2 home runs while going 4/4. Keith Richard was 4/4 and Super Sub Bob Loperena was 3/4 along with Phil Heinz. Super Sub Margo Jacobo and Rich Keefer pitch well for PG.
PPB perfect hitters were Roney Lewis and Pat Steele going 4/4. Outstanding pitcher Ken Thompson was 3/4 along with Andy Balas, who had a double, homer and 4 rbi. Super Sub Mike Berry was 3/4 along with Joel Kudren, who had a double & 2 RBI. Every PPB hitter had 2 hits (Joe Dimambro, David Erwin, Dan Menendez) including Ron Silverman, who had 2 rbi.
Bye: Carlsbad Police Officers Association
The Draft
Tuesday, April 15th
Nucci's vs Village Pie Shop
Pizza Port Brewery 19 Gaspar 17
Pizza Port Brewery 19 Gaspar 17
WOW! When they say you gotta play each game in front of you ignoring the records, I guess they really mean it. The match up at Alga 3 between the 16-2-1 Nucci’s Gnocchi’s and the 0-16-1 Village Pie Boyz didn’t look to be all that much…until the ump said “PLAY BALL” What ensued was some serious FUGLY-ness from the Nucci’s offense for 8/9’s of the game! Spoiler alert – read further.
The action started as typical for Nucci’s – lull the opponent into a false sense of security and then strike. Unfortunately, somebody spiked the Purple squad’s coffee with Sominex, and there was no waking up from this nightmare. The scoring proceeded along at a very pedestrian (octogenarian?) pace. VPS put up 1 in the first; Nucci’s added 3 in the second and then managed only 4 more runs through the 8th. Meanwhile, VPS started feeling their oats and got their groove on faster than Stella. They strung rallies together in the middle innings to take an 11-7 lead at the end of the 8th. Things looked bleak for the Burgundy Bunt squad. But you gotta play all nine innings right? Karen (‘501) Smith, who’d hit two searing line drives with no results earlier, started the rally off in the top of the 9th, and Nucci’s proceeded to torture the Village Peperoni Tossers with numerous infield hits, odd hops and aggressive base running. When the dust settled, Nucci’s had doubled their run production through the first 8 innings and took a 14-11 lead. Joe Raffe’s squad surely must’ve felt like the Gods’ had it in for them – why so cruel? Their last at bat yielded no further damage and the die was cast, the dirty deed was done. Nucci’s had snatched victory from the jaws of a certain defeat. Easy Peazy right?
For the 1st place Burgundy Bombers, Gamer Lil Keehan pitched a complete game while battling a bug. The Nucci’s batting order was the tale of two cities – top 4 hitters going 11 for 20 with minimal damage other than Robert (Horse Whisperer) Tahimic going 4/5. But hitters 7 through 10 roared mightily with a 14 for 19. Super-sub Leigh Peterson went 4/5; Mike Weinreich 3/5; Russ Roopenian 4/5 with 3 RBI and Kevin McAllister 3/4 ! Oh yeah, Aloha Al Cabacungan raked an impressive 5/5 with 3 RBI.
For the very game VPS’ers, they were led by Pat Driscoll’s 4/4, Rod Johnson 4/4, Jerry Smith 3/4 including a HR, and Phil Kay 3/4. Dario Santana and David Ward also chipped in HR’s.
Nucci’s thanks sub Leigh Peterson for his contributions and both teams thank Randy Agadoni who showed up socially late to adjudicate the contest.
Pizza Port Brewery 19 Gaspar 17
Pizza Port Brewery 19 Gaspar 17
Pizza Port Brewery 19 Gaspar 17
PPB jumped out to a 11-4 lead after 3 innings. Gaspar came back the next 3 innings out scoring PPB 13-6 to tie the game after 6 innings. The last 2 runs of the game scored in the bottom of the 7th on a 2-run Homer off the bat of David Erwin, who had 2 other hits besides his game winning hit.
Leading Players for PPB were Outstanding Pitcher Ken Thompson 4/4, Roney Lewis, Pat Steele, Andy Balas and Joe Dimambro were all 3/4 w/ each getting extra base hits and 3 rbi each. Ron Silverman added a double & single.
Leading hitters for Gaspar were Barry Stangl & Eugene Smith (Homerun) were each 4/5. Paul Thomas, Cord Cameron. Rick Skidmore, Steve Berry and Barbara Prada each had 3 hits. Jim Davis was 2/3
Worden Williams 26 Carlsbad POA 13
Worden Williams 26 Carlsbad POA 13
Worden Williams 26 Carlsbad POA 13
In a thrilling senior softball showdown at Pine Field, Worden Williams (WW) faced off against the Carlsbad Police Association (CPA) in a game that had fans on the edge of their seats. WW started strong, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning. However, CPA quickly responded with five runs in the bottom of the first, setting the stage for an intense battle.
WW's offense was relentless for the rest of the game, outscoring CPA 23-8. "We knew we had to keep the pressure on," said John Symanski, who had a standout performance with a Grand Slam, eight RBIs, two runs scored, and a sac fly. "Everyone contributed, and it was a total team effort."
For CPA, Bob Loperena hit a home run, while Craig Wheatcroft, Mark Pedote, and Jerry Galiley each had impressive hitting performances. "We gave it our all, but WW was just too strong today," said Loperena.
WW's lineup was on fire, with every player either scoring a run or driving in an RBI. Bob Buscher went 4-4 with four runs and two RBIs, while Mark Riserbato was a perfect 5-5 with a home run, four runs, and five RBIs. Tom Bernacka and David Hartzog also had stellar games, with Hartzog making a triumphant return after a near season-ending injury. Ken Auerbach added to the fireworks with a home run and five RBIs.
"It was a great day for softball," said WW's manager Joe Paul. "The team played with heart and determination, and it showed on the scoreboard."
The Draft 20 Plotkin Group 11
Worden Williams 26 Carlsbad POA 13
Worden Williams 26 Carlsbad POA 13
On a chilly morning at lovely Calavera Park, the Plotkin Groupies hosted the surging Draft Dodgers for a spirited game of softball. However, the Dodgers' idea of spirited was anything but ... at least for the first 3 frames ... as they struggled to push 2 runs across while the Groupie outfielders tracked down fly ball after fly ball. The Groupies plated 5 out of the gate and added another in the 2nd, thanks to several line drives and well placed grounders to take a 6-2 lead.
The Dodger bats decided to join the fun with 3 runs in the 4th, followed by 5 in the 5th to take the lead, and 5 more in the 6th. The Groupies fought back with 4 in the 6th to bring the contest to 15-10. From there The Dodgers kept the heat on, adding 2 in the 7th and 3 in the 9th. The Groupies plated one more in the 7th but otherwise were kept in check, final score 20-11.
Defense played a big role for the Dodgers today, with multiple double plays turned by Grounder Gobblers Jeff Schneider and Steve Doan, plus a dandy by Jeff Payton to get the out at 3rd and then cut down a runner at home.
Super-sub Gary Soper for PG, and Margo Jacobo for DR, both pitched excellent complete games.
The Groupie attack was a true team effort, as all players had at least one hit. Going 3/4 were (6 players!): new team member Bill Ginty (3 RBIs), Rick Keefer, Dennis O'Hern, Keith Richards, Oscar Lara, and Dick Wood. Going 2/4: Super-Sub Joe Uribe, Dan Griffin, (Super-Sub) Gary Soper, and Bill Witte.
The Dodgers were led by Steve Doan (5/5, 3 RBIs), Jeff Payton (5/5, 2 RBIs), Kevin McBarron (4/5. RBI), Dale Miller (4/5, RBI), Gene LaChimia (3/5. 2 RBIs), Super-Sub Jeff Van Sicien (3/5, 4 RBIs).
Special thanks for subbing: Joe Uribe and Gary Soper for PG, and Greg Lorton and Jeff Van Sicien for DR. And also thanks to Jimmie Martin and Bob Porter for umpiring!
Bye: Carlsbad Inn
That Pizza Place
2025 Season Standings as of 04/17/25
Standings are posted after all scores have been received (in a timely manner)
