Scores

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The final day of the North County Senior Softball League’s regular season dawned cold, drizzly, and breezy.  There was no drama left as far as the teams headed to the playoffs, it was the Draft Dodgers (18-6-0), the Nucci’s Meatballs (18-6-1), the Carlsbad Inndelicates (16-6-1), and the Pizza Port Sausages (16-7-0).  However, the final ranking among these teams was the subject of high drama.  The smart Vegas money was going with a battle between the Dodgers and the Meatballs, with the Inndelicates and the Sausages fighting for third.  But with the outcome taking place on astroturf and not on Vegas velvet, the league kicked off the final morning.

The Carlsbad Police Donut Gourmands hosted the Carlsbad Inndelicates at Alga 2 for the late show.  In the top of the first, CBI got started early with the first four batters driving in three runs, but then sputtered with nothing more.  CPA came out with a vengeance in the bottom of the first as if they had not yet made their citation quota.  They maxed out the inning with a distaff double dinker – Elizabeth Bailey and Linda Wolf hitting back-to-back homers to left center to close scoring with a 5-3 lead.

The Donut Gourmands’ offense shifted into neutral after that for the next four innings, at which point they trailed 13-5 after a pair of Inndelicate five-run innings.  CPA scored twice to close to 13-7 after six, but CBI added another five in the seventh and one in the eighth, and held CPA to one run in each of the last three innings for the 19-10 final score.

Dan Miserany led the Police going 5 for 5.  Elizabeth Bailey and Linda Wolf went 3 for 4 including their home runs in spite of Elizabeth taking a shot to the forehead on a bad-bounce throw to home.  Craig Wheatcroft and Donato Domaguin both went 3 for 5.

The first four batters for the Inndelicates propelled them in terms of run production, but good hitting came up and down the lineup.  Joe Uribe was 4 for 4 with four RBIs.  Kevin Lynch was 3 for 4 with a home run and six RBIs.  Randy Agadoni was 3 for 3 plus a sacrifice fly and two RBIs.  Mark Remas went 4 for 4.  Walt Webber went 3 for 4.  And for the exclamation point, Dagger Donna Engleman went 3 for 3 scoring each time.

At the end of the day, the Inndelicates were the only playoff team to win, thanks to a couple of somewhat improbable upsets.  The final standings came down to percentages – Carlsbad Inndelicates (17-6-1, 72.9%), the Draft Dodgers (18-7-0, 72.0%), the Nucci’s Meatballs (18-7-1, 71.2%, and the Pizza Port Sausages (16-8, 66.7%).  As scores from around the league filtered into the CBI dugout, the reaction was a collective jaw-dropping “WTF”.

Thanks to Bob Porter for umpiring. 

All good things must come to an end. That Pizza Place ended their season with a 10 to 6 win over playoff bound Nucci's.  

Nucci's jumped out to a 3 to nothing lead in the first inning. But could only manage 3 more runs over the next 8 innings. It took TPP 5 innings to tie the score at 5.  TPP pulled ahead in the 6 and 7 innings to take a 10 to 5 lead. NU scored another run in the 8th to make the final 10 to 6.

TPP had outstanding fielding and pitching by Gary Soper. Backed by solid defense in the infield and the outfield. The batting was led by Dan Smith who was 4 for 4 with 3 RBIs, Leo McFall was 3/4, HR, and 3 RBI's, Albert Castaneda 3/4, Rich Reynold 3/4, David Shinn 2/3, and Dave Buck had 2 RBI's.

Nucci's was led by Kevin Davidge 2/3, HR, and 2 RBIs, Tom Carney 2/3 with 1 RBIs,  Alden Cabacungan 2/3 with 1 RBI, Mike Weinreich 2/3, and Robert Tahimic 2/3.

“Economists were put on this earth to make astrologers look good”

Although there was nothing on the line in the season finale, Worden Williams showed no signs of letting up, delivering a commanding 15–4 victory over Pizza Port Brewery. Credit where it’s due—the Dubs opened the game strong and closed it even stronger. While the team narrowly missed the playoffs, they wrapped up the season with a solid 15–10 record, a clear marker of success.

Leading the way for the Dubs this season was longtime anchor Bob Buscher, a defensive force at shortstop. Sending a ball his way—on the ground or in the air—was like venturing into Death Valley without water: a sure path to disappointment. Supporting Bob was a rock-solid infield: Tom Benacka at Rover, who impressively played all 25 games; Karl Stern steady and reliable at third; Ken Auerbach, a consistent presence at first; and Lloyd Thorne, whose continuing improvement made him a key contributor at second and just about everywhere else. Each of the above also stepped up offensively, delivering key hits throughout the season.

The outfield brought just as much firepower and defense. Gordon Recht patrolled left field, John Symanski held down left center, Ron Bondshu covered center, David Hartzog took care of right center, and Bill Mead locked down right. Each one of them came up big over the course of the season, with clutch catches that sealed wins or shut down rallies before they could gain momentum.

On the mound, Mike Endeman continued his rise as one of the league’s top pitchers, paired with John Vivrett behind the plate. When John rotated out to make room for others, he kept me grounded in the dugout—especially when the breaks weren’t going our way.

And then there was Mark Riserbato—our “Put me in, coach, I’m ready to play today” guy. Always willing to fill any spot needed, even if it wasn’t his first choice. He finished the season at second base and may have found his true position there. Mark was also a force at the plate.

As a manager, you often find yourself moving players around like pieces on a chessboard when injuries or absences pop up. That happened plenty this season, and to their credit, every Dub who was asked to adapt did so without a single complaint. That spirit of camaraderie didn’t go unnoticed.

A shout out to our dependable subs: Leigh Peterson, Rich Lavacot, Elizabeth Bailey, David Ward, Dan Menendez, Tony Coppin, Mark Pedote, and Larry Wadalavage. Apologies if I missed anyone—many stepped in from the sub pool or from rival teams, even when we were competing to qualify for the playoffs.

And finally, I’ll leave you with a thought from my friend Marty Topper, who once said: “Every game is a win if you can walk back to the parking lot with your body intact.” Amen to that.

Today's game at Calaveras was between two teams that had clinched their respective spots in the lower half of the standings, so it was sort of agreed that the game had little impact on the standings and would be simply the rubber game between the two teams who had split their previous meetings. GA was very shorthanded with only eight players, but bolstered with two subs, Leigh Peterson and Barry Anderson, and PG providing two loaners for defense. On the other hand, PG had all thirteen roster players present for the first time all season.

It turned out to be a back-and-forth battle, with the largest margin by either team being four runs. Gaspar took the early lead by scoring three runs in the top of the first, but PG scored four in the bottom of the third to take a brief lead that was soon wiped out by GA putting across nine runs in the fourth and fifth innings for the only four run lead in the game. PG scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh, but GA answered with five runs in the top of the eighth to take a brief six runs lead. But PG responded with six runs in the bottom to tie the game at 20 to 20. It was really looking like a tie game would be a fitting end to the season, but it was not to be, and the end was as unpredictable as it could be. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, PG had runners on second and third, and first base open, so walking the batter who was 2 for 4 to get to the next batter who was 0 for 4 made a lot of sense. However, softball can be a cruel experience sometimes, and a groundball resulted in an error with the game winning run crossing the plate for a 21 to 20 win for the Groupies.

With 21 runs scored there had to be several hitting stars for PG and no less than four had 5 for 5 days including leadoff hitter (and pitcher) Rich Keefer and Bill Ginty, Robert Kroger, and Phil Heinz. Dennis O'Hern and Keith Richards were each 4 for 5 with Keith hitting the game's only home run and driving in seven runs.

And thus ends another season, at least for these two teams. Congratulations and thanks to all commissioners, managers, and players who make this league such a pleasurable and worthwhile experience for a bunch of old folks.

 Who would have guessed that VPS would slay the first place [DR]agon.  But that’s what happened today.  Both teams contributed to an active game at the plate with OBP’s of .600 for VPS and .620 for DR.  

VPS  (visitors) jumped out in their first inning by scoring 2 runs, and scored in every subsequent inning but two.  The DR answered back in their bottom of the first inning by posting three runs and more in five subsequent innings.  In the VPS second inning, VPS posted four more runs taking the lead and maintained a growing lead throughout the balance of the game.  Defense by both teams contributed to a relatively low final score. 

For the DR [at the plate], Steve Doan, Jeff Schneider, Gene LaChimia and Mike Berry each hit 4/5.  Steve Newberg hit 4/4.  

For VPS, Teddy Badillo hit 4/4. Phil Kay, Rick Shaw, David Ward, Dennis Kemp and Sherre Lovick each hit 3/4 on the day. 

From and to VPS, a fond farewell to all our teammates for an enjoyable season, win or lose.  Thanks go out to Joe Raffa for managing the team in [an] always supportive manner.  This team epitomized an ideal temperament in spite of a disappointing season.  

VPS bids a fond farewell to Jerry Nuanez who is retiring from our league after many years of playing with us all.  

Both teams send their thanks to Bob Baptista for umpiring.