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That Pizza Place and Plotkin Group treated their fans to a well-played, closely contested game that went down to the wire on Tuesday at Alga Norte Park with TPP recording the final out in the bottom of the 9th inning with the tying run at the plate.
Although leading the league in runs scored for the season, TPP’s hitters were baffled through much of the game by stellar pitching from PG’s Gary Soper. Backed by superb infield play, Gary induced many ground balls that led to 3 rally-killing double plays and other fine putouts by infielders Leo McFall, Oscar Castillo, Oscar Lara, Steve Newberg and Cathy McDonald.
With their bats mostly quiet, TPP ramped up its defensive efforts to keep the game close, initially leading 5-2 after 3 innings and then falling behind 9-6 after the 5th. In the 6th inning, TPP regained the lead 10-9 and then took a 12-10 advantage into the 9th. TPP scored 2 in the top of the 9th, PG got 1 back in the bottom of the 9th following a 2-out rally, and then brought the tying run to the plate with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Fortunately for TPP, Steve Newberg’s hard grounder up the middle was fielded and thrown to 1st base for the final out of the game, which ended 14-11 in favor of TPP.
Sparking the offense for PG and no doubt inspired by their manager’s new redheaded, stylish look, Pat Driscoll went 5 for 5 with 2 runs scored and sub Tom Benacka went 4 for 4 with 2 RBIs. Each of Oscar Castillo, Oscar Lara and Gary Soper hit 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs apiece, and Lou Chartz also contributed a solid 3 for 4 hitting performance.
For TPP, Ken Auerbach was 3 for 3 with a triple and 2 RBIs, Tom Carney went 3 for 4 with a triple and 3 RBIs and Mark Riserbato hit 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs. Mike Henderson and Mike Endeman each hit 2 for 3 and scored 2 runs apiece. In the outfield, Evie Schwartz stifled a couple of PG rallies with 2 excellent catches of fly balls hit down the left field line.
PG thanks Tom Benacka for subbing.
Let tell you a story that might seem hard to believe, except it is senior softball. Hennessey’s best hitter, Keith Richards takes a normal place in the outfield before the game shagging fly balls. Teammate Jim Goertzen lines a hard hit in Keith’s direction. Mr. Richards decides to attempt a diving catch and hits the ground hard. He gets up and stays in the outfield. When his turn to take batting practice comes up, Keith tells his manager that he hurt his ribs and doesn’t think he can play. Sure enough, Keith heads off to Urgent Care where we find out later he has a cracked rib. Now all of this happens during BATTING PRACTICE!!! Facing a ramped up Draft group, the Hen’s were understandably concerned about what was going to happen. But to their credit, everyone pitched in to pick up their teammate and were victorious over the Draft by a score of 24-15.
Both teams started off well with the Hens leading the Drafters 9-7 after four innings. The Hens broke it open with 4 runs in the top of the fifth, 5 more in the top of the sixth inning and another 4 in the top of the seventh inning. The fine pitching of Frankie Burns and Johnnie Martinez and some solid SS play from Steve Doan, limited the loaded Draft lineup to a total of 4 runs in the home half of those same three innings. After the Hens added two more in the top of the eighth which put them ahead by a score of 24-11, the teams flipped in the ninth where the Drafters mounted a comeback with Randy Baird and Vern Blough lacing homeruns. But the Hens would not be denied and after the Drafters added 4 runs, the air came out of the rally balloon and the game ended with the Hens winning their 13th game.
The hitting stars for the Drafters were Randy Baird with 5 hits (including his homerun), Jerry Smith with 5 hits, Vern Blough with 4 hits (one being a round tripper), Gary McBride with 4 hits, and Jack Schwarzel who also had a homerun mixed in with his 3 hits.
For the Hen’s, the load was picked up by many. Dario Santana had 5 hits, Jim Goertzen and Dave Grull each had 4 hits. Dave also had his own dinger. Phil Kay, Michael Hart, and Johnnie Martinez had 3 hit games. Joe Uribe was welcomed back to the club after a two week vacation and pounded out his own homerun as well.
Both teams want to thank Dave Hempy for taking the time to make all the calls from home plate. He has been working with UIC Al C. and did a fine job.
Like the beauty queen you see through your beer goggles in the bar at 2:30am, some things just aren’t what they initially appear to be. So it was with the Worden Williams/Village Pie Shop match-up at Calavera that ended with a score that didn’t reflect the competitiveness of the game.
Through five evenly matched innings, WW held a slight 11-10 lead. But, flexing its hitting muscles late, Worden Williams pushed across nineteen runs in the last four innings to score a season high thirty runs and come away with a 30-17 victory. The return of two of the Bobs, Loperena and Porter, certainly helped as the first nine hitters had no less than three hits apiece and accounted for twenty-seven of the thirty runs. The Dubs were led by Bob Buscher who clearly had his best game of the season going 5/5 with two home runs, five runs scored and five RBIs. Oscar Delgado also showed his hitting chops going 4/5, with five RBIs, three runs scored and a home run. Robert Tahimic was perfect at the plate (5/5) and knocked in four runs while Cord Cameron went 4/5 with five RBIs.
VPS hung in there through 5 innings, but managed only seven runs from the sixth on. Keeping the game close for VPS were Laurie Mills and Pat Steele, both 5/5, while Dan Smith and Donato Domaguin were both 4/5. VPS benefited from sub John Symanski who added an over-the-fence home run.
Many thanks to Barry Anderson who was recently added as a certified senior softball ump.
Nucci's started out of the gate scoring five runs in the first inning followed by CBI scoring three runs.
Nucci's team had some great defensive plays today with low scores in each inning with the only notable one was when CBI scored 4 in the 3rd inning. It was definitely a pitchers battle with Steve Berry of Nucci's and Rod Johnson of CBI.
Nucci's Kevin Davidge hit a smokin' shot to CBI Jimmie Symth at 3rd who made a great catch.
For CBI: Randy Agadoni was 3/4, Bill Codner 3/4 with a triple, Gene Smith 2/3 1 HR, Margo Jacobo 2/3.
For Nucci's: Robert Kroger 3/3 1 HR, Frank Weishaar and Paul Thomas 3/3, Kevin Davidge 2/3 1 HR David Bentley and Roney Lewis were 2/3.
Both teams THANK Skip Moyer for umpiring today.
Bye Teams: Pizza Port Brewery, Gaspar
In another clutch hitting performance by the 2nd half of That Pizza Place’s batting order, David Buck knocked in the tying run and Evelyn Schwartz singled home the winning run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning to give TPP a dramatic 21-20 come-from-behind victory over a resurgent Draft team.
The Draft Dodgers started the game with intensity and determination, scoring 5 runs in the top of the 1st inning on 8 hits from their first 9 batters. In the meantime, TPP’s bats were slow to warm up and the home team did not score (or even threaten) in the bottom half of the inning for the first time in many games. After 3 innings, DR led 5-2 but then TPP scored a 5-spot in each of the 4th and 6th innings to take a 13-9 lead after 6. DR got 3 runs back in the top of the 8th, and the score was 14-12 in favor of TPP going into the 9th when the fireworks began.
Kathy O’Neil and sub Steve Berry started the inning with singles, and then Linda Wolf crushed a long ball to the gap in left center for a 2-RBI triple to tie the game at 14 with no outs. TPP got the next 2 batters out, which brought up the top of DR’s order. The next six DR batters all stroked solid hits to drive in 6 more runs for a total of 8 in the top of the 9th inning to take a 20-14 lead.
Facing the uncharted territory of a 6-run deficit in the bottom of the 9th inning, TPP recorded 7 hits from the first 9 batters who stepped to the plate, cutting DR’s lead to 20-19 with 2 outs. Dave Buck then strode to the batter’s box with runners on 1st and 3rd and promptly lashed a single to knock in the tying run from 3rd. With runners at 1st and 2nd and still 2 outs, Evie Schwartz came up and smashed a line drive past the third baseman’s glove and into left field to score Martin Wai from 2nd for the game-winning RBI!
DR hitters were led by sub Roney Lewis going 5 for 5 with a triple, Jack Schwarzel hitting 4 for 5 with 2 doubles, and Jerry Smith hitting 4 for 5 with a double. In addition, Dave Frantz, Randy Baird and Kathy O’Neil all went 3 for 5 at the plate. DR players were also very sure-handed in the field, turning 2 double plays, catching all manner of line drives and fly balls, and generally making TPP earn every run they scored.
For TPP, 13 of 14 batters each had 2 hits, and 8 batters went 3 for 4, including Gene LaChimia (double and 3 RBIs), Mark Riserbato (double and 3 RBIs), Ken Auerbach (2 doubles, 1 RBI), Johnny Brand (triple, 2 RBIs) and Martin Wai (game-winning run scored). Karl Stern hit 2 for 4 with 3 clutch RBIs, including 2 in the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 outs.
DR thanks Roney Lewis and Steve Berry for contributing excellent performances as subs.
The Groupies came into this game intent on snapping their five game losing streak, and after spotting WW with three runs in the top of the first inning, scored multiple runs in the next five innings, taking a 15 to 4 lead that was never relinquished. WW did score eight runs in the last four innings, including three in the top of the 9th on Bob Tahimic's two out home run for the final score of 17 to 12 in favor of PG.
PG's bats were relentless throughout the lineup and scored in every inning but two. The middle of the lineup was particularly potent with Cathy McDonald stroking four RBI singles and Gary Soper going 4 for 4 with 4 RBIs on two triples that would have been homers if he hadn't been hobbled by a leg injury. Gene Foreman was 3 for 4 with a homer and PG's super-sub Steve Doan was also 3 for 4 with a home run. He also played an excellent 3rd base. Oscar Castillo and Lou Chartz also were each 3 for 4.
In addition to Bob T's homer mentioned earlier, Bob Buscher was 4 for 4 and Bob Porter was 3 for 4. With Bob Loperena in the leadoff spot and Bob Baptista on the mound, it made this writer think that this team should be called the WW Bobbies.
Not to be overlooked in this fairly high scoring game were some great defensive plays on both sides, notably Bob B at shortstop, Lloyd Thorne in right field for WW, and for PG Michael J in right center, Oscar Lara at rover and Cathy McDonald for her catches at 1st base.
We would also like to thank Steve Wagner for his excellent season as he departs on vacation for the rest of the season.
Very close game that went down to the wire with six lead changes and fortunately for PPB they were able to stop a 9th inning CBI rally.
Outstanding pitching from PPB’s Russ Roopenian and CBI’s Rod Johnson and both contributed 2 hits each for their teams.
Leading hitters for PPB were Super Sub Ed Strong 3/3 w/the only homer of the game plus 4 RBIs, Rich Reynolds 3/4 w/2 doubles, John Symanski 2/3 w/a 2-run double, Teddy Badillo 2 hits, a double & 3 RBIs, David Ward 2 hits, Craig Wheatcroft 2 hits & a double, Dan Frye & Joel Kudren had a hit & rbi.
Leading CBI were Dan Hacker & Dale Miller 4/4, Dan Malchow 3/4 w/2 triples, Randy Agadoni 3/4 w/a triple & 2 doubles, Sherre Lovick 3/4.
Big Thanks to Barry Anderson, who umpired a perfect game.
On a cool cloudy morning with the season winding down, Gaspar met host Village Pie Shoppe in the friendly confines of Pine Avenue Park. Both teams came in depleted with each needing a sub, and the subs played a crucial role.
The game started slowly with both teams scoring twice in the first and nothing in the second. Gaspar sent eight batters to the plate in the third without recording an out, but the Pie Shoppe responded with three to make it 7-5 after three. Gaspar continued to chip away over the next three innings to lead 12-5 going into the bottom of the sixth.
At that point, Gaspar decided to give their defense a rest to make it exciting for the fan. But oops, there was no fan today. Scorekeeper and motivational shouter Christine Peterson chose to enjoy the bitter cold of Alaska instead of an equally cold Gaspar defense. Pie Shoppe strung together a rally in the bottom of the sixth to pull to 12-10. With a sense of dread that absent manager Leigh would realize that Gaspar can’t win without him (and Christine), Gaspar sent seven players to the plate without an out to jump up 17-10. Pie Shoppe scored their final run in the bottom of the seventh while Gaspar drove in three with two home runs in the top of the ninth to hobble out with a 20-11 win.
Strong hitting dominated both sides. Laurie Mills, Pat Steele, and Dan Smith went 4 for 4 for Pie Shoppe while Donato Domaguin, Jeff Payton, and Bill Witte went 3 for 4. Gaspar tallied 38 hits for a .691 batting average, both highs for the season. Dave Ash and sub Robert Kroger were both 5 for 5 with Dave hitting a homer. Dave Bosque was 4 for 4. Tom Benacka and Brian Turner went 4 for 5, with Brian hitting for the cycle. Skip Moyer was 2 for 3 plus a sacrifice fly.
Thanks to Phil Kay for subbing for Pie Shoppe and Robert Kroger subbing for Gaspar. And thanks to David Bentley for surviving the irrepressible taunts and arguments to get most of the calls correct as umpire.
Bye Teams: Hennessey's
Nucci's
At Alga 2
At Alga 3
At Calavera 2
At Pine
Bye Teams: Plotkin Group
Village Pie Shop
At Alga 2
At Alga 3
At Calavera 2
At Pine
Bye Teams: That Pizza Place
Pizza Port Brewery
Standings are posted after all scores have been received (in a timely manner)
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