Still Phunny after 70 years

A Couple of Admin Notes

Reminder that the 29th is rapidly approaching and that is the last day to register, request to play out of league, and to designate yourself to be a rostered or pool player. As of today the break between Leagues appears to be 1945. That is if your birthday is 1945 or earlier you will play in the National League unless you request otherwise.

Our start time remains 0900 with sign in no later than 0830. please help us by being on time so we can get the lineups together and meet our goal of 0900 start. 

The Entertainment Book sale is on going please support the league by purchasing one from Donnie Witmer.

Please keep Nick in your prayers as he goes in for another knee operation this Friday.

 

Gessler Clinic Field

The game between National league teams was waged on Gessler Clinic Field. Marshal Bloom's visitors (Duchan, F Miller, Remington, B. Miller, Leggett, Bloom, Bess, Black, McPartlin,Fabian, and Gibson) came out swinging and managed to tally three runs in the first. Rich Moots home team (Hill. Kline, Thompson, Moots, Stepp, Podbielski, Merritt, Mills, Morey, and Restrepo) however won the inning by posting four runs. In the second, John Gibson scored for the visitors and knotted up the game. In the third, the visitors scored three off triples by Moots and Thompson, while Walt Leggets triple helped the home team. Both teams were shut down in the fourth and failed to score a single run.

The fifth inning saw the visitors score the max off doubles by Bess and Black. Wayne Mundy's double propelled the home team as they scored three in the bottom of the inning. The sixth saw an explosion of the bats for both teams. The visitors tallied five runs off eight straight singles.The home team responded by batting thirteen players in the inning and scored seven runs to pull with within one run. The following innings saw the visitors continue to score with 3 in the seventh and 5 in the ninth. Doubles by Leggett and Gibson aided their cause. Meanwhile, the home team's bats went ice cold and they did not manage to get another runner past first base. Final score was Visitors 25, Home team 16.

Key Performances

Ron Thompson     4 for 5

Freddie Duchan    6 for 6

Frank Miller    5 for 6

Walt Leggett      5 for 5 with a double and triple and winning pitcher

Vasir Bess     5 for 6

Elmer Black5    5 for 6

Gold's Gym Field

Golds Gym Field provided some very exciting play between two evenly matched teams (at least on paper).The visitors were managed by the skipper, Richie Marino (with help from Freddie Dampier). His supporting cast was Marino, Chrest, Laffoon, Zelazny, Lopez, Constantine, Byrd, Mohan, Ota, Zakrowski, and Witter. Despite the line up they only managed to score one run in the first. Obviously smelling blood in the water, Juan Toro's team of Herbie O, Reagan, Toro, Smith, Hartley, Wiltshire, Pepin, JD Davis, Bombard, and Bowley took advantage and posted a quick five runs and never looked back. Both teams managed a lone run in the second, so going into the third, and only down four the visitors were juiced and ready to put up some big numbers. Unfortunately, nobody told the home team. During the next four innings they managed to  shut out the visitors while scoring at will during their half of every inning. They scored four in the fourth off a Toro home run and Smith double. They scored an additional run in their fifth and two in the sixth as Terry Smith continued his torrid hitting by collecting a triple.

In the seventh, there was a glimmer of hope as the visitors sent nine players to the plate. Sadly, it resulted in just three runs. They ended the inning with the bases loaded for the second time in the game. Doubles by Herbie O and Smith helped the home team to a quick five runs as they continued to build on the lead. Unfortunately there are no additional highlights as the visitors could only manage to get one runner on base in the final two frames..In the eighth inning Greg Bombard put one to the fence to ignite a rally that resulted in five more runs for the home team. Since they were up by a substantial number of runs, the home team was denied the opportunity to score anymore runs and  turn this rout into an all out slaughter. Final score Visitors 5 and Home 23.

Key Performances

Herbie O     5 for 6 with a double

Bob Reagan    4 for 6

Juan Toro     4 for 6 with a homer

Terry Smith 4 for 5 with two doubles and a triple

Mike Wiltshire    4 for 5Greg Bombard    5 for 5 with a double

JD Davis    winning pitcher

Jimmy Laffoon     4 for 5

Sam Lopez     4 for 5

Chris Constantine    3 for 4

Jerry Witter    4 for 4

  

Servicemaster Field

Two powerful lineups took to the ServiceMaster Field, for an American league game. At first blush, the batting orders looked like a loaded gun in the hands of a sharp shooter. It looked like runs were going to cross the plate, like gravy rolling off of mashed potatoes; nice and easy. The teams looked like Goliath versus Goliath. But if I know my bible stories, and I better know them, or preacher Freddy Gonzalez will pull me into his office. There is a character named David who won that battle. Two pitchers, Pat Lopiccolo, and Larry Wells played the role of David in this story.

Here are the lineups:

Visitors: Coffman, Hamilton, Witmer, Duff, Rivera, Jacobs, Wolfe, D’Herin, Benson, Matta and Lopiccolo.

vs.

Home: S. Hill, Butler, Scarborough, Jacobson, Held, Parker, Gonzalez, Shaffer, Diaz, Poke and Wells.

The visitors started off hot enough, they tore through the line up like a fox in the hen house. The first 4 batters in the lineup, Coffman, Hamilton, Witmer and Duff all reached base and scored.  Coffman started things off with a sharply hit single to left. Then Hamilton drove a double into right center. Witmer singled them both in, with a hit up the middle. Like a top 40’s play list, the hits just kept coming; Jacobs drove in Witmer, with the 4^th run. Wolfe moved Jacobs to 2^nd, with a single to right center and D’ Herin loaded the bases with a single to left. Jack Benson just needed a fly ball to knock in run number 5; instead he had a base hit up the middle.

I told you these lineups were loaded. So, when does the David story unfold amongst the pitchers? That story started to unfold in the bottom of the first. Lopiccolo blanked the Home team in their half of the first inning. Larry Wells took note and he allowed one run in the top of the 2^nd. The Visitors scored in the 2nd, after Hamilton smacked a triple into deep right center, to score Coffman. The Home team broke through the ice and scored their first run in the bottom of the 2^nd . Jacobson singled, Don Held ripped a double and Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly, to score Jacobson. However, Lopiccolo closed the door quickly and no more runs were added that inning. Both teams threw up goose eggs in the 3^rd.

What looked like a slug fest on paper, actually turned out to be a fairly low scoring game. The Visitors lead the Home team after 3 innings, 6-1.  

Due to solid pitching and defense, the score stayed low for the rest of the game. Two defensive gems were turned in by Don Witmer, one in particular stood out as the play of the game. Playing shortstop, Don went way back into shallow left field to catch a dying pop fly, over his shoulder. Ed Diaz, Kirk Coffman, Jack Benson, Jose Rivera and Chuck Duff also made some difficult plays look easy on defense.

The Visiting team had one more big inning, in the 8^th, scoring 4 runs. The inning started off with Jose Rivera hitting a home run. Jacobs, then doubled and Wolfe tripled, making it 3 extra base hits, by the first three players batting that inning. Benson and Matta added singles to complete the scoring in the 8^th.

After 8 innings, the score was Visitors 14- Home team 6.

The Visitors added 2 more runs in the 9^th, when Jose Rivera hit his 2^nd home run, in two innings. (Remember Jose hit a HR in the 8^th inning). Chuck Duff also scored on the Rivera homer. The Home team added one run in the 9^th and the books were slammed shut.

Final Score: Visitors 16- Home team 7.

Leading players:

WP: Lopiccolo.

Duff: 3/5.

Jacobs: 3/5 with a double.

Wolfe: 4/5 with a triple.

D’Herin: 3/5.

Matta 3/5.

Benson: 3/5 with a HR.

Rivera: 2/5, two homeruns.

Held: 3 / 4, two doubles.