TOURNAMENT REVIEW
A number of conversations came up this weekend regarding our approach, commitment and development opportunities for this tournament. These will important off season issues to continue to discuss and strategize. But in the meantime, this year's event was nothing but stellar so lets enjoy the moment.
Thanks to the Tailgators & Merchants.
Now....
THE FUN DIVISION
I'll admit to being nervous about the fun division. Very nervous. I'll tell you why. First we had too many players per team. Not the way anyone would have wanted it but unfortunately many players came available after the cut off date for the schedule. Too bad. We fit in as many as we could, but the truth is we could have had 6 teams for sure and likely 7.
Nervous point #2 was the high volume of top rated players. "Usually" these guys only play in the comp and don't play comp + fun. Sometimes the line between comp and fun can be blurred. That sure wasn't the case this year. I counted 15 guys who are ranked 4 or better in our league. And while the odd guy may have been hard on himself, or me or Coxy (both are fair game) there was nothing but good times and good comedy through out the weekend.
As mentioned, there were 5 teams entered with James Taylor's Squirtin' Units and Steve DeLand's Gruesome Twosome being the only teams submitted. Their teams were pretty much what they wanted with addition of a player or two that was added in. The other 3 teams were assigned by me (no time for a draft) and all teams were signed off by all 5 captains in short order.
Lets start with James' team. The two time defending champion Squirtin' Units had 3 games on Saturday and were sadly out of the tournament before the day ended. But their exit spoke to how close and well played this tournament was. They opened with a two run loss to the Gruesome Devils (10-8) and and then followed that up with a two run loss to the Quiet Ones (15-13). Saturday afternoon would finish with, you guessed it, a two run loss to the Gnomes (11-9). Three great games, overall a -6 and 0and3 record and no way to advance. The Units would come back and Sunday and have their only poor showing losing 17-9 to the Pop-Eyes. The Squirtin' Units would be the 1st team out finishing 5th.
DeLand's Gruesome Twosome squads first game was the close 10-8 win over the Units. They would follow that up with the tournaments first tie in a 19-19 affair with Gnomes. That would be followed by an 11-5 loss to the Quiet Ones. In what would become an extremely familiar record, the Gruesome crew would be at 1 win, 1 loss and 1 tie after 3 games played. In their final game of the tournament they would fall 11-10 to the Pop-Eyes. Their 1-2-1 record would drop them to 4th place and out of the tournament.
The Quiet Ones (my team, but named after Roman) started with a 15-13 win against the defending champion Squirtin' Units. The second and last Saturday game was against the Pop-Eyes which a fantastic defensive affair finishing 6-6. Sunday morning would begin with our worst showing of the weekend losing 13-5 to the Gnomes and evening our record a 1-1-1. Needing a win AND help to advance, we took care of the win our last game by downing the Gruesome Twosome 11-5. This would turnout, with the help that was about to come our way, enough to get us to the playoffs. The Quiet Ones additionally started a new fashion trend with the V-neck shirts. There is already talk about the league switching to V-neck jerseys next year. We also introduced a new nickname this weekend courtesy of Roman. Chris Parsons is now The Whale.
The Gnomes, Paul Gyori's team started with a 16-12 loss to the Pop-Eye's in what turned out to be another great game. They would shake off that loss and tie the Gruesome Twosome at 19's. They would then best the Squirtin' Units by 2, winning 11-9. In their final round robin game the Gnomes would beat the Quiet Ones handily, by a 13-5 count that secured a spot on the semis and second place overall. This team was a lot of fun. They embraced the Gnome name and came complete with garden gnomes and props. Good work guys (and ladies)
Finally, the Pop-Eyes, would open the tournament with a 16-12 win over the Gnomes and follow that up with a 6-6 tie against the Quiet ones. Their next win, 17-9 over the Squirtin' Units secured a playoff spot with a 2-0-1 record. Their final victory was a comeback 11-10 win over the Gruesome Twosome sewed up 1st place and an automatic birth to the finals. This was another team that took their name to heart. The Pop-Eyes (because Derryl and Jerry both sport the Pop-Eye nickname) came dressed in green representing spinach. Good call.
Semis
The 2nd place Gnomes squared off against the 3rd place Quiet Ones. The Quiet Ones didn't make too much noise in this one, but did improve on the 13-5 round robin loss and lost this one 10-5. The game featured some great pitching by both Randy Hipkin and Pully, but in the end the better team won.
Finals
1 Vs. 2. This was the way it should be. The Gnomes had a couple of emergency subs as players were starting to fall. But the core of both teams still made it to the final game. Gyori and Gaudet had both done masterful jobs of managing their teams and getting playing time for all the players. The players had responded with inspired play that certainly elevated our typical fun division skill level, but maintained that classic Old Timers banter and good sportsmanship.
The game started with the Pop-Eye's getting one in the 1st inning scored by Jerry Muirhead and two more in the second on runs Paul Piellusch and Derryl Gaudet. The Gnomes struggled with the bats sending four batters to the plate in each of the first three innings and getting shut out. The game was 3-0 through 3 complete.
In the top of the 4th the Gnomes would break through when Scott Mason would plate the 1st run. The bottom of the inning was great for the Pop-Eye's, and ugly for the Gnomes. Cox, Piellusch, Glecoff, Gaudet, Doyle, Moon and Porter would all score for a massive 7 run inning. The game went from 1-1 after 3 and 1/2 inning so 10-1 and seemingly over after 4.
The Gnomes, however; had some fight left in them. After two quick outs and no one on, Simard, Gyori, Dwyer, Moye, Mason and Hipkin would score runs. The last two runs were scored on a Randy Hipkin home run blast.
The white wash was suddenly a memory and the came was now interesting again at 10-7.
The Pop-Eye's were shut down in the 5th and 6th after a pitching change by Gyori saw Hipkin lifted (to preserve him for two more games that night) and inserting Bob Pearce. Bob would face one over the minimum over the 5th and 6th.
The Gnomes could manage nothing in the 6th and came up in the top of the 7th needing 3 runs to force the bottom of the inning to be played. Simard would lead off with a single followed by Gyori. Dwyer would make an out on a sinking liner stabbed by Muirhead in right field. Another out by Moye put the Gnomes down to their final out still needing 3 runs.
They still didn't quit.
Scott mason delivered, again. Then Randy Hipkin, again. Then Steve Ross with going home on the line would cash the tying run plating Mason.
10-10, bottom of the 7th.
The inning started with Glecoff flying out. That was followed by a Piellusch fly out. 2 down nobody on. Pearce had now retired 8 of the 9 batters he faced. The Derryl Gaudet strode to the plate. He was a perfect 2 for 2 with two runs scored to this point. He would single. Then Mark Doyle would smash a hot shot down the 3rd base line moving Gaudet up a base.
2 down, 2 on, Kevin Moon up. Moon would hit a rope with zero hang time on it into left center field. Game, set, match. The Pop-Eye's would prevail winning an absolutely thrilling 11-10 game.
Player of the game: Despite Mooner's heroics, Derryl Gaudet has earned the Donini #1 star in this one. He pitched 1/2 a win, but was also 3 for 3 with 3 runs scored including the winning run. Oh, and he also captained a team that was undefeated in winning it all, going 4-0-1. Well done Derryl!!!
The Victors!
Gord Dol, Paul Piellusch, Paul Koolhaas, Al Bales, Rob Farah, Ingo Bartens, Jerry Muirhead, David Polny, Phil Glecoff, Gary Cox, Derryl Gaudet, Steve Porter, Mark Doyle, Kevin Moon.
The All - Star Game
Setting the scene...the young Timers are ahead of the Old Timers in the lifetime series 2 wins to 1. Last years game end with a pretty convincing Young Timers victory. They got up early and piled on. By the time the Old Timers bats woke up and made the score respectable, the hole was too deep to come all the way back.
An Old Timers win in the 2013 game would obviously tie the series. A loss wouldn't just put us down 3-1 but would mean we'd have to win until 2016 to get the lead. That's a long time.
Working in the Old Timers favour was that this was an "Our Bat" game. Every other year our slow, old and fairly time worn bats are used by both clubs. The in between years are open bats.
The bats didn't seem to be much of a factor this year. Not at first anyone. The Young Timers counted one in the first when a lead of single (Mike) was stretched to double and ultimately cashed on a base hit to left by David Presenza. One run in the first felt like a bit of an escape for the Old Timers. Not too bad.
The Old Timers came up with Pendlebury leading off with a clean single. Brian Richards would hit bullet right back to the pitcher who snared it for the out and turn to get Pendlebury who had no chance of getting back to 1st base despite being no more than a step or two off the bag. Two down in a heart beat. For good measure, Chuck Cragg hit an almost identical ball, maybe 2 feet to the left, that was also stabbed by the pitcher. 3 outs. 1-0 Young Timers after one.
In the second inning another lead off single, this time by Waylon, that was also stretched into 2 bases. A nice fielding play on Pinto by Andy on Pinto got an out at 1st base. Scott would double, Jak would double and Kevin fly out. Red and Plamer would reach before Dale hit back to Andy for his second out of the inning and the third overall. When the dust had settled the Young Timers had scored 3 for a four nothing lead.
The Old Timers 2nd inning started with Will Goodin hitting to 3rd being thrown out 5-4 in a close play at first. Kevin Moon would step up and ground out to second. Andy Gee then flew out to Center Field. Through two innings the Old Timers had sent the minimum 6 batters to the plate and trailed 4-0. It was starting to feel a bit like last year.
It would get worse.
The Young Timers 3rd started with Mike once again singling to third, but this time he stretched it two 3 bases. Wood would follow with a sac fly to center to score the run. Presenza again doubled and Scored on a Brad Young single. Waylon and Pinto would single cashing Brad and Pinto would score on Scott's deuce. With 4 runs in and Old Timers heads hung low, a pivotal play occurred. Jak's hit a ball up the middle that seemed destined to plate more runs when Scott Mason, playing 2nd base, ranged hard to his right and stretched out to full extension barely snagging ball. Unable to plant and throw, he turned and rocketed a throw to 1st while falling away from the target. He got the runner by a step and ended the rally.
The play inspired the team. They had given up 4 runs and no trailed 8-0, but they finally had to get behind. They were an upbeat bench heading into the bottom of the 3rd.
And the 3rd inning was a magnificent one for the Old Timers. Steve Lahey would start off by singling to right. Doyle flew out to right advancing Lahey to 2nd. Scott Peters would then single to left again advancing Lahey, this time to 3rd. Mason would strike out on a foul which put the Old timers in the precarious position of 2 out 2 on and nothing in. Then the flood gates opened. The injured Phil Glecoff strode to the plate and delivered a clutch single to score Lahey with the 1st run. Then Pendlebury got his second hit on the afternoon plating another. Consecutive walks to Brian Richards and Chuck Cragg loaded the bases. They didn't stay that way long as Will Goodin would follow with another walk and Kevin Moon and Andy Gee would deliver two more clutch two out hits. The inning ended with Will Goodin being thrown out at the plate on Andy's hit in a call that was too close for me to make and I was behind the backstop. The Old Timers had patched together a brilliant two out rally and had gotten themselves back into the game now trailing 8-6.
Good news aside, the Old Timers needed to do something that they hadn't done in the first 3 innings. Shut down the Young Timers. It started well with Red flying out to center, but then Palmer reached on a single. Dale would ground to short, erasing Palmer at second base. With two out and a runner at 1st Mike would single for the third time in the game moving Dale to third. The threat ended with another fly out to center and the Old Timers had the shut down inning they need.
Lahey led off the bottom of the 4th doing one better than he did in the 3rd. He doubled to right. A single by Doyle scored Steve for the 7th run. A Peters strike out, Mason flyout to center and Glecoff pop out to short ended the inning. But it ended a little closer at 8-7.
The Young Timers looked like they'd go quickly and quietly in the 5th after fly outs to right and left by Presenza and Young. But Waylon would double and be brought home on Pinto's hit before Scott ended the inning grounding out to Mason at second base. The Young Timers recaptured their 2 run lead making it 9-7.
The 5th wasn't really kind to the Old Timers. Pendlebury and Richards both flew out to right before Chuck walked for the second time on the day. Will would reach on a single but be taken out 6-4 when Moon grounded to short.
The Young Timers had high hopes of building on their lead in the 6th and when Jak led off with a single to center it looked good. When Kevin followed with a single right center and there were runners at 1st and 2nd with no one out it looked great! Then Palmer flew out to right. One down. then the second pivotal play on the afternoon happened. Another fly ball and an out. The runner from 1st went half way while the runner from 2nd tagged up to go to third. The best opportunity for an out was to try and back door the runner going back to 1st. They tried but didn't get him. Seeing the ball moving around the diamond, the runner going from 2nd tried to score on the play. In another bang - bang play the runner was thrown out the plate as the as the bullet throw reached Pully's waiting glove. End of inning and no runs.
The Young Timers had scored 8 over their 1st 3 innings and 1 over their last 3. Momentum had officially shifted.
The Old Timers turned the screws in their half of the 6th. And Gee singled and didn't have time for a high five with the 1st base coach before scoring on a Lahey triple. Lahey had to stay hugging the bag on a Doyle screaming line out to short. Peters would deliver a huge game tying single and the inning would end with a 9-9 tie through 6 complete innings.
Again the Young Timers fashioned a rally with speed when nothing seemed there in 7th. Fly outs by Dale and Mike to start the inning were followed by a single from Wood who was cashed with easy on Presenza's triple. Brad's ground out to short ended the 1/2 inning with the Young Timers up 1 and needing a hold to win the game.
The Old Timers 7th started with a Glecoff fly out to right. Pendlebury would then double to right center and score on Brian Richards hit to right field tying the game. Brian would be thrown out at 2nd trying to stretch it to a double. Chuck's fly out to right ended the inning.
The game was tied after 7, extra innings. Each 1/2 inning starts with the last out at second base and one out.
The Young timers started with a flyout to right by Waylon moving the runner to 3rd but with 2 out. Pinto then walked putting runners at 1st and 3rd with two out. Scott then hit to short where they went the short way to get Pinto at 2nd for the 3rd out of the inning. No damage.
The Bottom of the 8th, one run needed to win. Chuck Cragg starts the inning at 2nd base with one down. Will Goodin would strike out for the second out of the inning. Kevin moon would come to the plate only to be intentionally walked to face Andy Gee. Andy would deliver big time with a single to left center field cashing in Chuck Cragg with All Star Game winning run!
For those of you who saw the game, you know it was fantastic; for those that missed it, these words don't do it justice. What an afternoon. Well done to all players and coaches who participated in this one!
Thanks:
The Captains: Gaudet, Gyori, Deland and Taylor. Gentlemen, you did a fantastic job. I am beyond impressed with how well you managed the extra players on your rosters, found room for everyone, were completely inclusive with your teams and above all exhibited nothing by superior sportsmanship every step of the way. You did yourselves and your league proud. Thank you so much.
The Players: Not a single disagreement or anytime of conflict or controversy. Not that I would ever expect any, but you never know "in the heat of the moment". As usual, were all exceptional in your play and your spirit of the game and our league. Well done.
The Fans: The people who didn't play because of conflicts but showed up to watch the games they could and the significant others who showed up to support. Thank you for the laughs, the cat calls and general good times and contributing in a huge way to the enjoyment for all of us. Playing is fun. Winning is great fun. Doing either with people around who enjoy (or sometimes tolerate) the game as much as we do is the best.
The All - Star Game: Paul Piellusch and Steve Ross, you guys did an excellent job in both salvaging this game (scheduling issues) and coaching a great affair! Hats off boys, great job.
Organizers: Steve Ross, Jamie McClean, The Beechey, Jens Lepa, Andy Gee and anyone I've missed, my sincere apologies. The effort that goes into these events is huge. There are times that you feel like your the only one bothering to pull it together, but there are people; a lot of people actually, who care and appreciate your dedication and work. Thank you.
Kevin & Donna McAdie: For those that don't know the McAdie's this is the second time that they've managed the BBQ on our behalf and the second time that it was done flawlessly. The work (seemingly) tirelessly and involve the kids that want to volunteer out of fun or to collect community service hours or both. Our heartfelt thanks to you.
James Taylor: Not only did James make the snazzy stylish shirts for the Quiet ones, but also made the All - Star team jerseys for the Old Timers squad. Fantastic work James and thank you again!
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