MCSN: June 27th

Saltier Still

Week 3 Recap

Wed, June 27, 2007

Joshua Hall's Mustard
Seeds are hitting at
a torrid rate Backing up his guarantee of beating Covenant, Saltier manager Bill Van Tuinen led his team to an 11-9 victory over the newly marrieds team to cap the slate of Week 3 games. Saltier remained perfect, improving to 3-0.

Saltier banged out 22 hits to lead a balanced attack, led by Van Tuinen's league-leading fourth home run of the season, although Covenant manager Chris Carter thinks the home run is misleading.

"The low point was the 25+ errors we had, plus giving Van Tuinen another charity home run from what should have been a routine single," Carter said.

When informed of Carter's comment, Van Tuinen responded, "Chris has a great heart. I love that guy! Doesn't he know all my home runs are misplayed singles?! I need more of Thate's lotion."

Covenant made a late run with a five-run 6th inning to close the gap to two runs but got no closer.

"The highlight of the game was when the bottom of the order, led by Shannon Carter, Lindsay Hansen and Simone Halpin, surged in the bottom of the 6th inning and scored 5 runs," said Chris Carter, who also pointed to Simone Halpin's running catch of a Van Tuinen fly ball to right field as a highlight.

"We expected a tough game," Van Tuinen acknowledged. "Covenant has some of the most talented guys in the league on their team, but we knew the key was Shannon Carter. You can't stop her. You can only hope to contain her, and I think we did that. She's the heart and soul of that team and one of the few players in the league who can control the game from the catcher position. She managed to get into Reed Flora's head and we're hoping the electro-shock therapy this week will quiet the voices he's been hearing ever since."

Covenant's loss dropped them to 0-1-2.

"I can confidently say they are the best 0-1-2 team this league has ever seen," said Van Tuinen.

Chris Carter shrugged off the record. "Unlike Saltier, we surge in August," he said.

"They'll make some noise in September," agreed Van Tuinen. "Actually with Shannon on their team, they'll literally be making noise most of the season."

In the 8 AM game, the YMYF Mustard Seeds downed In Focus Classic 10-4 on the strength of a week-high 24 hits. The Seeds have now led the league in hits for the second consecutive week.

“I can confidently say they are the best 0-1-2 team this league has ever seen.”

- Bill Van Tuinen on Covenant

"Wow!! That's amazing!!" exclaimed Seeds manager Joshua Hall when informed of that stat. "We've made solid contact all season, and the last two weeks have been able to find holes at all the right times. Communication between our base coaches and runners has been very good so we've been able to extend innings instead of running ourselves into silly base running mistakes."

The Seeds boast five of the league's top 15 hitters so far this season. This raises the question: during the YMYF draft, was Hall aware he was picking such top hitters?

"Honestly...no I didn't," Hall said. "I didn't know most of the team before we got together for our first practice, but I was greatly encouraged by the contact being made. So, I figured we'd have some good players and do well."

Classic manager Anne Marie Misovich was also impressed by the Seeds' hitting prowess.

"The Seeds have some pretty heavy hitters," she said. "They outhit us almost 2:1."

Classic was without the services of third baseman Mike Houston, who was unavailable to play.

"We were just inconsistent in our hitting. We scored 4 runs, but we also stranded 7 runners," said Misovich. "So far this season, with 5 at-bats, [Houston]'s gotten 4 hits, 3 runs, and 1 RBI. So did we miss him in Saturday's game? Gentlemen, you do the math."

The Mustard Seeds are now 2-1 while Classic dropped to 0-2-1.

"If we continue playing like that, I think we'll do very well," said Hall.

The YMYF Defenders played Crossroads to an originally believed 10-10 tie based on Defenders' scorekeeper Anya Portokalis' account, who did not actually keep score for Crossroads but tried to keep track of their runs scored by inning. However, upon further review by Crossroads manager Anthony Halpin, the game was ruled a 10-9 victory by the Defenders.

"I reviewed the stats over and over again and I can't find the tenth run so I don't want to cheat and assume it was in there somewhere," said Anthony Halpin. "Hopefully, this honesty will come back to help us later in the season."

"Man, that was a great game!" said Crossroads shortstop Michael Thate. "It was so intense."

Third base featured prominently in this game. First, the Defenders' Steve Borgstrom was called out for leaving third base early on a Steve Adie sacrifice fly. But upon further review, it was determined the runner did not leave early. It was too late to change the call, however.

"I believe the ump has some under-the-table deal to keep Steve Adie's RBI total down," assessed Defenders manager Rob Tong. "I'll have to find out what that deal is and top the offer. I've got deals with most umps in this league but this ump was new so I have to find out what he wants as a kickback."

The second incident involving third base was when Thate collided with the Defenders' Pat Brown on an extra-base hit in the 6th inning. Thate initially thought Brown intentionally knocked him down to keep him from going for an inside-the-park home run and was initially visibly upset.

"Pat and I had a great chat since," said Thate. "And all is well. He's a dear brother and has helped quite a bit around the church so I have had the opportunity to see his heart. I know he didn't intend it...I guess that added to the shock."

"Aw, dadgummit," Tong said. "I was hoping to see a fight break out so we could be on ESPN."

Entering the game, Thate was a pedestrian 1-for-4 but broke out of his slump with a 3-for-3 game (two doubles, one triple). However, the league's reigning MVP finished the game still seeking his first home run of the season.

"I'm fine that Thate doesn't have any home runs yet b/c he is still hitting the ball well and scoring a lot of our runs," Halpin said. "I wouldn't trade him for anyone."

The Defenders nail-biting win moved them to 2-0-1 while Crossroads fell to 1-2. Crossroads next plays the Mustard Seeds and have made two predictions.

"I'm going over the fence, baby," guaranteed Thate.

"The Mustard Seeds' streak of having the most hits will stop this Saturday," continued Halpin.

In the 10 AM game, Rock Salt downed the In Focus Cowboys team 17-0. It was only the second shutout in league history, although this one was against a depleted team.

So does Rock Salt think they are better than Saltier?

"It really depends on how you define 'better'," Rock Salt manager Tim Kurtz explained. "Is Rock Salt a better name than Saltier? Of course. Is Rock Salt a better-looking, more attractive team? Without a doubt. Will we beat Saltier on July 21st? I'm not sure. Rock Salt has dramatically improved since our first game, but I don't know how a matchup would play out."

Van Tuinen returned the back-handed compliment.

"We're happy to see Rock Salt doing well," Van Tuinen said. "After league expansion ended the Salt class's softball dynasty we're still rooting for those guys. Their name isn't as cool as ours, but I think they've got a lot of talent. A lot of people may question Tim Kurtz's gestapo-style management of his teams, but all that guy ever does is win."

While Rock Salt is unsure of a matchup against Saltier, Chris Carter is sure of Covenant's matchup against Rock Salt this Saturday.

"If Tim Kurtz is as blind swinging a bat as he is calling balls & strikes, this one won't even be close," Carter said. "Our big hitter Pastor Bill Bertche and ace pitcher Lindsay Hansen won't be around, but fortunately, Pastor Mark 'Portillo's' Pirrie will be blazing the path to victory."

In the other games this Saturday, In Focus Classic takes on a heavily-depleted YMYF Defenders squad while the In Focus Cowboys tackle Saltier.