MCSN: August 14, 2010

Regular season wraps up

Week 10 Recap

Fri, Aug 20, 2010

El Fuego's Jacob Dodds digs in

Regular season play ended last week and games showed there is still a lot of parity in the league. As a playoff preview, the only Championship prediction MCSN analysts can make from Saturday’s results is anything can happen.

Coming off their first win last week, the Punishers stopped short of a streak and fell to the Smithereens in the early game, 13-9. Although some of the Punisher players were tardy, Smithereens manager Mat Smith held off the start to avoid a forfeited win.

“[He] showed great sportsmanship,” said Punisher manager Scott Lilly. “Kudos for Mat wanting to get a game in instead of a forfeit.”

A Punishers win would have given them the #6 seed since they owned the tiebreaker edge over Tsunami, and the team gave great effort but fell short in the end. The Punishers (2-5) were missing their cleanup hitter Ben Thacker, but Lilly pointed to Rob Tong’s two home runs, one triple and six RBI for keeping them in the game. However, the Smithereens (5-3) came to play with their own big hitters and secured the win in the end, giving them the #3 seed over Global Warming by virtue of their tiebreaker edge.

“We are going to appeal for steroid testing for [Smithereens' left fielder] Eric Bartl after he hit out-of-the-park homers to both right and left field,” said Lilly.

No comment from Smithereens manager Mat Smith, but we’ve heard typing with one hand can be taxing.

MCSN fans reported feeling déjà vu when the next game was also delayed for tardy players to avoid forfeit, this time El Fuego teammates instead of Punishers. Fielding their usual magic eight once the game got underway, Global Warming edged out El Fuego 19-13.

Early in the game, Global Warming flexed their offensive muscles by batting through the order and scoring five runs without making a single out. El Fuego responded with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame. El Fuego went on to score five runs in the second inning, taking a 9-8 lead. The teams shared the lead for the rest of the game, with El Fuego up 12-11 in the seventh, but Global Warming’s bats took back the lead to win the game.

A league-record total of six over-the-fence home runs, three by each team, were hit in this game. El Fuego (4-2-1) offered two by Ethan Sinnema and one by Jacod Dodds. Global Warmers Andy Tisler, Anthony Halpin, and Ovi Tisler each had one HR and a combined 16 RBIs.

"I told Anthony and Andy to 'keep on doin what you're doin' for the playoffs." Said Ovi Tisler, Global Warming manager. “Anthony said he will continue to take long vacations to Texas and not swing a bat for several months. Andy promised he would keep partying late Friday night and wouldn't get more than 2 hours of sleep for the early games.”

El Fuego's loss, coupled with Carter Administration's later win vs. the Wombats, ensured Carter Administration got the #1 seed while El Fuego takes the consolation #2 seed.

The win makes Global Warming the hottest (no pun intended) team in the league with a four-game winning streak. Also, this is Global Warming’s fourth win with eight players. But another way to look at it is that their regular-season record ended at 5-3, meaning they are 1-3 with more than eight players.

After all the morning’s decisive wins, Lion’s Den and Carter Administration decided to mix it up with a softball stalemate, tying 11-11 in the 9 am game on Diamond #1. The Lion’s Den (1-4-2) held the lead throughout the game and kept Carter Administration (5-1-1) to three runs until the seventh inning when the peanuts lived up to their motto “Go Nuts!” and scored eight runs to tie the game.

“It was sweet justice to have Nick Ploegstra, the Lion’s Den closing pitcher, give up the win and eight runs in the bottom of the seventh inning after years of taunting the Carter Administration mascot calling what is obviously a peanut, a pickle,” said a bitter Carter Administration manager Chris Carter. “Hey Nick, ‘Who’s the sour pickle now?’”

The Lion’s Den recovered quickly, moving on to mangle Tsunami 14-3 in the 10 a.m. game on the main diamond.

“We could have lost our composure for the second game after that inning [against the Carter Administration] but instead had our most complete performance of the season against Tsunami,” said Lion's Den skipper Dan Coughlin. “Our bats are coming alive at just the right time and we are very much looking forward to the rematch against Global Warming.”

Coughlin also pointed to Wendy Ploegstra as a key factor in the win. Ploegstra reached base all four at bats and
helped record all three outs in one inning.

“Our best chance for success against them is solid defense, timely hitting and convincing half their roster that the games are at Beckman Field.”

- Tsunami's Sam Baturoni on how to beat the Smithereens

Tsunami manager and MCSN statistician Sam Baturoni agreed it was ugly for his team.

“We got squashed…they scored early and often,” he said. “Every player on their team had a hit or a run.”

Tsunami got a double douse of defeat later in the day, losing to El Fuego 13-9 in the 11 a.m. game on Diamond #1. El Fuego (5-2-1) stayed ahead two runs most for the game and then increased their lead to four in the seventh inning, sealing Tsunami’s fate.

Tsunami's loss wasn’t for lack of effort, as the team’s players showed true commitment. Left fielder Steve Borgstrom slid into home plate, adding to the score but suffering a gash over his left eye which needed stitches after the game. Borgstrom may join Smith on the injured list.

Despite two losses on the day, a four-game losing streak, and ending the season under .500, Tsunami (3-5)
isn’t too worried.

“I think we can do okay against the power-hitting Smithereens,” said Baturoni. “Our best chance for success against them is solid defense, timely hitting and convincing half their roster that the games are at Beckman Field.

Before that game, the Wombats were finally able to field enough of a team and edged out the Punishers 8-7 in the 10 a.m. game on Diamond #1 for their first win of the season. Both teams shared the lead until Wombat Joe Piercy hit a game-winning walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the game.

“It was good to see the Wombats get two games in today,” said Punishers' manager Scott Lilly. “Not only good for them but good for the league. What wasn't good for the league was the Wombats' Pastor Bertsche evidently found Erik Estrada's sunglasses, and was sporting them at the plate. I thought I was in an episode of CHiPs instead of a Moody Church softball game.”

The Wombats lost their famed second game to the Carter Administration 15-8 in the 11 a.m. game on the main diamond. Had the Wombats won, they actually would've secured the 7th seed since they won the tiebreaker over the Punishers, a feat almost unthinkable considering all their forfeit losses. But as it was, Carter Administration finished 6-1-1 while the Wombats, who played only 3 games all season, ended 1-7.

“We were short-staffed for both games with only eight in the field starting us with a substantial disadvantage,” said Wombats manager Andrew Peterson. “Although, with the way our season has gone, I'm happy we had eight show up!”

Carter Administration manager Chris Carter wasn’t so happy the Wombats showed up, as Peterson made a diving catch to stop Carter Administration slugger Lindsey Anderson’s potential triple.

“Peterson leaping into the air, sacrificing his body for a routine fly ball, won the hearts of his teammates back after his absence last week,” said Carter. “Since he only has two teammates still, it didn’t take much.”

With that, the first-round playoff matchups are set. The #7 seed Punishers, again without slugger Ben Thacker, kicks off the playoffs against #2 El Fuego at 8 a.m. The 9 a.m. game features #6 Tsunami taking on the #3 seed Smithereens. That's followed by the 10 a.m. matchup of the league's stingiest defense in #5 Lion's Den vs. #4 Global Warming. The morning action concludes with #8 Wombats against the league's top offense in #1 seed Carter Administration.