Frequent Friars
Championship Saturday Recap
Mon, September 12, 2011
Championship Saturday started off with beautiful blue skies and the upstart Nitros taking on the top-ranked Usual Suspects. Would the Nitros continue to surprise? The Usual Suspects were ripe for the picking, as they could only field nine players.
The Nitros started off with a bang, getting an inside-the-park home run when Joshua Hall's single to left field got past Suspects left fielder Steve Borgstrom. But that was the only run the Nitros would score for the first three innings.
Defensively, the Nitros employed a bit of strategery, starting Joshua Hall as pitcher instead of Sam Baturoni, who pitched very well in the Nitros' shocking upset over The Franchise last week. However, the Suspects took the switcheroo in stride, surprisingly jumping to an 11-1 lead after the first three innings. Suspects pitcher Gary Lockwood kept the Nitros hitters quiet, supported by excellent Suspects defense. The Nitros did close out the final three innings on a 6-2 run to make the score closer, but the outcome never really was in doubt by then, as The Usual Suspects prevailed 13-7.
"We game planned for Sam as their pitcher," confided the Suspects' Rob Tong, who had a game-high 5 RBI. "Joshua as pitcher was a smart move; it's hard to hit the ball solid against him. We couldn't play long ball against him so we had to dink-and-dunk to get runs."
The top four Suspects hitters dink-and-dunked their way to a 12-for-15 performance, with every batter in the lineup getting at least one hit.
Meanwhile Lockwood held the Nitros' big hitters in check despite only 3 outfielders behind him. However, he did have trouble against one Nitro batter: Brian Diller, who hit two clean doubles.
"I was most surprised by that," Baturoni said. "He doesn't get on base that often. He ran the bases with the same excitement as one runs down to contestants' row on The Price is Right."
Baturoni also admitted the offense, which made league history last week, was hurt by Neal White's absence.
In the other semi-final game, the #4-ranked Home Invaders took on the #2-ranked Friars. Despite being routed in the regular season matchups, the Home Invaders hit the 5-run max in the first inning against the Friars and their feared pitcher Bruce Riegel. The Invaders hit the ball with authority against what appeared to be a tentative-looking Friars defense.
"Oh man, I thought we were going to lose," said the Friars' Robert Martinez after seeing the events of the Invaders' impressive first inning.
The Friars looked to be in danger of being the victim of another playoff upset. But then came the turning point in the game. In the bottom of the first inning, normal starting pitcher Andy Tisler, managing in Ovi Tisler's absence, did not pitch. Instead, the Invaders' backup pitcher was called to pitch the bottom of the first inning, a theoretically smart strategy. But the Friars, who didn't hit the ball very well off the new pitcher, nevertheless tied the game with their own 5-run inning thanks in part to three big walks.
"At that point, I thought, 'Wow, we're back in the game...now we have a chance'," Martinez said.
With the game tied and effectively starting a brand new ball game, Riegel settled down, holding the Invaders to only three more runs in the remaining six innings. Andy Tisler took over as pitcher but questionable defensive alignment by the Invaders allowed the Friars' batters to get hits, and the Friars eventually got the victory, 13-8 over the Home Invaders.
The Friars didn't even need Jacob Dodds, who arrived at the field too late to be inserted into the game.
So the Championship Game featured the much-expected matchup between the #2 Friars and top-ranked The Usual Suspects. The Suspects had the tall order of trying to beat the Friars for a third consecutive time, not easy since they only beat the Friars by one run in their last meeting. The Suspects looked to squeeze another strong game from star pitcher Gary Lockwood.
The first inning showcased what we'd expect between these two juggernauts: a classic tug-of-war. The Friars jumped on the board with three runs in the top of the first inning, and The Usual Suspects countered with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning.
But then two of the worst things that could happen to the Suspects happened. First, Lockwood pulled a leg muscle. Then, Suspects' right-fielder Magda Reman is hit in the face by a batted ball by Martinez on a bad hop...with the bases loaded, no less. Reman has to leave the game, which had two ripple effects: (1) The Usual Suspects had to take an automatic out every time her turn came up in the batting order, and (2) the Suspects now only had 8 players on defense, a daunting challenge against an offensively-loaded team like the Friars.
"After [those two events], they hammered our defense and scored most of their runs," said Suspects manager Tim Kurtz.
Lockwood valiantly tried to play through his injury, but it clearly affected his playing ability. He issued an uncharacteristic five walks and the Friars rapped legitimate hits throughout the game.
Meanwhile, playing with 8 defenders was a constant struggle for the Suspects against the aggressive, fast Friars.
"Good defense leads to good hitting," said Friars rookie manager Jerry Hodge. "We built our lineup with the idea of protecting our weaker hitters with hitters that consistently put the ball in play. Our team speed is what really generated our offensive game."
“I call them 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'.”- Usual Suspect Tim Kurtz on Friars sluggers Erik Summers, Robert Martinez, Chris Carter & Jacob Dodds
While Lockwood struggled, Friars star pitcher Bruce Riegel dazzled the Suspects hitters, holding Tim Kurtz and Rob Tong to a combined 1-for-8.
"John Fraats was instrumental in our playoff wins by serving in a defensive coordinator role," Hodge explained. "He
kept impeccable notes on every hitter
and set up our defense accordingly. [We]
concentrated on an opposing hitter's tendencies and pitched away from their strength. Bruce Riegel was phenomenal. I believe he allowed the fewest home runs by any pitcher."
Riegel only gave up three more runs the rest of the game, supported by solid defense, particularly key plays by second baseman Chris Carter, left fielder Aleris Fraats and right fielder Patrick Halpin.
"Aleris Fraats was perfect in left field catching everything hit her way," Hodge said. "I'm sure Steve Borgstrom has nightmares about Aleris' defense. Patrick Halpin really stepped up his game at the right time and sparked our offense at the top of the order. [And] I want to give Chris Carter a pat on the back. In past seasons, Chris was a 'bopper'. This year he accepted a different role and I rode him quite a bit. I am very proud of the way he carried himself; he is a solid teammate."
Offensively, Martinez, Carter, Jacob Dodds and Erik Summers were a perfect combined 14-for-14, driving in 13 of the team's 14 RBIs.
"I call them 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'," said Kurtz.
"I felt greatly rewarded watching Erik Summers develop into a very solid 5-tool player who filled the critical 4 spot in our lineup," Hodge said. "[And] Robert Martinez exemplified the heart of our team with his pure hustle on each and every play."
The Friars offense put immense pressure on the undermanned Suspects defense, which was often out of position. And in the end, the Friars took home the 2011 Championship with a 14-6 victory over The Usual Suspects.
As the curtain came down on the 2011 season, the managers took time to reflect on the season and look ahead to next year.
"While not the glorious ending to the season we were hoping for, I can honestly say I had a great time playing with [everyone]," Kurtz said. "Besides seeing us improve so much as a team, [our team] just [had] fun people to be around! I hope everyone had a great year and encourage [everyone] to play again next year."
"Right from the start we knew there was something special about this team," Hodge said. "We preached one gospel...DEFENSE! We never took batting practice but rather fielded ground balls, working cutoffs, and not throwing the ball around trying to make sensational plays. Every player contributed in a very unique way and I can look back and see how each one had a big contribution in each of our wins. We also made it a point to learn from every loss and no matter the outcome we applied a biblical perspective that we could take from it. For each and every player to place the team first, embrace a single approach and forget about home runs and RBIs and take pride in making a good defensive play is what helped form the character of the Friars."
"Even though I didn't do as well as I would have liked to, being at Moody Softball is much more fun that sitting at home on Saturday mornings," Baturoni said. "Hopefully the Nitros who were new to the league (Nelson Rios, Ashley Chismark, Maergrethe Haines, and Brad Sczezcinski) all had a great time and want to play next year."
So when the snow is falling and the wind chills make you wish for warm sunny days again, just remember that 2012 Moody Softball signups will be just around the corner!
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