MCSN: August 4, 2012

The Believas' Rob McMahon takes a swing at the Transformers

Cannon Breaks Through

Week 6 Recap

Fri, Aug 10, 2012

Saturday's action started off with the Believas vs. the Killer Beehs, teams that hadn't met since June.

The Beehs started off with two runs in the top of the first, but the Believas responded with five runs in their half of the inning and never looked back on their way to a 15-5 romp.

Ace pitcher Gary Lockwood took the sting out of the Beehs' bats, limiting them to only nine hits while offering two free passes. Only Sam "Batter"-oni was able to muster more than one hit off the crafty veteran. Bryan Beeh hit his first career over-the-fence home run, but it simply wasn't enough.

The Believas (4-4) again had broad contribution from their lineup as Rob McMahon was able to capitalize on the three walks drawn by the gimlet-eyed Tim Kurtz to drive in four runs. [Editor's note: Kurtz's three walks in one game tied the regular season league record last set by Moody & The Blowfish's Sonia Soto on August 15, 2009.] Godfrey Gillet, Gary Lockwood, and Joe Bolz all went 3-for-3 with the sure-handed Bolz making a number of nice plays at second base.

The morning's second game was a bit of turnabout as the Believas found themselves on the other end of a lopsided game, 15-3, vs. Pass the Plate.

It was still only 9-3 through five innings, but the Platers finished with six runs in the last two innings for the final score.

Manager Jeremy Huntington knocked in four runs, while his more eternally-minded wife, Kristen, was at church training volunteers for the rigors of a week of VBS.

Additionally, Les Carter, Esq, led the team with five RBIs including a home run where he rounded the bases with speed only seen when he's handing his business card to recently-injured slip-and-fall victims.

[Editor's note: Kurtz drew another walk in this game; the four combined walks for the day matched Kurtz's same accomplishment set back on August 16, 2008 and were the most combined walks in one day for a single player since Andrew Peterson drew five on August 23, 2008.]

Despite the loss, the Believas locked up the #3 seed for the playoffs and will likely face Pass the Plate in the first-round of the playoffs, so manager Tim Kurtz will need to dust off his strategery playbook.

The 10am game featured Cannon's best opportunity to get a win with a third-and-final matchup against the equally struggling Killer Beehs.

It appeared many of the Cannon had thrown in the towel as they were short players, but thanks to the league's and Beehs manager Bryan's generous substitution policies, the game would go on.

The Beehs seemed to view sportsmanship as the name of the game as they continued their graciousness towards Cannon for the next several innings.

Sub and super-commish Rob Tong, along with the hot-hitting and fielding Joe Bolz, seemed to inject confidence into the previously listless Cannon offense and they erupted for 16 runs on 20 hits in a barrage that included a run in every inning. Eric Bartl and Jon Chong each hammered home five RBIs including a home run each, leading the way to a 16-11 victory over the Beehs.

The Beehs (1-7-1) tried to make things interesting with five runs in the last inning but it was not enough and Cannon emerged with their first win of the season.

It also led to a tie for the #4 seed between the two teams, with the Beehs holding a slight edge in the tie-breaker.

The gamely was nicely encapsuled afterwards as Cannon slugger Eric Bartl deftly swatted away a real bee that was buzzing around him, apparently unconcerned, or unaware, that a Beeh could sting you.

The day's final game ended in a forfeit as Cannon could not field the number of players needed to play the game against the Transformers.

Looking ahead to the season's final regular season games, the Transformers need to win one of 2 games to lock up the top seed. Even if they lose both, Pass the Plate would need to beat them by 15 runs to steal the #1 seed. This scenario seems like something only Hollywood could conjure up, but then again who would imagine we'd ever fall victim to sentient robots from another galaxy??