MCSN: June 29, 2013

Surprises rule the day

Week 3 Recap

By Bill Van Tuinen

Thu, Aug 8, 2013

Cross The Bases' Terron Wright takes a swing at a pitch from the Roosters' Sam Baturoni Week 3 opened with the much-anticipated clash between 3:16 Mafia and Witness.

Both offenses came out firing with the Mafia holding a 9-7 lead after three innings. The Mafia were "don" a man or two with only nine players, while Witness held true to their name with a nearly full complement of 12 players.

After the initial barrage, both teams settled down and were scoreless until the bottom of the 6th (and last) inning where Witness needed two runs to tie it. Witness pushed one run across the plate, but were thwarted in their attempt to tie the game by Eric Bartl's strong defense. First, Bartl gunned down Witness's speedy Robert Martinez trying to tag up to third base for the second out. Then Bartl caught Anthony Halpin's screaming liner to left for the game's final out. Mafia pitchers Joe Bolz and Khalil Kittaneh, both making their first pitching appearance in MCSN, filled in admirably for the absent Andy Tisler.

[Editor's note: Mafia's win both put teams near the top of the leaderboard at 2-1.]

The Mafia were riding high heading into their second game of the day against Cross the Bases. However, things quickly went south as 3:16's bats went cold and fielding went sour.

After three innings, the Bases were ahead 10-1 and stretched the lead to 14-1 before the Mafia scored 3 runs in the last inning to make it mildly respectable. Bases manager and pitcher Gary Lockwood kept the 3:16 hitters guessing all day. Despite being shorthanded once again, the Bases' good pitching, excellent field work, and timely hitting combined to make the Mafia "sleep with the fishes". Powerful hitting by the Bases' Steve Borgstrom (six RBIs for the game) contributed mightily to the run total.

"We're progressing nicely," said coach Lockwood. Mafia manager Bill Van Tuinen could not be reached for comment.

[Ed: Cross the Bases joined Witness near the top of the leaderboard at 3-1; the 3:16 Mafia dropped to 2-2.]

The day's next game featured two teams looking to get into the win column for the first time all year.

“We're progressing nicely.”

- Cross The Bases' Gary Lockwood on his team's first-place status so far this season

Things looked bright early for the Roosters as they led 3-0 after the first inning, but the Orange Crush pecked away at the lead with runs in each of the next five innings while quieting the Roosters offense.

Crush manager Tim Kurtz forbid his team from giving
him a Gatorade, or any other non-carbonated beverage,
bath after the game, since they still had one more to play.

[Ed: Orange Crush improved to 1-3; the Roosters fell to 0-4.]

The day ended with what was likely the game-of-the-year so far.

In a matchup that would give most diabetics nightmares, the Orange Crush faced the Killer Beehs. Unlike the Mafia, who folded after their first-game victory, the Crush kept going strong, getting five runs in the first inning and cruising to a 14-6 lead after six innings. Erik Summers led the assault going 4-for-4 with five RBIs, while Steve Portokalis banged out five hits on the day.

But beehing Beeh-hind did not get the Beehs down. In the largest deficit overcome in MCSN league history, the Beehs scored nine runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to claim the sweet victory over the crushed Crush.

[Ed: the Killer Beehs remain the class of the league at 4-0; Orange Crush dropped to 1-4.]