MCSN: June 7, 2014

New Year's Resolutions

Week 1 Recap

By Rob Tong

Thu, Jun 12, 2014

The sun was out for opening day With the never-ending winter making Chicago feel like Narnia under the spell of the White Witch, teams were chomping at the bit to enjoy the glorious weather the Lord provided for the ninth Opening Day of the Moody Softball league.

The season opener featured the defending champion coaches Rob Tong and Robert Martinez against veteran coaches David Cho and Tim Kurtz. In fact, Kurtz (trivia alert) led his team to the league's first championship back in 2006, so this matchup promised to be quite the strategic battle.

The Halos put up three in the first but the Shield Bearers struck back with a five-spot. And when the Halos put up four more in the third inning, the Bearers responded with three in their half of the inning to keep the lead.

After the Halos reclaimed the lead in the next inning, the Bearers scored two to tie the game. But then the Halos seized the game when Chlece Neal led a two-out rally that led to a five-spot for the Blue Angels, who followed that up with a spectacular defensive play by Halos rookie Shari Erwin, throwing out a Shield Bearer batter from third base.

Lost in a Bearer lineup loaded with solid hitters, rookie Noralba Gallegos stood out with a rocket over Tong's head in the outfield. Rookie Halos pitcher Chris Castallanet did a solid job keeping Shield agents (not to be confused with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents) like David Fowler and Tim Kurtz in the park.

And if scores can deceive, this would be one of those times because overBearing (overBearering?) pitcher Bruce Riegel also kept the Halos top hitters from making solid contact all game.

In the end, though, the Halos (1-0) would be the Bearer of bad news, delivering a 15-12 victory over the Shield Bearers (0-1).

The 9am game featured the return of manager Stephen Hage to the league against veteran skipper Sam Baturoni's Fruit Of The Spirit.

Hage's Tectonic Plates (1-0) grinded out a 9-1 victory over the Spirit-led team. The game was still a defensive battle after four innings, with the Plates leading only 4-0. But then the Plates scored five in the fifth inning to put the game away. The Fruit (0-1) scored a consolation run in the bottom half of that inning to close the scoring.

"On defense, we would do well for the first few innings and then the wheels fell off during the later innings," Baturoni said.

The Plates were led by rookie Matt Chandler, veteran Rob McMahon and star pitcher Scott Whitaker, who went a combined 10-for-10. Rookie Merissa Seefried made several plays look routine in left field, and Nate Arnett unwittingly revealed his steroid consumption when he missed an over-the-fence home run just a few feet foul.

"I thought our game was fun and everyone played competitively," Hage said. "The highlight for us came in the first inning when we scored three on a two-out rally."

The Fruit Of The Spirit tried to right the ship, er, fruit bowl in the nightcap of their doubleheader at 10am but Caravan wasn't very cooperative.

"The theme for both of our games was that we had no offense," said Baturoni.

The Spirit was willing but their flesh was weak as they surrendered to Caravan 17-0.

Caravan had no offensive trouble as they scored in every inning except the second inning. Everyone on the team got at least one hit and 12 of their 14 players scored a run.

“I wasn't sure whether to cheer or repent.”

- Fruit Of The Spirit's Sam Baturoni as he watched teammate Alexis Castro chase an opponent while saying 'I'm going to get you!'

"[We] came out swinging and never looked back," said assistant Caravan manager Randy Ruffolo. "A stellar offense led by Juan Cruz, who went 3-for-3 with two triples and three RBIs. Solid pitching by Pa Nelson behind a strong defense led by shortstop Alex Ruffolo, who ended the game with an unassisted double play."

Fruit's two biggest hitters, Nick Ploegstra and Ovi Tisler, were a combined 0-for-3 with a walk against wily pitcher Pa Nelson. Opposing wily pitcher Baturoni held Erik Summers in check (1-for-3) but Steve Borgstrom, Alex Ruffolo and rookie Andrew Keech were a combined 9-for-9 and 5 RBIs. Spirit rookies Erick Santiago and Robert Gomez managed to get a hit each against Pa but Caravan (1-0) proved to be too much.

One moment of levity came during the game.

"Alexis Castro who was so excited when she fielded a ball at 2B that she chased based runner Jon Chong, yelling 'I'm going to get you!'," recalled Baturoni. "I wasn't sure whether to cheer or repent."

One of the fruit of the Spirit is patience. The namesake team will need it after today's performances.

On the other hand, Caravan had so much fun in the first game, they played another game.

Well, maybe they should have stopped while they were ahead, as Caravan fell to the Killer Beehs 16-13.

The Beehs, who are hoping the third time's the charm in terms of recycling the team name (either that or they're too lazy to think of a new name), narrowly avoided a forfeit at the last minute. They should thank the Lord too, because they would have missed the chance to beat Caravan.

"Great game for the Killer Beehs this week," said namesake manager Bryan Beeh. "What looked to start as a pitching duel turned into a hit parade."

Both teams came out swinging, putting up five runs in the first inning. But then, Caravan only scored two runs in the next three innings while the Beehs put up two more five-spots to take a commanding 15-7 lead into the fifth inning.

"[We] struggled to score runs," said Ruffolo of the team's offense after the first inning. "In the final inning, [we] rallied to score four runs but the Killer Beehs' sting proved to be too much."

Caravan's Erik Summers went 3-for-3 with six RBIs but the Beehs' rookie Joshua Pagan matched Summers' stats exactly. 11 of Caravan's 14 hitters got a hit, again demonstrating the depth of their offensive talent.

But the Killer Beehs (1-0) showed offensive talent of their own. Bryan Beeh, Andrew Tisler and Michael Schneider combined to go 10-for-11 with five RBI, while the Beeh girls chipped in too. Elsa Wiese added two RBIs and Andrea Tisler went 2-for-3.

"Web gem of the game goes to Michael Schneider, who took a for-sure double on a great catch at the hot corner (third base)," Beeh noted.

Using the third-person perspective common among pro athletes today, Beeh added, "Notable mention: Bryan Beeh tried to take on a crushed ball by Caravan's Erik Summers in deep right-center, but the tree won, and Summer ended up with an inside-the-park home run. Rookie Robert Rezek pitched a great game in his Moody Softball debut and also added some timely hits."

Summers had "two inside-the-park home runs," Ruffolo pointed out.

The Beehs' Rezek outdueled Caravan's Pa Nelson to help hand Caravan (1-1) their first loss.

After some exciting softball, the league takes a week off on Jun 14th. Action resumes on Jun 21st with some intriguing matchups: Caravan takes on the dangerous Shield Bearers, Tectonic Plates tries to match their offense against the Shield Bearers, the Killer Beehs try to remain undefeated against the Tectonic Plates, and the Fruit Of The Spirit try to upend the undefeated Halos.

"The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness," noted Halos skipper Tong. "Hopefully, they'll be gentle with us."

Spiritual manager Baturoni doesn't plan on it.

"For our next games, some additional practice and tweaks to the defensive and offensive lineups will yield a better performance," he said.