MCSN: August 9, 2014

The Heat Is On

Week 7 Recap

By Rob Tong

Thu, Aug 21, 2014

Halos' Dan Armstrong takes a cut Now in the stretch run with teams jockeying for playoff position, mystery was in the air as a packed slate of six games would go a long way toward clearing up the muddled playoff picture.

8am: Killer Beehs at Fruit Of The Spirit

This game had mismatch written all over it. Although the Beehs were short-handed again, they got some quality subs in Caravan's Steve Borgstrom and the Shield Bearers' Scott Bartoszek.

But the Fruit Of The Spirit apparently didn't get the memo. First, they shut out the Beehs in the first inning. Then Spirit slugger Ovi Tisler crushed a home run over the fence to lead off his team's opening frame. And those were the first clues this would not be the rout that everyone expected.

However, the last time the Beehs got zero in the first inning, they proceeded to score 18 runs over the next six innings. And indeed, despite yet another bomb by Tisler to help stake the Fruit to a 7-3 lead after three innings, the Beehs roared back with a five-spot in the top of the fourth inning to take the lead, thanks in part to a double off the fence by sub Tim Verduin from Tectonic Plates (who subbed for Bartoszek) and rookie Robert Rezek's own moon shot over the fence.

The Fruit Of The Spirit tied the game in their half of the fourth inning. And the two teams traded zeroes in the fifth inning. But in the sixth and final inning, the Beehs tallied five runs, including a two-run inside-the-park home run by rookie slugging sensation Joshua Pagan. The Spirit tried to respond, notching three runs but came up short, falling 13-11.

Notably, the Fruit outhit the vaunted Beehs but just couldn't drive in enough baserunners to pull off the upset.

With that, the Killer Beehs record improved to 5-3 while the Fruit Of The Spirit dropped to a precarious 0-9 with just one game left to avert a winless season.

9am, main diamond: Tectonic Plates at Caravan

The new-look Plates looked to give Caravan a flat tire while giving themselves a lift (in the standings).

Team Chinaware started off strong, jumping out to an 8-2 lead going into the bottom of the fourth inning, thanks in part to rookie Matt Chandler's home run over the fence against wily Caravan veteran Pa Nelson. But Caravan came back with a five-spot in the bottom of the inning led by consecutive hits from Andrew Keech, Alex Ruffolo, Juan Cruz, Erik Summers, Nelson and Borgstrom.

"The Caravan finally remembered how to hit with runners in scoring position," Caravan co-manager Randy Ruffolo said.

That brought Caravan back into the game, trailing only 8-7. In the fifth and final inning, the Plates could only muster one run, giving them a 9-7 lead. But Caravan scored three runs in their bottom half to pull off the 10-9 come-from-behind victory.

"The #1 and #2 hitters led the way for the Caravan as Andrew Keech and Alex Ruffolo combined went 7-for-7 with six RBIs, five runs scored and a walk," the elder Ruffolo said. "Erik Summers and Pa Nelson chipped in with two RBIs each in a come-from-behind nailbiter."

The win pushed Caravan's record to 5-2 while Tectonic Plates dropped to 4-5. Had the Plates held on to their lead, they would have tied the Killer Beehs for third place.

9am, Diamond 1: Shield Bearers at Killer Beehs

The Beehs trudged off to Diamond 1 in search of another victory...and new subs. They started off with the Halos' Glenn Lindquist and Joe Warning, though both eventually were required to leave the game when a Beeh showed up (Giovanni Medina, fashionably late as usual) and Fruit Of The Spirit's Erick Santiago subbed for Warning.

In the expansive field of Diamond 1 with no fence to hold balls back, the Beehs truly were Killer, scoring no fewer than two runs in every inning as they led wire-to-wire, coasting to a 17-7 victory over the Kurtz-less Shield Bearers.

Every Beeh (and Beeh sub) got at least one hit, except for Lindquist, who extracted a walk in his only plate appearance. Rezek, Pagan and rookie Gene Yau accounted for more than half the team's hits (13-for-15) and 13 of the team's 17 RBIs. Elsa Wiese chipped in with two big hits.

The win put the Beehs' record at 6-3 while dropping the Shield Bearers, who were shut out in four of their six offensive innings, to 3-5.

10am, main diamond: Tectonic Plates at Halos

The Plates, stinging from their missed opportunity to beat Caravan, did not miss their opportunity to upset the undefeated Halos.

The Halos played sloppy defense all around, allowing the Plates to put up two five-run innings in a row and falling into a 10-2 hole early in the game. While the Blue Angels did scratch out four runs in the bottom of the third to trail 10-6, Plate pitcher Matt Terry (subbing for absent starter Scott Whitaker) stymied the Halos offense in general, as the Plates this time held on to their lead to knock off the previously unbeaten Halos 12-8 in a time-shortened five innings.

The Halos scratched out only 11 hits, although one of them was a titanic two-run blast over the fence by rookie Joshua Rosas.

The Halos' loss ensured that the 2008 Emoticons and 2012 Transformers remain the only teams in league history to finish the regular season undefeated (the Emoticons also went on to win the championship, going undefeated in the playoffs as well). Somewhere, Michael Thate and Anthony Halpin (the Emoticon co-managers) are doing fist pumps. Ovi Tisler, who was also on the Emoticons that year, admitted he was "pretty happy" to hear the news of the Halos' loss.

In any event, the Tectonic Plates move up to .500 (5-5) while the Halos dropped to 6-1.

“It's feast or famine for me.”

- Fruit Of The Spirit's Ovi Tisler on being on both an undefeated team and two winless teams in his softball career

10am, Diamond 1: Fruit Of The Spirit at Caravan

Caravan apparently dropped off one of its passengers, as Juan Cruz couldn't play this game. But the Fruit Of The Spirit upped the ante by countering with a missing Ovi Tisler.

With both teams sporting eight-player lineups, it was a rock-em, sock-em affair. When the dust cleared, both teams punched
out 22 hits but it was Caravan who was left standing after another 15-14 squeaker.

For the first time in league history, every player on both teams got at least one hit. For the Spirit, Nick Ploegstra had a perfect day at the plate, going 5-for-5 with three RBI. For Team Rideshare, Alex Ruffolo and Erik Summers were perfect at the dish.

"Confidence high and body's loose and ready to play Game 2," said Randy Ruffolo. "The big bat of Erik Summers paved the way as he had six RBIs and hit for the cycle: single, double, triple and two inside-the-park home runs. But Erik wasn't the only one swinging a hot bat as Alex Ruffolo continued his perfect day at the plate going 4-for-4 with five runs scored, two RBIs and a walk."

The Fruit trailed 15-12 heading into the bottom of the final sixth inning and pushed across two runs but fell short by one.

"Alex Ruffolo finished the doubleheader going a perfect 7-for-7 with six runs scored, five RBIs and two walks," summarized the elder Ruffolo. "The Caravan finished another close game and squeaked a sweep of the doubleheader by winning both games by only one run."

The win put Caravan at 6-2 while Fruit Of The Spirit dropped to 0-10, joining the 2009 Mt. Sinai Sluggers as the only teams to go winless in the regular season.

"It's feast or famine for me," reflected Tisler the day after on his Moody Softball career, referring to his being on both the undefeated Emoticons as well as two winless teams (Mt. Sinai Sluggers and this year's Fruit Of The Spirit).

11am: Shield Bearers at Halos

The final game of the warm and muggy morning saw the Shield Bearers trying to tame an unhappy Halos team that had just lost its chance at an undefeated season.

The Blue Angels played much better defense while the middle of their order (Robert Martinez, Rob Tong, Joshua Rosas and Tom Collins) accounted for 12 of the team's 13 RBIs. The team's girls (Alyssa Martinez and Chlece Neal) also each had a hit, with Alyssa Martinez also providing the 13th RBI.

The game featured a SportsCenter moment on the basepaths in the third inning as the Halos' Rob Tong got into a rundown between first and second base, wiggled out of that pickle by getting to second base safely, and then on a heads-up call by Halos third base coach Robert Martinez, Tong also managed to barely outrun Bearer third baseman Lawrence Chung to get to third base safely as well.

"Man, he's a lot faster than I thought," Tong said of Chung. "Either that or I'm slower than I thought. Maybe both."

The absence of Shield Bearer Tim Kurtz was much more pronounced on the team offensively than expected, as the team scores an average 12.7 runs per game with him in the lineup but only managed 6.5 runs per game without him. Even on defense, Tim's presence is worth one run per game: the team also allows an average 13.9 runs per game with Kurtz on the field but allowed 15 runs per game today without him.

Meanwhile, everyone in the Halos lineup got at least one hit as the Halos improved to 7-1 while the Shield Bearers fell to 3-6.

Looking ahead to the Aug 16th games

Whew! After all that action, what lies ahead for next week?

The #4, #5 and #6 seeds are locked in: Tectonic Plates, Shield Bearers and Fruit Of The Spirit, respectively. But the first three seeds are still up in the air. Theoretically, the Halos, Caravan and Killer Beehs each have a chance to be the first seed, the second seed or the third seed, depending on the outcome of these upcoming games.

At 8am, the Shield Bearers try to spoil things for Caravan, while the Killer Beehs and the Halos duke it out at 9am. At 10am, the Halos and Caravan slug it out.

The 11am game will kick off the Moody Softball playoffs with the #3 seed (whoever that ends up being) against the #6 Fruit Of the Spirit.

The mystery continues to unfold. Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion!