MCSN: June 13, 2015

Reprise...sort of

Week 2 Recap

By Rob Tong

Thu, Jun 25, 2015

We'll get a new photo up, folks The league must be doing something right because all the teams who played in the season opener came back to play again in Week Two. Well, Holy Walkamolies didn't come back but that's because they were on bye.

But whereas Week One saw one blowout and three nailbiters, it was reversed for the Week Two encore: one game was a nailbiter while the rest were blowouts.

8am game

The Fellowship Of The Ring kicked off the week's festivities against the Dugout Donuts from Edgewater Baptist Church. The Donuts presented the Ringbearers with a box of donuts. Some Ring players thought it was a really, ahem, sweet gesture while others felt they were being fattened up for the kill. Ring manager Rob Tong didn't think twice, quickly devouring one. "Hopefully eating up the donuts will be symbolic for us," he said.

The sugar high must have kickstarted the Fellowship as they jumped out to a five-spot in the first inning, extending their consecutive-innings-scored streak to six, thanks in part to a two-run over-the-fence home run by Erik Summers.

"After Fellowship led the inning with the max of 5 runs, Sam kindly informed us that we were playing the best team in the league and it was okay that we were 'pathetic'," said Donuts manager Mandy Verduin. "BUT we improved throughout the game and even playing with only nine players and ALMOST came through with a victory."

Indeed, the Guilty Pleasures responded with four runs of their own in their half of the first inning, then followed that up by blanking the Rings for two consecutive innings while scoring seven more runs over the next two innings to take a commanding 11-5 lead after three innings.

When the Fellowship eventually tied up the game in the top of the fifth inning, the Donuts coolly re-took the lead by scoring two runs in their half of the fifth, thanks in part to the Donuts' Tim Verduin's "mad sliding skills", according to his wife.

But in the unlimited-runs final inning, the Fellowship exploded with seven runs to take their first lead since the first inning, with Angel Ortiz launching a two-run over-the-fence home run to help give his team an 18-13 lead. It was not a safe lead given the Donuts' offensive prowess all morning (every Donut had at least one hit and all but two Donuts had at least one RBI) but the Sweet Treats mustered only three runs in their half of the inning, as the game ended 18-16 in favor of the Fellowship on an odd play.

"Our last batter thought that there were two outs (there was only one), and thus gave up on his run to first [base] which gave time for a double play and lost the game," said Mandy Verduin.

"I thought it was odd that the batter essentially stopped running to first," said Tong. "I thought he pulled a hamstring or something."

The Fellowship escaped with a 2-0 record while the Edgewater team dropped to 1-1.

9am game

The last time Covenant faced an In Focus team was in 2007, when there were two In Focus squads. That year, Covenant went 3-0-1 against them. In Focus entered this morning's matchup with Covenant hoping to write a new history.

Covenant only put up three runs in the first, thanks to a stingy Osprey defense, and In Focus stayed, uh, Focused on keeping pace, notching two runs in their half to keep pace.

"Rob McMahon really came through for us this game playing a solid 2B as well as hitting 1.000 and bringing in two RBIs!" said In Focus skipper Dan Cameron. "I think that our infield overall just did a great job!"

But Covenant, whose motto is that softball, like marriage, is a marathon and not a sprint, calmly put up runs every inning to match the Fellowship's six-consecutive-innings-scored feat. "Covenant proved to be to much for us with power hitter after power hitter after...you get the picture," Cameron reflected. "It was impossible for us to hold back the power of Covenant. The field did not seem to be on our side with some of their long balls bouncing off of the light pole and the tree making it nearly impossible to catch."

While Covenant flexed their collective muscles, the Ospreys ran out of gas (wait, birds are not cars...) and did not score again until the final inning with a consolation two additional runs to give Covenant an easy 16-6 win.

"Although the Covenant offense struggled to get going in their first game of the season, they were able to pour it on against familiar foes scoring the max allotted five runs in two straight innings," said Covenant co-manager Bryan Beeh. While Beeh's use of the word "they" implies that he wasn't involved, Beeh certainly contributed with a 3-for-4 performance and getting help from co-manager Andy Tisler's over-the-fence home run in his first at-bat of the season.

"Jason Folkerts went 3-for-4 with five RBIs and Elsa Wiese went 2-for-3!" Beeh added. "Michael Best had done some serious advanced scouting on Dan Cameron and the rest of his squad." Beeh also noted that he used to manage a few Osprey players "so we knew all their strengths and weaknesses."

Cameron agreed. "They came out ready to play and they played well," he said. Every Covenantal player got at least one hit.

Covenant's 16-6 win bumps them to a 2-0 record while the Ospreys are now 0-1-1.

10am game

FROG looked to bounce back from last week's setback against a Caravan team well-rested from its forfeit win last week.

It was easy being green this week as FROG cruised to a 12-5 win. Veteran Caravan pitcher Sam Baturoni helped his own cause, going 2-for-2 with three of his team's five RBIs, but Caravan couldn't withstand the Attack of the FROG.

FROG and Caravan were the same in one aspect by the end of the game: both evened its record at 1-1.

“We knew all their strengths and weaknesses.”

- Covenant's Bryan Beeh on In Focus players.

11am game

The 11am game saw the debut of Softball's First Avenger: Team America from Harvest Bible Chapel. They took on the, uh, nefarious Mustard Seeds from LaSalle Street Church.

The Mustard Seeds welcomed Team America with five runs in the first inning. Perhaps the Seeds' bats were made of Vibranium
considering they put up five runs in three innings.

"After our loss in the season opener, the Seeds bounced back with a well-rounded performance," said Seedy manager Dave Neely (sorry about that...couldn't resist). "Every player had at least one hit and either an RBI or a run scored. Our offense was led by David Potter: 4-for-4 with five RBIs. We have yet to hit a triple or home run. And we have managed three strikeouts in two games."

The Seeds may have "put a little Mustard on it" with their defense as well, limiting Team America to just four runs, one of which came from an enormous over-the-fence home run by slugger George Birkenstock. "Thankfully, the bases were empty," Neely noted.

Birkenstock also flashed some leather, getting "some excellent infield outs from shortstop," Campbell added.

"Team America needed to shake off some rust for the beginning of our first game, but we were able to come back with some strength toward the end with a three-run streak in the fifth," said American Rachel Campbell. "There was a lot of good skill shown by all on the team, but we couldn't quite get a good enough rhythm going for a full comeback."

Nearly every Team member had a hit but they couldn't bunch them together.

"The [Seeds'] defense was near flawless, after committing about 10 errors in the opener," Neely said. "We cannot attribute this to practice, but we are excited about the improvement."

Team America wasn't quite as impressed.

"While the Mustard Seeds did not do anything that was over-the-top impressive, they were consistent with their hits between fielders so they were able to keep their score climbing. They also had some tricky pitches which caused a lot of easy first base outs; their super tall first baseman didn't hurt them either in beating our runners to get the outs."

The score didn't reflect Team America's effort. "Julie Ciesla had some great plays at second base," said Campbell. "Congratulations to Alex Piatt for competing in her first-ever softball game. And a shout-out to our Harvest Reapers team for coming out to support us."

The win moved the Seeds to 1-1 while Team America dropped to 0-1.

12pm game

The final game of the day featured the Reapers from Harvest Bible Chapel against the Crossroads/Veritas Flames, who had no wedding to attend this day.

In the end, the Reapers felt like they were on a honeymoon, cruising to a 25-0 win.

"[The loss] was upsetting but we definitely look forward to the rest of the season," said Flames manager Nagwah Lahalyeh. "We have some communication issues to work on but definitely see some great potential. We are a young team, most of us having experience, so quickly adjusting will be easy. Not playing Week 1 was also a factor for not being able to play well, realizing that the other teams had an advantage. Also, half of our players weren't able to attend Week 2, so we had to sub in some players."

Indeed, the Reapers took advantage. "With Rufo [Calimlim] taking the field as a first-time pitcher, he showed up as a solid defenseman and brought in six RBIs, following the lead from Tim Gibbons," said Reaper Merissa Seefried. "Keilah [Arzet] and Irene [Rosal] who are not only new to the Moody League, but softball in general, showed up with their bats...especially Keilah's first RBI of the season."

Team America's Rachel Campbell subbed for the Flames but it was more than offset by Team America superstar George Birkenstock subbing for the Reapers.

"There was a questionable sabotage from George Birkenstock, as he always finds a way for us to learn a new rule of the game," Seefried said. "This week it was 'we can not throw gloves in the air when the ball is hit to us.'"

Two Reapers racked up six RBIs each while Seefried coaxed three walks, tying a league-record with ten others for most walks in a game. And so the Reapers (1-1) reaped their first victory, while the Flames (0-2) still seek their first victory.

Looking ahead

Next week, the Fellowship Of The Ring takes on the Reapers in the first game. "It's a grave situation," Tong said of facing the hot Reapers.

The Holy Walkamolies return from their hiatus to battle Caravan in the 9am game.

The 10am game features the In Focus Ospreys against FROG. "I have played with several of the people on this [FROG] team in the past and they are good," In Focus's Dan Cameron said. But in the animal kingdom, Ospreys are extremely fast and nimble and can take out a frog without the frog ever knowing what happened. In the face-off of these two animals this weekend, I hope than we can swoop in for the win and leave the FROGs wondering what in the world just happened."

At 11am, the Mustard Seeds challenge the Flames. And the final game pits the Dugout Donuts against Team America.

"The Dugout Donuts can have their iced and cream filled delights," Team America's Campbell said. "We're going to eat the breakfast of champions and knock the cream filling right out of them."

The Donuts respectfully disagree. "Only the Donuts will be tasting the sweetness of victory..." Mandy Verduin said.