MCSN: June 27, 2015

Early Fireworks Show

Week 4 Recap

By Rob Tong

Thu, Jul 9, 2015

Independence Day isn't until next week but there were plenty of fireworks on display in Week 4 of the season. And the heavy rains the day before didn't stop teams from enjoying this sunny Saturday (it did force the teams to set up shop on Field #1 instead of the slightly puddly main diamond, though).

8am game

The lack of a home run fence at Field #1 in theory should handicap the Fellowship Of The Ring just a wee bit more than Harvest Bible Chapel's Team America. With a fairly brisk wind blowing in, that added to the thought that sluggers from both teams would need to play a little more small ball.

When Fellowship's Rob Tong and Erik Summers led off the morning with back-to-back inside-the-park home runs, that thought kind of perished. The lords of the Rings scored in nearly every inning, with every Ringbearer notching at least one hit, while holding the Summer Soldiers' offense in check to secure a 22-3 win.

"Saturday's loss was a harsh one," said Team America's Rachel Campbell. "The rain had created some nasty terrain (which of course Rob, as the leader of the Fellowship, deemed good enough to play on since Hobbit folk and their friends probably do better with poor weather conditions), and the wind kept pulling everything that the Fellowship hit out to right field directly into a swampland. The cold seemed to have affected our own strength so our hitters could not make their presence known."

Like last week, Alyssa Martinez chipped in with two hits and a walk, and Ashley Veigel added a hit of her own to help balance the Fellowship attack.

Though the nearest holiday is Independence Day and not Thanksgiving, Campbell found time to be thankful for a few things despite her team's loss. "Things to be thankful for: five-run limits, intentional errors and foul balls from the Fellowship were appreciated, excellent command from Jansen [Roberts] on the pitcher's mound, consistent encouragement from each other, to have a game where almost our whole team is present, [and] or our early game to be out of the way."

9am game

Covenant, who umped the Fellowship-Team America game, figured they weren't going to be outdone by the Fellowship.

Taking on a talented Holy Walkamolies squad, Covenant scored the maximum five runs four times en route to a 24-6 win.

Stealing the UPS slogan of "What can Brown do for you?", Covenant set a league-record with five batters who batted 1.000 for the game.

The Walkamolies fought valiantly, getting to within 5-4 in the top of the third before Covenant hit the gas pedal, outscoring the Holy team 19-2 the rest of the way to cruise to victory.

10am game

In a first for the league, games shifted the location back to the main diamond due to another league being scheduled to play on Field #1.

Being that the infield on the main diamond was a bit softer than the infield on Field #1, baserunning would seem to be a dicier proposition. That would be offset by the fact that the outfield fences would prevent balls from rolling out forever.

Indeed, as the In Focus Ospreys battled the Dugout Donuts from Edgewater Baptist, the close 6-3 score would seem to bear that out.

“Our early game to be out of the way.”

- Team America's Rachel Campbell on what to be thankful for after her team's loss

After two games featuring offensive outbursts, this game was a defensive purist's delight. In Focus was shut out in the first inning for the second straight game but the Donuts only sprinkled three runs in their half of the inning.

"While we took yet another loss this last weekend our defense really tightened up keeping the other team at only [six] runs," said Osprey skipper Dan Cameron. "John Fraats and Rob McMahon made some incredible plays at SS and second."

Indeed the Osprey defense kept the Donuts from fattening up the score, with the Donuts only getting three more runs over the remaining six innings. Problem is, In Focus needed to score themselves since they were being shut out for the first five innings.

"In our last inning, we began getting hits," Cameron said. "John Fraats gets on base, then Josh gets a hit (sadly getting his dad out). But I was able to get a triple, bringing Josh in and closing the run gap to [three] runs. [But] even though I was able to start off the scoring, the next two batters got out leaving us just short of the Donuts."

The Donuts' Doug Ferguson continued his assault on the league stat board, being the only player with a perfect 1.000 batting average while playing in a minimum of three games.

11am game

FROG faced the Crossroads/Veritas Flames in the 11am game. The final score, even 'til this late date, is not yet known, though apparently FROG won handily over the Flames. So use your imagination and make up your own recap for this game. (I could make one up myself but your imagination is probably better than mine.)

12pm game

What the day's games have not yet had is a barnburner. High-scoring blowouts by one side are ok, and defensive showdowns are exciting, but a slugfest between two teams going toe-to-toe is what the fans paid their good money to see. And Caravan and the Mustard Seeds were determined to give the fans exactly that, even if, uh, the fans got in for free.

Caravan opened the scoring with three runs in the first frame but the Seeds planted the thought that they weren't going away by keeping the game close with two runs of its own in their half of the inning and then taking a 5-3 lead at the end of two innings.

Caravan then exploded with a five-spot in each of the next two innings to seemingly put the game away at 13-5. But the Seeds put a little Mustard on it with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it close again at 13-9. Team Orange responded with three runs in the top of the fifth to expand their lead to a seemingly insurmountable 16-9. Yet Team Gold (wait, isn't mustard yellow?) punched back with two runs in their half of the fifth to bring it back to a 16-11 deficit.

Alas, Caravan was not done, scoring four more runs in the seventh to lead 20-11. LaSalle Street's team mustered (mustarded?) only two more runs as Caravan finally spit out the Seeds 20-13.

"The offense finally awakened," said Caravan manager Randy Ruffolo. "An all-around effort was made Saturday offensively and defensively. Leadoff hitter Randy Ruffolo did his job and got on base five times and scored five Runs. Josue Contreras was perfect at the plate going 4-for-4 with one RBI and four runs scored. Alex Ruffolo hit a three-run inside-the-park home run. David Needham hit three doubles and drove in five runs. Chlece Neal made a few nice plays at second base."

The Seeds fell to 2-2 while Caravan improved to 2-2.

Looking ahead

The Reapers jump off the couch to rejoin the action this week, taking on the rejuvenated Caravan in the early game. After that, Team America faces off against FROG in the 9am game.

"Despite the crushing blows [this past week], our spirits remain high and we are not discouraged against a comeback for the rest of the season," Campbell vowed.

In the 10am game, the Holy Walkamolies hope to derail the undefeated Fellowship Of The Ring. "If we don't walk any Walkamolies, I'll consider that success regardless of the outcome," Tong said.

At 11am, the Flames look to finally get in the win column against the wounded In Focus Ospreys.

"While Crossroads/Veritas has not looked great, we are preparing to play hard as we must be prepared for any opponent," Cameron said of his Ospreys. "Just ask the Chicago Bears: you have show up ready to play, not just show up on the field."

The final game of the day features a sweet matchup between the solid Donuts (solid donuts? Isn't that a bagel?) and undefeated Covenant.