MCSN: July 18, 2015

Dee-fense?

Week 6 Recap

By Rob Tong

Tue, Aug 4, 2015

For only the second time this season, and the first time since Week 2, no team scored 20 runs in any of the five games. Maybe the league's drug testing is finally proving to be an effective deterrent.

8am game

In the battle of three-syllable "C" teams, both Caravan and Covenant were looking to bounce back from stunning losses the week before. OK, well, maybe only one team was looking to bounce back because Caravan seemed to fail to show up, getting shut out by Covenant 10-0 in the 8am game.

Caravan mustered only five hits against the stout Covenant defense. On the other hand, the Covenant offense got hits from every one of its batters except one, and even that batter (Andrea Tisler) contributed with an RBI. The Covenant offense scored in every inning again, running its consecutive innings scored to six straight.

The win improved Covenant's record to 4-1 while Caravan dropped to 2-4.

9am game

In a battle of navy blue shirts, and two more teams looking to bounce back from losses the prior week, Holy Walkamolies battled Team America from Harvest Bible Chapel in the 9am game.

Both teams locked in a tight battle in the first half of the game. The Walkamolies only got one run in the first inning but Team America also was limited to one run in their half of the first. Team America took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning but the Holy team tied it in the top of the third inning. The Walkamolies put up five runs in the top of the fourth inning but the Americans responded with three runs of their own to trail only 7-5 after four innings.

Unfortunately for Team America, they stopped scoring while the Walkamolies kept going, scoring seven unanswered runs to pull away to a 14-5 victory. The Walkamolies welcomed back Tim Kurtz, whose six RBIs were more than the entire Team America squad.

Team America fell to 0-5 while Holy Walkamolies are now 2-2-1.

10am game

The Crossroads/Veritas Flames had the uneviable task of trying to stop the mighty Dugout Donuts from Edgewater Baptist Church in the 10am game. Though they fought valiantly, the shorthanded Donuts' sweet offense helped beat the Flames 19-2.

The Flames' Karun Nuthalapati led the team with two RBI, and Rachel Anderson had a perfect 1.000 on-base percentage. The Donuts batted a league-record .867, making only four outs in 30 at-bats. Given the Donuts' offensive prowess, the Donuts surprisingly did not score in the fourth inning.

The Donuts (5-1) took over second place in the league with the win while the Flames dropped to 0-6.

“Our offense was doing what they should have been doing, but so was FROG's defense.”

- Team America's Rachel Campbell on the conundrum between an unstoppable offense and an immovable defense

11am game

No Robert Martinez? No Rob Tong? No problem for the shorthanded Fellowship Of The Ring, who still beat the In Focus Ospreys 19-5 without their two managers.

Hitting for the Ospreys was not a problem, as all but two got a hit. The Ospreys' problem was stringing their hits together, as they could only muster five runs from their 16 hits. Aleris Fraats led her team with three RBI and Isac Malmgren was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate but it wasn't quite enough.

The Fellowship led 7-1 heading into the bottom of the third inning but the Ospreys fought back, scoring four runs in the next two innings to pull to within 7-5. But then the Ringers scored 12 unanswered runs to run away with the win. Rookie Angel Ortiz led the Fellowship with six RBI and sub Mandy Verduin was 3-for-5 with two RBI.

"I'm a bit offended," Tong said after the game. "I don't think the team was trying to tell us they don't need Robert Martinez and me."

Team Green is now 6-0 while In Focus is 1-4-1.

12pm game

The best game of the week was also the last game of the week. The Mustard Seeds from LaSalle Street Church took on the Reapers from Harvest Baptist Church in an epic battle that saw the Reapers ultimately prevail 11-10 despite being outhit 22-19.

After defenses prevailed with a scoreless first inning, the Seeds broke through in the second inning with a run, only to see the Reapers take a 2-1 lead at the end of two innings. The next inning, the Seeds scored three runs to take a 4-2 lead but the red Harvest team reaped three runs of their own to re-take the lead at 5-4 after three innings.

After a scoreless fourth inning, the LaSalle team put a little mustard on it, scoring the maximum five runs to take a 9-5 lead. And after trading a run, the Seeds entered the bottom of the sixth inning, still holding a 10-6 lead. But the Reapers unleashed the Five Runs Of Death to take over the lead at 11-10 so now the Seeds needed to ketchup.

Alas, the Seeds had no more hot dog in them, going scoreless in the top of the seventh inning to fall to the Reapers.

Every batter on both teams got a hit, a first in league history. The Seeds' David Metz notched three RBI and Verily Blim chipped in two hits in her three at-bats, while Libbe Hassenfritz and Rufo Calimlim had three RBI each for the Reapers.

The Seeds are now 2-3 while the Reapers improved to 3-2.

Looking ahead

With a week off due to a Clarendon Park festival, the league resumes on August 1st with a double-dose of games.

At Clarendon Park, Holy Walkamolies and the Mustard Seeds kick things off with an intriguing 8am matchup. That game is followed by the Flames taking on the Fellowship Of the Ring at 9am. The 10am game features Team America looking for its first win as it challenges Caravan. At 11am, Team America returns for an encore presentation, this time against their fellow Harvest team, the Reapers. And the Reapers battle the In Focus Ospreys to wrap things up in the 12pm game.

Over at Diamond #1, the schedule calls for the Fellowship Of The Ring to face Caravan at 8am, and Covenant to square off against the Mustard Seeds at 9am. Then at 10am, Holy Walkamolies try to walk all over the Crossroads/Veritas Flames, who will try to fight back with fire. The final two matchups look tasty as FROG and Covenant lock horns at 11am, and the Dugout Donuts and FROG duke it out at 12pm.

Expect the league's drug testing program to take a hiatus for August 1st.