TPG Wins Game 1 vs PP 10-2

Team Photo (front row left to right: Derrick Blocker, Ron Alalouf, Omar Cevallos, Princess Salvacion; back row left to right: Alison Laudat, Ngai Luong, Tony Franzese, Mike Stevick, Alison Hopke, Justin Aharoni, Katie Burns, David Beauchamp, Steve Yavrouian, Omar Bustamante, Joe Omole, Josh Ginsburg, Adam Woods, Fredmy Mejias)

It was the first game of the season for team TPG, and we wanted to make a strong impression. This started with almost the entire team showing up and enthusiastically cheering us on (so we took this opportunity for a team photo). But the real first impression was made by our 3B Omar Cevallos (2-2, BB, HR, 3R) who took advantage of the quirky field conditions at North Meadow #2 and led off the game for us with a Home Run over the short proch in left field.

After Omar's HR, we never looked back as the next batter was newcomer SS Tony Franzese (3-3, HR, 3B, 1B, 3R) and he followed up with a rocket triple scoring on an ill-advised overthrow to 3rd. 2 Runs were in, the bases were empty, and there were no outs. But Polshek held tight, gave up only one more run in the first and got out of the first inning down 3-1.

Steller defense by team TPG hed PP to only one more run the rest of the game. TPG Pitcher Ron Alalouf (2K's, 0BB) threw nothing but strikes and surprised everyone with his cat-like reflexes on the mound including the front end of a 1-6-3 inning ending double play.

Game Ball goes to Tony Franzese, because anytime a player gets a HR and a Triple in his first two at bats with a new team, he's gonna get the game ball. Honorable mention goes to Maddeline who convinced her husband Tony to play for us this year.

PLAYOFF TEAMS ESTABLISHED...

Polshek's (PP) 13-2 win over RRA/DBB last night gave them a final record of 6-5 and locked them into the 6th and final playoff position. (Despite the possibility of also finishing 6-5, both KPF and TPG have been eliminated since they lost their head-to-head match ups with PP.)

The other five playoff teams (HM/RAMSA, SSC, GA, FXF, PCF/HH) will now be jockeying for playoff positioning. HM/RAMSA can secure the #1 seed by winning one of their final two games, however seeds #2 thru #5 are up for grabs. It should be interesting to see how it plays out.

Congrats to all the playoff teams. We will begin scheduling playoff games as soon as the seedings are established.

ORANGE & BLUE (7-1) DEFEAT ORANGE & BLACK (4-2)--FINAL SCORE, 9-2

Just days after fireworks poured over the Hudson River on July 4th, HMA/RAMSA celebrated its independence atop the SLAM standings with a convincing 9-2 victory over the once-mighty triumvirate that is SSC in a battle for orange supremacy. For coach David Solomon, perhaps his best move of the day was letting pitcher David Solomon bat (3-3 with 4 RBI) in the #6 spot rather than DH for the senior member of the team as he had for 3 of the previous 4 games.

The first inning has proved to be very fruitful for the Orange Crush as they scored 4 runs in the top of the inning to take an early lead they would never relinquish. On the season, HMA/RAMSA has now scored in each of its 8 games in the first inning with 18 runs total in those innings. After scoring the first run of the game with a walk to SS Doug Houstoun, David Solomon singled to left field with the bases loaded to plate 2 more runners. Another run would come to score on a fielder’s choice by 2B Cara Graf.

A couple innings later, that same duo of Solomon and Graf would single home 2 more runs with base hits up the middle to bring the lead to 6-0. SSC was shutdown in the early part of the game as the first 9 hitters that came to the plate were retired in order. In the bottom of the fourth, SSC broke up the perfect game with a few hits and errors and forged a threat of their own. With a run already in and the bases loaded, that rally was quickly squashed on a hard smash to the left side of the infield. Third baseman Jon Fukutomi fielded the hotshot cleanly, stepped on the bag and threw over to first to get 3B Hugo Corvalan, who was doing his best Pete Rose impersonation with a headfirst slide into first base. “A” for effort, Hugo….

HMA/RAMSA was able to add another pair of runs in the 5th inning, and yet another in the 6th inning to extend the lead to 9-2 which is where the game ended shortly before 8PM. Now 7-1 on the season, the Orange Crush has a couple of weeks off to prepare for its next challenge against Polshek on July 20th.

GAME BALLS:

Cara Graf – 2-2 with 2 RBI

David Solomon – 7 well-pitched innings and more impressively 3-3 with 4 RBI on the day

PPA 12, TPG 8

Editor –In-Thief: Adam “Slippity Slide” Mead

July 8, 2009

A Little Mascara, and a Dose of Thunder Push Polshek Through


I am not sure what was in our blood last night, but maybe it was the shoes…we started earlier and often again The Phillips Group. Even a whirling Dervish would’ve been amazed at how we seemed to score at will, all the while looking as if we had no idea what we were doing. We went backwards, then forwards, we almost ran the bases twice just for kicks. The sun was in our eyes, and it came as no surprise that TPG would not give up but we kept TPG at bay, each time they crept closer we answered with 2 or 3 or 4 runs. David “Thunder Pants” Coxson ran the bases like he had, well thunder in his pants, Graeme “I am going to spin myself into the ground” Reed almost ran over Monica Yuki, in his mad dash to home plate. In the end 12-8 was the score, the minutiae and minor facts were a bore, but as usual we pushed our victory farther as we entered the halls of McAleer’s Pub, the cold pitchers kept a-coming, and at their side the Chicken Wings were dead & done running. We even met an over-sized friendly giant at the bar, he came from the east, he told us that was far. Some left early, some stayed late, but in the end, both our victories, on the field and at the bar, were great!

Polshek Partnership write-ups

here are excerpts from game write-ups of PPA's last four games...

The Polshek Breeze
Substitute-Editor: David "Stretch" Coxson
Mid-Day Edition
Team Polshek Back on Track:
Return of ‘His n’ Hers Flood Pants’ Chang Emboldens Group for Victory
The seas were angry last night, my friends. Well, at least the skies were. But luckily the showdown between Team Polshek and Team Mitchell Giurgula went off without a hitch and ended without a hitch. (It did end an inning early, but none seemed too displeased to head to their respective après-softball locales before reaching the seventh inning).
Playing shorthanded with only 9 players in the field, Team Polshek looked sharp in the field and aggressive at times at the plate. Newcomer Frank "G$" Guittard had a nice base-knock down the right field line— as he ran down to first, I couldn’t help but think that those short shorts could be slightly longer…but they do make him look like a 7-footer rather than 6’-8". So, I guess for intimidation purposes, keep wearing those in the future, Frank. In other standout play, Natasha is now hitting the ball hard and straight rather than hard and backwards—which is good.

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The Polshek Gazette
Rainy Days and Mondays Edition
Editor-In-Boxers or Briefs: Adam Mead
They came quick and they came often, before team Polshek new what hit them, we were facedown on the matt sucking wind, 6 quick runs came flying from Pei Cobb Freed/Hart Howerton something like the fists of Sonny Liston. Our heads were spinning, if it weren’t for losing, we’d be winning. Well I’ll make this short and sweet, we got one big hit, in the end it didn’t matter one bit, but it kept our heads from falling, you see here I’m stalling. Standing side by side it was obvious our opponents were on steroids. By the end of the game I couldn’t even tell if I had any deltoids. One thing became clear, if it weren’t for the beer, my memory of the game would be clear. As we left the field, we knew at 16-6, we had been forced to yield. Losers or winners, it’s all the same, for in this game our real talents are shown later, when we take pints of beer, and continue to show such great balance without a once of fear. Here’s hoping we get some more cheerleaders next game, you can all look on as I personally take on a wild lion, with one challenge, to tame!
See you then, same Bat time, same Bat channel!

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Polshek Post
Late-Afternoon Pre-Holiday Rendition
Volume 1 of 1
Substitute Editor- David "Gimpy" Coxson
The Polshek bats came alive against local foe Gruzen Samton on a sunny, warm Thursday evening- an evening that brought out our first fans of the year! Under the shadow of Foster’s Hearst building, the marketing team and a few other good souls from the office came out to cheer on team Polshek with wild, reckless, raucous abandon. Oh, and they brought cookies and Fritos—nutritious and still delicious. What they saw was softball at its finest—base hit after base hit, great outfield snags, some gutsy pitching, and Matt(ingly) Dionne’s throw from the outfield that hit a wandering spectator on top of the head. Good aim!
Gruzen’s one and only run came after a routine pop-fly somehow made it beyond our left-fielder’s (*name withheld for embarrassment purposes (Dionne)) field of vision. But after that, it was all Polshek! Like the good sportsmen we are, we ran up the score and refused to enact the ‘Mercy’ rule, winning 13-1. In fact, there really wasn’t anything clumsy or overly embarrassing that I can relay…hmmm, well except for Graeme falling down again and doing some sort of roll in centerfield and Hillary’s catch-and-throw routine (she’s lefty and played with a righty’s glove). That’s really it…well, except for Dionne’s trip and tumble at home plate with all of his catcher’s gear on. But seriously, that’s it. (Steve is still wearing his flood pants).
We fought like titans and played fundamentally-sound softball in unbearably bright and hot conditions—conditions that made us run for the local bar where we were called sinners by some suits and had some good, cold beer and snacks—a general merriment of mingling Polshekians reveling after a good win.
For this year, the elevator bragging rights belong to us...

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Polshek Post
Earlier-Afternoon Rendition
Volume 1 of 1
Substitute Editor- David "Button-Down" Coxson
Polshek’s Rally Comes Up Short (or tall) Against SOM/SHCA/CooperRobertson.
Wow! It was a thrilling (at times) first game of the 2009 season. Donning our digitally-charged new jerseys, Team Polshek stormed the Central Park field against one of the league’s perennial powerhouses in SSC on a beautiful, sunny day—a day when all walks of life decided to plop down to sunbathe, chant in unison, read, have a picnic smack dab in the middle of our outfield. In fact one group of semi-clad soccer jugglers decided to practice their trade directly in front of Adam Sheraden (our new left fielder). Seemingly excited, he didn’t protest but actually joined in on the fun causing our manager Steve Chang to ruffle his flood pants.
As the game went on, SSC amassed a 6-0 lead by the 6th inning. We looked lethargic, rusty, just trying our best to shake the hibernation fog…then…it happened! We started to hit, run, slide, cheer, fall down all in one inning! The score was suddenly 6-4 as yours truly came to bat with 2 men on and 2 outs. I hit the ball as far as I think I could hit anything, but the SSC center fielder (all 6’-9" of him) wheeled back, pirouetting as he did, tripped on some Frisbee players and sno-coned the ball to cut the rally short. Gimme a break!
We played our Polshek hearts out and saw great strides of progress already in just one game. Our after-game celebration started the season off right as well: 7 pitchers of the finest lager and 6 platters of hot wings. Not bad.