Nail-Biter

On a night that saw six (6) playoff teams from a year ago face-off at the Great Lawn, GA and SSC staged yet another epic battle in what has become the norm in this hotly-contested, evenly-matched rivalry.

In keeping with the 1st-inning woes that have plagued GA in each of their first two games, SSC struck early and often….tallying three runs on several solid hits up the middle. GA struck back in the bottom of the inning when Commissioner “Can I call you Bobby” Fuller drove in Co-Commissioner Roger “New Daddy” Lee….unfortunately Fuller, who obviously thought he was 10 years younger and faster, tried to stretch his RBI-triple into a 2RBI-homerun only to be tagged out at home plate by fellow old-timer Scott “I can’t believe you’re sliding head-first in the third game of the season” Habjan.

The GA defense tightened after the 1st inning, allowing just one more run (on a MONSTER homerun by Scott “He does that to us every year” Rosenbloom) the rest of the way. Aided by the motivation of potential BLOG ridicule for his belly-flop slide into home, Fuller rallied (more liked begged) the GA team to come back. GA slowly chipped away at the lead…3-1 after one…..3-2 after two….4-2 after four….4-3 after five…..until the bottom of the 6th, when the bottom of the GA order pushed across two runs, finally taking a 5-4 lead on Kris “DH” Gregerson’s two-out single. The GA defense held in the top of the 7th as they escaped with their second straight 1-run victory.

HMA/RAMSA MOVES TO 2-0 WITH CONVINCING VICTORY

Fresh off the heels of a 21-2 victory in their season opener, HMA/RAMSA came out with revenge on their minds against RRA/DBB—the team that ended our perfect season a year ago. Grey rain clouds were threatening this game all day long, but HMA/RAMSA provided some thunder with their bats as the game ended in a 17-4 romp.


As was the case in their first game, HMA/RAMSA jumped out to an early lead with 3 runs in the top of the first inning and another 4 in the top of the third inning to take a 7-0 lead. RRA/DBB responded in the bottom of the third inning with a pair of runs of their own to make it 7-2. The inning could have been more prolific were it not for the deadly right arm of SCF Pete “The Cannon” Garofalo who threw out the first of two would-be runners at 3B in the bottom of the third (see below video).

The lead was extended to 8-2 in the 4th and HMA/RAMSA was finally able to break the game wide open in the 6th inning as the first four batters of the inning got on base and eventually scored. With the bases loaded and no outs, newcomer Mike Sargent stepped to the plate for a memorable first AB in the SLAM League. The Sarge hit a screaming bomb into the left-centerfield gap for a legit grand slam. Welcome to the team, Mike!

HMA/RAMSA tacked on another 4 runs in the top of the 7th while RRA/DBB added a pair of runs of their own in the 6th and 7th innings to bring the final score to 17 – 4. Though early in the season, HMA/RAMSA has now outscored its first two opponents 38-6. Perhaps lost in the shuffle of defensive gems and grand slams was pitcher David Solomon’s career high 8 K’s.

GAME BALLS go to:

• Mike Sargent—any time a guy begins his career with a legit grand slam, he gets a game ball in my book; 2 for 2 on the day with 4 RBI's.


• Pete “The Cannon” Garofalo—2 hits, 2 runs scored and 2 runners gunned down from the OF trying to get to 3B.

Next up for HMA/RAMSA, another revenge match: Kohn Pedersen Fox—the team that knocked HMA/RAMSA out of the 2008 playoffs and ended their hopes and dreams.

Better get your popcorn ready!

HOG-WILD

When, at last, the rains had ceased and the skies had cleared - softball returned to the great park. And for the better part of the game, it seemed that a 3-run first for Skidmore/Swanke/Cooper might just be enough against a Polshek team with many base-runners, but nothing to show for it.

Then in the bottom of the fifth ,trailing 5-0 with time running out, the Polshek dirty tricks crew unleashed, into the SSC dugout, a coughing pig in a sombrero - unnerving the hometown favorites and allowing Polshek to sneak back into the game with a 3-run inning of their own. With some quick thinking and a couple of phone calls, SSC determined that the pig in question was in fact not some flu-ridden swine from Mexico, but instead - Boris, the lovable asthmatic porker from the Piscataway Petting Zoo in New Jersey. Pignapped the night before by some heartless pranksters and deprived of his fast-acting inhaler, Boris thankfully recovered in time to lead the cheers as SSC regrouped to escape with a 6-4 victory over a shameless Polshek team that will seemingly stop at nothing for a win.

PCF/HH Downs KPF For First Win

Mark Maljanian was 3-for-3 with 1 RBI, a walk, and 3 runs scored and Mike Copeland hit a bases-clearing double as part of a 5-run third inning, as PCF/HH opened their season with a 9-5 victory over KPF on Great Lawn, Field 4, last night. The win was PCF/HH's first game of the season, after torrential rain postponed their first two matches of the 2009 S.L.A.M. season.

Despite winning the coin toss to be the home team, luck was initially on KPF's side, as they opened a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. The Black and Red of PCF/HH responded in the bottom of the inning, including a pair of patient walks and some timely hitting, to tie the game at 3-apiece.

After a scoreless second, PCF/HH batters used the bottom of the third to distance themselves from the competition, loading the bases once and scoring 5 runs to open up an 8-3 lead. KPF tried to immediately mount a comeback in the top of the fourth, leading off with consecutive base hits from the top of their order. But No. 1 hitter Keisuke Hiei was caught trying to stretch from first to third on captain Li-Min Ching's single by PCF/HH centerfielder Eron Ashley, who loaded his howitzer of a right arm and threw Hiei out at third.

PCF/HH would tack on another run in the sixth before KPF added 2 runs of their own with two out in the top of the seventh. Both teams were able to field their complete turnout, including PCF/HH substitutes and pinch-hitters Dwidson Metayer, Tony (A-Rod) Rodriguez, and Rich Haskell, as well as PCF rookie Michael Stewart.

The loss was adding insult to injury for KPF, as they lost shortstop Dan Treinen to a torn calf muscle and second baseman Adam Zimmerman, who had a fingernail torn off during a fielding play. In spite of all this, there was a silver lining for Hiei, who went 3-for-3 with 2 runs scored, as well as left centerfielder Michael Bentley who contributed 2 hits, 1 RBI, and 1 run scored for KPF.

Now, one month into the season, PCF/HH sits at 1-0 while KPF carries a record of 1-2.

The PCF/HH Game Ball goes to shortstop Mark Maljanian, who had a huge impact in his first game back after a season-long injury sidelined him for all of 2008.

nytimes article on publishing sball league

interesting article... click on title to view.

Rainy Days & Blogging

The rain has fallen hard this week as all 10 teams who thought they had a game spent a late afternoon working instead of playing softball. You have to feel especially bad for PCF/HH and PEA who have each had 2 rainouts and 0 games four weeks into the season. I guess the commissioner's failure to post the remaining season schedule as promised by 4/20 was foresight not laziness - now the remaining schedule can take into account rainouts so we can even up the number of games each team has played. Of course this assumes the schedule is posted promptly now that the worst of the weather is over (if not we are looking at laziness again as the motif).

So far a few teams have posted some great writeups on the Blog, and let's hope it continues. As a general guideline, the winning team should be responsible for doing the writeup, but the losing team should feel free to post their side of the story (either as a new post or a comment on an existing post). If you are too busy for an elaborate writeup, then a simple sentence inlcuding the final score and players of the game would be awesome. One other note on the writeup, please use "labels" when posting - in particular the abbreviations for both teams involved. This gives readers the ability to search for posts relating to a specific team (example - try clicking on the label TPG in the right hand nav).

HMA/RAMSA ROUTS MGA 21-2 IN SEASON OPENER

They heard the whispers all off-season: Could HMA/RAMSA could rebound from the heartbreak of last season’s crushing playoff loss to KPF?

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Those whispers were quickly silenced as HMA/RAMSA took care of business in Game #1 with a 21-2 rout of Mitchell Guirgola Architects. While nothing could replace the sting of falling short last season, this was clearly a statement game by HMA/RAMSA that they remain a contender in 2009

Shortstop Mike Ryan rips his third hit of the game in the 6th inning

It was a bumpy spring training for HMA/RAMSA too with 2 rained-out practices followed by the news that starting All-Star shortstop, Doug Houstoun would be sidelined for the first 4 weeks of the season with a broken bone in his right hand. Nevertheless, the fireworks began early and often in the top of the first inning as the first five batters reached base and eventually scored en route to a 6-run inning which saw all 11 batters come to the plate. In the bottom half of the inning, the team flashed some equally impressive leather as they ended the inning on a nifty double play turned by back-up SS, Mike Ryan and 2B Cara Graf.

The hit parade continued in the 2nd inning as first 3 batters reached base and 4 more runners crossed the plate highlighted by David "Wheels" Solomon's 3-run "homerun" (admittedly it was generous scoring). For Solomon, it was rumored to be his first HR since 1986 and reportedly the farthest he had run in two years. Taking a 10-0 lead into the bottom of the 2nd, Solomon appeared to be somewhat winded as the leadoff hitter hit over the head of RF, Eddie Kung for an apparent homerun. Always looking to help out his team in any way possible, LF Eric Hofmann noticed that the runner failed to touch 3B as he rounded the bases--the appeal was made to the umpire and the shutout remained intact.

The Orange Crush tacked on 2 more runs in the 3rd inning and another 3 in the 4th as the lead was extended to 15-0 in a sloppy four innings. Though technically the game could have been called by the 11-run rule, both teams agreed to continue playing another two innings as it was the first game of the young season. MGA finally broke through for 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning as the shutout was lost. For HMA/RAMSA the 21 runs scored were a team record as 8 of the 11 batters scored at least twice.
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Game Balls were handed out to Mike Ryan (3 hits, 3 runs and 2 RBI), Eric Hofmann (4 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBI) and David Solomon (6 IP, 3 hits and 5 RBI).