MCSN: June 11, 2016

Let's Play (Week) Two

Week 2 Recap

By Rob Tong

Mon, Jul 4, 2016

The sun was out in force It was hot out today. And the temperatures were pretty warm too. But, as the Viceroys' Elsa Wiese put it, "We all survived :)"

8am game

Even for an early morning game, the heat was on, both in the action and the temps. The Power were without their makeshift starting pitcher Rob Tong and later lost Nina Borges when she cramped up in the heat and humidity, but the Power had plenty of offensive firepower to match up with the Dugout Donuts for a tasty matchup.

Relief pitcher Ricardo Moreno did relatively well for the Power but Donut pitcher Joey Franks also did well, limiting the Power to just nine hits. The Power scored two in the top of the first and the Donuts matched in the bottom half. But the Donuts turned off the Power the rest of the way while the Donuts kept scoring every inning, finishing with a 9-4 win over the Power.

The Power's Robert Martinez went 3-for-3 but was limited to just one RBI, as the Power's two hitters before Martinez struggled to get on base, going a combined 1-for-6. That could be due to the Donuts not having a girl in the non-catcher positions, a rule violation that was not discovered until later.

Even so, this, ahem, power matchup looks to be a fun one to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

The Power fell to 1-1 while the Donuts improved to 2-1.

9am game

The Power looked to turn on against the Liberties in a rematch from Week 1. This time, David Cho was in the lineup for the Liberties and hoping for a different result.

While the Liberties did triple their hit production and scored three runs, the Power raced out to a 10-0 lead going into the bottom of the second inning and won 24-3.

The Power were led by Felipe Chavez's five RBI and Robert Martinez's six RBI. Pitcher Ricardo Moreno went 4-for-5 and Jorge Valentin went 5-for-5 to also contribute big for the Power. The Liberties got RBIs from Jon Chong, Kaitlyn Wiedeman and Hassan Barzani, while Gene Yau reached base in all three of his plate appearances. Cho chipped in two hits.

The Power are now 2-1 with the win, while the Liberties fell to 0-2.

10am game

The Liberties were looking to bounce back in the second game of their doubleheader vs the Ospreys. However, the Ospreys didn't cooperate as the Red Wings pounded out 30 hits en route to a 21-7 win.

The Ospreys' Rob McMahon led the assault with seven RBI and captain Dan Cameron added six, with every Osprey getting at least one hit, including sub Elsa Wiese. Frank Slomkowski and Isac Malgren also added five hits each, as the Ospreys put up five runs in three different innings.

“It was hot.”

- The Osprey's Dan Cameron said in a gross understatement about the temps on the field.

The Liberties' David Cho did his part to help his team at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a team-leading three RBI. Jon Chong chipped in two more RBI on a 2-for-3 outing, Tom Flanagan also dropped in two hits and Meredith Keech also contributed a hit. In fact, every Liberties hitter got a hit, collecting a respective 15 hits total as a team, but couldn't string those hits together to get more runs.

The Ospreys became the league's only undefeated team with this win (3-0), while the Liberties continue seeking their first win (0-3).

11am game

The Caravan looked to bounce back from last week's loss (to the Donuts) against the upstart Viceroys. However, the Caravan scored five in the top of the first, held the Viceroys to one run in the bottom half of the inning, and continued to dominate the rest of the game, cruising to a 17-2 win.

The Viceroys (from Moody's Crossroads and Veritas TMC Communities) did pretty well themselves, pounding out 22 hits, with all but two players getting at least one hit.

The short-handed Viceroys actually got a respectable 13 hits, but, like the Liberties, could not string their hits together. The Viceroys were led by Kenny Damara, as the preacher pitcher went 3-for-4, and Joe Bolz and Josh Fraats each added two hits. But the Viceroys were without their starting shortstop Daniel Klingenberg, starting pitcher Elbert Whitfield and several others due to the funeral of a Crossroads member.

The short-handed Caravan were led by David Needham's week-high nine (yes, nine) RBI, with the ageless Steve Borgstrom dropping four more and Josue Contreras going 5-for-5. But the Caravan flashed some defense as well. Shortstop Alex Ruffolo made a lunging catch to his right off a hard hit ball by Viceroy sub John Fraats, then threw to first to double off another Viceroy sub, Isac Malmgren.

The Viceroys also flashed leather as well. Shortstop John Fraats stopped a grounder, catching it in his glove behind his back!

The Viceroys also found some hidden talent, as Wiese discovered her innate climbing ability, climbing up on to the roof of the Clarendon Park fieldhouse to retrieve a foul ball, and as a bonus, found five more balls there.

Wiese also wanted to give a shout-out to Tim Verduin. "[He] stuck around until 10:30 just to make sure we didn’t need a sub. That was really kind of him!"

The Caravan evened their record at 1-1 with the win. The Viceroys dropped to 0-2.

Looking ahead

Week 3 features the Liberties seeking their first win against the surging Caravan at 8am, followed by the Liberties taking on the Viceroys at 9am. The Viceroys then try to unplug the Power at 10am. And the 11am game showcases the undefeated Ospreys against the Dugout Donuts.

Maybe it will be less hot for Week 3 in temps but hopefully the action will continue to stay hot.