PMS Week 17 / August 3, 2003 Highlights

Regular Season Game
Randallstown High
School Field #1
Cougars. vs Northwest Corridor
Game 1
Northwest Corridor 5  Cougars 1
The NWC jumped on the extra regular season game opportunity by picking up their first win of the season 6-1. Scott Landsman started things off for the NWC with a 2 run single up the middle in the top of the 2nd to give the NWC a 2-0 lead. That was all Howard Goldberg would need as he shut down the Cougar bats consistantly with popups and ground balls for 7 innings. The solid defense played all game was led by the NWC outfield. Gabe unterman and Joey Liner each had several amazing diving catches in RC and LC. The NWC picked up runs in the 3rd inning from a Howard Goldberg single and an Eric Wingrat 2run triple. Jon Lamb drove in the NWC's final run in the top of the 7th. Before the game Traci Mathena was awarded with a huge MVP trophy. The overdue award was for excellence in scorekeeping, lineup making, team bench coach, cheerleading, bringing us water, yelling for base coaches, putting up with disgusting male conversation and bodily sounds on the bench and for having an ironman streak of never missing a game in 2 years.

Game 2
Cougars 27  Northwest Corridor 6  (6 Innings)
Someone forgot to tell The NWC that they had to play 2 games. The Cougars pissed off from a game 1 loss looked to take their frustrations out on NWC in game 2. Things started off poorly for The NWC as Howard Goldberg made a poor managerial decision and kept himself in at pitcher despite an injured left leg. 3 walks later the Cougars jumped off to a 4-0 lead off of hits by Matt and Rich. The Cougars picked up 2 more runs in the 3rd taking a 6-2 lead. The NWC scored 1 more in their part of the 3rd from a Joey Liner triple and an Aaron Birenbaum single. Goldberg took himself out of the game in the 4th inning and handed the pitching duties over to Dave Stein but not before he realized he could no longer find the strike zone. With the bases loaded the NWC's defense collapsed and 6 runs later it was not a ballgame anymore. The Cougars used a NWC collapse to pad their end of the year stats over the last 3 innings. The Northwest Corridor was happy to have 1 win but forgot to keep the intensity alive in game 2. Playing for pride in game 2 was not enough for the NWC to keep their heads in the whole game and play hard for 7 innings.
Other Notables From Game 2

Scott " Mike Fetters" Landsman made his pitching debut after the game was getting out of hand.

The umpire had a wicked ball in the dirt bounce back and hit him in the crotch. His comical high pitched soprano ball 2 was refreshing.

Darron Tabatznik decided to put the Northwest Corridor to sleep by blasting blugrass music from him car during game 2
 


Playoffs Round 1

Northwest Regional Park Field #1
Quizno's(1) 2  NEK Entertainment(8) 1
Quizno's Owings Mills held on to prevent a "shocker" in Round #1 of the playoffs by defeating a gallant N.E.K team by the score of 2-1. Quizno's Owings Mills were held to a season low 5 hits as the team went a combined 5-23 (.217 Avg.) in the game. The game winning run for Quizno's Owings Mills came in the 4th inning. With the score and a 1-1 deadlock, Russ Dlin tripled with 1 out and the next batter, Russ Seamster, drove him home with a sac fly. With the score 2-1 in favor of the "Blue Wave", N.E.K. put runners on 1st and 2nd in the top of the 7th inning with only 1 out. After a deep breath, Lane Gordon was able to retire the next 2 batters on a pop up and a ground out to seal the victory.

Notes for Quizno's Owings Mills vs N.E.K:

* NO batter on Quizno's Owings Mills had more than 1 hit.
* Total Hits: 3B's: Russ Dlin, Russ Seamster
2B's: Joel Koman
1B's: Mark Rosenstein, Lane Gordon

* Of the 18 Outs- exactly HALF (9) were FLY OUTS.
* Line of the Game: Russ Seamster: 1-1, 3B, 1 Sac Fly, 1 Run Scored
 

Northwest Regional Park Field #2
Sky & Sky Inc(2)  15  Palmgard(7) 14
In Game 1 Palmgard faced Sky & Sky in the #7 vs. #2 matchup. Unfortunately the ump didn't get the word, so Alan Smith pulled double duty as a DH and scab umpire. Fortunately for his team, some potentially controversial calls were negated by a lot of hitting in the early innings. Aric Spitulnik led off the game with a triple, taking advantage of the fact that Palmgard was down one outfielder. Five more hits later, 5 runs had crossed spotting Sky & Sky the early lead.

Palmgard quickly answered back as their first three hitters singled allowing them to cut the deficit to 2. Sky & Sky decided to muscle up in the next inning as Andy Bloom clobbered a three-run home run, followed by Scott Felton's solo shot. David Kowitz added his own solo shot in the t-3rd to extend the lead to seven runs. It stayed that way until the b-5th, as Scott Felton and Brian Kowitz added their own version of back-to-back solo shots to give Sky & Sky a very comfortable nine-run lead. However, Palmgard did not seem to agree with nine runs as a comfortable lead. They plated four in the t-6th--aided largely by Dave Kopel's bases-clearing double. Sky & Sky had two hits to lead of the b-6th, as Mike Rottenberg strode to the plate as a PH. He proceeded to line the ball through the box, catching Marty Ellis squarely in the wrist, and seemingly knocked him out of the game.

Sky & Sky took their very comfortable seven-run lead into the t-7th--expecting Palmgard to simply lay down for the loss. Sky & Sky neglected to Cc: the memo as a beleaguered Palmgard started to make a game of it. Four hits, a ball in the sun, four errors and a complete mental breakdown allowed Ron Bondroff to slide home with a tieing run. A shell-shocked Sky & Sky did managed to gather itself enough to plate the winning run off the bat of Joel Wax. Newman escaped with the win while Kevin Oliner almost pulled off a magical come-from-behind victory.

Hitting stars for Sky & Sky were Scott Felton (3-4, 2 HR, 1 B, 4 RBI, 3 runs) Brian Kowitz (3-4, HR, 2 2B, 2 runs, 2 RBI) and David Kowitz (3-4, HR, 2 1B, 2 RBI.) Sky & Sky owes a special note of thanks to Joel Wax wo went 2-3 (2B, 1B) but had the ultra important game winning SF. Jeff Sacks singled three times and scored three runs for Palmgard.
 

Northwest Regional Park Field #3
Havana Club Cannons(3)  11  City Crab Turtles(6) 8
A cloudy day started with a traffic backup on Deer Park Road at the entrance to the N.W. Regional Park...It seems as though the Gate-keeper overslept, as he arrived at about 8:15 AM, with as many as twenty cars eager to get started for the opening round of Pikesville Playoff Softball.

For the Crabs...it was the Cannons...a team that dismantled them in week two of the regular season. In the opener, it was the Crabs who struck early! A Ressin single (3-4, two runs scored) began the game, then a throwing error by the Cannons 1st-baseman allowed a run to score and Farley to reach third. Lee Eidelberg than tripled in the gap to plate Ricky from third and after a Warren Scudder Sac-fly, it was 3-0 Crabs. The Cannons came back quickly with two of their own, all with two out, to cut the lead to 3-2 after one. The Cannons added three big ones in the 2nd and another in the 3rd before the Crabs mounted their comeback. In the top of the 5th...Eisey started the inning with a base-hit (2-3, one-run and one-rbi), Robbie Ressin singled..than Farley also singled to score Eisenberg. With one-out, Lee hit a sacrifice-fly to left, and the score was 6-5. In the bottom of the 5th, the Cannons added a run to make it 7-5, going into the last two innings. The fun began for the clawing Crabs as Mark Summerfield began the top of the sixth with a double in the gap. Detour Dave bounced out to 2nd moving Mark up and he then scored on the Rob Gould sac-fly. With two out, the scoring was far from over...Reggie Ellis singled, Brian Wolf hit a long single (2-3, one-run scored) scoring Ellis all the way from 1st. Then Eisey hit a sinking line-drive to left...Left-fielder, Chuck Easter, must have taken his eye of the ball...it hit off of his glove for a double scoring Wolf and all of a sudden, it was 8-7 Crabs. The Cannons got a fortunate break in the bottom of the 6th as Mark Summerfield had trouble with a shallow bloop to right, and they were able to push across the tying run going into the 7th. With two on and one out, the Cannons were able to retire the next to batters, as the Crabs missed a golden opportunity to take the lead. That was all the incentive the Cannons needed...as their strong-hitting finally would pay dividends. With two on and one out, their 1st baseman would atone for his throwing error in the 1st. He took Ricky Farley to the 20 foot fence in right-center... All he could do was watch...as the ball cleared the barrier for a three-run, walk-off homer...final score 11-8.

Northwest Regional Park Field #4
Kings(5) 8  Eastern Savings Bank(4) 5
Kings Chuck Grant turned in a solid pitching effort and the Kings defense backed him up, turning 2 groundout doubleplays, as the Kings won the playoff opener over Eastern Savings Bank 8-5. Grant allowed just 9 hits over 7 innings, with 5 hits and 4 runs occurring in the b-6th when the Kings held a 7-1 lead. Kings took 1-0 lead in t-2nd with Alan Varhaftik's (2-4,1 R,3B) leadoff 3B with Jan Katzen proceeding with an RBI single. Kings first 3 batters in t-3rd singled with Shilo Merwitz (3-4,1 R,1 RBI)  knocking in Marc Goldstein with the 1st run of the inning and Ken Zalis (2-4,1 R) scoring later in the inning on a Dan Frignito fielder's choice RBI. Mike Herr (1-3,1 R,W) singled (#500) to start the t-4th and 1 out later Kenny Salzman walked. Both Herr and Salzman scored on Richard Wong's (2-3,2 RBI,3B) 2-RBI 3B to put Kings up 5-0. Kings added another run in t-5th when Merwitz singled, moved up on a flyout, and scored on a Chuck Grant RBI single. The Kings led 6-0 into the b-5th. ESB starting pitcher Ted Winner drew a walk to start b-5th and Winner (1-2,1 R,1 RBI,W) scored on Schmuel Luxenberg's (2-3,1 RBI,3B) proceeding RBI 3B. Aaron Shifrin followed Luxenberg with a groundout to 3B, but Luxenberg tried to score and was nailed out at the plate on a good throw from 1B Shilo Merwitz to C Mike Herr. Kings got the 1 run back in t-6th when Katzen led off with a 3B and scored on a Dave Mize SF. ESB put together a 5 hit attack and scored 4 times in b-6th, keyed by RBI hits from Marc Loeb, Ben Gutman (2 RBI 2B), and Ted Winner. The Kings added an insurance run in t-7th and held ESB scoreless in their half of the inning to claim the victory.

 

Playoffs Round 2
Northwest Regional Park Field #1
Quizno's(1) 18  Kings(5) 6  (6 Innings)
The Kings played the defending playoff champs close the first 5 innings, but a 6 run explosion in the b-5th and similar 7 run explosion in b-6th ended this game in the 6th inning, with Quizno's winning 18-6. Kings held momentary lead in t-1st on SF by Dan Frignito and RBI single by Dave Mize. Quizno's took 3-2 lead in b-1st on RBI singles by Russ Dlin and Russ Seamster, and SF by Joel Koman. Dan Frignito's double and Chuck Grant's RBI single in t-4th knotted game 3-3. Quizno's went ahead again with 2 runs in b-4th on RBI single by Jeff Harris and an outfield throwing error on the play. Kings battled back yet again in t-5th. Singles by Josh Frederick, Mike Herr, Ken Salzman (RBI), Ken Zalis, and Shilo Merwitz (RBI) put Kings briefly ahead after 4 1/2 innings. The Quizno's bats which had been fairly quiet on the day until the b-5th finally awoke and key 3 RBI HR's by Ricky Schreiber and Russ Dlin finished out the Kings.

Ricky Schrieber, retiring from the Pikesville Softball League at the end of the season, hit a game breaking 2-out, 3-Run inside-the-park H.R. to help the "Blue Wave" to victory by the score of 18-6 (6 Innings). After Todd Pobleets singled with the bases loaded in the 5th inning to help Quizno's Owings Mills take a 2 Run lead, Schrieber ripped a ball down the right field line to clear the bases and break open a close game. The 3-Run HR opened up the flood gates as the team piled on 6 Runs in the 5th, and 7 Runs in the 7th to win the game by the 12 run slaughter rule. In the 6th inning, with the score 11-6, Jon Koman and Tony Luna opened the inning with back-to back-singles. Russ Dlin then came up and hit a 3 ball, 1 strike knuckle ball deep to right center field for a 3 run HR- his 3rd in the last 2 weeks. After a Russ Seamster fly out, Joel Koman Singled, Andrew Rosenstein Walked, and Bobby Morrow followed with an RBI single. With 2 runners on, Todd Pobleets delived the deciding blow when he hit a shot to the left center fielder who misplayed the ball. Pobleets raced around the bases to scored the game ending run.

Quizno's Owings Mills Notes vs Kings:

* Quizno's Owings Mills- have won 7 straight post season games going back to last year.

* 1st 4- innings: 7 hits- 5 Runs.
Last 2 innings: 10 Hits, 13 Runs

* Quizno's Owings Mills Last 2 Innings: 10-14 (.714 Avg.), 4 BB's, a pair of 3 -Run HR's, 13 Runs Scored.

* Russ Dlin: 3-4, 2 Runs Scored, 5 RBI
* Jeff Harris- pitcher- 6th consecutive Playoff Win (6-0 last 2 yrs.)

 

Northwest Regional Park Field #2
Havana Club Cannons(3) 15 Sky & Sky Inc(2)  3
The Cannons struck first taking advantage of Larry Newman's first walk of the day. Dan Kassel's SF plated one while a fielder's choice allowed The Canons to increase their lead to 2-0 after two. Meanwhile Tom Paulshock seemed to have the Sky & Sky hitters off balance for the first few innings aided by some nice outfield play. In the t-4th, with one run already in, the Cannons decided to PH Evan Kreitzer for the pitcher. It paid dividends as he hit the ball deep enough in RCF to plate two runs on a SF,increasing the lead to six. Five more in the t-5th, including four hits to lead off the inning and an error to extend the inning. Sky & Sky made some small rumblings in the b-5th as two runs scored off a would-be single, which the Cannons RF proceeded to turn into a triple. The Cannons got one back in the t-6th with some stellar base running, and added three more insurance runs as the top of the lineup hit the ball really, really far in the t-7th. The big shot of the inning was Easter's three-run HR. Sky & Sky went down meekly in their last inning as they managed one run in a overall pitiful effort. Tom Paulshock got the win and Larry Newman took the loss in a 15-3 thrashing. Hitting stars for the Cannons were cleanup hitter Mike Dubansky (3-4, 2 2B, 1B), Dan Kassel (2-3, 3 runs, SF) and Tom Paulshock aiding his own cause with two hits. Sky & Sky few bright spots were Joel Wax with 2 hits and Alan Friedman (1-1, 3B,2 RBI, BB).


Northwest Regional Park Field #3
City Crab Turtles(6) 13   Palmgard(7) 2
In Game two...most teams had to wait the better part of 45 minutes as the outcome of Sky/Sky and Palmguard hung in the balance. Once the play started, it seemed clear that the Crabs would live to play another day! They scored six in the 1st, two in the 2nd, single runs in the 4th and 5th and finished with three in the bottom of the sixth, winning, going away, 13-2. Hitting stars for the Crabs, who banged-out 16 hits were:
Rob Ressin (3-4, 2B, 2 runs and 2 rbi's)
Warren Scudder (2-3, 1 run, 3 rbi's)
Bruce Eisenberg (3-3, 2B, 1 rbi)

Injury Update: Brian Wolf needed 9 stitches to close a wound in the left knee after diving for a line-drive in the opening inning of game one. He is listed as day to day for the 3rd game of the playoffs against Sky and Sky on field four next Sunday.
 

Northwest Regional Park Field #41
Eastern Savings Bank(4) 14  NEK Entertainment(8) 4
Highlights pending.