Pikesville Mens Softball League April 30, 2006

Northwest Regional Park Field 1:
Game 1: Kings 15 (WP-Chuck Grant 9-2) Eastern Savings Bank 7 (LP-Ted Winner 7-2)

In a rematch of the 2005 League Finals, both teams came out full of energy and the emotions carried out onto the field and across the benches. The first 3 ESB batters in the t-1st reached base, but a groundout doubleplay limited the damage to just 2 runs. The Kings scored 3 runs in b-2nd, with Rob Ressin's 2 out 2 RBI double pushing across the tie and go-ahead runs. The Kings chased ESB starter Ted Winner with an 11 run b-3rd. The Kings hit the ball so hard in the inning that the ESB outfield commited 3 errors following the hits. Russ Dlin came to the plate twice in the inning with the bases loaded and delivered a single and double, yielding 4 RBI's. Jeff Harris was solid in relief, with the Kings scoring just 1 run in the last 3 innings, but ESB was not able to get back into the game.

It looked as though ESB was going to take care of business early with the first 3 hitters reaching base. Jason Schwartzberg knocked in leadoff hitter Alan Lazerow in. However, ESB was only able to tack on one more in the frame after ESB's cleanup hitter hit into a double play that any of our mothers could have turned. With the Kings leading 3-2 after 2 innings, they added on 11 in the 3 rd, which was not as much about their offensive skills as it was about being aided by 6 walks.

Although both teams came ready to play (and some came ready to talk), it wasn't the Kings offense that doomed ESB, as the Kings only had a handful of solid hits. Rather, it was ESB's pitching and walks that was the decisive factor in leading to the Kings runs. Offensively, while ESB was hitting rocket after rocket, they seemed to land directly in the glove of a Kings' fielder with little defensive effort on their part and perhaps a little luck as well. After a 2-run first inning, ESB was only able to muster a couple of late-inning runs, leading to a Kings 15-7 victory.

Offensive stars for ESB:
Alan Lazerow (2-4,2 R)
Chris Zoeller (2-2,2 R,2B,W)
Jason Green (2-4,1 R,3 RBI,2B)
Jason Schwartzberg (2-4,1 R,1 RBI,2B)
Ben Gutman (2-3,1 R)

Offensive stars for the Kings:
Shilo Merwitz (3-4,2 R,2B)
Russ Dlin (3-4,1 R,4 RBI,2B)
Chuck Grant (2-4,1 R,1 RBI)
Troy Hendricks (2-2,1 R,3 RBI,2B)
Rob Ressin (2-3,1 R,3 RBI,2B)

Game 2: Eastern Savings Bank 12 (WP-Jeff Harris 6-1) Kings 4 (LP-Chuck Grant 9-3)

With the Kings ahead 5-3 entering b-5th, ESB broke open a close game with 9 runs. Timely hits by Scott Snyder, Ben Gutman, and Mark Loeb proceeded a bases loaded double off the RF fence by Jason Schwartzberg. ESB starter Jeff Harris allowed just 5 hits, shutting down the usually potent Kings offense. Outfield defense shined for both teams with especially nice catches made by ESB Glenn Ackman and Kings Alan Varhaftik.

ESB pitcher Jeff Harris came to the team's aid with a solid pitching performance in game two, only walking 3 the entire game. After the Kings took a 4-3 lead after the top half of the 5 th inning, ESB quickly showed the Kings who's ahead in the standings by scoring 9 runs in the bottom half of the 5th. The highlight of this frame was Jason Schwartzberg's bases clearing blast to the right field wall – something Kings pitcher Chuck Grant must've forgotten when he suggested after the game that Schwartzberg had done nothing against him all day.

Kings pitcher Chuck Grant seemed to use up all of his strike-throwing abilities in game 1, as he had trouble finding the strike zone in game 2, leading to an endless amout of ESB walks. ESB was able to capitalize on Grant's erratic pitching with some timely hitting, zealous base running, and Jeff Harris' clutch pitching performance.

Offensive stars for ESB:
Alan Lazerow (2-4,2 R)
Chris Zoeller (2-3,2 R,1 RBI)
Jason Schwartzberg (2-2,2 R,4 RBI,2B) (4-6, 8RBI on the day)
Mark Loeb (3-3,w, 2 R)

Offensive stars for the Kings:
Dan Frignito (1-2,1 R,W)
Russ Dlin (2-3,1 R)

Northwest Regional Park Field 3:
Game 1: DC Dental 11 (WP-Tzvi Friedman 3-2) Chalmers Pants Company 9 (LP-Charley Barker 0-1)

DC Dental broke even on the season Sunday by sweeping the Charmers Pants Co bringing DCD’s record to .500. Despite a few shaky innings in the field, DCD’s defense overall proved solid with the play of the day coming from a diving stop and throw from the knees by utility infielder Jeremy “don’t call me Reboulet” Lasson. DCD at one point in game 1 stranded 8 runners over 3 consecutive innings but picked up the slack in game 2 behind a questionably perfect day from Yosef “I talk about my bats with every base runner that reaches 1st base” Orshen and DCD’s first and second legitimate out of the park HR’s by local ringer Yoni Rosenblatt who prefers to wear a child size jersey.

Game 1 saw DCD jump out to an early lead, but allowed CPC to get back in it over the next few innings aided by one half inning in which DCD allowed CPC about 7 outs. With the game tied in the 6th however, DCD came through with a leadoff triple by pitcher Tzvi Friedman who was hitting well all day, followed by a base hit by Orshen that turned into a homerun. DCD was up to stay at this point retiring the CPC quickly in the 7th.

Game 2: DC Dental 16 (WP-Tzvi Friedman 4-2) Chalmers Pants Company 3 (LP-Charley Barker 0-2) 6 Innings

Game 2 featured a balanced attack by DCD with multi hit games from Orshan, Friedman, Rosenblatt and Minkove. DCD jumped out ahead and never looked back ending the game in 5 innings. Friedman again went the distance.

Northwest Regional Park Field 4:
Game 1: Sky & Sky Inc 19 (WP-Larry Newman 6-8) Northwest Corridor 6 (LP-Dave Stein 0-3)

Sky&Sky won with little resistance from NWC in game 1. David Stein thrown back onto the pitcher's mound the last few weeks after Howard Goldberg's injury, had trouble keeping the Sky&Sky batters off of the base paths. S&S scored 13 runs in the first 4 innings off of only 4 hits. All other base runners reached via error or bases on balls. NWC never really staged any rallies managing only 6 runs spread out over the 7innings. NWC couldn't capitalize on any chance given, leaving 9 men on base and 6 men in scoring position.

Hitting Stars NWC
Scott Sweren 4-4 r rbi
Eric Wingrat 2-4 r rbi 3b
Scott Landsman 2-3 r rbi

Game 2: Sky & Sky Inc 14 (WP-Larry Newman 7-8) Northwest Corridor 4 (LP-Jason Ott 0-3)

Sky&Sky started off game 2 quickly pushing 5 runs across the plate in the 1st inning. First year pitcher Jason Ott settled down quickly and retired most of the Sky&Sky batters for the next 5 innings. Errors in the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings helped Sky&Sky put up 8 more insurance runs on their way to victory. Andy Bloom robbed several NWC batters of hits with stellar defense in left field. The anemic NWC offense continued their horrid slump managing only 4 5th inning runs for the game. With the help of his defense Larry Newman had no problems keeping the NWC batters off of the base paths.

Hitting Stars NWC
Gabe Unterman 3-3 r
Lee Pollak 2-3 2b 3b r 2rbi
Scott Sweren 2-3 rbi

Sky Game Notes:
Despite tossing a perfect game last week in his first game of the season, Sky's Alex Newman took the week off. No word yet when Sky will return young Alex to the starting rotation.

Deer Park Middle School:
Game 1: Stingers 18 (WP- Rich Schneider 2-2) L.O.F.T. 4 (LP-Andy Peksa 0-7) 5 Innings

Stingers opened game 1 with a new look as they took the field with the debut of their ball caps courtesy of James Engler. It was a good omen as the Stingers sent 14 batters to bat and spotted an 8 run lead. Rich Schneider took the mound and held L.O.F.T. to only 3 runs in the b-1st. In the 2nd, the omen continued with the Stingers sending a full line up to bat and posting another 8 runs with an in the park homerun for the second straight week courtesy of Tim Palo and a blasted triple from Sean Murphy. Thereafter, Schneider blanked L.O.F.T.’s 5 batters to hold then to only 1 hit. Top of the 3rd brought some more insurance runs with a single from James Engler to post another 2 runs for the Stingers. It was all about the debut of the Stingers new ball caps. Although, L.O.F.T. was finally able to post another run in the b-5th, but Schneider and the Stingers would close out any hope for a rally from L.O.F.T. and take his 2nd win of the season.

Working on a new pitching motion to try and improve his pitching, pitcher Andy Peksa could not get it going early giving up lots of walks. He settled down in the 3rd only allowing 2 runs to score, and pitching scoreless 4th and 5th innings, however team L.O.F.T. struggled once again at the plate and
only managed to score 4 runs, 3 of which coming in the first inning, 2 off the bat of Dan Mabry with a 2 run single up the middle.

Offensive Stars for LOFT:
Adam Crothers: 2-2, 2 1B, BB, Run
Dan Mabry: 2-3, 2 1B, 2 RBI

Game 2: Stingers 16 (WP- Darron Tabatznik 4-7) L.O.F.T. 4 (LP-Andy Peksa 0-8) 6 Innings

In game 2, Stingers had a bit of trouble heating up the bats. Darren Tabatznik took care of business as usual with a spectacular 1-2-3 in the 1st. In the 2nd, Sean Murphy put on a clinic, stopping a line drive, and two 5-3 plays to sit L.O.F.T. down. The 3rd inning had Mike Beverly hit a shot for a triple and put the Stingers up 2runs over L.O.F.T. As the Stingers took the field in the top of the 4th, Tabatznik again took care of business with a mesmerizing putout and the Stinger backed him up only allowing 4 L.O.F.T. at bats. Stingers were not able to do much more with Peksa in the same inning. L.O.F.T. would put up 4 with their at bats in the 5th and the same would come from the Stingers as they batted 10 and plated 4 with timely hitting from Bill Jesmer and Sean Murphy. The sixth was a place for only the Stingers as they had Tabatznik again sit down the order 1-2-3. The omen came back to the Stinger with the ball caps as the Stingers batted 14 again to close out the night cap with a rally and put Tabatznik in the win column again.

The first 2 innings of Game 2 were scoreless for both teams. Andy Peksa started to get the ball over the plate frequently and retiring Stingers batters. Stingers struck with 2 runs in the 3rd, but L.O.F.T. answered with 4 in the top of the 5th to take a 4-2 lead. Andy Peksa toed the rubber in the bottom of the 5th and lost his release point on his pitches and began to walk batters leading to the Stingers taking a 6-4 lead. L.O.F.T. was not out of it yet, but batting in the top of the 6th L.O.F.T. went 1-2-3 and Andy Peksa continued to have control problems in the bottom of the 6th leading to the Stingers winning by 10 runs. L.O.F.T. made it a competitive game, but the pitching could not hold the entire game, and the bats stayed relatively cold.

Randallstown High School:
Game 1: Havana Club Cannons 20 (WP-Mark Yokel 6-2) NEK Entertainment 2 (LP-Dave Pridgen 3-8) 4 Innings

The first game was really about walks. David Prigden of NEK walked 10 Cannons hitters while Mark Yokel didn't walk any. Yokel was never in trouble as the Cannons plated 3, 6 and then 11 runs to win in 4 innings. Lou Falcon hit two homeruns for the Cannons. His blazing speed was the difference in these shots.

Game 1 Hitting Stars for the Cannons:
Jeff Kurland 2-2, 2 BB 3 runs
Neal Charkatz 2-2 1 BB 3 runs, 1 rbi
Mike Steller 2-2 BB, 3 runs 5 rbis
Lou Falcon 2-3 2 runs, 2 HRs, 5 rbis
Yokel 2-2 BB 3 runs, 1 rbis

Game 2: Havana Club Cannons 16 (WP-Tom Paulshock 8-0) NEK Entertainment 4 (LP-Dave Pridgen 3-9) 6 Innings

Game 2 was a much closer early. The Cannons got single runs in the 1st and second innings, and in the bottom of the second NEK tied the game at 2. In the top of the 3rd, with 1 out and Chuck Easter on second Neal Charkatz hit a homerun to LCF to give the Cannons a 2 run lead, but 4 more were plated in the 3rd and the Cannons never looked back. Tommy Paulshock continued hit torrid season at the plate, helping his own cause to the tune of 4 rbis. On the season Tommy is 12 for 25 (.480) with a HR and 6 rbis.

Hitting stars for Cannons in game 2:
Chuck Easter 3-4 3 runs,HR and 2 rbis
Neal Charkatz 2-2 2 runs, HR 2 rbis
Johnny Edelman 3-4 3 runs
Tommy Paulshock 2-4 4 rbis