Pikesville Mens Softball League April 30, 2006

Northwest Regional Park Field 1:
Game 1: DC Dental 19 (WP-Meir Zoller 4-3) Stingers 12 (LP-Darron Tabatznik 4-8)

With five of DC Dental's regulars out this week, the core of the DCD team knew they would have to step it up a notch if they wanted to compete with the Stingers. Game 1 started out a bit shaky for DCD as they quickly went down 7-1 making a number of uncharacteristic errors and failing to put men on the bases. Stinger's pitcher, Darron Tabatznik, seemed to have DCD's number early on.

As the day's heat began to settle in on the players, both teams began to play evenly sloppy softball, resulting in a number of errors that left the score tied at 9-9 going into the bottom half of the fourth.

However, after an encouraging pep-talk by DCD's All-Star Left/Center fielder, Joe Rombro, the Dental's got their act together as they hit around the order and played the stellar defense they have become known for, for the rest of the game.

Particularly clutch on the day was the hitting of Tali Strum, who in an effort to impress his family on their first outing to the yard, connected for 6 hits while playing Brooks Robinson-like 3rd base. Jon Minkove also stepped up with a 3 run HR, his first of the season.

Offensive Stars for DCD:
Ziffer- 2 for 4 (4 RBIs, 3 runs)
Minkove- 1 for 2 (HR, 4 RBIs)
Friedman- 2 for 4 (Triple, 2 RBIs)
Strum- 3 for 4 (1 RBI)

Game 2: DC Dental 13 (WP-Tzvi Friedman 5-2) Stingers 6 (LP-Rich Schneider 2-3)

Game 2 was a bit more lopsided from the beginning as the Stingers failed to score a run off of DCD's starting pitcher, Tzvi Friedman, until the bottom of the sixth. DCD, who were up 12-0 at that point, had hoped to put it away by shutting out the side in the sixth. However, a late inning rally by the Stingers allowed the game to go the full seven innings.

The game ended with many a dehydrated player as well as one unfortunately injured Stinger, catcher/captain Matt Friedman. DCD commends the Stingers on their play as they stuck together to finish the game, even though their captain was out with an injury. DCD wishes Matt a speedy recovery and hope to see him out on the field again in the near future.

Offensive Stars for DCD:
Minkove- 2 for 4 (2 RBIs)
Friedman- 3 for 4 (Triple, 1 RBI)
Gutman- 2 for 4 (1 RBI)
Strum- 3 for 4 (2 RBIs)

Northwest Regional Park Field 2:
Game 1: Northwest Corridor 21 (WP-Jason Ott 1-3) L.O.F.T. 15 (LP-Brandon Mabry 0-1)

L.O.F.T. decided to try out Brandon Mabry on the mound in game 1 after Andy Peksa struggled the previous week. The move was working out well as L.O.F.T. had the bats and the gloves going taking a 10-1 lead in the middle of the 3rd inning. Trouble began for L.O.F.T. in the bottom of the 3rd as Mabry was forced to get 6 outs because of dropped balls and missed plays by the defense. NW took a 14-10 and never looked back. L.O.F.T. tried to push back but could not get all the way back. It was a huge offensive output by team L.O.F.T.'s standards, but once again something went wrong and led to another loss for L.O.F.T.

LOFT came out ready to play right out of the starting gates. Taking advantage of sluggish NWC defense and lackadaisical play LOFT jumped out to an impressive 10-1 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd. NWC finally came to life exploding for 13 3rd inning runs to take a14-10 lead. Scott Sweren set a new franchise record by hitting 2 homeruns and 5rbi all in the 3rd inning. A lot of walks and back to back doubles by Matt Bell and Jon Goldman contributed to the offensive outburst. Josh Rogers added some insurance runs with a grand slam in the 4th inning and Jason Ott fought off the intense heat to pitch NWC to victory.

Hitting Stars For NWC:
Scott Sweren 3-4 2hr BB 2r 5rbi
Jon Goldman 3-4 BB 2r 2rbi 2b
Jason Ott 3-4 3r 2rbi
Lee Pollak 2-2 2BB 2r 2rbi

L.O.F.T. offensive Stars:
Dan Mabry: 4-5, 4 1B, 2 RBI, 3 Runs
Pete Sclafani: 3-5, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 3 Runs

Game 2: Northwest Corridor 14 (WP-Terry Lanciotti 1-0) L.O.F.T. 2 (LP-Andy Peksa 0-9) (5 Innings)

After coming in in the 4th inning to replace Mabry on the hill, Andy went back out and toed the rubber for game 2. Unlike last week Andy was able to get the ball over the plate, however the heat wore down team L.O.F.T. and were able to only put up 2 runs in the game.

NWC was eager to end this game quickly after the marathon that was game 1. David Stein and Matt Bell had back to back doubles in the 1st inn helping NWC jump to 3-2 lead. That would be all they would need as LOFT was held in check for the rest of the game. Terry Lanciotti making his season debut on the mound pitched a masterful game allowing just 2 first inning runs. His pitching line was impressive ( 5inn 2r 6hits k and just 1BB). Stein and Bell both reached base every time up at bat via hit or walk. Lee Pollak added a 2run homer in the 5th inning and the NWC left happy sweeping their first meeting with LOFT.

Hitting Stars For NWC:
David Stein 2-2 2BB 4r 22b rbi
Matt Bell 4-4 3rbi 2r 2b
Jon Herbst 3-4 r
Lee Pollak 2-3 2r hr 2rbi

Northwest Regional Park Field 3:
Game 1: Kings 2 (WP-Chuck Grant 10-3) Sky & Sky Inc. 0 (LP-Larry Newman 7-9)

Chuck Grant (7 IP,23 AB,3 H,0 R,2 W,0 K) tossed a 3-hitter and was supported by errorless defense as the Kings won the opener via shutout 2-0. Larry Newman had shutout the Kings April 16th and extended his scoreless streak against the Kings to 9 innings before the Kings got on the board in t-3rd. Mike Herr singled to lead off the inning. With 1 out, Dave Sandler hit an RBI triple and Sandler scored on a Shilo Merwitz RBI single. Newman (7 IP,31 AB,9 H,2 R,2 ER,1 W,0 K) did pitch extremely well himself for Sky and did not allow a Kings player to get into scoring position after inning 3. Sky mounted a small offensive threat in b-6th getting runners on 1st and 2nd base with 2 outs, but Grant was able to retire Steve Truitt on a popup to SS. Many teams noticed Sunday that the balls were not carrying well. In fact, Sandler's 3B was the only extrabasehit for either team all day.

Game 2: Sky & Sky Inc 8 (WP-Larry Newman 8-9) Kings 3 (LP-Chuck Grant 10-4)

Larry Newman held the Kings offense in check, allowing just 8 singles, in leading Sky to an 8-3 game 2 victory. The Kings took b-1st lead on consecutive singles by Kenny Salzman, Dave Sandler, and Shilo Merwitz (RBI), followed by a fielder's choice RBI by Russ Dlin. The usually sound Kings defense turned horrid in innings 4-7, committing 5 infield errors and 1 outfield throwing error. These error really hurt as they occurred during 3 innings where the first 3 Sky batters singled. The top 6 batters in the Sky line-up were on fire, hitting a combined 14-22 (.637), while the meat of the Kings order, batters 4-8 were 1-15 (.067). Chuck Grant (2-3,1 R) and Dave Sanlder (2-3,1 R) were the only Kings multi-hit players. Those top 6 hitters for Sky were Rich Puritz (3-4), Steve Truitt (2-4,1 R), Andy Bloom (2-4, 2 R), Scott Felton (3-3,2 R,1 RBI,W), Brian Sky (2-4,2 R,1 RBI), and Chris Knorr (2-3,1 RBI,SF).

The teams, as usual, split their season series 2-2, with Sky holding a slight head-to-head run differential.

Northwest Regional Park Field 4:
Game 1: Havana Club Cannons 5 (WP-Mark Yokel 7-2) Eastern Savings Bank 4 (LP-Ted Winner 7-3)

Game 1 between the perennial PMSL powerhouses was a well pitched gem by both Teddy Winner and Mark Yokel. Each team plated 1 in the 1st inning. Eastern got out ahead in the 3rd with 3 runs after some timely hitting. The Cannons came back with two in the bottom of the 4th, keyed by a Steve Hayes sac fly.

In the bottom of the 5th, down one, Johnny Edelman got on with a 1 out single, and with the bases loaded and 1 down Neal Charkatz forced home a run on a fielders choice. Now with the game tied, in the bottom of the 7th with a tie game Mark Yokel took advantage of a short left fielder and crushed a triple to the fence. Johnny Edelman fought off some tough Teddy Winner pitches eventually hitting a single to right field to win the game walk off style. As an extra added bonus Havana Club Cannons senior consultant/ general manager Gerry Edelman was on hand to see his son's walkoff single. A great Fathers Day present from son to father.

It looked like ESB was going to get off to a quick start against the Cannons, with Alan Lazerow leading off with a triple – however, some crafty pitching by Yokel held ESB to only one run in the frame. ESB took the lead again in the 3rd by scoring 3 times, highlighted by Jason Green's 2RBI double. That would be the last of the scoring for ESB, however, and the Cannons were able to score with the hammer in the bottom of the 7th after the leadoff hitter was able to muscle the ball over the ESB outfield to dispose of ESB by the final score of 5-4. Props to Teddy Winner on a well pitched game despite numerous ailments.

Offensive Stars for ESB were:
Alan Lazerow: 4-4,3B,2R
Jason Schwartzberg: 2-3, RBI
Glen Ackman, Cap Poklemba, Ben Guttman: all 2-3

Game 2: Havana Club Cannons 11 (WP-Tom Paulshock 9-0) Eastern Savings Bank 8 (LP-Jeff Harris 6-2)

It looked like the Cannons were going to dispose of ESB quickly in game 2 jumping out to a 9-0 lead after two innings. ESB fought back, however, and were able to piece together a 5-run 4th inning with RBI's from Poklemba, Gutman, and Luxenberg. Trailing 11-7 going to the last of the 7th, ESB threatened with a leadoff triple from Lazerow, but the bats fell silent as they were only able to plate 1 to drop the nightcap of the doubleheader 11-8. Great pitching by Jeff Harris despite also being under the weather.

The Cannons started off with the bats rolling in the first inning. Jeff Kurland walked, Chuck Easter singled, Neal Charkatz followed with an rbi single, Lou Falcon hit an rbi single, Shawn Warner singled, Danny Kassell singled and Steve Hayes made the first out with a rbi sac fly. After scoring 4 in the first, the Cannons followed with 5 more in the second inning.

Eastern wasn't going to go down without a fight, scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning. Fortunately though, The Cannons followed in the top of the 5th with 2 runs to keep the scoring open. Great defense, and solid pitching by Tommy Paulshock was the difference in the late innings as the door was closed and an unlikely sweep in hand for the Cannons.

Hitting Stars for Cannons in game 2:
Kurland 3-5, 3 runs scored
Easter 2-4 2 runs
Lou Falcon 3-4 2 rbis, 2 runs scored
Shawn Warner 2-4 1 run, 1 rbi

Offensive stars for ESB were:
Chris Zoeller: 3-4, R, RBI
Ben Gutman: 3-3, R, RBI
Cap Poklemba/Sam Luxenberg: 2-3, R, RBI
Alan Lazerow: 2-4, 3B, 2R

Week #12 Forfeit:
Game 1: NEK Entertainment 7 Chalmers Pants Company 0 (FORFEIT)

With too many players missing due to Father's Day activities, Chalmers Pants Company was forced to forfeit Sunday's scheduled doubleheader against NEK Entertainment.