2007 Pikesville Men's Softball League
Week 17:  July 29, 2007

Randallstown High School Field 1:
Game 1: Kings 13 (WP-Chuck Grant 14-7)  DC Dental 4 (LP-Marc Loeb 1-2) 

On an overcast morning, the Kings started off Game 1 with a bang, plating 4 in the first and 5 in the second, jumping out to a 9-0 lead. The Kings batters took advantage of the Randallstown High field and hit a couple homers that never seemed to stop rolling. The DCD bats were quiet against Kings starter Chuck Grant for the first 5 innings, only managing 2 hits during that time. In the 6th, the Kings scored 4 and DCD answered with 4 in the bottom of the 6th, making the score 13-4. That score held up and ended up being the final score.

Kenny Salzman paced the Kings offense with a 3-for-3 game including 1 walk, 3 runs scored, 4 RBI's, and 2 HR's. The Kings won the opener and clinched 2nd place with a 13-4 victory over DCD. In t-1st, Salzman led off the game with a walk. Rob Ressin followed with a single and 1 out later, Shilo Merwitz plated the first run of the game. Jan Katzen batted next and launched a 3-RBI HR, putting the Kings ahead in the t-1st 4-0. In Kings t-2nd, Rob Barrow drew a leadoff walk. DCD starter Marc Loeb was able to retire the next 2 Kings, but Kenny Salzman then hit a 2-RBI HR. The hit for Salzman was his 300th career hit with the Kings. Ressin followed Salzman's HR with a 1B, and then it was Dave Sandler's turn to hit a HR. The Kings led 8-0 after 1 1/2 innings. Kings Keegan Rettaliata was robbed of a homerun with an outstanding over-the-shoulder catch by DCD leftfielder Ben Gutman in t-3rd-- one of the top defensive plays of the season. The score remained 8-0 into the t-6th when the Kings added 5 more runs. Troy Hendricks' 2-out RBI 1B scored Alan Varhaftik with the first run of the inning. Mike Herr followed with a 2-RBI 1B, his 600th Kings career hit. The game ball for the 600th hit was removed from the game, as was the 300th hit ball for Salzman. With an extra supply of game balls, Salzman followed Herr with his 2nd 2-RBI HR of the game. For Salzman, it was his first Kings career multi-HR game. Leading 13-0 into the b-6th, the Kings hoped to get out of game 1 early. DCD, though, had other thoughts. 1 out singles by Zotz, L. Zaslow and R. Zaslow loaded the bases. An RBI fielder's choice by Dan Gutman, RBI single by Yoseph Orshan, and RBI single by Ben Gutman led to 4 runs and a continuation of the game into the 7th inning. Neither team scored in the 7th, so the Kings won by a final score of 13-4.

DCD Offensive stars
Orshan 1-3, 1 double, 2 RBI, 1 run
B. Gutman 2-3, 1 single, 1 double, 1 RBI
Zotz 1-2, 1 single, 1 run
L. Zaslow 1-2, 1 single, 1 run

Kings offensive stars for game 1 included:
Kenny Salzman (3-3,3 R,4 RBI,2 HR,W)
Rob Ressin (3-4,2 R)
Jan Katzen (2-4,1 R,3 RBI,HR)
Troy Hendricks (1-3,1 R,2 RBI)

Game Notes:

Game 2:  Kings 5 (WP-Chuck Grant 15-7)  DC Dental 3 (LP-Marc Loeb 1-3) 

Kenny Salzman remained perfect on the day, going 3-for-3 with 1 run scored, 3 RBI's, and another homerun in the nightcap. Salzman, who cancelled plans to attend Cal's Hall of Fame induction, made the most of his stay home with a career day to go along with his milestone. Kings Chuck Grant again matched-up against Marc Loeb, with Grant and the Kings coming away with a 5-3 win. In Kings b-1st, Rob Barrow led off the inning with a single. 1 out RBI singles by Salzman and Rob Ressin put the Kings up 2-0. In DCD t-2nd, Dovi Ziffer tripled with 1 out and scored on a Blalock groundout. Kings added 2 runs in b-3rd as Herr singled with 1 out and Salzman followed with his 3rd 2-RBI HR of the day. The defenses of both teams played quite well on the day and the score remained 4-1 into the b-6th. Alan Varhaftik's 2-out RBI single put the Kings ahead 5-1. DCD did not go down without a fight. In t-7th, a SF by Strauss and RBI single by L. Zaslow pulled DCD to within 5-3. With 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, Grant was able to retire Dan Gutman on a flyout to RCF to end the game.

The Kings scored 2 in the 1st to jump out to a 2-0 lead. DCD got one back in the top of the 2nd on a "triple" by Ziffer and then an RBI groundout by Blalock. The Kings scored 2 more in the bottom of the 3rd to make the score 4-1. DCD starter Marc Loeb would pitch a solid game, keeping the Kings' bats quiet until the bottom of the 6th when the Kings scored another run, making the score 5-1. In the top of the 7th, DCD loaded the bases with no outs. A run scored on a sac fly and another scored on a single. The tying man was on first base with the go ahead run at the plate but DCD could not take advantage, flying out to end this hard fought game.

DCD Offensive stars
L. Zaslow 3-3, 3 singles, 1 RBI
Ziffer 1-2, 1 triple, 1 bb, 2 runs
Blalock 2-3, 2 singles, 1 RBI
Orshan 2-3, 2 singles

Kings multi-hit players in game 2:
Mike Herr (2-3,2 R)
Kenny Salzman (3-3,1 R,3 RBI,HR)
Keegan Rettaliata (2-3)

Game notes:

Randallstown High School Field 4:
Game 1: Havana Club Cannons 19 (WP-Tom Paulshock 12-1) Stingers 3 (LP-Randy Rivera 4-5)  6 Innings

Stingers came into their final regular season game against the Cannons with a split in mind. Randy Rivera took the mound and kept the Cannon bats quiet for the first and the same went for Tom Paulshock. Cannons took advantage of an open field and dropped in a few short and some long balls to put six on the board. Stingers came back with one of their own as Lee Densky, Aaron Shifrin and Randy Rivera strung together a walk, single and RBI single to put one on the board. Cannons continued with good place hitting against Rivera to put two more on the board to make it an 8-1 game after 4 innings of play, Cannons took the game in the fifth and sixth innings as the Stingers would only be able to put up two more runs on the board in the b-5th Tim Palo making on board and Mike BaSoco’s liner down third for his triple that was shortly followed by Mike McGee’s breakout SAC to score the Stingers two runs in the b-5th. Cannons closed the game in the sixth and the Stingers would do more.
 

Game 2: Havana Club Cannons 12 (WP-Tom Paulshock 13-1) Stingers 10 (LP-Darron Tabatznik 5-8) 

Game two brought some magic and patience from the Stingers as they worked against Paulshock again. This time it would be the Stingers who made the bases loaded. Mike Beverly, Sean Murphy, Randy Rivera all got o board with singles through the left side of the Cannons to load the bases. Shifrin’s patience was awarded a walk to bring a run. James Engler got into the mix with his 2 RBI single which was followed by Brad Starobin’s single RBI to put the Stingers up 4. Cannons would heat the bats up and continue placing the ball and driving it to take back the lead by two after 2.

Stingers would back Tabatznik with 5 more runs in the b-3rd as walks and singles loaded the bases again and Shifrin shot one into left for a 3 run triple. With two down, Mike McGee added onto the runs by brining in Shifrin with single. After 3 it would be the cannons again though by 4. the fifth and sixth were a duel of pitchers as Paulshoch and Tabaznik worked their magic, each blanking the other. It would not be until the t-6th that the Stingers would get another run from James Engler’s SAC to bring in Aaron Shifrin tow move within two of the Cannons after 6 innings of play. With runners on 1st and second and two outs, Murph came to the plate and di his best but Paulshock got the better and popped him up to take the day.

The Cannons geared up for the playoffs by sweeping the Stingers, 19-3 (six innings) and 12-10. Tom Paulshock tossed both ends of the doubleheader for the victories.

Havana Club Sunday Stars:
Jeff Kurland 5-8, 4runs, 2rbi
Chuck Easter 6-8, 2runs, 3rbi, Homerun
Steve Hennemen 5-7, 5runs, rbi, Homerun
Johnny Edelman 5-7, 6runs, 5rbi
Tim Grap 5-7, 4runs, 2rbi
Danny Kassel 4-6, 3runs, 4rbi
Steve Hayes 4-8, 2runs, 5rbi, Homerun

 

Deer Park Middle School Field 1:
Game 1: Northwest Corridor 15 (WP-Howard Goldberg 6-9)  L.O.F.T. 0 (LP-Kory Rosenberg 0-12)  4 Innings

The game started almost 20 minutes late while both teams waited for an umpire to show up. Larry Newman graciously stepped up and volunteered his umpiring services for game 1. History was made as Howard Goldberg tossed NWC's 1st no hitter in franchise history. It was a shortened no hitter as the game only went for 4 innings. LOFT wasn't able to wake their bats up in the 4 inning game. NWC couldn't capitalize on a rally in the 1st inning but exploded for 8 runs in the 2nd. Mark Roy started things off with the first of his 3 hits on the day. Jon Herbst and Brad Rosenberg both walked to load the bases. Aaron Birenbaum singled in a run and Joey Liner knocked another in with a sac fly to left. Gabe Unterman and David stein both walked to load the bases up again and Howard Goldberg knocked 2 runs in with a single. Chris Canosa topped off the 8 run rally with a 3run homer blasted to left center. Canosa added another homer in 4th inning and NWC handled LOFT easily 15-0 in 4 innings. Goldberg's perfect game no hitter was ruined with 1 walk issued.

Hitting Stars For NWC:
Mark Roy 3-3 3r
Aaron Birenbaum 2-2 r 3rbi
Chris Canosa 2-3 2r 4rbi 2HR

Game 2: Northwest Corridor 12 (WP-Howard Goldberg 7-9)  L.O.F.T. 9 (LP-Andy Peksa 4-11) 

Game 2 was a much more competitive game. With Larry Newman having to go back to his game to pitch LOFT and NWC decided to ump their own game, with each team providing a different ump every inning. LOFT jumped out first plating 3 quick runs in the 1st and 2 more in the 2nd. NWC scored 2 of their own in the 2nd inning. Brad Rosenberg's line drive single plated Mark Roy and Jon Herbst. LOFT led 5-2 going into the 5th inning until NWC exploded for another 8 run rally. Taking advantage of the large outfield grass with no fence NWC hit 3 inside the park homers. David Stein jacked a line drive to right center for a 3run blast. Jon Herbst followed 5 batters later with a 3 run homer of his own. Aaron Birenbaum ended the homer parade 2 batters later with a long 2run shot to right center. LOFT wouldn't give up and rallied in the last three innings for a few more runs but it wasn't enough to stop NWC from taking the sweep.

Hitting Stars NWC:
Mark Roy 3-4 3r 1rbi
Brad Rosenberg 3-4 2rbi
Jon Herbst 1-2 2r BB HR 4rbi
 

Deer Park Middle School Field 2:
Game 1: Sky & Sky Inc. 11 (WP-Zach Scherr 4-5)  NEK Entertainment 4 (LP-Dave Pridgen 2-9) 

N.E.K. was out of the box in the t-1st using an OF error and a walk to plate three. Glenn Ackman tripled in the b-1st and scored on a throwing error to chip away. Sky & Sky went ahead by 1 after Eric Gertner used the invisible fence trick for a 2 run shot to RF. Both defenses held for awhile, but in the b-5th Sky & Sky bats finally awoke. Zach Scherr used the same invisible fence to bloop one over the RF's head which just kept rolling and rolling for a 2-run HR, as several walks eased Sky & Sky to a comfortable 7 run lead. The teams traded one more run, as Zach Scherr earned the win over Dave Pridgen 11-4. The bottom 3 in the order did the most damage as Alex Newman went 2-3(3B,1B, 2 runs), Eric Gertner added a HR,2B, 2 runs,3 RBI & Alan Friedman had a single and 2BB...but never managed to score a run.

Game 2: Sky & Sky Inc. 11 (WP-Larry Newman 12-6)  NEK Entertainment 4 (LP-Dave Pridgen 2-10) 

Game 2 was a lethargic & lackadaisical effort from both teams. Tied at 2 entering the t-7th, Sky & Sky got 2-rbi from Steve Truitt's 3B, and Glenn Ackman singled home a second insurance run, while N.E.K. went down rather quietly in the b-7th. N.E.K.'s defense played quite well behind Dave Pridgen, as 13 Sky & Sky baserunners were stranded in the nightcap, but the final was Newman over Pridgen 5-2. Steve Truitt had the big stick going 4-4(3B,2B) plus 2 runs. Alex Newman reached base safely in all three plate appearances including a single.