2009 Pikesville Men's Softball League
 Week 11:  June 14, 2009

Highlights submitted thus far by all 8 teams.

Again With the Rain
 For the 10th time in our 10 scheduled weeks of play, rain and/or wet fields threatened our scheduled games. Last weekend the rain occurred on Thursday + Friday and I was able to get assistance on the field water sweeping and raking. This Sunday, the thunderstorms didn't hit Owings Mills until 11 PM making the field conditions in doubt for the morning. After receiving a call from the Park Director at NWRP at 6:15 A.M. informing us that the wet fields would keep us off of NWRP, I was able to hustle over to the Deer Park Middle School Fields and Randallstown High School fields to assess the field conditions and to sweep off the standing water that was sitting on each fields batter box, pitching area, baselines, and on the infield lip. Alan Friedman assisted me by making a run to the store for kitty litter. When the field assignments were changed, each team was asked to help raking the fields with the water now removed. Fortunately the Sunday game time weather conditions were very pleasant and the fields were quite playable by game time.

Most importantly, the teams were ready for action with all of their players finding the newly assigned fields. Despite a lack of umpire over at DPMS #2, both teams (Raptors and Stingers) stood up to take care of the umpiring duties themselves. On the other fields at DPMS, the Cannons scored 3 runs in b-7th of game 2 to complete a sweep of the Kings. Northwest Corridor stepped up their game and defeated Sky in both games of their doubleheader. Meanwhile over at Randallstown High School, LOFT won their 3rd straight game before dropping the nightcap against the NEK/ESB squad.

Randallstown High School Field 1:    Umpire- Reggie Grant
 Game 1: LOFT 11 (WP-Rick Winepol)  NEK/ESB 3 (LP-Tzvi Friedman) 

LOFT came into the game following a sweep over the Stingers the week prior looking to get a winning streak started.  LOFT was the visiting team in this contest and came out putting up a quick 3 runs on Tzvi Friedman who was coming off a shut out the week prior over NWC.  ESB/ NEK got on the board with 3 of their own off a bases loaded blooper that LOFT SS Matt Monto was unable to secure in shallow LF.  LOFT came right back with 2 more runs in the top of the 2nd inning and pitcher Rick Winepol held the ESB/ NEK scoreless.  Michael Bowen hit a HR for LOFT in the top of the 4th inning to extend the lead to 6-3.  Rick Winepol continued to roll and retire the ESB/ NEK batters at will.  LOFT scored 2 more in the 5th highlighted by a RBI double by Matt Monto.  Brett Henry was able to plate 2 more runs off a 2 out 2 RBI single the opposite way to give LOFT a 11-3 lead heading into the bottom of the 7th.  Rick Winepol was able to retire the ESB/ NEK rather quickly in the bottom of the 7th highlighted by a nice catch on a hard hit ball by 3B Andy Peksa.  LOFT was able to extend the consecutive wins streak to 3 winning the early game.

NEK/ESB was thrilled to be playing on Sunday. We thought we would be rained out due to the storm that passed through on Saturday night. New jerseys were worn by the team with the new team name – The NEK/ESB Bombers. We were trying to build on our three game winning streak but came out flat. After scoring three runs on a bases loaded pop up just off the short stops glove by Marc Loeb the Bombers were held in check by the LOFT pitcher Rick Winepol.

LOFT Offensive Highlights:
Michael Bowen:  3-3; HR, 2 1B, BB, RBI, 3 R
Brandon Mabry:  2-4; 2 1B, 2 RBI, R
Matt Monto:  2-4; 2B, 1B, 2 RBI, 3 R
Herb:  2-4; 2 1B, RBI
Jeff Kapper:  2-3; 2 1B, Sac Fly, RBI, R
Brett Henry: 2-4; 2 1B, 2 RBI

Game 2: NEK/ESB 12 (WP-Ted Winner)  LOFT 2 (LP-Rick Winepol) 

Game 2 did not go very well for LOFT.  ESB/ NEK plated 3 runs in the 1st and 2 more in the 2nd inning to take a quick 6-0 lead on LOFT.  LOFT tried to chip away scoring 1 on a solo HR from Matt Monto and 1 more in the 3rd inning as Brett Henry came around to score, however later that inning LOFT had the bases loaded with 1 out and Andy Peksa coming to the plate and he grounded out sharply to third and then a throw to first for the double play to end the inning.  That would end LOFT's scoring for the game as Ted Winner was dialed in on the mound retiring LOFT hitters all game long.

The Bombers came out much more focused in game two and behind the brilliant pitching of Teddy Winner won the game 12-2. The defense played great and Dan Gutman was the hitting star. Gutman had a two run homer in the first, a two run double in the second, a double in the fourth and a single in the sixth. He had six RBI’s and scored three runs. Clean up hitter Jason Gardner also pounded the ball and had three hits.

LOFT Offensive Highlights:
Matt Monto:  2-3; HR, 1B, BB, RBI, R
Brett Henry:  2-3; 2 1B, R

Deer Park Middle School Field 2:    Umpire- None
 Game 1: Raptors 18 (WP-Jeff Harris) Stingers 2 (LP- Albert Hoffman 0-2)  5 Innings

Stingers came into this week looking to climb out of the basement.  Albert Hoffman took the mound again and kept things closer.  Nate Meyl drove a b-2nd to left for a 2 run homer to make things closer for the Stingers against the Raptors. That would be as much as the highlights would turn out for the offense.  Hoffman recorded his first strikeout of the season in the later inning, but it was cold bats for the Stingers in the morning play.

With no umpire on the day, both teams did a good job umpiring fairly and we had no issues.  The Raptors bats exploded on the day, and the first game started off with 4 straight hits.  The Raptors had 3 innings where they scored at least 5 runs.  The main highlight for the game was two bombs to left from Greg Wingate, one a bases loaded triple, and the other a 3-run homer. Jeff Harris pitched a solid 4 innings  supported by continued great Raptor defense, with his only blemish being a 2 run bomb to left.  Eric Radom pitched a scoreless fifth for his first ever PSL inning pitched. 

Raptors Hitting Highlights:
>Greg Wingate - 3-3, 3B, HR, 3 R, 6 RBI
>Josh Cohen - 3-3, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI
>Jeff Harris - 3-3, R, RBI
>Daren Copp - 2-3, 3 R, 2 RBI
>Chris Canosa - 2-4, 2B, R, 3 RBI
>Ryan Wilner - 3-4, R, 3 RBI 

Game 2: Raptors 14 (WP-Jeff Harris) Stingers 1 (LP- Mike Beverly)  5 Innings

The Raptors continued the hot hitting in the second game, although the runs were spread out a bit more than the first game.  Jeff Harris and the Raptors defense continued to shut down the Stingers, allowing only 1 run and 4 hits in five innings.  Eric Radom came in to close out the game again, working out of his first jam to keep his ERA at 0.00 for his career. 

Game two had even less success as the Stingers were only able to manage 1 run  in the late innings until going down 2 games to the Raptor on the day.

Raptors Hitting Highlights:
>Eric Radom - 2-3, BB, R, 2 RBI
>Jon Mandras - 2-3, 2B, 2 R, RBI, sac
>Justin Raynor - 2-4, R, RBI
>Brett Canosa - 2-3, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI
>Daren Copp - 2-3, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI
>Josh Cohen - 2-3, R, RBI
>Jeff Harris - 2-3, R

Deer Park Middle School Field 1:    Umpire- Scott Snyder
 Game 1: Cannons 10 (WP-Dan Kassel 2-0)  Kings 1 (LP-Chuck Grant 7-2) 

Cannons starter Dan Kassel limited the Kings to 6 hits and 0 walks, while the Cannons poked out 17 hits in a 10-1 game 1 win. The Cannons played errorless ball behind Kassel and also turned 2 groundout doubleplays. The game was close early, but the Cannons put up 6 runs in their last 2 at bats.

Jeff Kurland doubled to start game and scored on Chuck Easter's RBI single. Kassel drew a 1 out walk in t-3rd and scored on a Mike Dubansky 1B. Kings Keegan Rettaliata tripled to start b-3rd and scored on Rob Barrow's SF to LF. This pulled the Kings to within 2-1, but the scoring was strictly the Cannons the rest of the way.

Cannons scored single runs in t-4th on Evan Kreitzer's RBI 2B and in t-5th on another 2 out Mike Dubansky RBI 1B. The damage in the t-5th could have been much worse as the Cannons had 2 on with just 1 out when Kings RCF Koby Sarubin robbed Jeff Kurland of an extra basehit with an over the shoulder catch to deep RCF. With a 4-1 lead into t-6th, Cannons got 2 insurance runs on Johnny Edelman's 2 RBI 1B and 4 runs in t-7th, the key hit a Jason Schwartzberg 3 RBI HR to the trees in RF.

Cannons offensive leaders in game 1:
Jeff Kurland (3-4,2 R,2B)
Mike Dubansky (2-3,1 R,2 RBI,W)
Jason Schwartzberg (2-4,2 R,3 RBI,HR)
Steve Hayes (2-4,1 R)
Evan Kreitzer (2-3,1 RBI,2B)

Kings offensive stars:
6 different batters had 1 hit.

Game 2: Cannons 6 (WP-Tom Paulshock)  Kings 5 (LP-Chuck Grant 7-3) 

The Kings held a 5-3 into b-7th, but the Cannons bats pounded out 5 hits including a 2 out RBI single by Jason Schwartzberg to come from behind 6-5 in game 2. For Schwartzberg, it was his 4th hit of the game.

Cannons held early lead with RBI singles by Schwartzberg and Johnny Edelman providing 1st inning 2-0 lead. Kings Koby Sarubin led off the t-3rd with a bloop infield single and scored on Arin Gelletly's SF to RCF. The Kings stranded 2 runners on base for the second time in the first 4 innings and trailed 2-1 thru 4 innings.

In t-5th, Chuck Grant doubled and Dave Sandler came off the bench with a pinch hit 1B to put runners on corners with none out. Grant scored the tying run on a Kenny Salzman RBI FC. Jeff Slutzker followed with a 1B and Shilo Merwitz then doubled home the go ahead run. The Kings added another run on an Alan Varhaftik RBI FC, taking a 4-2 lead. Keegan Rettaliata led off the t-6th with a HR over the fence in LCF to build Kings lead to 5-2.

Cannons produced a run in b-6th as Schwartzberg led off with a 1B and advanced to second base on a Steve Hayes foul out when Kings 1B Rob Barrow was ruled with the old 'catch and carry'. He caught the foul pop along the first baseline fence and his momentum carried him over the out-of-play line--a rule not seen at NWRP where there is a restraining fence all the way around the field. Schwartzberg advanced to thirdbase on a Johnny Edelman single to LF and he scored on Jim Davis' SF to RCF. This pulled the Cannons to within 5-3 heading to the 7th inning.

Tom Paulshock kept the Kings off of the board in the t-7th. In b-7th, Julio Fernandez and Tim Grap singled to lead off inning. Following a flyout, Jeff Kurland singled home a run making the score 5-4 and put runners on the corners with 1 out. Mike Dubansky's made the 2nd out of the inning on an RBI FC, but this tied the game. Chuck Easter singled Dubansky to third base and this brought Schwartzberg to the plate. The Kings elected to try to pitch to Schwartzberg, but he came thru with a 1B to the gap in LCF.

Cannons multi-hit players in game 2:
Jeff Kurland (3-4,1 RBI)
Chuck Easter (2-4,1 R)
Jason Schwartzberg (4-4,1 R,2 RBI)
Johnny Edelman (3-3,1 RBI)
Julio Fernandez (2-3,1 R)
Tim Grap (2-3,1 R)

Kings offensive leaders:
Shilo Merwitz (2-2,1 RBI,2B,2 W)
Arin Gelletly (1-2,1 RBI,W,SF)
Keegan Rettaliata (1-3,1 R,1 RBI,HR)

Deer Park Middle School Field 3:    Umpire- Lane Gordon
 Game 1: Northwest Corridor 15 (WP-Howard Goldberg 4-5) Sky & Sky Inc. 8 (LP- Larry Newman)

Two three run innings allowed NWC to take a commanding 6 run lead into the fourth inning.  Finally in the b-4th things got rolling for the dormant Sky & Sky bats as they tied things up at 6 with a flurry of hits. NWC regained the lead with 3 more in the 5th, answered by just one for Sky & Sky in their half of the inning.  NWC ran away with things in the t-7th plating 6 for the 15-8 victory as Howard Goldberg defeated Larry Newman.   

Both Sky&Sky and NWC players spent most of batting practice and fielding pre game time fixing the fields.  Playing for the 2nd week in a row on Deer Park Middle #3 NWC came out looking to erase the pathetic performance from one week before.  Just 7 days after scoring 3 runs in two games NWC busted out for a 15-8 victory over a great Sky&Sky squad.  NWC struck first in the top of the 1st inning.  Three of the 1st four batters singled off of Larry Newman to start tings off.  Jon Herbst, Gabe Unterman and Howard Goldberg.  Brad Rosenberg’s sac fly to center plated the 1st run and Adam Silverman’s line drive to center field drove in 2 more.  Sky&Sky’s bats were very quiet for the first 3 innings but NWC managed 3 more runs in the top of the 2nd.  Matt Silverman launched a missile to center driving in Matt Bell and Lee Pollak.  Jon Herbst finished off the scoring with a sac fly to right centerfield.  NWC led 6-0 going into the bottom of the 4th but Sky rallied for 6 runs to tie the ballgame up.  Pat Wilcox, Brian Sky and Alex Newman all had extra base knocks top drive in runs.  The lead didn’t last too long as NWC answered with 3 more in the top of the 5th inning.  Goldberg knocked in 2 runs with a line drive up the middle and Adam Silverman had an rbi base hit to left field.  Andy Bloom and Pat Wilcox led off the bottom of the 5th with consecutive base hits and Bloom came around to score on a Brain Sky sac fly to make the score 9-7.  NWC put the game away and out of reach in the top of the 7th inning scoring another 6 runs.  Matt Bell had a big 2rbi line drive to left field and Lee Pollak had an rbi single into centerfield.  Brad Rosenberg drilled another rbi line drive and Goldberg sailed a Newman knuckleball over the left centerfielder’s head for a 2 run triple.  Final score 15-8 and a complete turnaround from NWC’s 3-0 game #1 defeat last week. 

NWC Hitting Highlights Game #1:
 Matt Bell                       3-4 R 2RBI
Gabe Unterman             4-4 3R
Howard Goldberg           4-4 3R 4RBI 3b
Jon Herbst                     2-3 Sac RBI
Adam Silverman             2-4 3RBI
Brad Rosenberg             2-3 R Sac 2RBI

Game 2: Northwest Corridor 10 (WP-Howard Goldberg 5-5) Sky & Sky Inc. 6 (LP- Alex Newman)

Basic softball heads-up baserunning allowed Elliot Blank to score the first run for Sky & Sky, but things went downhill from there.  NWC's Aaron Bierbaum tripled allowing two to score in the b-2nd, and several errors contributed to the third NWC run in the following frame.  Two leadoff BBs, two errors, and a bevy of hits allowed NWC to plate 5 in the 4th.  A solo shot by Pat Wilcox in the fourth, and an error by LCF after an Erik Hanson single led to 3 more runs in the 6th.  However, a meager run in the 7th saw the completion a sound ass-kicking by NWC who thoroughly outplayed Sky & Sky for 14 innings.  A final of 10-6 lifted Goldberg over the younger Newman.

Sky&Sky sent out the younger Newman to avenge the game #1 loss and NWC rode Goldberg’s hot hand for another game.  Elliott Blank scored for Sky&Sky in the top of the 1st to give them a quick 1-0 lead.  NWC failed to score in the bottom of the innings and Sky went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 2nd.  NWC took the lead after an Adam Silverman single and an Aaron Birenbaum triple to left centerfield.  Birenbaum scored on Matt Bell’s liner to left and NWC went out to protect the lead.  Goldberg silenced the Sky bats in the 3rd and scored another run in the bottom of the inning.  2 Sky&Sky errors put Scott Sweren on 3rd base and Goldberg’s sac fly knocked him in.  A Pat Wilcox homerun into the adjacent little league diamond took the score to 4-2 in Sky&Sky’s half of the 4th inning.  Much like game #1 NWC then had a big inning to try and put the game away.  ASilverman and Jon Goldman led off the inning with walks.  Matt Bell and Matt Silverman made both those walks hurt 3 batters later bringing them both home.  Jon Herbst drilled an rbi double and Scott Sweren knocked in 2 more runs to bring the score to 8-2 after 4 innings.  NWC added 2 more to their total in the 5th and Sky&Sky went into the 6th inning with their backs against the wall looking for a rally.  They managed 3 runs in the 6th and 1 run in the top of the 7th but it wasn’t enough as NWC left with the 10-6 victory and a doubleheader sweep.   

NWC Hitting Highlights Game #2:
 Scott Sweren                 2-4 2R 2RBI
Aaron Birenbaum           2-3 2R RBI 3B
Matt Bell                       2-2 BB R 2RBI

Game Notes:
 Ø Matt Bell’s 5 hits on the day took him over the 150 hit mark for his NWC career.  Bell previously played for the World Champion Attman’s Deli squad
 Ø Aaron Birenbaum drew his 50th career bases on balls
 Ø Howard Goldberg’s game #1 triple was his 25th career 3 bagger
 Ø NWC’s outfielders played extremely well Sunday.  M Silverman, Birenbaum, Sweren, Herbst and Unterman all made outstanding plays throughout the day to save hits or runs.
 Ø Jon Goldman scooped, dived and even made barehanded catches at 1st base on Sunday.