2010 Pikesville Men's Softball League
Week 12:  June 20, 2010

Highlights submitted thus far by Kings, Cannons, AR Bodies, Bombers, Sky

The heat was a factor for the 2nd week in a row. The games were played at Randallstown High School and Deer Park Middle School due to a lacrosse tournament at Northwest Regional Park. Most teams relied on some substitute players as a result of Father's Day scheduling issues.

The Kings came away victorious in their doubleheader against NWC, with both games very close in score. The Bombers swept against LOFT, moving back into 4th place. These 2 teams did not play each other earlier this season.

The surprise of the day was the Stingers game 1 win over the Cannons. The Cannons are dealing with season ending injuries to Evan Kreitzer and Jeff Kurland, but the Stingers are happy to win their first game in franchise history against the Cannons. The Cannons did win the nightcap by a narrow 3-2 margin.

AR Bodies and Sky also battled to a split. Eric Radom threw a doubleheader for the Raptors, with Ken Zalis pitching both ends for Sky.

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Randallstown High School Field 1:    Umpire- Reggie Grant
Game 1: Kings 10 (WP-Mike Herr 10-1)  Northwest Corridor 4 (LP-Matt Silverman 2-5) 

The Kings and Northwest Corridor visited Randallstown High School for the first time in 2010. Despite no rain in the area all week, the field required significant raking as Baltimore County apparently added dirt to the infield this week without dragging the field. The dusty and bumpy infield led to several bad hop grounders during the course of morning play.

In game action, the score remained close most of the game. The Kings held onto a slim 2-1 lead after 3 1/2 innings, but 8 runs in their final 3 at-bats led to a 10-4 game 1 win for the Kings. NWC outhit the Kings 12-11, but the Kings out-walked NWC 12-1. 6 of the 12 Kings batters who walked scored a run, and that was the margin of the game 1 win.

4 walks in b-1st along with a fielder's choice RBI groundout by Shilo Merwitz gave the Kings 1-0. Singles by Jan Katzen and Merwitz, along with a SF by Alan Varhaftik made the Kings lead 2-0 in b-3rd.  NWC put together 3 straight singles to start t-4th from Brad Rosenberg, Adam Silverman, and Gabe Unterman (RBI). Kings starter Mike Herr was able to retire the next 3 NWC hitters to maintain 2-1 Kings lead.

In b-4th, the Kings put together a 4 run 2 out rally. 2 RBI 1B by Katzen, RBI 1B by Jeff Slutzker, and RBI 1B by Merwtiz extending Kings lead 6-1. The lead became 7-1 in b-5th via 2 walks and a Rob Barrow RBI 1B. NWC was not ready to concede and put together a rally of their own in t-6th. With 2 outs and 1 on, Brad Marcus singled, Matt Silverman hit a 2 RBI 3B over the head of Kings RCF Troy Hendricks, and Lee Pollak hit an RBI 1B. The 7-4 margin was as close as NWC could get. The Kings got all 3 runs back in b-6th on 3 more walks along with SF by Merwitz and 2 RBI 1B by Keegan Rettaliata.

NWC offensive leaders in game 1:
Adam Silverman (2-4)
Gabe Unterman (2-3,1 RBI,W)
Matt Silverman (1-3,1 R,2 RBI,3B)
Howard Goldberg (2-3)--2 infield singles

Kings multi-hit players in game 1:
Jan Katzen (2-2,3 R,2 RBI,2 W)
Shilo Merwitz (2-3,3 RBI,SF)
Rob Barrow (2-3,1 R,1 RBI)

Game 2: Kings 6 (WP-Chuck Grant 8-1)  Northwest Corridor 4 (LP-Howard Goldberg 2-5) 

Game 2 was knotted 4-4 after 6 innings. The Kings scored 2 runs in t-7th and held on to win the nightcap 6-4. The Kings got on the scoreboard first in t-2nd. Arin Gelletly singled to lead off inning and 2 outs later scored on Troy Hendricks' RBI 3B. Steve Levy followed Hendricks with a single to CF. The Kings enlarged the lead to 4-0 in t-3rd, keyed by a Jeff Slutzker RBI 1B and SF by Gelletly.

Kings starter Chuck Grant got out of a bases loaded jam in b-4th, but NWC got to Grant and the Kings defense in b-5th. With 1 out, Lee Pollak singled. Howard Goldberg reached on an infield hit, with both runners advancing an extra base on a throwing error. The next hitter Jon Herbst reached base and Pollak scored on an infield error. Scott Sweren singled and NWC had the bases loaded with still 1 out. Brad Rosenberg hit a deep SF flyout to LCF, with the runners double-tagging, cutting the Kings lead to 4-3. Adam Silverman was next and he singled home Sweren with the tying run, 4-4.

In t-6th, the Kings left the bases loaded. In b-6th, NWC had 2 on with 0 outs, but could not score. The score, therefore, remained tied heading to the 7th inning. Howard Goldberg came in to relieve starter Matt Silverman to start the t-7th. Grant coaxed a leadoff walk and Herr reached on a bad hop 1B. Kenny Salzman flew out to RF, but Grant was able to tag and advance to 3rd base, putting Kings runners on the corners with 1 out. Jan Katzen did his job and hit a SF to LCF to score Grant. On the throw to the plate, Herr advanced to 2nd base.  Slutzker hit a 1B thru the SS hole, scoring Herr and giving the Kings a 6-4 lead. NWC was able to get a 1 out single by Rosenberg and a 2 out single by Unterman in b-7th, but Grant was able to retire the final hitter on a groundout to Katzen.

NWC game 2 offensive leaders:
Scott Sweren (2-4,1 R)
Brad Rosenberg (1-3,2 RBI,SF)
Adam Silverman (3-4,1 RBI)
Gabe Unterman (2-4)
Matt Silverman (2-3)

Kings offensive leaders in game 2:
Jeff Slutzker (3-4,2 RBI)
Shilo Merwitz (2-3,W)
Steve Levy (2-3,1 RBI)

Kings game notes:
►1B Steve Levy's game 2 error was his first Kings error since 1997.
►3B Jan Katzen is now sporting a brand new 2010 Lexus ES 350. It replaces his recently totaled Mitsubishi Eclipse.
►The Kings take on a familiar opponent next week in LOFT. The teams met 7 times last season (4 Regular Season, 3 Playoffs) and this is the 2nd scheduled doubleheader this season.

Randallstown High School Field 2:    Umpire- Scott Snyder
Game 1: Sky & Sky Inc. 13 (WP-Ken Zalis 4-4)  AR Bodies 6 (LP-Eric Radom 0-3) 

Sky won.

Sky met AR Bodies on another hot day. Eric Radom took the hill in game one against Ken Zalis. The Bodies jumped out on top in the top of the first with 3 runs. Jon Singer walked and Ryan wilner singled. Then RBI singles from Dave Doarnberger and Chris Sanders were followed by an RBI fielder's choice by Josh Cohen. The bottom half of the inning started with a deep fly ball over leftcenter field by Elliot Blank, but he ran through the non existent stop sign by the non existent third base coach and was gunned at the plate. Sky would still add 1 run in the inning to make it 3-1. Bodies would score 2 more in the 2nd when a Singer 2-out double was followed by walks to Eric Radom, Wilner, and Doarnberger. Sanders knocked in the second run with a single. Sky took advantage of a dropped popup by the Bodies outfield in the bottom half. After the blunder, Sky strung together a bunch of hits and tied the game at 5. Zalis shut the door on the Bodies, only giving up one run for the rest of the game on another RBI single from Doarnberger. Sky would add one in the fifth and one in the 6th, but in the top of the seventh they batted around to really break the game open. Sky takes game one 13-6.

AR Bodies offensive leaders in game 1:
Dave Doarnberger - 2-3, BB, R, 3 RBI
Chris Sanders - 2-4, 2 RBI
Ryan Wilner - 1-2, 2 BB, R
Eric Radom - 1-3, BB, 2 R, Backwards K
Jon Singer - 1-3, 2B, BB, 2 R

Game 2: AR Bodies 12 (WP-Eric Radom 1-3)  Sky & Sky Inc. 8 (LP-Ken Zalis 4-5) 

Josh Cohen made his PSL debut on the mound to start game two, taking on Ken Zalis.

Cohen looked good in the top of the first, surrendering only one run. In the bottom, the Bodies would take the lead when Sanders launched a 3-run Homer, scoring Radom (BB) and Doarnberger (1B). Things would get dicey in the 2nd for Cohen. With 1out, and 2 strikes on the batter, Cohen gave up a single to left. Then Cohen lost his release point and walked the 8, 9, and 10 hitters. The Bodies did not waste any time bringing back Radom. Radom was able to get Blank to ground into an RBI fielders choice, and then Andrew Vandlandingham was retired when Scott Rogers ran a long way to snag a deep foul ball in right field. The Bodies escaped the jam tied at 3, and then wasted no time adding more runs in the bottom half. Rogers singled in Greg Wingate who led off with a double. Then Rogers and Singer (FC) scored on a Radom single that got by the outfielder. Radom scored on a Wilner double and Wilner scored on a Doarnberger single, giving the Bodies an 8-3 lead. Sky made it 8-4 in the 3rd, but the Bodies added 3 more in the bottom. Cohen reached on an error, and Wingate and Birenbaum singled to load the bases. Another single by Rogers scored Cohen, and a single by the legend Mark Radom scored Wingate. Birenbaum scored on Radom's groundout. Sky kept chipping away, scoring 2 in the fourth and 2 in the sixth to make the score 11-8. The damage in the sixth could have been worse though. With the bases loaded and 2 outs, Pat Wilcox scorched a line drive down first base that hit Andrew Vanlandingham in the foot, ending the inning. Bodies would add one in the 7th, and Radom would shut the door in the bottom for the 12-8 AR Bodies victory.

Sky came out flat and trailed most of the game. Sky almost fought back into it, but Pat Wilcox drilled Andrew Vanlandingham in the leg off first base which cost a run and ended the rally. Andrew Vanlandingham had 6 hits on the day. Elliot Blank and Brian Sky had 5 hits a piece.

AR Bodies offensive leaders in game 2:
Dave Doarnberger - 3-4, R, RBI
Scott Rogers - 3-3, R, 2 RBI
Chris Sanders - 3-4, HR, R, 3 RBI
Ryan Wilner - 2-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI
Aaron Birenbaum - 2-3, 3B, R
Mark Radom - 1-2, BB, RBI

Deer Park Middle School Field 1:      Umpire- Lane Gordon
Game 1: Stingers 9 (WP-Larry Newman 3-14)  Cannons 5 (LP- Dan Kassel 0-1)    

The Cannons Faced off against the Stingers on a hot Father's Day with only 4 healthy Regular's in tow. Game 1 saw Dan Kassel face Larry Newman. The Cannons opened the scoring first. Jeff Kurland led off with a double to center. After a flyout, Shawn Warner hit a SACFLY to right to make it 1-0. The Stingers got 2 back in the bottom of the first and never trailed again. In the 3rd, Gerry Edelman reached 2nd on a throwing error by the Stingers SS. Kurland delivered a single to right to score Edelman to briefly tie the game. The Stingers scored 3 in the 3rd and 3 in the 4th to take an 8-2 lead. THe Cannons sloppy defense did not help kassel as 6 of the 8 early runs were unearned. The Cannons got one run in each of the last three innings but were beaten 9-5.

Game 1 Cannons hitting stars
Jeff Kurland 3-3, BB, run, 2 RBI's, 2B
J. Edelman 2-3, 2B
Dan Kassel 2-3, RBI
Chris Latesta 2-3, R
G Edelman 2-3, R

Game 2: Cannons 3 (WP-Tom Paulshock 7-2) Stingers 2 (LP-Larry Newman 3-15)    

Game 2 saw Tom Paulshock face larry newman. This turned into a pitchers dual. The Stingers jumped out to a 1-0 lead after 1 inning. In the bottom of the 3rd, Tom Paulshock flied out to left. Kurland stepped up and lined a ball down the left field line that got passed a diving left fielder. The ball rolled to the fence. Kurland still was able to hobble around the bases for a triple. After a neal Charkatz Sac Fly tied the game, Shawn Warner hit a booming HR to Right center. The Stingers fought back and tied the game at 2 in the 4th. The score remained that way until the 6th. In the bottom of the 6th, the Cannons were able to take the lead on a SAC FLY by Lee Densky. Paulshock was able to hold the Stingers scoreless in the 7th for the 3-2 win. Lee Densky did a great job catching a double header in the heat. He not only drove in the winning run but had a couple great defensive plays.

Game 2 Cannons hitting stars:
Jeff Kurland 2-3 R, 3B
Shawn Warner 1-3, HR, R, RBI
Lee Densky and Neal Charkatz both 1-2, RBI, SAC

Deer Park Middle School Field 2:      Umpire-Kory Rosenberg
Game 1: NEK/ESB Bombers 4 (WP-Tzvi Friedman 5-2)  LOFT 2 (LP-Rick Winepol 7-8)

The Bombers, playing shorthanded, swept a tough LOFT team in a double-header. In game 1, Tzvi Friedman pitched an outstanding game, and the Bombers played flawless defense. However, the Bombers were trailing 2 to 1, until Freidman hit a mammoth three run homer in the sixth, as the Bombers held on for a 4-2 victory. The Gutttttman brothers were mashing the ball all day, and played outstanding defense.

Game 1: NEK/ESB Bombers 10 (WP-Ted Winner 3-7)  LOFT 1 (LP-Rick Winepol 7-9)

Game 2 wasn’t as close, as the Bombers beat LOFT 10 to 1. Ted Winner continued his dominant pitching over the past few weeks, and the Bombers were happy to walk away with a double-header sweep to push their record to 9-9.