YOU CAN’T SILENCE THE DREAMERS
There are moments where utopian projects meet up with state forms of capture. Where the government recognizing that their utility is not in provision but control tries to wrest back power from the people. Following weeks of police raids on our friends living in tents, if we needed any further indication that the City of Toronto is trying to reclaim Trinity Bellwoods Park from the beautiful anarchy, what Saidiya Hartman calls “waywardness” of joyful play, survival, and relationships of collaboration – it might be the replacement of the raggedy spray-painted sign that once read “SkyDome” with a City of Toronto approved indicator. And of course, along with this formalizing of the informal, comes cops and other agents that seek to contain, restrain, and repress forms of activity outside of their purview.
This was the context that loomed ominously as the Field of Dreamers drifted into Week 2 of the 2021 season. The warm weather, growing throngs of spectators, and uplifting playfulness of each batter’s walk-up songs created an inviting communal vibe that is and will continue to be the spirit of our league – and the project that we are co-creating with other park users in Bellwoods.
So, it was perhaps a perfect moment for the two revolutionary named clubs of the league – the Don River Don Don Revolution and Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion to make their dancing debut against one another. Would the DDR up-down, right-left, jump, slide, bop its way to victory or would the Rebellion spread prisms of light across the field and capture the pot of gold that can only come from a red revolt?
If you wanna know the results…
READ MORE TO FIND OUT!
Photo Credit: Victoria Barnett
ROUGE RIVER RAINBOW REBELLION @ DON RIVER DON DON REVOLUTION
By Craig Fortier, Don River Don Don Revolution
In the season debut of the video gaming virtuosos, the DDR graced the field in the familiar vibrant violet of the House of Don as they awaited the brilliant bats of the rebellion. In the first inning we witnessed the many tastes of the rainbow as Rouge River showed themselves to be a riel threat, Nat Saavedra clubbed a double, Sena Hussain and Leah Silverman added singles, and then captain Terrance Luscombe swung a mightly batoche and clocked in a couple runs, the RRRR ended their at-bats up 5-0.
It was now time for the DDR to select an avatar, and press play on their season – and they didn’t disappoint! Kay MB and Kay Ma got Don moving with lead off singles and then TG Wong and Tamara Daley in their Field of Dreamers debuts powered up with perfect hits and the crowd roared as the DDR were definitely in rhythm! Jenny Chan made a debut catwalking through SOPHIE’s Immaterial until that BEAT DROPPED and the cheers came from the spectators and the game callers. With Chan on base, DRDDR captain Craig Fortier picked up the paces of the arrows and had some DD revolutionaries circling the base paths. Rachele Clemente then swooned into the game with a single swat and served those seated with a sweet single. After 1 inning, the score was tied 5-5.
In the 2nd inning we were gifted the star strides of Con Herrera and Grant Butterworth, both of whom had walk up songs that were immediately crowd favourites. Con rocking the night shades and a swinging strut gained special attention and helped to focus the Rebellion on a battle of bats. The DDR defence, however, had other plans and a swift first base out made by Jenny Chan against a sprinting T.Luscombe, and then a sweet snag by Tamara Daley at short stop looked to be fading the rainbow, but all of a sudden Ryan Hayes burst skittles into the night sky and came home on a solo home run! 6-5 Rouge. The DDR leveled up in the second on some great hitting by Kasey Walmsley, Chris Mueller, and Jenn Ma – and some sweet swats by the pair Suzanne Narain and Ro Velasquez Guzman (who finally donned the 9 ¾ jersey they were always meant to have).
The Rouge River Rebellion, coming off a narrow victory in their first game of the season weren’t going to leave their pride in empty signifiers and so Sarah Weinberger, Joey Bats, rookie Rishi Switzer Krishnamoorthy, and star pitcher Laura Shepherd helped to blast another 5 runs and by the end of the 4th and final inning, the Rebellion took the victory 11-7 – with a phalanx of police descending upon caller’s corner – offending by joy and pleasure in the park.
Final score Rouge River 11 – Don River 7
Garrison Creek Gargoyles @ Humber River Habeneros
By Craig Fortier, Don Don Revolution
After some terse negotiations between Field of Dreamers reps and the goon squad, a truce was agreed to in which the Field of Dreamers would call play by play for the nightcap game without walk up songs, and the repressive agents of the state would crawl back into the hole in which they came lurking like the cartoon villains they are in real life.
But that wouldn’t deter the Garrison Creek Gargoyles from looking to keep watch over the tall towers of beauty that grace their lineup nor would it stop the habeneros from heating up the field with their play.
In the first inning Garrison strung together a lovely bunch of singles that hung like lanterns on old gothic buildings. Led by the return of everyone’s favourite bingo number #69 Brianna Greaves, a barrage of swats by Brittany Beaton, Glenn Gaviller, and Stuart Schussler made it seem like Sunday was going to be Goyles-Night-Out! It was 5-0 after one inning. But just in case you thought the habeneros weren’t going to seed – we were blessed with the season debuts of Annelies Cooper and Karl Gardner who each scorched the basepaths early. With a couple clutch hits by Samira Banihashemi and Andy Smith, the Habeneros narrowed the score 5-3. In the second inning the Gargoyles kept up the intense glares, and Sam Ponting, Siobhan Saravanamuttu and Darren Puscas helped to harden the league to 9-3. But we were in for a real salsa party in the bottom of the 2nd with Jeffery Ansloos, Jill Aoki, Peter Demakos, and Alie Hermanutz each numbing the taste buds of their opponents and the chilis pulled up to a 9-9 tie.
The third inning continued to be a slug fest with the Gargoyles mounting a Durutti Column that began with hits by Molly Fremes, Kris Belben, and Lucky Visvanathan and ended in the stonemilling grandslam of Phill Morgan. In the bottom of the inning, Humber River was smoking like the Cayuhoga River thanks to some key blasts from Kevin Nguyen, Robyn Letson, and Devin Clancy but then Gargoyle Kirsten Dick made an exceptional play in the outfield becoming the bread and milk that neutralized the Habenero’s heat.
The back and forth continued over the next two innings as both teams put on a slug fest and when the smoke and dust settled respectively for both squads, it was the Gargoyles that stood tallest – winning the game 22-19.
Final score Garrison Creek 22 – Humber River 19
See the game box scores here
See player stats here
See league standings here
MILESTONES
Credit River
No Credit Players Played this Week.
Don River
Kaleigh McGregor-Bales – currently tied for 42nd on the all-time list with 49 career singles!
Kay Ma – see firsts below!
TG Wong – see firsts below!
Tamara Daley – see firsts below!
Jenny Chan – becomes the 2nd player in league history (behind Ryan Hayes) to reach 175 career singles!
Craig Fortier – becomes the 16th player in Don River Team History to hit a triple!
Rachele Clemente – currently ranks 4th on the Don River all-time list with 66 career at-bats for that team!
Kasey Walmsley – see firsts below!
Chris Mueller – see firsts below!
Jenn Ma – see firsts below!
Suzanne Narain – currently ranks 112th on the all-time list with 14 career at-bats
Ro Velasquez Guzman – currently ranks 25th on the all-time list with 157 career at-bats
Humber River
Annelies Cooper – becomes the 10th player in league history to score 100 runs!
Karl Gardner – ranks 3rd on the all-time list with 21 career triples!
Samira Banihashemi – becomes the 60th player in league history to reach 40 career hits (41)!
Andy Smith – becomes the 10th player in league history to reach 30 career doubles!
Peter Demakos – see oddities below!
Jeffrey Ansloos – see firsts!
Jill Aoki – currently ranks 47th on the all-time list with 43 career singles!
Yassi Aghazadeh – see firsts!
Alie Hermanutz – becomes 30th player in league history to reach 10 career doubles!
Kevin Nguyen – currently tied for 123rd place on the all-time list with 5 career hits!
Robyn Letson – see oddities below!
Devin Clancy – currently ranks 8th on the all-time list with 265 career at-bats!
Rouge River
Nat Saavedra – see oddities below!
Sena Hussain – tied for 54th on the all-time list with 34 career singles!
Leah Silverman – see firsts!
Terrance Luscombe – currently ranks 6th on the all-time list with 47 career doubles!
Rishi Switzer Krishnamoorthy – see firsts!
Con Herrera – see firsts!
Grant Butterworth – see firsts!
Laura Shepherd – currently tied for 123rd place on the all-time list with 5 career hits!
Sarah Weinberger – becomes the 70th player in league history to reach 30 career hits!
Joseph Bautista – becomes the 28th player in league history to score 50 career runs!
Ryan Hayes – ranks 6th on the all-time list with 22 career home runs!
Garrison Creek
Brianna Greaves – currently ranks 40th on the all-time list with 66 career hits!
Phill Morgan – becomes the 9th player in league history to hit 10 career home runs!
Brittany Beaton – currently tied for 123rd place on the all-time list with 4 career singles!
Kirsten Dick – currently tied for 123rd place on the all-time list with 5 career hits!
Glenn Gaviller – currently tied for 113rd place on the all-time list with 3 career runs batted in!
Stuart Schussler – currently ranks 12th on the all-time list with 27 career doubles!
Samantha Ponting – see firsts below!
Siobhan Saravanamuttu – see firsts below!
Darren Puscas – see oddities below!
Victoria Barnett – becomes 48th player in league history to reach 50 career hits!
Molly Fremes – see firsts below!
Kris Belben – becomes 79th player in league history to hit 2 career doubles!
Lucky Visvanathan – tied for 108th on the all-time list with 4 career runs batted in!
SUBS
No subs this week!
FIRSTS
Jefferey Ansloos (Humber) – first two hit game!
Yassi Aghazadeh (Humber) – first run scored, first run batted in!
Kay May (Don) – first career at-bat, first career hit, first career run scored!
TG Wong (Don) – first career at-bat, first career hit, first career run scored!
Tamara Daley (Don) – first career at-bat, first career hit, first career double, first career run scored, first career run batted in!
Kasey Walmsley (Don) – first career at-bat, first career hit!
Chris Mueller (Don) – first career at-bat, first career hit, first career run scored!
Jenn Ma (Don) – first career at-bat, first career hit!
Leah Silverman (Rouge) – first game with 4 runs batted in!
Rishi Switzer Krishnamoorthy (Rouge) – first career at-bat, first career hit, first career run batted in, first career run scored!
Con Herrera (Rouge) – first career at-bat, first career hit!
Grant Butterworth (Rouge) – first two hit game!
Sam Ponting (Garrison) – first career double!
Siobhan Saravanamuttu (Garrison) – first career three hit game!
Molly Fremes (Garrison) – first career run scored!
ODDITIES
BI-CENTENNIAL
Robyn Letson (Humber) and Darren Puscas (Garrison) become the 16th and 17th players respectively to reach 200 career at-bats. Thanks for the memories!
21 FUN SALUTE!
Peter Demakos (Humber) – currently ranks 21st all-time respectively with 166 career at-bats, 113 career hits, 83 singles, 19 doubles, 4 triples (tied)!
RAINBOW 100
Nat Saavedra (Rouge) becomes the 26th player in league history to swat their 100th hit!