RED TAILED HAWK’S GAME OF THE WEEK
A week after the Field of Dreamers were visited by the pink moon, the great red-tailed hawk appeared to watch two spirited games perched atop a tree next to SkyDome. And when we say Red-Tailed Hawk, we aren’t referring to our very own Giibwanisi, who was not in his team’s lineup for this particular affair!
Would the Trash Pandas rustle up some glamour to outshine the Glimmer or would Garrison scare of the Raccoons with their beams of light? Would the Don River Don of the Dead shake open Humber’s slumber or would the Haze be the one’s to put the Zombies to sleep?
If you wanna know the results…
READ MORE TO FIND OUT!
Photo Credit: Robin Smillie 🙂
HUMBER RIVER HAZE @ DON RIVER DON OF THE DEAD
Story by Robin Smillie – Humber River Haze
With rave music blasting from the dog pit setting the beat for an exciting game in Trinity Bellwoods Park, the Don River Don of the Dead and Humber River Haze squared off in the early match on a sultry Sunday night.
After a first inning that resulted in a 1-1 tie, the second inning heated up quickly as Karl Gardner, subbing for the Haze, was robbed on a line drive by an amazing catch from Rachel Small of the loveable zombies. The next batter Darren Puscas was immediately robbed by Peter Demakos to get the second out proving that hitting line drives was a grave error on the Haze’s part. This didn’t deter the hovering Haze, as through the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings they continued to rack up points until they were able to thicken their 10-1 lead.
After the 5th inning, looking left for dead, Don River was heard chanting their rallying cry: “we’re creeping, we’re crawling, every night we’re ballin'” and got out on the field with renewed zeal!
As play began in the 6th, a large juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk appeared on a branch in a tree over the third base line, wowing both teams. This was a sign of things to come: Don was not (un)dead, after all. Sub player Sarah hit a single to start a high-flying rally that saw amazing efforts from both teams, which brought in an incredible nine-run rally with 2 outs from at least one full rotation through the Don lineup.
With runners on base and two outs, the hawk then emerged from the nearby tree and swooped low over the diamond, as all players turned their heads and gasped as it soared away.
And just like the elegant bird, the Haze swooped in to make the last out, and the rally was over. Don put up an incredible effort and the game ended in almost a dead heat with a narrow 11-10 win for the Haze. Peter Demakos of Don summed it up best: “we came out swingin’,” with what felt like a tie in spirit, but numbers don’t lie. The Haze ended their 2-game losing streak and Don will live to see another game.
ROUGE RIVER RACCOONS @ GARRISON CREEK GLIMMBER
Story by Colin Hastings – Garrison Creek Glimmer
The rave music kept blasting late into the night, and set the tone for the second game of the double header between the Rouge River Raccoons and the Garrison Creek Glimmer.
The 128 beats per minute set the tempo for the teams’ bats, who combined for 41 runs on Sunday night! Every single player on both rosters had at least one hit. The Raccoons’ hit parade was led by Yogi Acharya, Kate Uffleman, and Phil Morgan who each went 5 for 5!
After 4 innings, the Raccoons had scavenged 15 runs and were ahead of the Glimmer 15 – 12. However, heading into the final inning, the Glimmer realized that hope for their FIRST EVER VICTORY was still flickering. The Garrison Creek squad’s offense glowed in the open inning and they put up 10 runs in the top of the 5th! Their breakout night was ignited by 5 hits from Ryan Hayes, Colin Hastings, and Alex Brant. The game also featured a very tense showdown in the battle of the league’s 420s: Devin Clancy and Susannah Mulvale. Tensions were high as the two roll players clashed on the base paths, it’s clear that this joint rivalry will be sparked all season long…unless it goes up in smoke!
The Raccoons had one more kick at the can in the home half of the last inning, but solid defense from Annelies Cooper, Danielle Benton, and Alie Hermanutz kept the pests away and the Glimmer shone bright for their first Win! Final score Garrison 22- Rouge 19.
See the game box scores here
See player stats here
See league standings here
See all-time career statistics file (updated for August 1 2018) here
MILESTONES
Credit River
Alie Hermanutz – becomes 92nd player in league history to reach 10 career singles!
Merle Davis Matthews– see oddities below!
Karl Gardner – becomes 7th player in league history to reach 220 career at-bats!
Don River
Rachel Small – becomes 5th player in league history to reach 135 career singles!
Jo Jefferson- ranks 9th on the all time list with 108 career singles!
Rachele Gottardi – becomes 20th player in league history to reach 145 career at-bats!
Joseph Bautista- ranks 40th on the all-time list with 69 career hits!
Leah Silverman- see oddities below!
Ryan Roantree – becomes 101st player in league history to reach 15 career at-bats (16)!
Humber River
Adam Dirks – becomes 50th player in league history to reach 4 career doubles!
Oskar Eliashevsky – currently tied for 85th on the all-time list with 13 career hits!
Alex Brant – becomes the 16th player in league history to reach 85 career singles!
Samira Baniahashemi- becomes 72nd player in league history to record at least 20 career hits (21)!
Jill Aoki-Barrett – becomes 53rd player in league history to score at least 20 career runs!
Robin Smillie – becomes 43rd player in league history to reach 50 career hits!
Andy Smith- becomes 30th player in league history to reach 130 career at-bats!
Rouge River
Shelagh Pizey Allen – becomes the 48th player in league history to reach 80 career at-bats!
Yogi Acharya – see oddities below!
Susannah Mulvale – becomes 62nd player in league history to reach 25 career singles!
Phill Morgan – becomes 44th player in league history to reach 50 career hits (53)!
Lauren Marshall – becomes 95th player in league history to reach 11 career hits!
Kate Uffelman – becomes 30th player in league history to reach 70 career hits!
LJ Robinson – becomes 17th player in league history to reach 20 career doubles!
Darren Puscas- becomes 13th player in league history to reach 120 career hits (123)!
Garrison Creek
Annelies Cooper – becomes 27th player in league history to reach 45 career runs batted in!
Devin Clancy – becomes 9th player in league history to reach 145 career hits (146)!
Danielle Benton- currently tied for 98th on the all time list with 4 career runs scored!
Ryan Hayes – becomes 2nd player in league history to score at least 165 career runs (166)!
Colin Hastings- see oddities below!
SUBS
Sarah Weinberger – becomes 79th player in league history to reach 15 career hits (16)!
ODDITIES
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF MERLITUDE
Merle Davis Matthews – Credit River Care Bears – becomes the 19th player in Field of Dreamers history to reach the 100 career hit plateau!
YOGI 2.00
Yogi Acharya – Rouge River Raccoons – becomes the 11th player in league history to reach 200 career at-bats (205) and currently leads the league in at-bats (35) and hits 28!
PERFECTO
Colin Hastings currently leads a short list of 4 players who have yet to record an out this season. Colin has hit safely in 13 at-bats, the next close is Richard Peters who has hit safely in his first 8 at-bats! Jordan Parchiarz follows with hits in his first 5 at bats! And Rocio Velasquez Guzman remains perfecto having hit safely in both of their at-bats on the season.
FIRSTS
Runs – Leah Silverman (1) – Don River