Lessons on Building a Dynasty
And then it was October. The leaves were not yet falling, but the rain sure was as the Field of Dreamers met under the lights of SkyDome for once last week of the 2021 season. Players streamed into Trinity Bellwoods coming off of watching the Blue Jays destroy the Baltimore Orioles to keep their post-season hopes alive, only to be heartbroken mere moments later when the Boston Red Sox eliminated Toronto’s team for the season. But attention quickly turned to the Bronze and Gold Medal matches at hand.
Would the Don River Don Don Revolution get their initials etched on the arcade game wall of fame or would the Humber River Habaneros be the ones to top the Scoville scale? Would the Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion finally admit to and accept their revolutionary destiny or would the Credit River Cuties definitively qualify as the hottest team in the league (sorry Spicy Ps!)?
If you wanna know the results (beyond the foreshadowing in the title above)…
READ MORE TO FIND OUT!
Photo Credit: Victoria Barnett
DON RIVER DON DON REVOLUTION @ HUMBER RIVER HABANEROS
Like the track Midnight Blaze by Yuichi Asami in the 2001 4th edition of Dance Dance Revolution, it seemed that Don River was peaking at just the right time in the season. Finally accomplishing their choreographed pre-dance routine in perfect timing, the purple squad took to the field with anticipation of a potential first time-podium finish for their house. The Habaneros, however, were about to turn it up a notch and everyone was just waiting for Da Bomb Beyond Insanity to flow through their veins. The Habaneros had only just finished their prayers at the alter of Spicy P, when they took to their positions ready to smoke their opponents.
The first inning was all Don River. TG Wong and Tamara Daley, went dancing with the stars, with back-to-back hits – followed by a Jenny Chan single to plate the firs run. KMB then followed with a slam dance, before Craig Fortier cleaned out the dance card with a base clearing 3 run triple to put Don River up 5-0 going into the bottom of the first. The Habaneros started off pretty mild, ok, tasty but still managed to slip in a run thanks to the buttery wing sauce of Alie Hermanutz who went station to station to make it 5-1 after 1 inning.
In the second inning the Habanero defence started to heat up. Led by “el fuego” Karl Gardiner at 3rd base, the Don Habaneros played stellar defence and extinguished any attempt to get more runs. They then followed with a “los calientes” type ining, socring 2 runs off of singles by Samira Banihashemi and Andy Smith. After 2 innings it was now 5-3 Don River.
The Don Don Revolution plied their trade by tapping up the baseline with a key run batted in by Rachele Clemente and a big league ground out by Kay May, pushing the score to 7-3. But in the bottom of the 3rd inning, the Humber River squad was done playing with table sauces and started to pull out the types of bottles that look more like heavy metal album covers than condiments. Devin Clancy crushed a chilli pepper triple, Kevin Nguyen door dashed an RBI single, Yasmeen Peer came through in the clutch with her first career hit at the most opportune time, and Jeff Ansloos continued to play like it was beach time in Miami with a fire three run home run. By the end of 3 it was 8-7 Humber.
The fourth inning showed the Habaneros to be piling on the hot sauce, with another excellent defensive effort by Peter Demakos and Robyn Letson and a stunning first double of the season by Annelies Cooper, the score grew to 10-7 as a late inning push by Ro Velasquez, Jenn Ma, and Suzanne Narain was thwarted by the gloves of Humber.
The fifth and sixth innings saw Don try to narrow the score, but the game was close to over and they were getting low on coins. Kasey Walmsley, Ruth Wilson both got key hits after a 2 run double by Craig Fortier but that’s as close as they would get to catching the hot ones of Humber.
FINAL SCORE DON RIVER 9 – HUMBER RIVER 15
HUMBER RIVER HABANEROS ARE 2021 BRONZE MEDAL CHAMPS
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CREDIT RIVER CUTIES @ ROUGE RIVER RAINBOW REBELLION
Perhaps you noticed it, but it seemed that the Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion were channeling their ancestors prior to the Championship Game. Were they conjuring the Rouge River Ballsheviks who were the first to take on and defeat the Credit River squad in the 2017 Championships? Were they trying to learn from the Rouge River Blush who fell one run short of victory to the Humber River Humdingers in the 2018 Championship Game? Were they mediating through repeat players Sena Hussain and Nat Saveedra to the 2019 Rouge River Raccoons who tormented the league with their scrappy play? Needless to say, the eastern most house of the league’s river system were building quite the dynasty. No Field of Dreamers season has ever ended without the Rouge River team in the finals – and that streak would continue this year. But don’t be lulled into thinking that this was somehow intimidating to the Credit River Cuties. A team that had to scrape, claw, re-organize, call in last minute subs, reconfigure, rework, retool, re-energize, re-group ALL SEASON, was not going to sit and look pretty as Rouge River eyed the Golden Disc Trophy. The Cuties had earned their spot in the final, their 2nd appearance in a final in 4 years to boot, the hard way. So as the game began with a light rain, turning into a moderate rain, turning into a hard rain…well…the Credit River Cuties were perhaps most equipped if a hard rain was a’ gonna fall.
So, it was to no one’s surprise that Credit River came out strutting in the first inning. Led by one of the all-time great leadoff hitters in Dreamers history, Rachel Small, the Cuties got to work quickly plucking up runs thanks to some clutch at-bats from Noah Adams, Fianna Dirks, and Cristina Jaimungal. The Cuties were already getting a 5-star review and as a result a 5-0 lead by the time they took the field. The Rainbow Rebellion held the tension of their hybrid name in their style of play – part joyful play/part serious struggle – they saw the 5-0 score and went to work. Matthew Koscic kept doing the thing – and getting hits – Sena Hussain showed some big slugging energy with a double – Con Herrera moved runners forward, Terrance Luscombe shot streamers in the air, and Leah Silverman arc’ed and weaved – and by the end of one inning it was 5-4 Credit.
The second inning was a defensive gem for both sides. Jo Jefferson made some key grabs at first base, Oskar Eliashevsky played a spirited outfield to rob the RRRR of a hit, and Sarah Peek stopped a sure fire hit at 2nd base. But the Rainbow Rebellion were doing a good job of playing catch up and they were able to sneak in a run thank sto a Nat Saavedra triple and a Ryan Hayes single. After 2 innings it was 5-5.
The third inning was more shut down defence, but this time it was the Rouge River squad that shined. Laura Shepherd scooped a few basket catches, Rishi Switzer Krishnamoorthy made a worthy stop. and Sarah Weinberger looked fresh at 2nd base. Going into the bottom of the third the score remained 5-5. It was looking to be a close battle. But then the skittles got spilled all over the diamond! Joseph Bautista had a big hit especially and by the end of that inning it was now 10-5 Rouge River.
The rain started falling heavier and the announcers booth and the dozens of supporters valiantly held on as it became WET. Rouge River continued to play well, scoring 5 more runs in the midst of the storm and though they were soaked to their core, the Credit River Cuties kept battling. Including an excellent late inning double by Garrison Creek super-sub Phill Morgan! They eventually were able to score 4 more runs and narrowed the lead, but the game ended with the exact same score as game 1.
FINAL SCORE CREDIT RIVER 9 – ROUGE RIVER 15
ROUGE RIVER RAINBOW REBELLION ARE 2021 CHAMPS
See the game box scores here
See player stats here
See league standings here
The 2021 Final League Stats Sheet
MILESTONES
Credit River
Rachel Small – is 11 at-bats away (289) from 300 career at-bast – 8th on all-time list
Oskar Eliashevsky – is 4 at-bats away (71) from 75 career at-bats – 60th on all-time list
Claudia Calabro – is 1 at-bat away (9) from 10 career at-bats – 152nd on all-time list
Fianna Dirks – is 3 doubles away (17) from 20 career doubles – 23rd on all-time list
Jo Jefferson – is 11 hits away (139) from 150 career hits – 16th on all-time list
Lainie Basman – is 3 singles away (122) from 125 career singles – 10th on all-time list
Niloo Golkar – is 1 hit away (99) from 100 career hits – 29th on all-time list
Shannon Dunham – is 2 hits away (8) from 10 career hits – 135th on all-time list
Cristina Jaimungal – is 7 at-bats (13) away from 20 career at-bats – 125th on all-time list
Sarah Peek – is 12 hits away (38) from 50 career hits – 54th on all-time list
Jenni Klonteig – is 1 run batted in (9) away from 10 career RBIs – 90th on all-time list
Noah Adams – is 2 hits away (73) from 75 career hits – 39th on all-time list
Johann Juarez – is 1 double away (59) from 60 career doubles – 3rd on all-time list
Sakihitowin Awasis – is 2 at-bats away (3) from 5 career at-bats – 168th on all-time list
Don River
Jenny Chan – is 2 hits away (198) from 200 career hits – 6th on the all-time list
Craig Fortier – is 2 hits away (398) from 400 career hits – 1st on all-time list
TG Wong – is 7 hits away (18) from 25 career hits – 83rd on all-time list
Tamara Daley – is 2 triples away (3) from 5 career triples – 20th on all-time list
Kay Ma – is 4 at-bats away (21) from 25 career at-bats – 109th on all-time list
Kay McGregor-Bales – is 13 hits away (62) from 75 career hits – 38th on all-time list
Jenn Ma – is 7 at-bats away (18) from 25 career at-bats – 110th on all-time list
Rachele Clemente – is 17 at-bats away (208) from 225 career at-bats 17th on all-time list
MJ Rwigema – is 2 hits away (8) from 10 career hits – 133rd on all-time list
Ruth Wilson– is 6 at-bats away (14) from 20 career at-bats – 121st on all-time list
Ro Velasquez Guzman – is 2 hits away from 75 career hits – 37th on all-time list
Suzanne Narain – is 2 at-bats away (23) from 25 career at-bats – 107th on all-time list
Kasey Walmsley – is 3 at-bats away (22) from 25 career at-bats – 108th on all-time list
Richard Peters – is 5 at-bats (145) away from 150 career at-bats – 27th on all-time list
Humber River
Devin Clancy – is 5 at-bats (295) away from 300 career at-bats – 6th on all-time list
Yassi Aghazadeh – is 7 hits away (18) from 25 career hits – 84th on all-time list
Annelies Cooper – is 13 this away (187) from 200 career hits – 10th on all-time list
Karl Gardner – is 8 at-bats away (292) from 300 career at-bats – 7th on all-time list
Robyn Letson –is 5 hits away (120) from 125 career hits – 19th on all-time list
Andy Smith – is 2 hits away (148) from 150 career hits – 14th on all-time list
Alie Hermanutz – is 7 runs away (43) from 50 career runs scored – 36th on all-time list
Yasmeen Peer – becomes the 187th player in league history to record their first hit!
Jeffrey Ansloos – is 4 doubles away (6) from 10 career doubles – 31st on all-time list
Kevin Nguyen – is 7 hits away (18) from 25 career hits – 84th on all-time list
Yassi Aghazadeh – is 7 hits away (18) from 25 career hits – 84th on all-time list
Peter Demakos – is 5 runs batted in away (95) from 100 career RBIs – 10th on all-time list
Samira Banihashemi – is 5 at-bats away (95) from 100 career at-bats – 46th on all-time list
Jill Aoki – is 11 runs away (49) from 50 career runs scored – 37th on all-time list
Rouge River
Terrance Luscombe – is 1 double away (49) from 50 career doubles – 7th on all-time list Sarah Weinberger – is 5 at-bats away (95) from 100 career at-bats – 46th on all-time list Rishi Switzer Krishanmoorthy – is 2 at-bats away (13) from 15 career at-bats – 135th on all-time list Nat Saavedra – is 7 at-bats away (168) from 175 career at-bats – 24th on all-time list Ryan Hayes – is 2 singles away (198) from 200 career singles – 1st on all-time list Sena Hussain – is 4 runs scored away (31) from 35 career runs – 45th on all-time list Con Herrera – is 2 singles away (8) from 10 career singles – 128th on all-time list Matthew Koscic – is 5 doubles away (5) from 10 career doubles – 31st on all-time list Leah Silverman – is 10 at-bats away (40) from 50 career at-bats – 75th on all-time list Laura Shepherd – is 2 doubles away (3) from 5 career doubles – 54th on all-time list Joseph Bautista – is 15 at-bats (185) away from 200 career at-bats – 20th on all-time list Grant Butterworth – is 5 at-bats (10) away from 15 career at-bats – 136th on all-time list Vanessa Gray – is 4 at-bats (10) away from 15 career at-bats – 135th on all-time list Rhiannon Cobb – is 3 hits away (12) from 15 career hits – 108th on all-time list
Garrison Creek
Victoria Barnett – is 16 at-bats away (134) from 150 career at-bats – 29th on all-time list
Phill Morgan – is 2 doubles (28) away from 30 career doubles – 12th on all-time list
Darren Puscas – is 1 triple (19) away from 20 career triples – 6th on all-time list
Samantha Ponting– is 10 at-bats (40) away from 50 career at-bats – 75th on all-time list
Kirsten Dick – is 1 hit away (24) from 25 career hits – 83rd on all-time list Nicole Bond– is 2 runs batted in away (13) from 15 career RBIs – 75th on all-time list
Brittany Beaton– is 4 hits away (11) from 15 career hits – 108th on all-time list
Molly Fremes– is 7 at-bats (28) away from 35 career at-bats – 91st on all-time list
Kris Belben– is 4 hits away (16) from 20 career hits – 93rd on all-time list
Lucky Visvanathan –is 2 runs scored (18) away from 20 career runs – 67th on all-time list Glenn Gaviller – is 1 run batted in away (9) from 10 career RBIs –92nd on all-time list
Stuart Schussler – is 3 at-bats away (197) from 200 career at-bats – 19th on all-time list Siobhán Saravanamuttu – is 3 runs scored (7) away from 10 career runs – 100th on all-time list Brianna Greaves – is 11 at-bats (114) away from 125 career at-bats – 36th on all-time list
Subs
No subs played this week.
