Waning Moon Autumn Baseball

With both the moon cycle and the 2021 season waning in tandem, the Field of Dreamers gathered at SkyDome for the penultimate weekend of the softball season. In the first game, Rouge River and Don River planned to add a chapter to the long political theory debate on rebellion and revolution. Would the Rainbow Rebellion go on to connect with the Cuties, the lovers, the dreamers, and me? Would the Don Don Revolution be the ones to be left dancing on their own with a chance at the Gold Medal Game?

In the evening tilt, the storyline was of course which of the two teams’ seasons would come to an end (making them hosts of the 2021 Championships) and which would go on to the Bronze Medal Game? Could the Humber River Habaneros spice up their lives with one more week of play? Would it be the Garrison Creek Gargoyles flying higher than an eagle to land into the finals?

If you wanna know the results…

READ MORE TO FIND OUT!

Photo Credit: Victoria Barnett

DON RIVER DON DON REVOLUTION @ ROUGE RIVER RAINBOW REBELLION

The top seeded Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion arrived on the field with an opportunity to continue their historic run in Field of Dreamers lore. With a win, they would secure their spot in the championship game for the fourth straight season – meaning that in the history of the league Rouge River would have been a part of every final. Don Don Revolution meanwhile were looking to reverse the fortunes of Don River teams, that have historically been cellar dwellers, to secure the team’s first ever appearance in the finals.

The first inning started well for the DDR as they got the dance party started with singles by TG Wong and Tamara Daley that were cashed in by RBIs from Kaleigh McGregor-Bales and Jenn Ma! In the bottom half of the inning, Rouge River got caught in an iPod shuffle loop sending ground ball after ground ball into the meat grinder of the tandem of TG Wong and Craig Fortier at third base and shortstop respectively. After the first inning it was 2-0 Don River. In the second inning, Ruth Wilson through some heads up base running pushed the lead to 3-0 on a sacrifice fly by TG Wong, but the Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion could be spotted in the horizon. Matt “Double Rainbow All the Way” Koscic slapped his first of two doubles of the game, Sarah Weinberger sliced a strong sing, and Laura Shepherd dropped a perfectly placed arc-en-ciel to even up the score. After 2 innings it was 3-3.

The third inning was a lockdown for the RRRR. Terrance Luscombe made some sweet plays at short stop, Sena Hussain connected at second for a quick out and then Rouge River exploded in the bottom half of the inning with blasts off the bat of Con Hererra, Leah Silverman, Ryan Hayes, Rishi Switzer-Krishnamoorthy and Nat Saavedra to pull ahead 8-3. The fourth inning was more of the same, with an unfortunate hand injury to Rachele Clemente and some extraordinary hitting by the Rainbow Rebellion (including Terrance Luscombe’s skittle spilling three run double!) – the score looked a gloomy 12-4.

In the 5th inning, however, the momentum shifted, the DDR were going to dance with somebody, they were going to feel the heat with somebody, and dance they ddi. A solo home run from Craig Fortier was followed by singles by Kasey Walmsley and Kay May, a ringing double by MJ Rwigema and then stellar shut down defence – highlighted by an incredible attempt at a hard line drive by the rover Jenny Chan off the bat of Rainbow Rebellioner Nat Saavedra. At the end of five innings the score was now 12-8.

In the 6th and final inning, DDR speedster Jenny Chan had the Rouge defence dancing on the ceiling as they were flummoxed by the cloud of dust past the bag at first after beating out the throw. Then KMB sliced a ball that moved Jenny from first to third and that was followed by a runaround sue as Craig Fortier lofted a fly ball into the outfield with three of the fastest DDR players all sprinting around the bases for a three run home run. The score was now 12-11. But Rouge River was always the team of destiny and the pot of gold was always good to be at the end of the rainbow and so making the final out, Rouge River started to look forward to a possibility of a third championship in four years….can someone say dynasty?

Rouge River will play Credit River in this seasons Gold Medal matchup – for a chance to win the Golden Disc cup.

Don River will play at 8pm in the Bronze Medal match against the winner of Humber vs. Garrison.

Final Score Don River 11 – Rouge River 12

HUMBER RIVER HABANEROS @ GARRISON CREEK GARGOYLES

The evening brought in a cool breeze that made it lovely baseball weather for the Humber River and Garrison Creek Game. Humber River reeling from a tight loss to Don in the first round of the playoffs were looking to heat things up a notch and propel themselves to a rematch with the DDR in the Bronze Medal Game. Meanwhile a skeleton crew of the Gargoyles, the team with the best attendance for the season, relied on the help of Rainbow Rebeller Laura Shepherd to fill out their roster for Game 2 – but they too were hoping to stoically make a final stand and resist the oncoming capsicum of the spice lords of Humber.

The first inning saw excellent defence by the salsa amarillos! Alie Hermanutz and Andy Smith tag-teamed at first base and short stop on some sweet plays and Peter Demakos contributed with a stellar grab to hold the Gargoyles off the board, meanwhile, hit-machine Samira Banihashemi left seeds along the baseline that singed a mark in the dirt and Andy Smith enacted a more slow burn pit of your stomach type of strike with a triple that saw the co-captain coast into third base. After the one, it was 2-0 Humber. But nobody puts Gargoyles in a corner and Garrison Creek broke away from their foundations to scatter 5 runs in the second inning, thanks to some nifty swats off the bats of Kirsten Dick and Victoria Barnett – and a statuesque moon shot off the bat of papa Stu Schussler. But the Hot Ones had an answer for the Gargoyles scoring five runs themselves in thier half of the inning capped off by a blazing double by Karl Gardner and then a California Reaper off the bat of Jeffrey Ansloos that went for a three run home run! At the end of two innings, the score was 7-5 for Humber.

The third inning, however, planted the seeds to an eventual Humber victory, Peter Demakos made a spectacular lunging grab at short stop that ended up as a double play and then Alie Hermanutz, Annelies Cooper, and Robyn Letson all scored on a Kevin Nguyen triple! By the end of the third inning it was 12-5 for Humber. The Gargoyles didn’t give up, they reaffirmed their intentions with a patented growwwwwwlllll and then went back to work chipping away at the lead. Brianna Greaves took flight on the bases, Lucky Visvanathan towered a double, and Darren Puscas reliably knocked them both in. In the bottom of the inning, Glenn Gaviller with blood dripping down his knee like a 1980s Rambo film, played a spirited catcher and Sam Ponting returned the double play favour with a spectacular grab at short stop and an uncanny similar throw to first to pick off the runner. But those Habeneros were hot!!! And Devin Clancy provided some high heat with a cracked single to right field to be once again cashed in by Jeffrey Ansloos who would have back-to-back games with 6 runs batted in! By the end of five innings the score was 16-9 for Humber.

The final inning saw Humber extend the lead to 20-9, before a last ditch effort by Garrison was halted at five runs for a final score of 20-14.

Final Score Humber River 20 – Garrison Creek 14

A Final Word on the 2021 Garrison Creek Gargoyles

Rare has there been a team like the Garrison Creek Gargoyles – with near spotless attendance for the entire season – this mis-mash of veteran players like Darren Puscas, Stu Schussler, Phill Morgan, and Brianna Greaves – sophomore players like Victoria Barnett- and a whole host of rookies like Lucky Visvanathan, Sam Ponting, Kirsten Dick, Glenn Gaviller, Brittany Beaton, Nicole Bond, Molly Fremes, Kris Belben, and Siobhán Saravanamuttu – was the heart and soul of the 2021 Field of Dreamers season.

Garrison Creek players logged more at-bats, more subbed games, more coordination and communication than almost any team in Field of Dreamers history – despite the short season. Captained by the incredible duo of Phill Morgan and Victoria Barnett, and bolstered by walk up song hype man Lucky Visvanathan – Garrison Creek characterized the spirit and aspirations of Field of Dreamers like few clubs in our league’s history.

In the tradition of Field of Dreamer Hall of Famer, Merle Davis Matthews, Garrison Creek mixed a combination of organization, joy, and commitment into each and every week of the season – and for this we owe them the greatest thanks!

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
Jenny Chan – becomes the 2nd player in league history to reach 190 career singles!
Craig Fortier – becomes the 1st player in league history to reach 60 career home runs!
TG Wong – becomes the 100th player in league history to reach 8 career runs batted in!
Tamara Daley – currently tied for 75th on the all-time list with 2 career doubles!
Kay Ma – leads Don River this season with a .778 batting average!
Kay McGregor-Bales – ranks 49th on the all-time list with 59 career hits!
Jenn Ma – becomes 133rd player in league history to reach 15 career at-bats!
Rachele Clemente – ranks 1st on Don River’s all-time list with 86 career at-bats in the purple!
MJ Rwigema – currently tied for 62nd place on the all-time list with 3 career doubles!
Ruth Wilson– becomes 123rd player in league history to score 6 career runs! 4
Kasey Walmsley – currently tied for 116th place on the all-time list with 12 career hits!

Humber River
Devin Clancy – becomes the 6th player in league history to score at least 115 career runs!
Samira Banihashemi – becomes the 43rd player in league history to reach 35 career runs scored!
Annelies Cooper – currently tied for 3rd on the all-time list with 179 career singles!
Karl Gardner – becomes the 4th player in league history to reach 210 career hits!
Robyn Letson – ranks 17th on the all-time list with 213 career at-bats!
Andy Smith – tied for 8th on the all-time list with 14 career triples!
Alie Hermanutz – becomes 48th player in league history to reach 60 career hits!
Peter Demakos – ranks 20th on the all-time list with 94 career singles!
Jeffrey Ansloos – see firsts!
Kevin Nguyen – see firsts!

Rouge River
Joseph Bautista – becomes the 22nd player in league history to reach 115 career hits (116)!
Sena Hussain – currently tied for 50th on the all-time list with 28 career runs scored!
Con Herrera – becomes the 150th player in league history to reach 10 career at-bats!
Terrance Luscombe – currently ranks 7th on the all-time list with 49 career doubles!
Leah Silverman – curently tied for 84th on the all-time list with 22 career singles!
Ryan Hayes – becomes 2nd player in league history to reach 325 career hits!
Sarah Weinberger – becomes the 57th player in league history to reach 25 career runs scored!
Laura Shepherd – becomes 107th player in league history to reach 25 career at-bats!
Matthew Koscic – currently leads the league this season with a .947 batting average!
Nat Saavedra – currently ranks 24th on the all-time list with 165 career at-bats!
Rishi Switzer-Krishnamoorthy – becomes the 151st player in league history to reach 10 career at-bats!

Garrison Creek
Victoria Barnett – currently ranks 26th on the all-time list with 58 career runs scored!
Darren Puscas – currently ranks 6th on the all-time list with 142 career runs batted in!
Samantha Ponting– tied for the league lead in singles (25) in 2021!
Kirsten Dick – curently tied for 77th on the all-time list with 14 career runs scored!
Brianna Greaves – becomes 26th player all-time to reach 75 career singles!
Lucky Visvanathan –currently tied for 36th on the all-time list with 7 career doubles!
Glenn Gaviller – currently tied for 87th on the all-time list with 11 career runs scored!
Stuart Schussler – becomes 15th player in league history to reach 145 career hits!

Subs
No subs played this week.


FIRSTS

Jeffrey Ansloos (Humber) – first career home run!

Kevin Nguyen (Humber) – first career home run!