BE CAREFUL
Do you like dollars? Do you like diamonds? Do you like stunting? Do you like shining? Do you like big clouds of red clay? Do you like mid-game radical speech delays? Well, we hope you have answered yes to all of these questions because the Field of Dreamers came out to party like Cardi with diamonds all over their bodies! On a gentle July evening that welcomed Marisa Berry Méndez, one of the organizers of the Northfield Softball Community in the MTL to the DRVC, the night was painted a deep bodak yellow. Would the Blush learn a lesson about likin’ pictures not returnin’ texts or would the Humdingers turn an “L” into lessons? Would the Comrades be ready and hot like Little Caesar’s or would the Valley Cats be meowing “Quiero probar algo de ti pa’ no olvidar” when they looked at the Credit River win column?
You’ll have to keep reading to find out!
HUMBER RIVER HUMDINGERS vs. ROUGE RIVER BLUSH
What happens when you put Humdingers in a wind tunnel? It’s not an unrelated question despite the gentle breeze that fluttered in and out of SkyDome on this mid-July evening. The frenzied and torrid pace to the season brought the yellow and red into each other’s paths for only the 2nd time in nine weeks because of the rain out earlier in the year and because of this, there was lots of energy to expend and no where to let it out…until the Hummmmmmmmm turned into DINGERS!!! Led by Alex Brant’s liner down the line sprint-speed blast, the Humdingers created a windtunnel that produced 17 runs! Capped by a 5 RBI night from Annelies “The Electric Circus” Cooper, 4 RBIs a piece by the aforementioned Alex “Sprint Speed” Brant and Colin “Maybe” Hastings – the Humber River squad marvelled in glorious plays by key performers Jess Duarte, Rachel Small, Jo Jefferson, Devin Clancy, Ryan Hayes and Karen Campbell, and aided generously from a feature by super duper sub Lauren Kozicki!
But if you thought the Blush was facing the kiss of death, you’d have to check the mirror….because despite the heat, there was no face on the Rouge River squad which showed any signs of their make-up dropping. Refusing the binary of style over substance, the Blush went to work quickly in the first inning scoring four runs thanks to some glitter off the bats of Andy Smith, TH Vega, and Merle Davis Matthews, followed by a smooth snag on a searing liner with a retro matte finish in the glove of Jenny Chan and off the bat of the power stroking Rachel Small. Despite being dressed to impress, the Rouge also know when to be dirty and Craig Fortier showed this with a sliding miss of Devin Clancy’s “drop the tune” flare into right field and on his make love to the dirt back hand snap of an Annelies Cooper bullet…but alas…despite the model efforts from the agency and the addition of Joseph “The other Joey Bats” Bautista as a permanent member of their roster, the Blush couldn’t outshine the Humdingers who stole the show with a 17-11 statement game (Craig Fortier, Rouge River Blush).
DON RIVER VALLEY CATS vs. CREDIT RIVER COMRADES
The air hung heavy with humidity as the Credit River Comrades and Don River Valley Cats took to the SkyDome during the late game on Sunday. Both teams were ready to turn up the pressure with the Comrades aiming to defend their winning streak (which is strong like Soviet fortress) and Don River got ready to inflict a knockout case of the cat scratch fever.
The Valley Cats took an early lead, their runners gracefully bounding the bases, but Credit soon caught up, marching their way to an even score. The two-person Pitching Proletariat of Darren Puscas and Robyn Letson worked together to bring their batters home, and my oh my how they came home. Each made a hit according to their ability, and scored according to the team’s needs, with Comrade Peter Demakos smashing a deep double that netted two RBIs and LJ Robinson cranking a home run that grazed the bottom of Sputnik. Komrade Karl Gardner even outfoxed the Cats in a nailbiting rundown between first and second base, with KG B-sneaking his way to a double.
Don River was daunted. Up against the undefeated Comrades they had to dig deep, all the way to the bottom of the litter box. Faced with Credit’s big hits, they put up a spirited defense, with Laura Pin catching an amazing pop fly and Phillip Morgan bounding back and forth at shortstop. The super subs Susannah and Joseph Bautista kept the Cats purring until they were locked into an 11-11 tie heading into the last inning.
It was then that the Cats ran up a few points and tried to hold onto their lead for dear life as Credit fought their way back. Just as the Cats thought they were about to spend their last life, they turned it around and taught the Comrades a lesson about the power of solidarity. Marisa Berry Méndez, who plays on the North Field in Montreal, was subbing in for Don after committed Dreamers reached out to show to our support for their plight. As the Comrades hit a potential game-winning fly in the bottom of the 7th, Marisa sprung into action. As an honourary cat, she pounced, landing the catch and landing the game for Don River with a final score of 16-14 (Andrew Stokes, Don River).
See the game box scores here
See player stats here
See league standings here
MILESTONES
Credit River
Darren Puscas – becomes 30th player in league history to record at least 45 career singles!
Peter Demakos – see oddities below!
Rachele Gottardi – becomes 45th player in league history to reach 40 career hits (41)!
LJ Robinson -see oddities below!
Yogi Acharya -currently leads the league with 22 singles this season!
Robyn Letson -becomes 14th player in league history to reach 70 career singles (71)!
Karl Gardner -currently leads the league in at-bats (32) this season!
Gita Madan -see oddities below!
Nav Sidhu -see oddities below!
Don River
Niloofar Golkar – becomes 41st player in league history to reach 75 career at-bats!
Stuart Schussler – currently tied for 16th all time with 4 career triples!
Katie German – currently ranks tied for 32nd all time with 88 career at-bats!
Phill Morgan – becomes 44th player in league history to reach 4 career doubles!
Laura Pin – becomes 46th player in league history to reach 40 career hits!
Andrew Stokes – see oddities below!
Amanda Saunders – 1st career run scored, becoming the 117th player in league history to touch home at least once!
Humber River
Annelies Cooper – becomes 7th player in league history to reach 90 career singles (92)!
Ryan Hayes –see oddities below!
Rachel Small – becomes the 8th player in league history to reach 70 career runs scored (71)!
Colin Hastings – becomes the 4th player in league history to reach 40 career doubles (41)!
Devin Clancy – becomes the 9th player in league history to reach 110 career hits (111)!
Alex Brant – see oddities below!
Jo Jefferson – becomes 17th player in league history to reach 45 career runs batted in!
Karen Campbell – becomes 35th player in league history to reach 50 career hits (51)!
Jessica Duarte – becomes 43rd player in league history to reach 70 career at-bats!
Rouge River
Jenny Chan – currently ranks 3rd all time in career singles with 122!
Sarah Weinberger – becomes 80th player in league history to reach 5 career runs batted in!
TH Vega – becomes 60th player in league history to reach 25 career hits (26)!
Terrance Luscombe – becomes 9th player in league history to score at least 70 career runs!
Umar Saeed – becomes 17th player in league history to record at least 4 career triples!
Craig Fortier – currently ranks 2nd this season with 3 home runs!
Merle Davis Matthews – becomes 18th player in league history to reach 80 career hits (81)!
Andy Smith – becomes 24th player in league history to reach 70 career hits!
Joseph Bautista – becomes 65th player in league history to reach 20 career hits!
SUBS
Lauren Kozicki – becomes the 105th player in league history to reach 6 career at-bats!
Susannah Mulvale – becomes 97th player in league history to reach 9 career at-bats!
Marisa Berry Méndez – see oddities below.
ODDITIES
100 level Comrades!
Andrew Stokes (102), Peter Demakos (102), and Gita Madan (100) become the 26th, 27th and 28th players in league history to reach 100 career at-bats. Gita notably becomes the 2nd player after Darren Puscas to record all of these at-bats as part of the Field of Dreamers!
First Home Run is Special, Second Home Run is Still Orbiting the Earth
LJ Robinson hits 2nd career home run, becoming only the 24th player in league history with multiple career home runs, but the first home run as a Field of Dreamer…we are still awaiting coordinates of when it might land.
42/42/42
Nav Sidhu who wears #42 currently has 42 career RBIs (T-21st all time) and 42 career runs scored (T-18th all time)
350 is…a lot
Ryan Hayes becomes the 2nd player in league history to reach the 350 at-bat plateau!
BrantNewDay
Alex Brant becomes 34th player in league history to go deep at least once! Congrats Alex on your first Home Run!
MTL High Five
Marisa Berry Méndez becomes first player in league history to start their career with 5 hits in 5 at-bats including a glorious triple!