LIKE A LOADED BAKED POTATO AT WENDY’S, BASEBALL IS BACK!
With the false start of the pandemic-cancelled 2020 season in the rear-view mirror and the 5G microchips fuelling the veins of its players, the Field of Dreamers Cooperative Softball Association made its official debut on a hazy but temperate evening on our familiar confines of SkyDome at Trinity Bellwood Park.
Jim from Logo Magik, our jersey supplier, was on hand with a brand new box of glimmering gold “dreamers” logos adorned on the sleeves with the familiar colours of the five rivers. The Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion bore a familiar fire-engine red, the Credit River Cuties dawned a new Royal Blue, the Garrison Creek Gargoyles sported a fantastic Kelly Green, and the Humber River Habeneros flashed the classic Yellow Gold. We await the Violet jerseys of the Don River Don Don Revolution in Week 2.
In the opening game, the Humber River Habeneros hoped to outspice the defending champion Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion. In the evening matchup, the Credit River Cuties hoped to give the cooties to the stoic Garrison Creek Gargoyles, but could those gothic columns buttress their way to an opening night win?
If you wanna know the results…
READ MORE TO FIND OUT!
Photo Credit: Jenny Chan
HUMBER RIVER HABENEROS @ ROUGE RIVER RAINBOW REBELLION
By Craig Fortier, Don River Don Don Revolution
With a blood red half moon in the sky, we could smell the capsicum rising in the air as the Humber River Habeneros made their way to the field. The players were bringing the heat with the goal of rising, this season, to the top of spice mountain – all the while knowing that they could perish like DJ Khaled in that episode of Hot Ones.
Meanwhile, the Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion assembled near the home dugout. These visionaries were looking out at the vastness of possibility in this season – could it be that Rouge would win their 3rd championship in 4 seasons? Would there be a rainbow connection linking this team with the Ballsheviks (2017) and Raccoons (2019)?
The first inning began perhaps as a small skirmish but broke out into open revolt as the Rebellion got some clutch hits by Matthew Koscic, Ryan Hayes, and Laura Shepherd. And then the magical colours of the rainbow spilled out in the second with Sena Hussain, Nat Saavedra, Rhiannon Cobb, Leah Silverman, and Terrance Luscombe all joining the arc! By the end of two innings, the Habeneros were facing an 8-0 deficit.
It was at the third wing that the Humber team began to increase their Scoville Scale and they burst into flames with an 8 run spice explosition to tie the game. Jill Aoki and Peter Demakos left smoke trails as they flew around the bases while rookies Kevin Nguyen, Yassi Aghazadeh, and Yasmeen Peer provided some kindling to the flames. The left handed lead-off bats of Devin Clancy and Robyn Letson dripped some south side johnny’s style mega death wing sauce to go with Alie Hermanutz levelling “Da Bomb” with some clutch hits.
But the Rainbow Rebellion were not scared away by the wings of death. They were certain that they would be the ones to taste the last dab. Grant Butterworth (aka GB^2) inspired by the sounds of country legend Garth Brooks provided the thunder before the rainbow and Sarah Weinberger arrived just in time to knock in a clutch RBI single. Joey Bats spread skittles all across the field and it was now up to Humber to claw back from a 13-8 lead.
In their final at-bat the Habeneros were still smoking like a beautiful ancho chili, Samira Banihashemi sliced a jalepeno down the third base line, Jeffrey Ansloos dropped a thai green chili into the gap, and then Andy Smith blazed a california reaper into the outfield but a beautiful leaping grab by Ryan Hayes put an end to the threat – and with that the Rainbow Rebellion drank their glass of milk and looked into the camera and told the people what they had going on in their lives.
Final score Humber River 11 – Rouge River 13
CREDIT RIVER CUTIES @ GARRISON CREEK GARGOYLES
By Craig Fortier, Don Don Revolution
In the evening tilt, we had the Credit River Cuties trying to out-top the stuffed baked potatoes of the Garrison Creek Gargoyles. Credit returned to the field in 2021 with a grand design to outshine their opponents and retain their historical place as friendliest team name: Rainbow Trout (2017), Care Bears (2019) with a one year gap where the Rouge River Blush (2018) edged them out. Meanwhile, the Garrison Creek squad joined a long line of ferocious creatures in Field of Dreamers lore, including the Don River Mastodons (2017) and the Don River Valley Cats (2018).
SkyDome was filled with lovely fans and in the second game the play-by-play crew featuring Don River’s Craig Fortier and Humber River’s Alie Hermanutz revved them up with deep discussions on fast food restaurants serving the humble yet explosively delicious baked potato. Would this be a foreshadowing of the game to come? Yes, yes it would.
The Cuties took their saccharine sweetness out on the Gargoyles in the first inning with a carmel opening game triple by Fianna Dirks, a chocolatey rich double by Rachel Small, and a thick fudgey single by Oskar Eliashevsky. The Cuties, dawning a Royal Blue were decadent in their sweetness and Sarah Peek, Noah Adams, and Jo Jefferson helped the team sit pretty with a 3-0 opening lead. Garrison Creek responded in the second, however, thanks to lead off hits from Molly Fremes & Brittany Beaton (#freebrittany) followed by a couple perfectly chiseled clubbed balls off the bats of Nicole Bond & Kris Belben. The Gargoyles (like in every horror movie) had suddenly come to life and Victoria Barnett, Sam Ponting & “Papa Stu” Schussler all contributed to Garrison loading the bases like a stuffed potato more than once. By the end of two innings Garrison led 5-3.
In the third in the Ooey Gooey Cutie Patooties brought their sickening smurf-like joyfulness back to the plate in the form of singles by Jenni Klonteig, Cristina Jaimungal, Shannon Dunham and Claudia Calabro – and the team regained the lead now 7-5. But the Gargoyles were able to stop the inning thanks to an incredible catch by Phill Morgan who jumped so high it was as though he was set perched atop one of the highest buildings in the city awaiting Fianna Dirks’ dangerous blast. The bottom half of the inning saw the Goyles take an 8-7 lead thanks to some clutch hits by Lucky Visvanathan and Siobhán Saravanamuttu – and a mighty double off the bat of stone-cold Darren Puscas.
But again the Cuties were relentless in their pursuit to be seen as the loveliest on the field and they made a furious final push that included finishing the first TRIPLE PLAY in Field of Dreamers’ history. Going into the bottom of the ninth they held a 14-13 lead and were racing against the clock. The Garrison Creek squad got a double from Nicole Bond, a single by Molly Fremes, but then hit into three straight outs with the tying run left on third base only 3 minutes before the lights went out.
Final score Credit River 14 – Garrison Creek 13
See the game box scores here
See player stats here
See league standings here
MILESTONES
Credit River
Fianna Dirks – becomes 25th player in league history to reach 4 career triples!
Sarah Peek – becomes 73rd player in league history to reach 25 career singles (26)!
Rachel Small – becomes 9th player in league history to reach 175 career hits (176)!
Oskar Eliashevsky– becomes 72nd player in league history to reach 30 career hits!
Noah Adams – see oddities below!
Jo Jefferson – leaps into 8th place on the all-time list with 124 career singles!
Claudia Calabro – see firsts below!
Shannon Dunham – see firsts below!
Jenni Klonteig – see firsts below!
Cristina Jaimungal – see firsts below!
Don River
No Don Players Played this Week.
Humber River
Samira Banishashemi- becomes 54th player in league history to reach 35 career singles!
Jill Aoki – becomes 46th player in league history to reach 30 runs scored (31)!
Andy Smith – ranks 25th on the all-time list with 155 career at-bats!
Yasmeen Peer – see firsts below!
Alie Hermanutz – currently tied for 29th on the all-time list with 9 career doubles!
Devin Clancy – currently tied for 7th on the all-time list with 262 career at-bats!
Robyn Letson – currently ranks 14th on the all-time list with 107 career singles!
Peter Demakos – becomes the 23rd player in league history to reach 110 career hits!
Kevin Nguyen – see firsts below!
Jeffrey Ansloos – see firsts below!
Yassi Aghazadeh – see firsts below!
Rouge River
Terrance Luscombe – see oddities below!
Ryan Hayes – see oddities below!
Sena Hussain – becomes 62nd player in league history to reach 30 career singles!
Rhiannon Cobb – see firsts below!
Sarah Weinberger – ranks 67th on the all-time list with 17 runs scored!
Matthew Koscic – see firsts below!
Nat Saavedra – currently ranks 23rd on the all-time list with 158 career at-bats!
Leah Silverman – becomes the 100th player to reach 20 career at-bats (22)!
Joseph Bautista – becomes the 25th player all time to reach 100 career hits!
Grant Butterworth – see firsts below!
Laura Shepherd – see firsts below!
Garrison Creek
Lucky Visvanathan – see firsts below!
Siobhán Saravanamuttu – see firsts below!
Darren Puscas – currently ranks 7th on the all time list with 43 career doubles!
Nicole Bond – see firsts below!
Kris Belben – see firsts below!
Molly Fremes – see firsts below!
Brittany Beaton – see firsts below!
Victoria Barnett – becomes 49th player in league history to reach 90 career at-bats!
Sam Ponting – see firsts below!
Stuart Schussler – ranks 15th on the all time list with 124 career hits!
Glen Gaviller – see firsts below!
Kirsten Dick – see firsts below!
Phill Morgan – becomes 31st player in league history to reach 85 career hits!
SUBS
No subs this week!
FIRSTS
FIRST CAREER AT-BAT
Field of Dreamers has now welcomed 194 players to the plate over the course of our history – the following players represent our newest additions:
Jenni Klonteig, Shannon Dunham, Claudia Calabro, Cristina Jaimungal (Credit River)
Yasmeen Peer, Yassi Aghazadeh, Jeffrey Ansloos, Kevin Nguyen (Humber River)
Rhiannon Cobb, Grant Butterworth, Laura Shepherd, Matthew Koscic (Rouge River)
Lucky Visvanathan, Siobhán Saravanamuttu, Nicole Bond, Kris Belben, Brittany Beaton, Molly Fremes, Glenn Gaviller, Sam Ponting, Kirsten Dick (Garrison Creek)
ODDITIES
DIRTY THIRTY (SEVENS)?
Noah Adams (Credit River) now sits in the peculiar position of being 37th on the all time list with 37 Runs Batted In!
RUN BATTER BATTER
Terrance Luscombe (Rouge River) becomes the 8th player to reach 100 career runs batted in and joins a group of only 6 other players who have both at least 100 runs batted in and 100 runs scored.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Ryan Hayes (Rouge River) becomes the 1st player in league history to take an at-bat in 14 consecutive seasons (not including the pandemic cancelled 2020 season).