GAME RECAPS

The Skydome’s early match between the Humber River Hustle and the Credit River Rainbow Trout was chock-full of small victories, the details of which overwhelm this short summary. Here are just a few highlights: A triple at the plate and a double play at shortstop for Natalia Saavedra were essential to the Hustle’s success. In five at bats, Janine Caster – arguably one of the fastest Hustlers – posted four hits and three runs. And, to no one’s surprise, there were abounding ground-rule doubles off the mighty bats of Richard Peters and borrowed-Ballshevik Karl Gardner. The Trout had their own reason to celebrate after the first home run by Peter Demakos this season (second in his career!), which also scored three runs. A couple of new Trouts jumped into the water for the first time and showed their stripes: Meghan Wright and Saren Smillie contributed excellent offence, and Saren took a strong stance against opposing RBIs with an amazing catch in centre field. In the end, the Hustle had the higher score – but the game peaked spirits on both sides (by Robyn Letson – Credit River Rainbow Trout).

“Why don’t we have a post-game stomp?” asked a member of the Rouge River squad as they huddled and stared across the diamond at the Mastodons engaging in an ever-so-slightly imposing ritual.

Often the box scores fail to capture some of the most important things to happen at the game. Tonight, we cannot recap this game and not mention the enthusiastic and possibly inebriated man that relentlessly cheered (but in a heckling sort of way) every single player to approach the plate that night. He did not discriminate. He wanted you to get hits. He would encourage you to “focus” at times if he felt it was necessary, or to “just give it a poke” if you swung and missed a couple of times. He would definitively let you know that you were out, in case you weren’t sure. If “Let’s make baseball” becomes a thing – this was the man that coined that phrase.

But what actually happened in the game? The Rouge River Ballsheviks squeaked out a win 18-17. The game was cut short due to time so who knows what might have happened had another inning been played. The Ballsheviks took an early lead thanks to many hard hit balls, some being lost in the outfield. Rouge River solidified this lead with stellar defense, marked by a 1-2-3 inning where Gita Madan, Lainie Basman and Karl Gardner made back-to-back-to-back amazing pop-fly catches. But the Mastodons took this charge in stride. And it was indeed thanks to the gigantic mammal’s strides that suddenly, the Ballsheviks’ who were thought to have practically assured victory, were taken to tusk. The loveable prehistoric beasts reinforced their defensive strategy with masterly 2nd base hustles by Annelies Cooper and total 3rd base control by Matthew Poggi to hold the Ballsheviks’ 7 point lead at bay. Then, in what were nail-biting final innings, Darren Puscas hit two home runs bringing in at least 5 Mastodons home, and Ryan Hayes continued the stoic climb to a tied score with an out of field hit that contributed to what must have been the league’s record in “most balls lost in a single game”. What a joy it was for both teams to challenge each other so rewardingly and evenly. May all future games be as evenly matched (by Umar Saeed – Rouge River Ballsheviks and Jessica Duarte – Don River Mastodons).

See the game box scores here

See player stats here

See league standings here

MILESTONES

FIRSTS & Seconds

Hits
Meghan Wright (4) – Credit River
Saren Smillie (2) – Credit River

Triples
Natalia Saavedra (2) – Humber River
Umar Saeed (1) – Rouge River

Home Runs
Peter Demakos (2) – Credit River

ODDITIES

Double Trouble

Darren Puscas (Don) becomes the third player this season (joining Karl Gardner (Rouge) and Richard Peters (Humber)) to have multiple home runs in a single game!

Safest Player

Andy Smith (Rouge) has only recorded 4 outs in 35 at-bats resulting in a league leading .886 batting average!

GAME RECAPS

An ominous weather system lingered over the field of play as the Mastodons took on the Trout looking to stave off an extirpating 5 game losing streak.  Bolstered by the returns to the lineup of Annelies Cooper and Devin Clancy, the thrash metal Dons littered the skies with hits and bloops and blasts! But the Trout weren’t to be outdone as they leapt from the currents to snap up balls hit in their vicinity, including some nifty plays by Rachel Small and LJ Robinson in the middle infield and a few valiant attempts in the outfield by Johann Juarez and Alex Brant.  Like the tides that govern the trout migration, this game was a back and forth affair with the mammutid proboscideans prevailing 18-14 as the drizzling rain broke the longest ice age in the teams short existence.

In the second game played under the lights, the Humber River Hustle looked to keep their spot at the top of the Billboard charts but faced a formidable challenge from the Ballsheviks.  Some crafty defensive maneuvering from the disco divas stifled the red menace for much of the game with stellar plays by Leigh Kittson and Jenny Chan at first base, some excellent backup coverage by Rocio Velasquez at rover, and a memorable timely home run by Natalia Saavedra who took advantage of a soviet bathroom break by the Ballshevik’s centre fielder, Andy Smith to widen the Hustle lead.  But as the 6th inning began, there was panic at the disco! With fears of a reassignment to Siberia, the summer rain awakened the Ballsheviks and they began a series of blasts and bloops led by comrades Merle Davis, Jarl Gardner, Andrew Stokes, Gita Madan, Kate Uffelman, Nav Sidhu, Lainie Basman and Stu Schulsser. Despite a strong push for disco supremacy, the front page of Pravda continues to show The Internationale as the top hit in Ballshevik land and solidarity forever rang true with a 17-16 victory for the Reds.

See the game box scores here

See player stats here

See league standings here

MILESTONES

FIRSTS & Seconds

Home Runs
Natalia Saavedra – Humber (2) and Andrew Norton – Humber (2) and Andy Smith – Rouge (2) and Andrew Stokes – Rouge (2) second career home runs!

ODDITIES

Ahead by a Century

Nav Sidhu – Rouge River (102), Devin Clancy – Don River (100), and Merle Davis – Rouge River (100) all joined a select number of players in league history to record 100 career at-bats!

Solitaire 

TH Vega has a string of three straight games scoring exactly 1 run and earning 1 run batted in

ALL TIME PLAYER STATUS!!!

Richard Peters becomes the 35th player in league history to eclipse the 50 At-Bat plateau. An important milestone of longevity for the league!!!

GAME RECAPS

Weaving through the frizbee legions, intoxicated pedestrians and amidst the explosion of fireworks, trance beats, barking dogs, hecklers, and choppers, the Field of Dreamers took our places on the SkyDome’s diamond to play a couple leisurely games of ball.  The first matchup saw the powerful Rouge River Ballsheviks face off against the Don River Mastodons who were seeking to stave off a fourth loss in a row after starting the season with four consecutive wins.  Despite the human debris in the outfield, this was a game filled with powerful blasts and Don River jumped out to a quick start cashing in the speedy duo of Annelies Cooper and Devin Clancy who made their long-awaited return.  But as the red sun heated the field, the red menace was awoken and slowly spread their ideology of equality and prosperity for all across the diamond.  With some thunderous claps from Andy Smith and Andrew Stokes (who accounted for 11 of the teams 16 runs batted in), the Ballsheviks took advantage of some new recruits (Jan Braun and LJ Robinson) to build up a comfortable cushion and take the day game 16-10.

In the evening’s tilt, the Rainbow Trout were hoping to swim away with a win with the addition of some super subs in the form of Sebastian Lesch and Will Shields and with the help of Rouge River duo Merle Davis and the Jarl of Dufferin. But alas, the smooth grooves of the reunited Hustle were already being felt by the end of the first inning.  Like the moment where Donna Summers released her futuristic single I Feel Love, the Humber River squad pounded out hit after hit with some spry running by the returning Jenny Chan, Rocio Velasquez, and Laura Pin, some cool defence by Katie German and Natalia Saavedra, and some fly fly balls off the bats of Yogi Acharya, Richard Peters, and Andrew Norton.  Captain of the Hustle, Jo Jefferson, put together an A-B-C-1-2-3 lineup that was potent on the dance floor and the Hustle shimmied their way to a fourth consecutive win 15-4.  But though the Trout were swimming upstream all night, they showed some sustained life in the ninth inning with a speedy run of hits off the bats of Rachel Small, Alex Brant, Will Shields, and Michelle Roseman that pushed across two runs and threatened for more.  These fish were by no means squished! And the last inning explosions showed signs of a mid-summer migration up the standings! There is life in those gills!

See the game box scores here

See player stats here

See league standings here

MILESTONES

FIRSTS

At-Bats
Will Shields (Credit) and Sebastian Lesch (Credit) – the 59th and 60th players to take an at-bat in the inaugural Field of Dreamers season!

Veronica Majewski and Matt Leitold become the 99th and 100th players to take at-bats in league history

Doubles

Sarah Naumes (Rouge)

ODDITIES

Law of 3rds

Michelle Roseman (Credit) has reached safely in 14/21 at-bats and knocked in 3 runs while scoring 9 for a 2/3rd and 1/3rd ratio thus far this season!

Adrian Rodill Award

Karl Gardner – currently leads in all-time career .AVG (.775) .SLG (1.080) and OPS (1.854)

ALL TIME PLAYER STATUS!!!
Richard Peters becomes the 35th player in league history to eclipse the 50 At-Bat plateau. An important milestone of longevity for the league!!!