A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
Week 2 of the 2019 playoffs featured the purples and blues of the Don River Don of the Dead and the Credit River Care Bears ready to use their respective supernatural abilities to power their way into the bronze medal finals and keep their season alive for one more week. While the evening tilt placed the upstart Garrison Creek Glimmer against the powerhouse Rouge River Raccoons in a semi-final match that would determine who would go on to the Gold Medal game against the eerily-present Humber River Haze.
The pageantry of post-season ball was definitively present as a cohort of decorated cupcakes provided by Alie Hermanutz, Annelies Cooper, Robin Smillie, and Andy Smith flanked the 1st base stands and the deep baritone voice of Devin “420” Clancy rocked the mic for the first game’s play by play. Prior to the game, long-time vets Craig Fortier and Jenny Chan were thanked for their contributions to the league, with a card made by Victoria Barnett and Rachele Gottardi (and a special shout-out to Robyn Letson for bringing team-specific candy for the games!).
Would Don River’s army of the undead march past the cuddle Care Bears into the Bronze medal game or would the magical power of rainbows, unicorns, and collective care lead credit river to send the horde of zombies to their final resting place? Would the supersonic speed of the Garrison Creek Glimmer provide them with the supernova energy needed to blast into the finals or would the Rouge River Raccoons topple the Garrison dreams like a trash can rife with organics?
If you wanna know the results…
READ MORE TO FIND OUT!
Photo Credit: Victoria Barnett 🙂
(5) DON RIVER DON OF THE DEAD @ (2) CREDIT RIVER CARE BEARS
By Craig Fortier, Credit River Care Bears
The Don of the Dead have been knocked down many times this season, but in typical zombie fashion they continue to get up, march on, and play competitive ball. So it was no surprise to the Care Bears to see the determined and focused look of the horde peering across the field at them prior to their game.
And surely, the purple squad came out to play. In the first inning, power house hitters Rachel Small, Jo Jefferson, Rachele Gottardi, and Ryan Roantree bandied their bats with unimaginable strength, while Ro Velasquez used their signature bat throw to intimidate the cuddly ursus of Credit. A 2-0 lead was the result after the top of the 1st and it was Credit’s time to respond.
And respond da Bears did! Led by Affable AF Bear (aka Alie Hermanutz) and Fanciful AF Bear (aka Jenny Chan) the Credit River squad fielding a full roster was blasting balls all over the field. Birthday Bear (aka Lainie Basman) used speed and a lovely pink and blue outfit to beat out a throw to first, Bopping Bonanza Bears (aka Jarl Gardner and Leigh Kittson) burst the balls into the outfield in an explosiveness not seen in cartoon tv since the powerpuff girls! After the first inning, the score was 5-2 Credit River.
The Don of the Dead would rise again with a string of runs in the 2-4th inning, they would work to cut into the lead built up by the Good News Bears of Credit. The Train to Busan was stopping in Zombieland and it was undead heroes Leah Silverman, Tyler Chartrand, T Vega, Joseph Bautista and Nhu Hophan who each contributed to the stampeded. In particular, Nhu seemed to revolutionize the Zombie attack with a cannon for an arm at short-stop and in the outfield! Perhaps the most unsung heroes of the zombie apocalypse were Kira Liss and Jasmine Irwin who were only recently infected and yet played with the same pale hearted grit as their horde-mates.
But Care Bear love and glitter were trickling all over the field this game and it could only make the Zombie sickness worse. Fearless Captain Bears (aka Terrance Luscombe and Robyn Letson) swatted balls through the field and paced the offence. Stunning Stealth Bear (aka Sarah Weinberger) made key plays at first base. Work-Around-the-Clock Bear (aka Victoria Barnett) logged her 84th at-bat of the season. Big Runs in Big Spots Bear (aka Rees Nam) scored the go-ahead run in the 3rd inning. Double to the Gap Bear (aka Michelle Kidd) kept on finding spots for balls to land. Pitcher Catcher Bear (aka Craig Fortier) functioned as the key communicator. All that teamwork produced a level of play that overwhelmed the zombie horde and would send the Credit River Care Bears into the Bronze Medal game.
Final Score Don River 12 – Credit River 21
(4) GARRISON CREEK GLIMMER @ (1) ROUGE RIVER RACCOONS
By Craig Fortier, Credit River Care Bears
As the evening matchup began between the Garrison Creek Glimmer and Rouge River Raccoons, there was an expectation among the crowd that we were in for a hard fought game. The Trash Pandas hoisting signs with their motto #WeTheTrash were matched in their enthusiasm by a large banner that exclaimed Garrison Creek Glimmer 2019 Playoffs! Both squads were prepared for what laid ahead and despite the seeming advantage Rouge River had as the clear favourites, a Garrison Creek Glimmer team that had come together in full form only late in the season, was not to be taken lightly.
Indeed, the game was a meticulous chess match played by both squads. The first inning saw Garrison jump out to a 5 run cushion buoyed by the cosmic beams of Krysta Williams, Kari Pederson, and Kaleigh McGregor-Bales who led the game off with every intention to orbit the bases. The sounds of 90s sitcoms first some tossed salad and scrambled eggs and then some boing bing boing boing of the Frasier and Seinfeld themes respectively helped Devin Clancy and Paulina Rousseau blast shooting stars to support the Garrison squad.
But the Raccoons were not going to be outshone. The trash pandas were rummaging for first inning runs as well and Stu Schussler, Nat Saavedra, Sena Hussain and David “quoth the Raven” Ravensbergen each struck the ball to era the Glimmer advantage. After the first inning the score was tied 5-5.
The second and third innings proved to be evenly matched as well with Annelies Cooper getting on base to help spring load the electro-magnetic fields of Ryan Hayes and Johann Juarez who blasted key home runs and Rachele Gottardi who zombie walked into space and floated around the bases like it was the only natural way to circumnavigate the sun. But the ferocious procyons weren’t to be outdone and Susannah “Homemade 420” Mulvale, Yogi Acharya, and Darren Puscas cleared the bases for Rouge like it was an unlocked Green Bin! By the end of the 5th inning we had a tie of 14-14!
It was in the 6th inning that the Raccoons would pull away. Shutting down the Glimmer space program more quickly than a Republican administration, they proceeded themselves to steal the lead like a billionaire capitalist trying to sell tickets to Mars. A 5 run 6th put the Trash Pandas up on the Glimmer by a score of 19-14 with only 17 minutes left to play.
Herein began the most strategic moment of the night with the Glimmer deciding to play a game of time warp and see-it, hit-it to clobber the ball around the diamond. Colin Hastings and Johann Juarez provided the big blasts that capped the 6 run 7th and with only 4 minutes left in the game, the Glimmer forfeited the rest of their at-bats in hopes of shutting the Raccoons down and holding onto their 20-19 lead.
The Raccoons, a noble opponent, also played the fast game and sought to win the ball game on merit and not time-delay! But it looked grim when the first hitter of the inning, David Ravensbergen, lined out to Hastings at short. But with the crowd chanting “SPA!”, Shelagh Pizey Allen hit a rocket single and was on board. The next hitter, the leadoff batter, Phill Morgan took to the plate. The first pitch was outside and Phill swung through. But the second pitch was in the wheel house and Phill made work of the ball like the half eaten mildly decomposing A&W Buddy Burger that the Raccoons bench had picked out of the Bellwoods trash can only moments earlier! A stunning shot into right-centre field and Morgan and Pizey Allen sprinted around the bases scoring the tying and winning runs with only 1 minute to spare in the regulation game time! Announcers Karl Gardner and Craig Fortier (and dj Jenny Chan) all marvelled at the feat!
Raccoons filtered around Morgan to celebrate the 21-20 victory and the Glimmer bench, though disappointed in being so close to glory, tipped their caps to Rouge River on a game for the ages.
Final Score – Garrison Creek 20 – Rouge River 21
See playoff 2019 primer here
See the game box scores here
See player stats here
See league standings here
See all-time career statistics file (updated for July 8 2019) here
MILESTONES
Credit River
Leigh Kittson– becomes 63rd player in league history to reach 35 career hits!
Lainie Basman – see oddities below!
Terrance Luscombe– tied for 9th on the all-time list with 8 career home runs!
Jenny Chan– becomes the 2nd player in league history to reach 170 career singles (171)!
Jarl Gardner– currently ranks 4th on the all-time list with 32 career home runs, only 2 away from Hall of Famer Adrian Rodill!
Robyn Letson– becomes the 21st player in league history to reach 110 career hits!
Victoria Barnett– currently ranks 2nd on the single season at-bats list with 84 this season! 1 away from Darren Puscas’ 85 at-bat single season record set in 2017!
Alie Hermanutz– becomes the 53rd player in league history to reach 25 career runs scored!
Michelle Kidd– becomes 78th player in league history to reach 25 career hits!
Craig Fortier – becomes 3rd player in league history to reach 165 career hits!
Sarah Weinberger– becomes the 59th player in league history to reach 65 career at-bats!
Rees Nam – currently tied for 72nd in league history with 28 career hits
Don River
Tyler Chartrand- becomes the 87th player in league history to reach 20 career hits (21)!
Leah Silverman – becomes the 107th player in league history to reach 10 career hits (11)!
Nhu Hophan – becomes 101st player in league history to reach 20 career at-bats (21)!
Ryan Roantree – see oddities below!
Rachele Gottardi – currently tied for 5th this season with 4 triples (tied for 21st on the all-time list)!
Joseph Bautista -with 74 at-bats this season ranks 8th on the single season records list!
Ro Velasquez Guzman -becomes 36th player in league history to reach 70 career hits!
T Vega – becomes 45th player in league history to reach 60 career hits (61)!
Jo Jefferson -becomes 14th player in league history to reach 130 career hits!
Humber River
No Players This Week
Rouge River
Yogi Acharya- becomes the 11th player in league history to reach 10 career triples!
Phill Morgan- becomes 40th player in league history to reach 100 career at-bats (105)!
Susannah Mulvale – becomes 49th player in league history to reach 45 career hits!
David Ravensbergen- currently tied for 27th on the all-time list with 9 career doubles!
Nat Saavedra – ranks 18th on the all-time list with 6 career triples!
Stu Schussler – becomes 14th player in league history to reach 25 career doubles!
Sena Hussain – becomes 74th player in league history to reach 45 career at-bats!
Darren Puscas – becomes 13th player in league history to reach 150 career hits (151)!
Shelagh Pizey-Allen – becomes 45th player in league history to reach 30 career runs scored (31)!
Garrison Creek
Devin Clancy – see oddities below!
Annelies Cooper – see oddities below!
Ryan Hayes – becomes 6th player in league history to reach 20 career home runs!
Paulina Rousseau – currently tied for 83rd on the all-time list with 38 career at-bats!
Krysta Williams – becomes 82nd player in league history to reach 10 career runs batted in!
Colin Hastings – currently leads the league with 7 home runs and 11 triples this season!
Kaleigh MacGregor-Bales – currently ranks 6th on the single season records list with 38 singles this season!
Kari Pederson – becomes 80th player in league history to reach 40 career at-bats!
Johann Juarez – with a home run last game, ranks 2nd all-time on the career home runs list with 49, behind only Craig Fortier’s 57!
SUBS
Jasmine Irwin – becomes 112th player in league history to reach 15 career at-bats!
Kira Liss – becomes 147th player in league history to score a run!
ODDITIES
200 CANDLES
Laine Basman (Credit River) becomes the 15th player in league history to reach 200 career at-bats and does so on her birthday!!
FIRSTS
Ryan Roantree (Don River) becomes 52nd player in league history to hit their first career triple!
SINGLES CLUB
Teammates Annelies Cooper (155 career singles) and Devin Clancy (150 career singles) become the 4th and 6th players in league history to reach those respective milestones!