GAME RECAPS

As Rachel Small dug her foot in the batter’s box awaiting the call of “Let’s Make Baseball”, the player who started the season with the first ever at-bat in league history was the very same who tilted us into our inaugural playoffs.  On a muggy and wet evening that was perfectly suited to the gilled-guppies, the Trout went to work quickly in hopes of sinking the Hustle’s chances at a #1 hit.  Peter Demakos at short stop and Robyn Letson and Alex Brant at first base acquitted themselves in fine fashion with shimmering plays that sparkled more brightly than the iridescent scales of a sea of their namesakes migrating up a river.  And it was indeed a deep pool of water that got the Hustle doing The Swim.  Down by a score of 16-2, the dancing divas relied on the long-ball to bring some smoothness to the dance floor.  Natalia Saavedra, Andrew Norton, and Craig Fortier combined for six home runs and the Hustle played some groovy defence thanks to a heads up play at first by Jenny Chan, an excellent couple of plays by Katie German and Yogi Acharya in the middle infield and some heads up back up by Rocio Velasquez and Jo Jefferson. But just as Richard, Andrew, and Craig all stopped short of home in their attempts to expand the score, the come from behind was also cut short and the Trout swam into the Championship game.

In the second game of the evening, the Mastodons stomped out to an early lead thanks to some excellent team play that saw the mammoth mammoths play small ball advancing runners on singles and doubles and topping out with 14 runs in the first three innings.  This was highlighted by some key hits by Jennifer Mussell, Matt Poggi, Karen Campbell and Annelies Cooper that provided fodder on the basepaths for some timely hits off the bats of Terrance Luscombe, Ryan Hayes, and Noah Adams. The Ballsheviks, however, sought to bring equalization to the game and sparked too large rallies that tied the game at 18.  In the top half of the final inning, the loveable mammals were stopped by a militant defense and the Ballsheviks were able to squeak out a Soviet-style victory thanks to a 4 runs batted in night for Gita Madan and a timely home run from Andy Smith – who also made a stellar catch between short-stop and left field to end the inning.  The Ballsheviks move to the eastern front to take on the Trout in the finals as the Mastodons head to the early game to stomp out some hits against the super fly Hustle.

See player stats here

MILESTONES

FIRSTS & Seconds

Doubles
Kate Uffelman (1) – Rouge River

Merle Davis (2) – Rouge River

 

ODDITIES

ALL TIME PLAYERS LIST (REACH 50 CAREER AT-BATS!!!)

Robin Smillie (Credit) (53), Jennifer Mussel (Don) (52), Andy Smith (Rouge) (51), and Jessica Duarte (Don) (50) become the 49th, 50th, 51st, and 52nd players in league history to record at least 50 at-bats and qualify as an all-time player in league history!!!!

IF YOU HAVE AN AT-BAT, 50/50 YOU’LL SCORE

Sarah Naumes (Credit) who has subbed on three different teams has scored 7 times in 14 at bats – the most productive rate in the entire league for a player with 10+ at-bats.

BALL IN CUP CHAMPION

Alex Brant (Credit) is the inaugural “Ball-In-Cup” champion and is also tied for 44th in league history with 28 career singles!

CYCLING CLUB

Yogi Acharya (Humber) with speed and persistence and Umar Saeed (Rouge) with power and a smooth glide each hit for the cycle (a single, double, triple, home run in the same game) with Umar Saeed powering up one more time for a second triple!!