Week 10:

Brentwood knock off Queens KingZ, 11-5 thanks in large part to the 41 walks given up by Kingz pitching.  SS Shawn Thompson did have 3 hits and 3 RBI in the win, but the story was the pitching problems early on for Kingz.  3B Sean Foley came in to pitch in the 4^th for KingZ and kept his team in it for a while until Thompson drove in 2 with a double in the 6^th.

Kampersal took care of DYR, 14-1 as LF Tom Kampersal broke open a 2-1 game with a bases loaded double in the 3^rd to start a 10-run inning and never look back.  The run given up by P Alex Kampersal was unearned keeping the big fellas ERA at a paltry 1.12 for the year.  In the other dugout, DYR couldn’t hit water if pushed off a lakeside dock.  This makes 2 weeks in a row scoring just 1 run for the Gold & Black.  We didn’t fare any better defensively as your humble correspondent had a rough night in LF with a few gaffes that will haunt me for some time.  Especially the one where I laid out to make a nice sliding catch to rob my friend, Tom Kampersal of a double I tripped, stumbled, fell and rolled down then up the hill in left on Tom’s liner. Yep, all in one play.  Oooof, rough one for ole #44.   But, back to the team, as postgame discussions centered around ways to break out of this funk which included satanic rituals, animal sacrifices, and a possible séance. 

A week after losing to a 1-win team, Anthony’s East, shocked the HSS world with a 10-9 win over previously undefeated Braggville.  Anthony’s jumped out early to a 6-1 lead after 2 innings behind LF Ben Pratt’s first 2-run double in the 2^nd.  After trading runs in the middle innings, Braggville put up 5 in top of 6^th highlighted by P Chris Connors’ 2-run double to take a 9-7 lead.  Anthony’s answered in their half of the 6^th with 3 of their own (with 2-out) to take a 10-9 lead as Pratt and RF Brian Winston each had doubles to drive in runs to take the lead.  Veteran P Alan Lisak seems to have ended the starting pitching debate with a solid outing giving up just 5 ER in & innings of work to such an explosive offense.  Despite the big win, 1B/P Chris Landers expressed frustration in not getting the starting nod by destroying the locker room postgame.  Manager Mike DelPrete refused to allow reporters access to the locker room as well to try and downplay the incident, but this intrepid reporter was able to get a photo.

In the game of the week, South beat Jasper Rock, 17-11 behind some sparkling defensive work buy the South outfield.  In the 4^th, trailing by 3 with 2 on, Jasper P Derek Cordon laced a shot to right center that was destined for extra bases, but CF Sean Jacquet made a remarkable diving stab to rob Cordon.  Then, in the 6^th, LF Greg Copeland took a double away from C Greg Williams with a sliding snag of a sinking liner down the line to keep 2 Jasper runs off the board.  Offensively, South was led by LF Copeland who had 4 hits and drove in 4 while 3B Tony Alessi had a bases clearing triple in the 5^th that broke the game open.  SS Jason Smith found the time to show up for this one and collect 3 hits and 3 RBI.  Looks like the Hookah bars in Boston were safe Sunday night.

Mudville came back from an early 6-0 deficit to beat Johnson North, 9-7. Die hard Red Sox fan 2B Jason Thomas paced the winners with 3 hits and 4 RBI while also dazzling in the field with 3 stellar plays to keep Johnson off the board.  After missing last week due to a dance recital, Thomas dazzled the crowd with his own display of pirouettes and plie’s as he chased down ground balls and snared line drives out of the air.  The win secures the Mudville 9 move up to ‘A’ which is quite the feat considering the tumultuous year they’ve had with numerous unfounded accusations and scandals thrown their way.  If not for the steadfast leadership of Eric Kuharich, I’m not sure they make the jump. Congrats and FJC!

Dalton Rd nipped Downtown, 20-4 behind the red-hot bat of LF Rob Waddell who went 5-6 with 6 RBI in the win.  P Dave Birmingham spun another gem lowering his ERA to a minuscule 1.45, trailing only Alex Kampersal for the ERA title (though Birm has more IP).  Employing the shift multiple times backfired on Downtown in the 4^th when a short pop up that went 10’ behind second base fell between 5 Downtown players for a hit and the runner on first ended up on third because the 3^rd baseman was one of the 5 who converged on the pop up behind second.

The Hood tamed The Lions (see what I did there?), 14-6.

GAME OF THE WEEK for WK #10 (6/26/22)

‘A’ Game Championship: Kampersal (8-1) vs Braggville (8-1) @ Damigella – 6pm

• Can Kampersal take down the defending Champ without their leader, Tom Kampersal (family vacation)
• Will Braggville heal in time and rebound after the stunning loss to Anthony’s?
• We’ll have a full write up and photos of this game in next week’s write up.