SBL 2008, WEEK 4

JUNE 8

JAILBAIT GYMNASIUM

 

 

THE KYOTO KAMIKAZEES                3

THE OATCAKE HATE MONSTERS  18  (8 INNINGS)

  Week four of SBL 2008 kicked off as many weeks before it had- with Kyoto Kamikazee taking yet another one on the chin.  Playing without captain Mike Moroco or rookie phenom Chris Pacsi, the Kamikazees were unable to capitalize on a weakened oatcake squad playing without Shelley Goodpastor or Pat Nespor.

  Greg Lackey tipped in a Katie Kelly miss to get things off on the right foot for the KK, but it would be all downhill after that.  The Hate Monsters would rebound from their scoreless first to plate 2 each in the 2nd and third, then 5 each in the 4th and 5th to build a 14-2 lead over their overmatched rivals.  From there it was only a matter of time, and when Matt Mcclelland plated Kelly with a one-out triple in the 8th, it gave the Hate Monsters a mercy-shortened win to get them back on track after going 0-2 in week 3.

  The well-balanced oatcake attack was led by Kelly’s 10 for 15, 7 rbi outing.  Mcclelland added 7 hits in 15 at bats with 6 ribbies, while Terry Hall went 7 for 15 with a homer and 5 rbi, as well as 4 double plays.

  PJ Nespor and Jeanne Mentrek each went 3 for 9 for Kyoto, and Lackey tipped in 2 double plays.

 

 

THE FLESHY FUNBRIDGES  4

VOLTRON                                 13

  As oatcake had a game earlier, Voltron was able to get back into the win column to kick off week four after suffering a similair 0-2 week 3.

  With Rando Knight back at the helm for the funbridges and Lee Nespor only 4 homers away for 100 for his career, things looked pretty good for the FF heading into this game.  That was, of course, until they stepped on the court.  A game-starting single by Danielle Hennon was followed by three straight Funbridge misses, and voltron quickly capitalized.  Three extra-base hits in a row gave Voltron a pair in the bottom of the first frame, a lead they would never relinquish. 

  As Volton piled on run after run through the game,  the Funbridges stuggled mightily from the plate, collecting only four hits over the first five innings as Nespor, as commanded by Knight, shot nothing but homeruns in attempt to reach the century mark.  Nespor failed to connect on any of his 6 attempts, and as a result was pulled by his coach in the 8th inning.  By then, however, the damage had been done, as the 10-2 deficit was too much to overcome.

  Billy Weisberg continued to quietly keep himself in the player of the year race with a 7 for 12, 4 homer, 8 rbi outing for Volton.  Gavin St. John added 5 for 13 marksmanship with a homer, 3 rbi and a quartet of double plays.

  For the funbridges, Opie Neff nailed 5 for 8 with an rbi and Rando Knight tipped in a pair of double plays.

 

 

JUKEBOX HERO    11

THE LASER CATS  22

  The story of this game was not the laser cats 7th straight win, nor was it that Jukebox actually held a lead against the best team in the league as late as the fifth inning.  The story was Lee Nespor’s 100th caree homerun, making him only the fourth player in league history to reach that historic milestone.

  After failing miserably to get even a single homer in his attempt at 100 one game earlier, perhaps it was fitting that Lee finally reached the century mark in the yellow mesh of jukebox hero, a team he helped create in 2003.  Though some of the homers came with a little help from the Lee-friendly Cats, number 100 was all Lee.  With perfect Lee Nespor form from about a foot and a half behind the middle homer line with two outs in the ninth inning, Lee emptied the bases for the 100th time in his storied career with a swish, a chuckle, and a high-five filled romp around the bases.  He was then given a standing ovation by everyone in attendance.

  In game action, the laser cats definitely did not look like a 6-0 team when the game kicked off.  But by the fourth inning their shots started falling, and the game quickly went from close to simply a side plot in Lee’s chase.

  Nate Tomko missed his first three shots of the game, but then nailed 6 of his final 7, all homers, to finish with 12 bi.  Defensively, Tomko tipped in 3 double plays and earned a psyche-out.  Tim Martin added a 6 for 11 showing ith 4 rbi, while Bob Spohn connected on half of his 12 attempts with 5 diven in.  Terry Shernisky tipped in a pair of assists and four double plays.

  Jukebox was all Nespor, as he finished with 4 homers and 8 rbi.  Danielle Hennon connected on 6 of 9 with a pair of ribbies.  Also suiting up in yellow mesh were Wes Davis and Tara Shawley.

 

 

THE QUEENS OF THE REST STOP REACHAROUND  7

THE BANANA DEMOCRACY                                             8

  After winning the scrum, Queen captain Bryan Frankovich erroneously selected to be the visiting team in this game, and ultimately it cost him a chance to get above .500 for the first time this season.

  By the time B.Frank realized his mistake, the Democracy had already been penned into the official game book as the home team, and no amount of Frankovich whining of self-hatred could change things around.  But what would it matter, really? 

  Um.  A Lot.

  Fast forward 9 innings:

After a snoozer of a game, the Queens had failed to pull away despite sporting the two best players on the court in Frankovich and Stud.  Things seemed locked up when Byan tipped in his 5th double play of the game to put the Democracy on their last out and trailing 6-8.  But rookie Brandon Gillshire hit the biggest shot of his young career, a middle double to extend the game for veteran Dennis Lackey.  Though not normally considered an outside threat, Lackey came through in the clutch and knotted the game from the right homer stripe much to the joy of the crowd as Jailbait Gym and the dismay of Fankovich.  Then, one batter later, BD captain Kip Corbett showed he too has icewater unning though his veins with a middle homer that found nothing but the inside of the net to vault his squad past Frankovich’s and into fourth place in the SBL.

  Corbett’s biggest homerun was the 3rd of the game fo him, and the SBL’s future president finished with 5 rbi.  Lackey reached base in 4 of 10 at-bats, and tipped in a pair of double plays.  Gillshire added a trio of double plays for the winners.

  In a losing effort, B.Fank hit on 5 of 12 attempts with 3 rbi, 5 double plays and an assist.  And one really, really costly post-scrum decision.

 

 

VOLTON               24

JUKEBOX HERO  3  (6 INNINGS)

  A nine-run first would be all Voltron (6-2) would need in this one, tho it certainly wouldn’t be all they would get in the 6-inning mercy shortened contest.  

  Facing a very good jukebox team consisting of Greg and Dennis Lackey, PJ Nespor, Jeanne Mentrek and Opie Neff, Voltron wasted no time getting to work.  They connected on ten of their first eleven shots, including to misses that were tipped back in for assists, to take a commanding lead before Jukebox would even get up to the dish.And when they did, there was little going their way, as the yellow mesh collected only 4 hits the entire game.

  Voltron got another big inning in the third, when a Bill Wiesberg homer would cap off a 7-run explosion, then again to put the game away in the 6th.  Six more would coss the plate in that frame, as both Weisberg and Gavin St. John would connect on two-run blasts from deep.

  The lopsided final score sent jukebox to their 7th consecutive loss after a season-opening win. 

  For the winners, St. John posted a 9 for 10, 3 homeun, 10 rbi, 1 assist, 2 double play line.  Weisberg wasn’t far behind, hitting 9 of 14 with 3 jacks, 9 ribbies and an assist and a d.p. 

  In a losing effort, Dennis Lackey hit a homer and drove in a pair.

 

 

THE KYOTO KAMIKAZEES                                                 2

THE QUEENS OF THE REST STOP REACHAROUND  17  (6 INNINGS)

    Bryan Frankovich’s miraculous tip-in of cousin Stud’s 6th-inning grand slam attempt would be the deciding factor in this blowout game, bringing the queens back to .500 and keeping hope alive for a regular season title. 

  With one out and B.Frank on second, Stud lined up for his first-ever grand slam attempt with his team comfortably in front 13-2.  His shot came up a bit short, but Bryan made a one-handed, no-look tip towards the hoop that shot directly into the air, off the top of the garage, then back down through the hoop to the amazement of the packed house at jailbait gymnasium.  As Stud circled the bases for his final 4 rbi of a phenomenal game, the 1-7 Kamikazees shook their heads in disbelief.

  The KK was never able to get rolling in this one, as they would only get a pair of rbi base hits from Greg Lackey and PJ Nespor, and failed to turn a single double play in 6 innings of work. 

  The Stud-powered queen offense had no such trouble, as the big man hit on 10 of 12 with seven homers, 15 rbi, and also managed to turn a psyche-out.  Defensively, Bryan turned 3 double plays.

 

 

THE FLESHY FUNBRIDGES                 7

THE OATCAKE HATE MONSTERS  18

  As they had so many times before this season, the overmatched fleshy funbridges put up a fight, but ultimately succumbed to an overpowering oatcake offense for their 6th loss of the season.

  The contest was close through three, with the hate monsters clinging to a 4-2 lead.  But a 3-run fourth and a 6-run fifth would blow the game open, especially when the funbridges would fail to have a runner reach base in either of those stanzas.  Though they trailed 13-2, the FF continued to keep themselves in the game in a very un-Rando like smallball way, and actually closed the gap to 13-7 before oatcake would get five in the eighth to put the final nail in the coffin.

  Oatcake didn’t seem to miss their hall of fame leadoff hitter one bit, as they would combined for 28 hits without Shelley Goodpastor.  Katie Kelly would hit on 11 of 18 from the leadoff hole and plate seven runs.  Matt Mcclelland drained 8 of 17 with a homer, 5 ribbies and an assist and 4 double plays.  Batting last, captain Terry Hall hit 9 of 17 with 6 rbi, tipping in a trio of double plays.

  The Funbridges got a 3 for 8, one homerun, 3 rbi, 2 psyche-out, 1 double play game from Lee Nespor.  Tara Shawley came off the bench to hit both of her 8th inning shots.

 

 

THE BANANA DEMOCRACY  9             

THE LASER CATS                    13

  The undefeated laser cats got their toughest challenge to date from a much improved banana democracy, but once again emerged victorious and improved their record to a perfect 10-0 on the season.

  Last time out, the cats totally dominated the democracy en route to a 17-0, 6-inning shellacking in week two.  That was hardly the case this time out, as the BD was in this one until the final out, which came not a moment too soon for the nervous cats.

  The contest started slowly for both teams, as neither team earned a hit over the first two innings.  The democracy got on the scoreboard first when Kip Corbett drove home Brandon Gillshire with a 2-out double in the top of the 3rd.  The cats answered right back in the bottom of the inning, plating four runs with 2 outs, as Terry Shernisky and Nate Tomko each hit homeruns.  The score would go back and fourth over the next few innings until a 3-run 6th would finally break the game open a bit and give the cats some breathing room.  A Tomko solo homer in the bottom of the eight would provide some insurance, and the stingy laser defense would hold off a rally in the 9th that saw the first two BD batters reach base.

  Shernisky went 5 for 9 with a homer and 5 rbi for the winners.  Tomko added 2 homers, 4 rbi, 4 double plays and a pair of psyche-outs.

  For the losers, Corbett connected on half of his 12 attempts to pace his squad.  Each member of the Democracy drove in 3.

 

 

 

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:  Stud Frankovich, Queens

GAME OF THE WEEK:  Democracy 8, Queens 7

TEAM OF THE WEEK:  Voltron

 

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