By DJ Dave Hoffenberg
Just another manic Monday for McGrath’s Sushi as they started the week off with a 14-2 shellacking of the Wobbly Barn and then, immediately after, won a tight 8-5 battle with Clearly Moguls. The Wobbly started off strong with a first inning run but fizzled out after that. For M.S. it was way different as they scored in every inning and the win was never in doubt. Against C.M., they jumped out to a 2-0 lead off a two RBI double from “Big” Josh Tarleton. They had a chance for “DJ” Dave Hoffenberg, but stranded two runners when Owen “Throw Momma from the Train” Murphy hit into an inning-ending double-play. C.M. quickly matched that with a nice looking sac from Angel Shannon that scored both Will “Will I Ever be Able to Retire” Burdick and Brett Regimbald. The inning ended, tied 2-2, after new recruit Jesse “High Hopes Dashed” Sheehan went down swinging for a big Cold Beer K.
Good defense was played by both sides in the second with each turning a double-play and each stranding two runners. For M.S., it was Jeremy “Pitching” Prior who hit into one and for C. M., it was “Ronzoni” Hacker, but the latter was only a double-play because Mikey Pelland got caught off base anticipating the hit. What he didn’t anticipate was the leaping grab by first baseman Nate “Cookie” Cook. The next inning saw Cook shine with a two-RBI double and M.S. scored another for a 5-2 lead. Regimbald hit into a double-play to keep the score the same. “Ronzoni” delivered his first CBK of the game in the fourth to Jamie “Music Man” Rameau and C.M. was able to keep M.S. off the scoreboard. Sheehan redeemed himself, driving in Shannon to cut the lead 5-3. Unfortunately for them, they stranded another two runners when Cook doubled them up again. This time he snagged a Hunter Pike-hit ball and caught Tucker “Hair Got In The Way” Zink jumping off first. M.S. was scoring in every other inning and kept that trend going in the fifth with three runs to stretch their lead 8-3. Those runs were driven in by Cook and Murphy. C.M. had no answer and “DJ” Dave Hoffenberg made it worse with an inning ending CBK.” Ronzoni” turned up the heat on defense accounting for four of the remaining six outs and holding M.S. scoreless the rest of the way. In the sixth he snagged two hits and flipped the ball to first baseman Jeremy “Jackie Blue” Livesey for the outs. That fired up his team and they responded with two runs to cut the lead 8-5. They had a chance for more, but yet again stranded two runners, this time when Zink hit into an inning ending double-play. “Ronzoni” was magnificent in the seventh with two web gems. The first, he dove for a ball and while falling down, flipped the ball to Regimbald for the first out. Regimbald caught the second out and then “Ronzoni” magic happened again as he dove to retrieve the ball and flipped it to Pike for the third out. His team could not match his intensity and went down 1-2-3 to end the game.
Wednesday night, Clearly Moguls was in desperate need of a win, having not won since May. They faced Outback Pizza who they beat 28-6. C.M. started this game with a bang when Neal Giberti led off with a solo home run. The team followed that up with a hit parade, scoring three more for a 4-0 lead. Jack Blue resumed his relief pitcher role with “Ronzoni” on minor league assignment. It was a record breaking night for Blue, but not in a good way since he took a walk on the wild side. He walked seven batters in a row to load the bases twice and Outback tied the game 4-4 off his demise. He was able to CBK Rob “Texting King” Ranberg to end the onslaught. C.M. kept the hit parade going in the second with everyone joining in for seven runs. “Tall” Tom Gilligan blasted a deep shot to center for two of those. Blue settled down in the second, only giving up one walk and no runs. The hit parade came to a stop in the third with C.M. going down 1-2-3. The Outback had a hit parade of their own in the third, batting through the order and scoring four runs to cut the lead 11-8. C.M. was able to squeak out a run in the fourth for a four-run lead. C.M. played some good defense in the fourth delivering a CBK to Phil “Out of the Chitt” O’Brien and turning a double-play on Matt “Ajax” Anderson. C.M. lost third baseman Shannon to an ankle injury but Tucker “Short Hair Equals Beast Mode” Zink stepped in beautifully. The fifth saw “Tall” Tom stranded at third with nobody able to bat him in and Jared “F’d up Is Better” Hall going down with a CBK. The Outback had a trend going of scoring every other inning and they kept that alive in the fifth, scoring three runs off hits by Scott “Scooter” Watelet and Dylan “D Money” Johnson to cut the lead to one (12-11). Just like in the second inning, “DJ” Dave and “Brando” Remick led off with back-to-back hits, both scoring and the team matching them to stretch their lead 16-11. Jack “These Cleats are Made for Walking” Blue went back to his bad self and walked three batters in the sixth but the Outback’s trend stayed true and they failed to score. They definitely had their chance but Anderson hit into another double-play and once again it was Zink in the mix. Pike scored in the seventh for a 17-11 lead. Would the trend continue for the Outback? No! For the first time all game, they failed to score in the odd inning and it came at the worst time. They had two on base but Remick robbed Watelet with a diving web gem catch at the fence. It was ugly on the mound for C.M. but Blue was able to add another win to his near perfect resume. Johnson shined at first base for the Outback with three unassisted outs and three others.
The Outback immediately had to face McGrath’s Sushi and this loss did not faze them. They held M.S. scoreless and scored two of their own in the first. The walking bug was contagious with the Jeremy’s and this game it was Jeremy “Walk this Way” Prior who could not find the plate and walked the first three batters. M.S. tied the game in their next at-bat and although Prior settled down with the walks in the bottom of the second, he could not with the hits as the Outback batted through their order and cruised out to an 11-2 lead. Tarleton blasted a two-run shot in the third and M.S. cut the lead 11-5. They made a pitching change and brought in rookie pitcher Owen “Wild Thing” Murphy who only gave up two runs but his team was now down eight runs. M.S. finally woke up their bats and blasted their way through the order with nine runs to take their first lead of the game, 14-13. Now the Outback was fazed and in a daze came the errors with no more runs. Two CBKs came as well to “D” Nick Melotti and O’Brien. M.S. was not finished and scored nine more runs to solidify the incredible comeback win, 23-13.
Max Team blasted the Wobbly Barn 20-1. The win was a solid team effort with everyone hitting and scoring. Collin “Hungry Like The” Wolf, Jason Rubin and Mike “Who Farted” Bouffard were all a perfect three for three with three runs scored a piece. The team had a doubleheader and next took on Killington Resort. This game did not go as easy as the other. They found themselves in a 5-0 hole to start the game. Wolf stayed hot and helped his team creep back in with three in the second. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t score again until the fifth but K.R. scored a couple every inning and cemented the win with three in the sixth to double Max Team up 14-7.
Standings:
1. Killington Resort 6-0
2. McGrath’s Sushi 6-1
3. Max Team 4-2
4. Clearly Moguls 3-2-1
5. OmyaRamas 1-4
6. Outback Pizza 1-6
7. Wobbly Barn 0-6-1
Schedule:
Wednesday, June 21
Clearly Moguls vs OmyaRamas@ Killington 5:50 p.m.
OmyaRamas vs McGrath’s Sushi @ Killington 7 p.m.
Killington Resort vs Wobbly Barn @ Bridgewater 5:50 p.m.
Wobbly Barn vs Outback Pizza @ Bridgewater 7 p.m.
There will be a post-game party at Outback Pizza from 8-11 p.m.
Wednesday, June 28
Outback Pizza vs Killington Resort @ Killington 5:50 p.m.
Wobbly Barn vs OmyaRamas @ Killington 7 p.m.
McGrath’s Sushi vs Clearly Moguls @ Bridgewater 5:50 p.m.
Max Team vs Clearly Moguls @ Bridgewater 7 p.m.
There will be a post-game party at Sushi Yoshi from 8-11 p.m.
