By DJ Dave Hoffenberg
After a brief hiatus, the league is back and playing in Chittenden at the beautiful field behind Barstow School. The three nights of games last week produced six blowout victories with the closest deficit being eight runs. The Chinese Gourmet remain undefeated and secured the No. 1 seed for the upcoming playoffs by crushing every team in the league.
They started with that eight run victory over DTF. Troy “Cowboy” Gilbertson got the league’s first ever RBI at Barstow giving CG a 1-0 lead. DTF’s Judd “You Like Apples” Washburn hit the first ever Barstow home run to put his team up 2-1. The teams exchanged runs for a few innings and it was 4-4 going into the sixth. That’s when the defense went away for DTF. It was their worst playing of the season and they committed three bad errors that led to twelve unearned runs. Their only bright spot was throwing Geoff Bloomer out at home. CG capitalized on the mistakes and batted through their order one and a half times. They ended the inning with a bang and back-to-back homers from Joe Doherty (three run shot) and Nick “Hebrew Hammer” Davis (solo). DTF got the same run producing homers from Joey Massores and Washburn’s second but that was all they had in the tank and they fell 16-8. They won the “Cold Beer K” battle 3-1. DTF’s Ronzoni Hacker CBK’d Cowboy, Mike Davis and caught John Gatto looking while Davis could only get Massores.
They crushed First Stop Board Barn in the bottom half of the doubleheader 23-4. CG hit the five home run limit with blasts from Jordan “Little T” Tolar, Willie Goulette, Cowboy, Coach Bailey Peters and Doherty.
DTF rolled over Karrtel 21-3. This game was close until the teams took the field. Karrtel started going down 1-2-3 and DTF with six runs. They added four in the second to take a 10-0 lead. Karrtel finally got on the board in the third with three but could not get anything after that. DTF just kept hitting and scored thirteen runs over the next two innings to secure the mercy win. Karrtel won the CBK battle 3-1. Collin “Diz” Clark “CBK’d” DJ Dave Hoffenberg in the first and Mikey Pelland two straight times in the second and third. Ronzoni sent John Ralston down swinging.
DTF did not fair so well in the nightcap, falling to Rock Warriors 18-3. It was as if they traded places with the Karrtel because the game started exactly the same. DTF went down 1-2-3 and Rock put up six runs, three behind a blast from Coach Josh Stevens. Washburn continued his home run tear with his third of the week to get his team on the board but the next three batters went down 1-2-3 including a rare CBK from Brett Regimbald. Rock stretched their lead 8-1 after two. DJ Dave broke out of his slump with a hit and run in the third, but Rock hit through their order to take a comfortable 15-2 lead after three. DTF had a chance for a good fourth inning, loading the bases for DJ Dave who knocked in Regimbald but Hunter “Right down the” Pike “CBK’d” looking and then Brando Remick hit into an inning ending double play. Taylor Zink did the same in the sixth, stranding two and Angel Shannon matched Regimbald with a rare CBK. Ronzoni had the game’s only web gem, although a scary one. He took the ball off his face, falling down, but got the runner at first from his knees.
Karrtel had a demoralizing week, adding a 15-1 mercy defeat to Rock Warriors. They started and ended going down 1-2-3. They could only muster up six hits and the ball only left the infield a few times. They also saw Dakota “Fanning” Booska go down swinging for a CBK. Meanwhile Rock batted through their order in the first, scoring five runs and through it in the second adding six to take an 11-0 lead. The third was their only “bad” inning where they only scored one run and stranded the bases loaded. Luckily Diz scored in the fourth to stave off the shutout. Rock continued their hitting clinic in the fourth, adding three more for the mercy win.
The anticipated “Game of the Week” between Rock and CG turned into a blowout win for CG. Rock started strong with two in the first behind a homer from Stevens. CG got one back from Dalton Hotchkiss. Same thing happened in the second with Rock on top 4-2. The offense stopped right there for Rock but CG was heating up. They got fourteen runs over the next four innings and Rock could only muster up eight hits. They were able to score two in the seventh but the damage was already done and they lost 16-6. Goulette was “En Fuego” with two home runs.
Standings
1) Chinese Gourmet 9-0
2) Rock Warriors 6-3
3) DTF (Defend Title Fantastically) 4-5
TIE: Karrtel 4-5
5) First Stop Board Barn 0-9
Schedule
(All games played at Barstow School Lower Field)
Wednesday, Aug. 5
5:50 p.m. DTF (Defend Title Fantastically) vs Chinese Gourmet
7 p.m. First Stop Board Barn vs Chinese Gourmet
Monday, Aug. 10
5:50 p.m. First Stop Board Barn vs DTF-Defend Title Fantastically
7 p.m. Karrtel vs Chinese Gourmet
Tuesday, Aug. 11
5:50 p.m. First Stop Board Barn vs Rock Landscaping
7 p.m. Rock Landscaping vs DTF (Defend Title Fantastically)
Wednesday, Aug. 12
Playoffs begin with games at 5:50 p.m.
and 7 p.m.
