Commish’s Corner



Commish Corner – Week 8- Semis (Partial, anyway)!

This is a periodic report when we have interesting happenings on the field – enjoy!

Top News

1. Rain washes out the 30+ Division – make-up Saturday!

2. Hurricanes and BlackSox advance to the Finals in the 19+ Division!

3. Good Luck Teams!

FanCam!

[pic]

[pic]

Legend of the Week – Greg “Budman” Budnik (Hurricanes)

“Budman” returned to his early-history glory by posting a huge effort to get his team to the Finals:

• Starting (and winning) pitcher (5 IP, 1 run allowed)

• 4-for-4 at the plate with 3 doubles and 1 single

• 5 RBI's, including the GWRBI

And all on Father's Day with his kids and family there ... sweet! A perfect story for the Commish Corner!

His daughter (above on stands) actually took the photo below of his double off the left-center fence.

[pic]

|Hurricanes |Nats |19+ Semis |Hurricanes 10-5 |

’Canes’ Perspective

In a redux of the final week of the season, the 'Canes met the perennially tough Nationals in the semi-final showdown for rights to go to the first ever 19+ Championship game.  Raising the level of their game to meet the opponent and the moment, the 'Canes pitching kept the strong Nats bats silent enough when it counted to avoid too many big innings against them and right out of the door in the first inning, the 'Canes top of the lineup batters (Eric Ottenheimer, John Dean, Ben Deen, Greg Budnik, and Alex Budnik) knocked around Nats starter Wayne Stevens for 3 runs and never relinquished the lead the rest of the game. 

Canes starter Greg Budnik (celebrating his 50th birthday this fall) kept the Nats off balance, allowing only 1 run in 5 innings pitched.  However holding the Nats to 1 run is not something one should expect for an entire game.  Just when the Canes brought in their ace, Alex Budnik, to complete the last 4 innings with the score standing at 5-1, the Nats proceeded to welcome him with a big 3 run inning, bringing the Nats to within one run after the sixth.  And the opposition pitching, bolstered by a new father-son pairing on the other side of the field held Canes hitters at bay for a few innings, but due to a couple of untimely Nats errors and some timely Canes hitting, another 5 runs was added to the tally in the late innings to insure the victory in record pace (a full 9 innings played in less than 2 hours, 45 minutes!)

Kudos to Hurricanes Manager Greg Budnik, who - on Father's Day no less, and with son backing him up in the field - in addition to pitching the strong 5 innings noted above, also struck gold at the plate with a 4-for-4 day (3 doubles, 1 single) and 5 of the 10 Canes' RBI's, including the game winner.  “I didn’t hit for the cycle, though,” Greg added.

|BlackSox |Warriors |19+ Semis |BlackSox 10-9 |

BlackSox Perspective

The BlackSox beat the Warriors in the semi-finals 10-9 in the early Sunday morning game. Riding the great pitching of Vinnie Robles and Bryan Stoutenburgh, the BlackSox responded to every Warrior rally with rallies of our own. All nine BlackSox players played the entire game and delivered key defensive plays, included rally killing web-gems by Luke Arseneau, Gary Miggliaccio and Mike Demarr, among others.  The BlackSox got timely hitting from Kory Maxwell (2 for 3 with a BB), Mike Demarr (2 for 4), Gary Miggliacco "the Goalie" (2 for 4), Andy Cavano (2 for 4), and Kiel Stone (2 for 5).  Jeff Cavano (1 for 4) delivered a hit to tie the score late and scored an insurance run after Bryan Stoutenburgh (1 for 2 with 2 BBs) scored the winning run with head-up hustle on the basepaths.  

Time expired before the last inning could be completed, leaving an understandably disappointed Warriors squad dissatisfied with the final outcome. “We hated to see it end that way, and with the way the Warriors came back to get 5 runs in the top of their inning, only to be erased due to severe time constraints, you have to feel for them,” a fan at the game stated. “We just hope they don’t let it affect their great baseball hearts, and come back in the fall to win it all,” the fan added.

[pic]

“How to generate speed on the pitch…”!

--------------------

Story and pictures courtesy “the Commish” and guest with game reports by the managers.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download