Up and Down nite for the Stripes

Our bats came out and remained hot early on against the Cobra Kai -- a team that appeared young, athletic and ready for a fight. Great hitting up and down the line up staked us to a lead that the Kai would never recover from. Going into the last inning they were down 29-4 and although their bats came alive in the bottom of the inning (perhaps an omen) the lead the Stripes built was just too big.

In game 2 the Kai began in much the same fashion the Stripes did in the first game, aided partially by our defensive lapses. But their bats went cold and the Stripes clawed back. Down five in the bottom of the last inning, we just could not muster enough to catch up. Final Score 15-10.

Standings are posted not counting this week's games. Tom will get stats ASAP.

Impressive Sweep for the Stripes

It may have seemed like a tall mountain to climb when the Stripes arrived at beautiful Virginia Highlands Monday evening. The mountain: Caribbean Breeze, the Spring regular-season champs.
The Breeze certainly had their bats out in game 1, but the stripes never went away and when the dust cleared, the Stripes won 20-18.

The Second game was quite the different story, with the Stripes piling on the runs early (except for the first inning) and the Breeze making a late charge. Despite 5 runs in the bottom of the last inning, the Breeze fell short, 16-11.

Special mention to Jeff Donald for playing well at 3rd and Ed for pitching well -- he seemed to have the prolific Breeze bats at bay in game 2.

This impressive sweep should boost our standing in the league. Stats are posted and standings will be when the county posts them (likely Thursday). Look for Tom's more in-depth review (I'm sure) later in the week as well.

Stats through 9/18

Game Time

Last week with a very depleted squad, we lost two slugfests to the Dukes
at Utah Park. For those who weren't there, the banks of lights directly
behind home plate and in left field were out, making for some very
interesting fielding by third basemen and left fielders. Fortunately
there weren't any hard hits directly back at the pitchers. Once again we
were missing a lot of our normal starters. This was compounded by Mike
Matoon, Joe and I all suffering from injuries that precluded us from
playing. Then Jeff Donald ran into a conflict at the last minute,
reducing what little positioning flexibility I had. We played the games
with only nine men, including John Gulisano, newly retired from the
Exporters, who I was able to recruit late Monday afternoon by reminding
him that even I could hit the ball out of Utah.

So our lineup was Dave Buttner at catcher, Chris Boniface at 2nd, Al
Boyd in centerfield, Dan Meehan in right, John Gulisano in left, Jeff
Morris at short, Mike Chapman at 3rd, Andrew Kessler at 1st and Alan
Peterson pitching. Though we fought valiantly, we lost the first game
19-17 and the second 16-15, the second in the Dukes'last at bat and with
two outs. In the first game, John had home runs in both the first and
third innings, Jeff Morris was 4 for 4, and Chris and Dan were each 3
for 4. In the second game Al Boyd had home runs in the first and third
innings and Dan had a grand slam in the fourth after they walked Al
intentionally. Unfortunately, despite outstanding efforts by our three
outfielders, the Dukes were able to consistently take advantage of both
the extra large gaps and the short fences.

This week we play Caribbean Breeze, who is undefeated so far this
season. It would be nice to place a reasonable contingent of players on
the field, playing in their normal positions.

Standings Posted

So our "Hargraves Split" has dropped us to 4th place in the standings this week. A much needed week off for the holiday weekend is upon us.

Enjoy the long weekend men. See you on the 11th.