Review from Tom

I want to thank the 9 players who interrupted their Columbus Day holiday to play last Monday: the three Als (Boyd, Peterson and Schneider), Chris Boniface, David Buttner, Mike Chapman, Jeff Donald, Ed Reich and Patrick Semmens. I particularly thank Jeff Donald, who brought his family to the field, and Al Schneider, who gave up participation in another previously scheduled event to play. With me at catcher, we were able to cover all 10 positions.

We won the first game 14-11, but then fell in the second 9-6. As usual, our night started off with singles by David and Chris, setting the stage for a solid offensive effort in the first game. Al Boyd cracked two home runs on the night, including a monster that cleared the trees behind the left center field fence. When Pubz walked Al intentionally after his second homer, Patrick made them pay by crushing his first home run for the team. Patrick also had a stand-up triple and several other hits on
the night. In fact, all of our players, except me, hit well. However for some reason, in the second game we couldn't string enough hits together to score many runs.

Defensively, both our infield and outfield did a superb job. Jeff Donald displayed amazing range at shortstop and filled in ably for Jeff Morris. Al Schneider made several very strong plays at second, including a couple that drew compliments from Pubz players. Patrick had a large number of fielding opportunities at third, all of which he handled cleanly, following up with strong throws. Al Boyd played his usual
tremendous first base, making a key fielding play and helping the other infielders avoid errors with his adjustments on their throws to first.

In the outfield, Mike Chapman made an important, difficult catch right in front of the fence deep in the left field corner. Mike, Al Peterson and Chris did an excellent job of cutting off hard line drives hit into the gaps. Dave Buttner, playing right field, had more activity than most of our right fielders have had all season. He handled every opportunity flawlessly and several times threw quickly into the infield to prevent batters from taking extra bases on singles.


Ed Reich again pitched two excellent games and helped his own cause with a couple of timely hits.

Despite a couple of injuries to our teammates, we have had a solid, successful season, much more rewarding for me than the Spring . I look forward to seeing everyone again Monday night for our final games this Fall.