2011 M Street Softball - schedule (WORD doc) - ver 1.1 - Revised 5/20/2011

It was a very quiet week in the M Street Softball League as the rain washed away all but two scheduled games. As you know, the rain began to fall on Sunday afternoon and for the most part it didn't stop until late Thursday evening. That left the field in tough shape but a few of the league diehards (Pat Sullivan, John Buckley, and Pat Kelly) put their rakes and shovels to work on Friday afternoon and got the field in playable condition for that evening's games. Great job guys! The first game of the night saw The Place looking to knock off the Sidewalk Cafe but came up a few runs short, 12-9. Marc Doyle (3 hits, 6 RBI) doubled home the first two runs of the game in the first but Sidewalk quickly answered with a big six run inning in the second. Mike Mercier (2 triples) and Marty Jemenez (3 hits) struck the big blows in the inning. Sidewalk then tacked on three more runs in the third inning highlighted by Tommy Connolly's 2-run single and two more in the fifth on Brad Morrill's double. Sidewalk was cruising 11-2 and looking to put The Place away for the night but that would change in the top of the sixth. Tony Helinski, Alex Olson, and Chris Sylvia started the inning when they all reached with singles. After an out, Dan Pencinger (2 hits) delivered a two run single to center making it 11-4. Doyle then ripped his second hit of the game when he drove home Pencinger and Kevin Snow. The Place would add another run before Sidewalk would finally put an end to the inning, 11-7. The Place would score two more runs in the seventh behind another double by Marc Doyle but that would be as close as they would get as Sidewalk held on to the 12-9 win. The second game of the night was between the Ole Rebels and the Cranberry Cafe. Folks this game was the best game of the season from two unlikely teams. The Rebels are a first year team who are still adjusting to the league while Cranberry has been around but had difficulty fielding a team on this night so they didn't have their starting nine on the field. Just after the first pitch was thrown in this one, a very heavy fog filled the air which made seeing the left fielder nearly impossible from behind the plate. Thankfully, the lack of visibility wouldn't play a role in the outcome of this game as all of the fly balls were caught. Instead, it was the pitching of Joey Magee and Eric Malerba who both played a great role in the outcome. Both men were sharp and were attacking the strike zone with consistency. Malerba kept batters guessing by mixing speeds and while Magee relied on his fastball to get outs. After four innings of play, the game was tied 1-1. However, in the fifth Malerba helped himself when he reached on an infield single that scored John Buckley from third. Malerba then silenced the bats again in the bottom of the fifth and it was looking like the Rebels were going to hang on for the hard fought win. But in the sixth, Cranberry's Michael Burns tied the game with a two out two-strike single to center, 2-2. Malerba then retired the next batter and the game moved onto the seventh. In the seventh, the Rebels had runners on second and third with two outs when the play of the game unfolded. On a 2-1 count, the Rebels batter looped a sure hit to right field that would have easily plated two runs. But Cranberry's second baseman, Burns, never gave up on the play and made an incredible over the shoulder diving catch to save the game. The play fired up his teammates as they hurried off the field with momentum now on their side. Joey Magee had been delivering strikes with his arm and now would do it with his bat as he drove in the game winning run with a single in the bottom of the seventh to put an end to a very well played game by both teams. On a side note, there was a bit of "entertainment" that took place during the second game on Friday night. One of the nearby park residents decided to paint her living room with her window shades open and her lights on for all to see. Well, she did have a towel on so it wasn't a big deal, right? Well folks, the towel was on her head so it caused quite a stir on the field. In fact, one of the players was busy looking up at the window while the action on the field was taking place. "She looked right at me." In closing, league games will be played Monday through Thursday this week with game times starting at 6:00, 7:30, and 9pm. Have a safe Memorial Day weekend everyone!