Another great week of competitive softball games was written into the M Street Softball history books. League games are played Monday through Friday with 6pm, 730, and 9pm starting times with all games taking place at M Street Park.

Monday's early game saw the second longest winning streak of the season come to an end when Playwright II trounced the Cranberry Café, 8-4. Playwright II got another strong start from pitcher Joey Venuti and key hits from Rob Rogers (HR, double, 4 RBI) and rookie John Manning (2 doubles, 2 RBI). Cranberry had won six in a row before the defeat. The win keeps them within striking distance of first place in the Lucas division. Rogers' homerun cleared the brown wall on First Street - mercy!

The middle game saw the defending champions take the field against the Place who were trying to keep their own winning streak (W3) alive. However, the Shennanigan offense was simply too much for the Place to handle as they fell, 12-2. John Smith (2 hits and 2 RBI), Dave Conti (2 hits, 2 RBI), and John Hoadley (2 doubles) led the way for the second place Shennanigan club.

The nightcap pitted the Bulldogs against the Shamrock Pub Brewers, who were hoping their luck would turn around in this one. Shamrock didn't wait for luck to come around for them as they came out swinging and scored plenty of runs in the early innings. Joey Magee pitched well enough to earn the victory for Shamrock. Coach Tom Yeo, who has been a bit frustrated with the outcome of the games so far, is hoping the win will get his club moving in the right direction.

On Tuesday, Clarke's battled hard for seven innings and won a nail biter against Murphy's Law, 12-11. With only two wins and eleven losses, it has been a long season so far for coach Mike Doran and Murphy's Law. However, the Law boys show up for all of their games, compete, and have a lot of fun. Doran is also enjoying a very productive year at the plate, sporting a .452 batting average with 17 RBI's.

Wednesday action kicked off with the Masterbatters looking to slow down the suddenly hot Swingers. For two innings it was looking like they would have their way as they led 5-1. However, the Swingers stuck around and began to chip away at the lead before pulling away for the 9-5 victory. The win has tightened up the race in the Moran division between Below Average Joe's, Masterbatters, and the surging Swingers.

The middle game saw the L Street Tavern desperately needing a win to get back into the playoff race in the Feeney division. Things were looking good for them in the first inning when Chris Winters hammered a 1-0 fastball over the center field fence for a 2 run homerun. However, the Bulldogs and Chris Holmes answered right back in the home half with a 2 run homerun of his own. The two teams would trade runs for the next six innings but the Bulldogs and pitcher Tommy McGrath would eventually hang on for the 11-10 win.

The nightcap was nothing like the first two evenly matched games as the Cranberry Café lit up the scoreboard and trounced the Dorset Club, 22-1. The win keeps gave the Cranberry squad two games ahead of the Junction who were idle this week.

On Thursday, the Stingers faced the Playwright and knew they needed another great start from their pitcher, Steve Mills. Details of this game were not available at press time but Mills and the Stingers prevailed with a 13-3 victory. The win gets the Stingers back to five hundred while the loss drops the Playwright to a disappointing fifth place in the Lucas division.

Friday's action saw a depleted Shennanigan squad edge the Shamrock Pub, 9-5 behind pitcher Dominic Lemarra who improved to 5-0 with a 3.13 ERA. The win moved Shennanigan's (8-1) into a tie for first place with idle Sidewalk Café in the Lucas division. The teams have two games scheduled against one another, July 9th and July 26th - both should be great games.

The week closed with the Swingers taking down their first Feeney division victim, L Street Tavern 16-9. Josh Lebron got the nod for this one and was brilliant - scattering seven hits while pitching seven strong innings to earn the victory. Coach Dan Chan returned from an injury and led the attack for the Swingers with three hits including a double and triple.

As we near the last month of the regular season it would be a good time to list the standings with a brief explanation of the differences in each division. The league has three divisions of play and a pretty confusing but effective playoff formula. The Lucas division (A) is the home of the most skilled teams where most of the teams have at least one dominating pitcher which keeps the scores of the games at a minimum. All six Lucas teams will qualify for the playoffs. The Feeney division (B) houses the up and coming teams that have plenty of skilled players but may not have that star pitcher yet. The top five Feeney teams will qualify for the playoffs this year. The Moran division (C) is the home of the hardest working bunch where offense is the name of the game here. This is the division that is the home for the less serious teams or those that are just starting out in the league. The top three Moran teams will qualify for the playoffs. There are still plenty of great games to be played at the park before our playoffs roll around in the month of August. Until next week, keep swinging!