Rick Ervin puts “the tag” on Charlie Kennedy at third base. (Photo by Dennis Purcell)
King Mitchell (aka Mitch)
Well softball fans and friends, here it is April and Progress and Roundup deadline time again. The big news? The softball winter season, league standings, and the championship playoffs are in da books. Yep, the season began Jan. 9 and ended April 21.
For the last two years, the softballers have ended their winter season with a week-long playoff championship, and this year’s games were (mostly) HUMDINGERS! Well, let’s face it. There were a coupla thumpings. Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug! After 14 weeks of action, there are always a few bodies on injured reserve, others have snowbirded back north, and others are off on travel adventures. So the body count can be depleted and if you are missing a couple of key players, you can be in deep doo-doo, “competitiveness-wise.” And such was the case here and there, and so there were some upsets at the end of the season “league-leaders.”
In Monday (April 17) Community, your humble author’s preseason “stacked” squad, DS Builders (and #1 seed) came through, knocking off the #2, Dominick’s Italian, 28-22. Following those games, Monday Recreational’s #1 Community Church of SaddleBrooke just squeezed by the #2, Concierge Heating & Cooling, 20-19.
On Tuesday, April 18, in Community, the #1, Hardin Brothers Automotive, slipped by the #2, Golf Cars of Arizona, 20-18. Then in Competitive, the #3 seed came back big in the 7th inning to get into the championship game, and then got “seventhed” themselves by the #1, Arizona Indoor Air, 24-23. A nail-biter, folks.
On Wednesday, the 19th, in Sidewinder, the decisive league leader, Catalina Family Dental (9-4) breezed by the #2, Canine and Company (4-6), 20-7. In Community, however, the league winner at 6-2, Jim Click Automotive, got steamrolled by #2 Healthy Skin Dermatology 28-19. It wasn’t really even that close as the “Dermatologists” started moving their players around defensively to kinda take it easy on the “Clickers.” Yours truly on the mound for Jim Click couldn’t have hit water if I’d fallen out of a boat, and walked eight. And as noted above, Click was missing a couple of key players and just couldn’t keep up. The beer was still cold later, though, so…
In Thursday Coyote (65+), the #2 seed, Absolutely Art was “absolutely” on fire, HAMMERING the #1 seed, Ambient Air Heating & Cooling 30-16 in the championship game. OUCH!
Finally, on Friday, the 21st, in Competitive, it was another nail-biter as the #2, Big Bear Garage Door, outlasted the #1, Bubb’s Grubb, 21-19. Yesiree folks, two in the bottom of 7, bases loaded, with Greg “Mongo” Stroud at the plate for Bubb’s. He hammered a liner into left field that left a trail of fire in its wake, but Big Bear’s Richie Figueroa was right there to reel it in for out No. 3 and … the VICTORY for Big Bear! Then in Friday Community, kind of a tough game for the league #1 seed, Player’s Pub, which started out the season on a tear, but then had several players traded to create some league parity and lost every game thereafter. They met up with an extremely strong Mitsubishi Air (6-9) who had thumped the #2 seed, Wanda Fudge-Long Realty (7-9), 26-13 in the first game and then proceeded to “rethump” Player’s 28-20 (although it wasn’t really that close, fans).
Next up was our Memorial Day Tournament on May 29, complete with softball fun, brats, burgers, and beverages. See more at saddlebrookesoftball.com.