OPENING DAY GAME REPORTS……
LEFTON 13
SCHWARTZ, H. 7
by roger rosenthal……
After falling behind 2-0 in the opening frame, TEAM LEFTON got off the mat in a BIG way, by tying the game in the second inning and exploding with a game winning inning in large part from the bat of “newcomer” JOEL “SPARKY” FOGEL as he clubbed a grand slam…..after wards, FOGEL commented, “I’m almost 50 years old and didn’t know I had that kind of power. I guess working out with DAVE WERNICK has really gotten me this power.”
JIMMY LEFTON got off to a bit of a rocky start, but settled in and only walked one hitter. After wards, he credited his brother, catcher RICK LEFTON. “Without him back there, I don’t know what I would have done. He kept me focused the whole game on each hitter instead of all the chicken wings I was going to consume after the game.”
It was a total team effort as GARY FISHER, BRAD GALLOP, JEFF FINKELSTEIN, COREY NORRIS, ROGER ROSENTHAL, MICHAEL KAHAN and JEREMY FOGEL all played a solid defense which included a nice play at 3B by NORRIS, playing at a new position…..after wards, he said, “I closed my eyes and it hit my glove. I thought I was dreaming, but then I realized I had the ball and tagged third base for the force out.”
Kudos go out to RICK LEFTON who had some key base knocks plus a sacrifice fly and ROSENTHAL who got on base three times in four AB…..out, HBP (lol), hit to the left side (lol) and a BB……
Afterwards, ROSENTHAL, who once again had his BIG mouth open the entire game, stated, “I’m going to try to get on base anyway I can.”
by mike creemer…..
On the other side, STEVE ZAWATSKY was the late day replacement starter for HOWARD SCHWARTZ (see below) and worked a 1-2-3 first inning, but got roughed up later in the game. He threw strikes, albeit to a tough strike zone.
“”Big Tom” was calling a tight strike zone so I didn’t get many close pitches,” he said after the contest.
The big blow for TEAM LEFTON was the grand slam by JOEL “YOU KNOW I USED TO BE AS GOOD AS JEREMY” FOGEL in the 4th inning that broke the game open.
TYLER STANSBURY made the comment afterwards, “I think I left my bat in spring training, buy my show hair looked good.”
Next week……TEAM LEFTON plays on the road again at TEAM SCHWARTZ, T., while TEAM SCHWARTZ, H. battles TEAM GROH in a game to be televised by ESPN 8 “THE OCHO”…..
GREFER 15
SCHWARTZ, T. 0
(5 innings)
by kyle grefer…..
TEAM GREFER defeated TEAM SCHWARTZ, T. 15-0 as the winners got things started right off the “bat” with a grand slam of the bat of DAN GREFER, who finished four for four with seven RBI’s….MIKE GRAY pitched the shutout with two strikeouts and had a solid defense behind him….
“It was a total team effort” stated captain KYLE GREFER afterwards.
Other offensive standouts were MARK “WOLVERINE MAN” TENENHOLTZ and MICHAEL “THE BADGER” MARGOLIS with three hits each and KYLE GREFER mimicking his older brother going four for four……You have to wonder how father GARY GREFER did…….
next up…..TEAM GREFER VS TEAM BRAFMAN…..TEAM SCHWARTZ, T. VS. TEAM LEFTON……
GROH 20
LEADER 16
by ken groh…….
The reigning MVP and the 2019 #1 draft pick GRIFFIN HARRIS didn’t waste any time in the top of the first inning hitting a home run over the fence to kick of the high scoring affair between TEAM GROH and TEAM LEADER. He went four for four and scored four times.
Also, SCOTT BERGE went four for four including a triple and two doubles and three runs scored…rookie JIM BECKETT had three singles and had a sacrifice fly, one of four for the team….MARC SIMONS (3 runs scored), KEN GROH, TODD WASSERMAN and MIKE (KT) KADETZ (is he still playing?….lol) all had two hits apiece….KADETZ had three RBI’s and DAVID “DEE” HARRIS, not to be outdone by his son, had two RBI’s as did DAVID “CAN I HAVE A BEER?” WEIL had two RBI’S…..ALAN LESSURE scored three runs
Defensive highlights were presented by SIMONS, who made two great catches to save the game according to GROH…….
TEAM GROH never trailed….they were up 5-0 then it was 5-3 and then tied 7-7 after four innings….the winners scored six in the fifth inning, but TEAM LEADER scored five to make it 13-12 heading into the last inning….GROH plated seven runs to give them breathing room and it was too much to overcome……..
next up……TEAM GROH vs. SCHWARTZ, H., while TEAM LEADER has a bye……
SOLOMON 11
BRAFMAN 3
by stu solomon……
“We played a great game in all facets of the game,” said captain STU SOLOMON said after wards.
Timely hitting from MARK WEISSSER, DAVID SNYDER, TYLER WOLF and BRANDON WOLF and solid defense from DAN GILBERT and WES WOLF who made 16 out of the 21 outs.
WEISSER really worked the batters and kept them off-balance.
by marc brafman……
“It was a tough opening night for us. Just like the (Cincinnati) Reds, we couldn’t get our bats going last night, ” captain MARC BRAFMAN said the morning after.
“We look to right the ship next week vs an always dangerous TEAM GREFER,” he added.
“He continued by saying, “I feel good that next game we will start to knock the cover off the ball. Give DANNY GILBERT and WES WOLF credit as we peppered ball after ball to them and they made the plays.
The offense was led by ERIC “THE MOUTH OF THE MIDWEST” GRUEN, DAVE “THE MINISTER OF FUN” COHEN, AARON “STRAIGHT OUTTA” COMPTON and BRAD WAGNER who each had hits.
On defense, the father/ son duo of BOB “SUNSET” FELDMAN and PAT “SUNSHINE” FELDMAN made a couple of nice catches to stem the opposition attack.
“It was nice to get out and play again. I’m glad that we don’t play under the lights since the last time I played we were only playing day games” said the elder FELDMAN….
RANDY “TEX” BROYLES also made a great play coming in to dive a ball off the pitcher’s mound, but the play of the game on defense was by ZACH “ZZ TOP” ZACKEM’s acrobatic catch in right field that turned into a 9-8-6-1-4 double play…….what was that again??????…..lol
It should also be noted that JERRY “DOC” KIRZNER, a league veteran and catcher turned down his post game juice box saying, “I only drink juice boxes when we win and juice boxes are bad for your teeth anyway. I would hope (MARC) BRAFMAN brings healthy post game snacks next time……
next up……TEAM SOLOMON VS. TEAM KAMRASS……TEAM BRAFMAN vs. TEAM GREFER……
Our thoughts go out to HOWIE SCHWARTZ on the passing of his mother…..
ANY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS CAN BE SENT TO ME AT…..r.rosenthal1955@yahoo.com