Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #16

July 18, 2010

Buzzards kick Cats in dramatic fashion

A big home game loomed as the Buzzards arrived at Colfax High for the 2 o’clock game against the first place Valley Cats. The Cats season record is 14-1. The 8-7 Buzzards needed to beat the Whinny Cats to get to the playoffs and the V-Cats needed to keep their steam-roller moving forward, rolling up opponents, in route to the top seed in the playoffs. The day was going to be a hot 95° and so was the game.

For this game, the Valley Cats manager, Tony “TJ” Jackson brought his best including their ace, starting pitcher, Dave “Nut Case” Nutter #12. The Buzzards’ countered with their ace southpaw, Dave “Keppie” Kephart #21.

The Buzzards scored first with a run in their first at-bat. Taylor “Welzy” Welz led off with a sharp single to right-center field. With one out, Dave “Big E” Everingham hit a two-strike pitch looping into left field to put runners on second and first. Charles “CJ” Jackson followed with a line drive hit to left field knocking in Welzy from second base.

The Valley Cats are a good hitting team and they jumped on the board with five runs in the top of the second. The inning didn’t start too well with a slow roller toward third for a hit, then a looper into short right field for another hit before a double and several singles plus a walk added up to five runs.

The inning started so poorly that the first six batters reached base before an out was made. The first out was a good one though. Three runs had scored, the bases were loaded and no one was out when a hit to deep right-center scored the fourth run as the center fielder, Donnie “Redondo” Colbert chased down the ball and made a strong throw to the relay man. Welzy, playing second, took the throw on the outfield grass and threw a bullet to the catcher, Scott “Donut” Reeves, for a nice catch and tag of TJ at home for the first out. It took a while for that first out, but that play put a serious damper on their little rally. Three batters later the inning was over.

The Buzzards added a run in their half of the second inning. With one out Keppie singled to left field. After a fielder’s choice, Redondo was the runner at first with two outs. Mike “Bake” Baker then laced a 2-0 pitch into the gap in left-center field sending a hustlin’ Redondo around the bases to score the run making the score 5-2 after two.

The Whinny Cats scored again in the third inning. A lead-off single, then fielder’s choice and a base on balls followed by another single got one run. Now with runners on first and second and one out, the Cats were getting ready for another rally. The next batter hit a dangerous flare into short left field drifting toward the line and looking like a key hit. Covering lots of ground, the Buzzard shortstop, Dave, caught the ball on the run and quickly threw back to Welzy covering second base to beat the returning runner for a big double-play to end the inning.

The Buzzards then fought back with two runs in the bottom of the third. With one out, Welzy placed a pop-up behind the pitcher’s mound for an infield single. Bob “Woody” Wooden followed with a single to left. Everingham then hit a sinking liner to center field that the fielder made a nice diving catch for the second out. CJ walked before Pete “Baron” Von Zboray hit the first pitch looping into short left field and near the line for a two-run single. The score after three innings was 6-4.

After a scoreless fourth inning, the Buzzards added another run in the fifth. With one out, Woody singled to left field and then stole second base. Batting next, Big E hit a grounder to short that was bobbled and then the rushed throw was high and outside allowing Woody to come around and score to tighten the game at 6-5. The Buzzards put two runners on base in the sixth inning, but the score remained 6-5 until the top of the seventh.

The Valley Cats scored two big runs with a two-out, two-run double to give them some breathing room and make the score 8-5 after seven innings with the three-hour time limit now a factor. The annoying Whinny Cats stalled and stepped out of the batter’s box a lot to ensure there was not going to be a ninth inning.

After a slow 1-2-3 top of the eighth, the Buzzards got their chance in the bottom half of the inning needing three runs to tie the game. Everingham started the late game rally with a hard single into left. Batting next, Jackson blasted a 2-0 pitch deep over the left field fence foul! for strike one. As the ball was being tossed back in, the pitcher and catcher got together to strategize on pitching to Charles with the 2-1 count. The next pitch was a fastball and CJ sent that one into quick orbit over center field for a two-run home run. Wow, FAA and the Air Force’s Space Command are both pissed at the unplanned orbiting object.

With the score now 8-7, the Baron hit a tough hopper to the shortstop, who bobbled the ball then rushed his throw sending it down the line allowing Pete to get on base. With no outs and down by one run, the coaching staff called for a bunt. Dan “Wookie” Wukmir bunted the second pitch to move Pete into scoring position with the sacrifice. Next, Keppie battled with an 0-2 count and fouled off several pitches before knocking a flat curve ball into left field for a big single, now putting runners at first and third. A grounder to short by Redondo wasn’t deep enough to score the Baron from third, but the fielder’s choice still left runners at the corners with two outs and about five minutes left of game time.

With a hot Baker stepping to the plate, the Cats’ coach, Tony called time out and against the loud advice offered by some of his teammates, he ordered an intentional walk to load the bases and put the potential winning run, Redondo, into scoring position. The next batter, Barry “Brooklyn” Forman had plenty of time to consider the situation and mentioned the ‘no pressure’ in a humorous way to Kat before stepping into the batter’s box.

The first base coach, Welzy, was told to remind Barry that he should take a pitch or two and make the tired Nutter throw a strike. So, Welzy called Barry over and gave him the instructions. Barry nodded and then Barry hit the first pitch fastball on a line into center field for the game winning hit, driving in the Baron and Redondo to go ahead 9-8 just as the clock struck five. That meant the game was over and made Barry’s single a walk-off base hit to joyously end the game. Wow, what a finish and a great game.

The Buzzard pitching against this good hitting team was excellent, while the defense was in a nice groove getting four 1-2-3 innings and the first inning should have been. Keppie faced 38 V-Cats throwing 139 pitches (80 strikes & 59 balls). A higher ratio of balls to strikes than a normal DK game. Some may question the umpire’s judgment and eye site, but management can not officially comment on the strike zone. Kep struck out two (season average is eight) and walked three (average is 2).

The Valley Cats just did a good job of clustering their hits for maximum effect. Their five-run second inning saw 8 of the 12 Cat base hits in the game. The Ol’ Buzzard defense was solid and turned two nice double-plays. Everingham’s nice runnin’ catch and throw back to nail the runner at second base to end the third inning was the first dp. In the fifth inning with a runner on first and no outs, Kep got their top hitter, catcher-Mike Lehtola #5, to hit a hot grounder to Big E at short. Dave handled the ball and tossed it to Welzy covering second, then followed by a smooth turn and throw to Baker at first base to complete the other ‘pitcher’s best friend’. Great job Buzzards.

The offense was awesome. 19 hits against the Cats’ top pitcher, Nut Case Nutter, a tough, young (45 yr old) pitcher was good news. Last time we played them, Nutter gave up eight hits, this time was better. The multi-hit group this game includes: Baker, Everingham, Forman, Jackson, Kephart, Von Zboray and Wooden with two hits each and Welz with a 3 for 4 day at the plate. The big hit of the day was the two-run blast by CJ over the center field fence. Measured by satellite photo to have traveled 473 feet! And that it followed a long foul ball (homer-distance) on the previous pitch is something ya don’t see very often. That also was the first Buzzard home run of the season and it came at a pretty good time. That home run late in the game was a nice infusion of excitement and then the huge two-run hit by Barry “Walk-off” Forman made for a fun day at the ball field.

Buzzard Note #1: Fill out the attached bio for the upcoming radio game. The announcer will read from this piece of paper when you are playing and batting during the game. You can also put down stuff like - what you want to be when you grow up. Send the form to Wookie or bring it to the game on Sunday. The game is fun, so invite your family and tell them to bring a radio to listen to the game while they watch it. The game is August 1st at 3:30 pm on James Field in Auburn.

Buzzard Note #2: The playoff chances are good. We just have to keep winning games starting with this Sunday’s tough game against our recent nemesis, the Dragons. Before the regular game starts, we will finish the ninth inning of the previous game against the Dragons on June 13 at Lembi Field. The score was 6-2 Dragons. The count was 1-0 with Pete at the plate when the umpire went down for the count with the heat. Barry is on deck, followed by Mark, Scott and Donnie, then top of the order for four runs to tie, five to win. The league said they are even going to send the same umpire to finish the game.