Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #10

Game: July 13, 2014

Buzzards hit big and no-hit Yankees, 23-0

The Ol' Buzzards circled-in on new feasting grounds in Rocklin called the Tri City Senior Little League Field. The field is in a nice, old park with plenty of shade for the fans and players on this hot day. With temps rising to 100° later in the day, Ol' Buzzards like morning summer games when playing in the valley. You gotta give the Yankees plenty of credit, they arrived early and were eager to play, but they are still winless this season.

The starting pitchers for the match-up between the first and last place teams in the over-52 division were: right-hander, Taylor 'Welzy' Welz #26 for the visiting Buzzards and big righty, Jim 'Dizzy' McAdams, also #26, on the mound for the Yankees.

The Buzzards jumped on the score board first with four runs in the opening inning. Welzy started it off by getting aboard via an infield error. Up next, Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir watched Taylor steal second on the first pitch and then steal third, before grounding one through the hole on the right-side for a run-scoring single. Wookie then stole second before Dave 'Evy' Everingham doubled to right-center-field and scored easily on the play.

Batting next, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray smashed a 1-1 pitch to center-field to score Evy. Pete then stole second and moved to third while two outs were made. Next, Norm 'Burner' Tucker looped a single into left-field to drive in the Baron and take an early 4-nothing lead. Before the inning ended, David 'mMumbles' Kelley took one for the team with a fastball to the left thigh for a bruise shaped like Brazil.

In the second frame, the Buzzards added the same crooked number, 4, to the board to take a commanding lead. Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny led-off with a sharp single to right-center. Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri then ran for Surf Dawg. With Welzy at the plate, Salmo stole second base to get into scoring position. Taylor then hit a long drive into left-field for a base hit to score a hustlin' Salmo. Welzy then stole second base and moved to third on a wild pitch, before Wookie bounced a 3-2 pitch to the first baseman for a groundout, while Welzy easily scored from third.

Up next, Evy doubled to right-field on a 1-1 pitch. Evy was then erased in a run-down on the Baron's hot grounder gloved by the pitcher. Pete ended up at second base when Evy was tagged out near third. With two outs, Tom 'Tomahawk' Keatley banged out a hit to center to score the Baron. Then Fred 'Freddie' O' Donoghue got on base with a throwing error by the third baseman. Tomahawk scored from first base on the play to up the score to 8-0. Burner hit a flare to right-field to continue the inning, but was left stranded as the dig ended.

The no-mercy Buzzards scored five more runs in the top of the third frame. Salmo started off the big inning with a four-pitch base-on-balls. Rick was erased on a fielder's choice play with Surf Dawg now at first. Salmo then replaced Surf Dawg as the runner on base. At-bat next, Welzy bounced into a fielder's choice play with no out recorded to put runners at first and second with one out. Wookie followed with a run-scoring single to right-field. Next, Evy walked on five-pitches to load the bases for the Baron.  On the first pitch, the Baron Von Zboray smashed a double into the gap in left-center-field to clear the bases and knock-in three runs. One out later, Freddie drove in the Baron with a line-drive single to left to complete the scoring in the third. The score after three was 13-0 Buzzards.

The Buzzards pounded-out two more runs in the fourth frame to put the game out-of-reach for the damned Yankees. With one out, Surf Dawg and Welzy drew walks. The Yankee pitcher, Dizzy McAdams, was obviously getting tired and Wookie, not wanting to walk, swung at a 3-0 pitch and lined it into left-center for a run-scoring base hit. A fielder's choice by Evy and an error on the Baron's grounder to third, led to the second run. The score after four was the Buzzards 15 and the Yanks with zero runs and no hits.

Welzy pitched the first four frames and spent most of the innings working on the slider, change-up or curve, but he still over-matched many of the Yankees with seven strike 'em outs. Even with a no-hitter working, Welzy was pulled by the skipper after four innings in a controversial move. Freddie then threw a solid and efficient two innings of work and Surf Dawg closed it out in the seventh and final inning as the pitching trio threw a no-hitter.

While the pitching and defense were holding the Yanks to no score, the greedy Buzzards wanted more for the score board in the sixth inning. Welzy started it off with an infield hit, easily beating out the long throw. One out later, Evy singled to center and was followed by a walk to the Baron to load the bases. Tomahawk then took the walk to push Welzy across the plate for another run and keep the bases full. Freddie then lifted a high fly-ball to center-field for a sacrifice fly to score Evy. The center-fielder lost the ball in the sun at the last minute and dropped Freddie's fly-ball, so the bases remained loaded. Burner then lined a single to left to score the Baron.

mMumbles, up next, singled to score Tomahawk and kept the bases full of Buzzards. Salmo then walked to force in Freddie with the fifth run and still with just one out.  After an out, Kelly 'KG' Garcia in his first at-bat of the season, smashed a long single to left to score two runs. Welzy finished off the scoring with a two-out single to center to drive in Salmo with the last run of the game.

Except for the seventh inning, the Buzzard pitchers faced the minimum number of batters each inning. Since it took four batters to get three outs in the last dig, the Yankees had one batter over the minimum with 22 in the two-hour and 40 minute, seven-inning 'mercy-rule' game.  With dominant pitching, good defense and lots of hits, the final score was 23-0 Buzzards. Three Buzzard pitchers did throw a rare no-hitter.

In the first four innings, Welzy threw 48 pitches (32 strikes & 16 balls) in facing 12 batters while striking out seven and walking one. Freddie pitched the fifth and sixth innings and threw 17 pitches (12 strikes & 5 balls) while facing six Yanks with no walks and one strike out. Surf Dawg closed out the game in the seventh by facing four Yankees and throwing nine pitches (5 strikes & 4 balls) to end the game.

The Buzzard offense was strong with 19 hits and seven walks to put away the Yankees early. The hit club for the game included: Baron (2), Burner (3), Evy (3), Freddie, KG, mMumbles, Surf Dawg, Tomahawk, Welzy (3) and Wookie (3). The ribbies were knocked in by: Baron (4), Burner (2), Evy (2), Freddie (2), KG (2), mMumbles, Salmo, Tomahawk (2), Welzy (2) and Wook (4). The runs were scored by tiring Buzzards in batting order: Welzy (5), Wook (2), Evy (3), Baron (4), Tomahawk (2), Freddie, Burner, mMumbles, Salmo and Surf Dawg (3). The eagle-eyed Buzzards that were awarded first base by the plate umpire were: the Baron, Evy, Salmo (2), Surf Dawg, Tomahawk and Welzy.

The defense was tough and made some good plays to prevent a Yankee hit. Of the 21 outs, there were eight strike-outs, but seven for outs. Of the other outs, there was only one fly ball out to Tomahawk in the seventh inning. The Yanks had a base runner in the second on a wild pitch strike-out, but he was erased later on a steal attempt. The runner in the third inning via a walk, stole second, but was picked-off second base on the very next play.

The infield had two pop-ups, both caught by a hustlin' pitcher for the first out of the inning. Welzy in the first and Freddie in the fifth made good, take charge, catches. Salmo made some nice plays at second and behind the plate, while Kelly Garcia showed he's still 'got it' at first base and swinging a bat.

Norm caught the first four innings and threw out the runner in the second inning to keep the bases clean of Yankees. The nine infield assists were spread amongst seven Buzzards. Surf Dawg and Burner led the team with two assists each in the game. Surf Dawg earned the assists at third base in the fifth and as pitcher in the seventh. Burner got his assist catcher in the second inning by throwing out the attempted stealer and playing third in the sixth with a long, quick reach to his left to snag a hot grounder that was the last real chance for a hit by the Yanks.

The other assists were handled by: Evy at short in the fourth, Freddie at second in the seventh, Salmo at second base in the first, Welzy at pitcher in the pick-off to end the third, and Wookie at shortstop in the sixth. Mike 'Mickey' Wilson came off of the disabled list for the seventh inning, due to a shortage of players, and played first base and handled the throws for two put outs.

There was an unusual play by the Yankee third baseman late in the game. Manny Alvarez #11 appeared to play the high pop-up well and followed it into foul territory, near the third base line, before he lost it in the sun and covered his face with his glove just as the ball hit him on top of the head. Manny was surprisingly alright, as the ball hit the button on top of the soft cap. That will leave a mark. He was seen later holding a cold beer on top of his head while drinking another with the other hand.

The Gold Country Buzzard's record is now 9-2 with seven remaining regular season games. This was a good game where nobody got hurt and the stat sheet got filled up. Up next, the Astros at James Field at 2 pm on July 20th.