Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #20

August 29, 2010

Buzzards scratch-out Valley Cats in playoff battle, 4-3

On an unusually cool August morning, the Buzzards gathered at Rancho Cordova to take on the first place Valley Cats in a single-elimination playoff game. At the Mather Field sports complex, the #4 seeded Buzzards (14-7) were scheduled to play the #1 seeded Whinny Cats (18-3) in a 10 o’clock game. The winner moves on to the NABA championship series starting on Sept. 12th. Meanwhile, the Reds were playing the Free Agents in Rio Linda to determine the other opponent in the upcoming (best of three game) series to claim the Sacramento title.

The Valley Cats were the home team with right-hander Dave “Nut Case” Nutter #12 as their starting pitcher. The Gold Country Buzzards sent their southpaw ace, Dave “Keppie” Kephart to the bump. Both pitchers throw hard stuff and can mix it up, and with so much on the line, this will not be a game for sissies.

The Buzzards scored first with one run in the top of the second inning. With two outs, Dan “Wookie” Wukmir grounded to the second baseman and by hustlin’ down the line made the fielder hurry his throw. The throw was wild and into the dugout advancing Wookie to second. Keppie, batting next, hit a sharp grounder to the right of the shortstop. The hop was tough for the shortstop, Billy Clouse #9, and the ball was not fielded cleanly. The hurried throw was over the first baseman’s head allowing Wook to score on the play.

The Valley Cats bounced back with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning. With one out, big swinging Coach Tony hit a flare into center field - off his fists - on a two-strike pitch for their first hit. Hate when that happens. The next batter hit the first pitch on a line into right-center putting runners at the corners. After semi-intentionally walking the next batter to load the bases, the following Valley Cat grounded one to Bob “Woodie” Wooden at third base. Woodie fielded the ball in front of the bag and had to take a step back to tag the base before throwing home. Big Tony had a good lead at third and got a good jump running home plus mixed with a little miscommunication and the play was close and could’ve been closer, but the run scored to tie the game up.

The Gold Country Ol’ guys scored again in the third inning when Taylor “Welzy” Welz started it off with a one-out walk. Welzy then stole second and was now in scoring position. After a short fly out for the second out, Woodie then hit a line drive to left field for a single to drive in T-Welz and move in front 2-1.

Those pesky Valley Cats scored in the second half of the third inning to tie the score. With one out, Billy Clouse hit a liner into the left field gap that he tried to stretch the hit into a double. Barry “Walk off” Forman cut off the ball quickly and threw a strike to Welzy covering the bag. The throw was in plenty of time and the runner looked out - as Billy appeared to slide into the glove - to everyone except the infield umpire. Must have been a bad angle and there was a lot of dust on every infield sliding play. Wookie and a few others went bonkers with the call, but only Wook was warned by the home plate ump for using a bad word. He was later spanked by that cute but mean score keeper.

The next batter grounded to second for out number two and moved Billy to third base. The runner then scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 2-2. The Buzzards threatened in the fourth and fifth innings, but could not push across another run until the seventh. With two outs, Keppie singled to left field. Wook then ran for Kep. Scott “Donut” Reeves then battled with the pitcher in a seven pitch at-bat before ripping a liner down the left field line sending Wookie to third. With Barry, who earned the nickname ‘Walk off’ against this same pitcher last month, at the plate, the pressing Nutter threw a wild pitch scoring Wook from third to take the lead 3-2.

Looking for insurance runs, the Buzzards added another run in the top of the ninth inning. With one out the catcher, Fred “Freddie” O’Donoghue, hit the first pitch screaming into left field for a single. Charles “CJ” Jackson then ran for Freddie. After a pop-up for the second out, the next batter, Wookie, hit a high looper into right field that landed nicely between the chasing second baseman and the charging right fielder. The ball skipped past the sliding outfielder and it appeared that CJ, running on the pitch, may be able to score from first base on the play. CJ was initially slow to react to the hit and the bouncing ball in right field, but he did turn on the jets when he got the ‘run home’ signal from Coach Pete at third. CJ scored that important fourth run with a good slide in a close play at the plate.

After the play at home plate, Wookie was then seen on his knees bent over clutching his chest on second base. What happened on the play was that Wook and the shortstop collided in the base path as Wook ran to second on the high relay throw. Billy, playing shortstop and covering for the second baseman still out in right field, ran hard into Wook while trying to take the off-line throw from right field. The blow hit Wookie in the ribs and knocked the wind out of him and it prevented Billy any chance of getting the throw to relay home. Both players did not realize it at the time, but they were running for the same spot and did not see each other until Ouch Time. Wook did stumble to the bag before going to his knees. The game was held up for a few minutes while Danny knelt on the bag and tried to get a chest full of air again. Jim “Wags” Wagner, the right fielder, then replaced Wookie on second base. The inning ended with the score of 4-2.

Entering the bottom of the ninth with a two run lead, the Buzzards felt confident, but the Valley Cats had been threatening the last couple of innings. Sure enough, the ninth was not going to be quick or quiet. The leadoff batter walked on a seven pitch at-bat. Next, the clean-up hitter and catcher, John Lehtola, hammered a 1-2 pitch over Donnie “Redondo” Colbert’s head in center field scoring the Cat from first base to tighten the score. Good hustle and throw by Redondo prevented a triple, which would be key later. The score was now 4-3 with a man on second and no outs. Um. No worries mate.

Big Tony Jackson was the next batter in this text-book bunt situation. Tony took mighty swings and did not attempt to bunt. He struck out swinging on a full count, great pitch Kep, leaving that key runner at second with one out. After a semi-intentional walk to strong hitting Crowl, big lefty Lou Valdez entered as a pinch-hitter. On a 1-2 pitch, Valdez hit a liner to right-center that a diving Wags almost caught. The runners had to hold due to Wags hustle and only advanced one bag as a result and no tying run scored.

That meant the bases were now loaded with one out and the tying run on third and the winning run on second base. Uh Oh. No worries, mate. Or is it three quick prayers. No, it was two huge strike outs, both looking, that sealed the victory. The last Keppie ‘K’ was on a 3-2 count. Wow. Jump for joy… was exactly what the team did. Great win under lots of pressure.

The Valley Cats, the former #1 seeded team, were gracious in their after game remarks. The Cats go home, while the Gold Country Buzzards’ 2010 season continues against the Reds after the Labor Holiday Weekend.

Good job, guys. It was a fabulous job by Keppie and the defense to hold those Valley Cats to three runs, ‘cause we only scored four. This time, though, it was enough. The VC pitcher, Nut Case Dave, is a tough righty. He struck out eight Buzzards, walked one and gave up nine hits. Kephart threw 152 pitches, 93 for strikes and 59 balls in facing 39 Valley Cats. He gave up two earned runs on eight hits, three walks and two hit Cats (both curve balls - one on the foot and one on the lower calf) while striking out seven Whinny Cats. Keppie’s Buzzard record so far is 9-3 with an ERA of 2.68 with 90 strikeouts in 94 innings.

The offense was just enough to beat the Valley Cats. What was impressive was how we scored. The runs came in separate innings each time after two outs. In two of the innings there was no one on base with two outs; before the next batter started something going that resulted in that key run. That was impressive. With the sticks this game, eight Buzzards got the nine hits. Donut is the only member of the multi-hit club this game. Scottie had two hits and got on base all three times. The ribbies were courtesy of Keppie, Woodie and Wook.

Big, big Buzzard win with the NABA Championship Series ahead of us. A re-match of last year’s series with the Reds is up next. Last year, Danny Harvey with his slow curve and umps giving him generous strike zones were a problem in two of the three games. The ones we lost. The Buzzards are hittin’ on all cylinders right now and we beat Harvey earlier this year, 5-4 at Inderkum High in early June. Beware the Buzzard.

Buzzard Note #1: The NABA championship series is a best of three games. The series starts with a double-header on September 12 at 10 am, location to be announced later. A sweep of the double-header, like in 2008, and we win that day. A split, like in 2009, and we play the following Sunday, Sept. 19th.

Buzzard Note #2: There were not enough Buzzards in last week’s team photo, so we are going to do it again before the game.