Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #18

Game: September 21, 2014

Buzzards slug Solons 13-1 to repeat as champs

All available Ol' Buzzards flocked to Davis to put an exclamation point on the 2014 season. On a cool Sunday morning at Playfields Park, the National Adult Baseball Association's Sacramento championship game between the Gold Country Buzzards and the Sacramento Solons was an earlier than normal, 9:30 am, start time to allow for two more age division finals to take place on one of the nicest fields in the region. So, the old guys in the 52+ division got the early game.

The Buzzards had beaten the Solons four times this season, but they have been an improving team, especially with that new catcher, Jurg 'Igor' Ramelvik. The 4-0 record began with the season opening day drubbing of the Solons 21-4 at C-Bar-C Park way back on April 6. On May 4 at James Field the Buzzards beat the Salamis 11-4. Then on August 3, the Solons came to Auburn to lose 9-2. The last match-up was on August 24 with a 7-1 Buzzard victory at James Field. It would be easy to assume the Buzzards (15-2-1) would prevail over the Solons (10-9), but the Ol' Buzzards knew better than to be cocky, just confident and determined.

However, heard bragging before the game, mostly from the loud New Yorkers on the Salamis, which was easily over-heard in the parking lot, that they were the hot team after whopping the Astros in the first round of the playoffs last Sunday. And they love fast pitching and had their bat swings tuned and timed for the Buzzards' starting pitcher. So the challenge was on, minus the starting first baseman in route from James Field to Davis.

Based on season record, the Solons were the visiting team. Their starting pitcher was the tough southpaw, Tom 'Not Fazed' DeFazio #31. On the mound for the Ol' Buzzards was the regular starting second baseman and the hardest thrower and now for the big game a fine-tuned pitching machine with recently bruised ribs, Taylor 'Welzy' Welz #26. Taylor was nailed by a fastball in the rib cage on Monday night.

The Buzzards opened the final game of the season with three runs in the first inning to jump on top 3-zip. Welzy led-off with a flare to center for a base hit. Welzy moved to second on a pick-off attempt when the ball scooted under the first baseman's glove and rolled away. After an out, Welzy stole third base and scored on the catcher's errant throw into left field. Dave 'Evy' Everingham, up next, battled fellow Sac City baseball program alum (5-years apart), DeFazio to a six-pitch full-count situation before singling sharply to center-field.

Batting next, the catcher, Jim 'Milli' Milligan slapped a 1-0 pitch into left-field to put runners at second and first. Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir then ran for Milli at first base. After a double-steal, Evy and Wook moved up 90-feet to both be in scoring position. The next batter, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray smacked a 3-2 pitch into right-center for a single that scored Evy with the second run. Tom 'Tomahawk' Keatley followed with a sacrifice fly to right-field to score Wookie from third to end the scoring in the first frame.

The Buzzards tacked on a run in the third inning. With one out, Milli walked. Evy ran for Milli and immediately stole second base. After the second out, Tomahawk came to the plate and hammered a liner for a hit to right-center to score Evy. Norm 'Burner' Tucker then walked to put two Buzzies on again before the inning ended with the score 4-0 Buzzards.

The Gold Country gang of 12 scored two more runs in the fourth dig to put additional pressure on the Solons. Barry 'Brooklyn' Forman started it off by hitting a bouncer through the legs of the second baseman. Welzy followed with a bunt single putting runners at first and second. Wookie then hit a high bouncer wide of third that froze the fielder momentarily before everyone was safe with the bases loaded for Evy. On a full-count, Evy was walked to push in Barry. Next, Milli sent a 1-0 pitch skyward to deep center for a sacrifice fly to easily score Welzy with the last run.

The Ol' Buzzards held a 6-0 lead after five-innings of play. Welzy was pitching a heck of a game and was working on a two-hitter with only 68 pitches thrown. However, the Solons had runners on in four of the five innings and were a hit or error away from a scoring rally. The Solons broke through in the top of the sixth and were held to a single run. It took a two-out bouncer into left-field that was followed by a stolen base, then an opposite field run-scoring flare down the right-field line to break up the shutout.

In the bottom half of the seventh inning, the Buzzards added two more to the scoreboard. Cagey led-off with a long fly ball to center-field. The ball popped out of the fielder's glove as he back-pedaled at the last moment for an error. Batting next, lefty Brooklyn was nicked by a high inside fastball on the right forearm and took first base to put Buzzards at first and second. Next, Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny chopped one that was misplayed by the first baseman and allowed Cagey to score from third. One out later, Welzy singled to center to knock in Barry and up the score to 8-1 Buzzards after seven innings.

The Buzzards continued with the good pitching and excellent defense through eight innings and still led 8-1. The Ol' Buzzards wanted more and then piled on five more runs in the eighth to stretch the lead to 12 runs. The frame began with Evy blasting a ball way over the center fielder's head for a stand-up triple. Next, on a 3-2 pitch, Milli sent Evy across the plate with a line-drive single to center. Wook ran for Milli. The Baron followed with an eight-pitch, full-count at-bat resulting in a smash hit down the left-field line putting two runners on base. One out later, Burner beat-out a bobbled grounder to third that also scored Wookie. Cagey, up next, battled to a six-pitch, 0-2 count, before drilling a single to left-field to score the Baron. With two outs, Surf Dawg spanked a ball through the second baseman and into right-field to score the final two runs.

After shutting down the Solons in the top of the ninth inning, the Buzzards celebrated briefly on the field before lining up to exchange greetings with the Solons. The Buzzards posed for photos then received plagues and t-shirts from the league. The final score of the last Buzzard game of the year was: Champion Buzzards 13 and the Solons 1.

Terrific pitching shut-down the swinging Solons. And whenever the Solons did not strike-out or hit the ball anywhere near the mound, the rest of the Buzzards made the plays to support the almost one-man baseball machine called Welzatron (patent pending). Taylor was fabulous on the hill in throwing a four-hit complete game. Welzy threw 118 pitches (71 strikes & 47 balls) to 35 Solons. Welzatron gave up one run (unearned) on only four hits with five walks and struck out nine.

Where the Welzatron really shined is defensively. After releasing the projectile toward the strike zone, Welzatron activated a ball magnet which snagged five hot shots on or kind-of-near the mound. Welzatron also picked-off the first runner of the game and later covered first base in record time in the fifth on a long toss from Cagey playing wide of first. Welzatron was responsible for 16 Solons going back to the bench disappointed.

It's great having a Welzatron for the game, but it is obvious the downside to baseball, if production was allowed, would be a single Welzatron baseball machine that produces up to 60% of the outs per game could eliminate the need for nine players in a game. The Welzatron (patent pending) will probably remain a one-of-a-kind baseball machine for Buzzard use only.

The Ol' Buzzard offense showed its pep by scoring 13 runs on 16 hits with four walks. The hit club for the game included: Baron (2), Brooklyn, Cagey (3), Evy (2), Milli (2), Tomahawk (2), Welzy (3), and Wookie. The ribbies were courtesy of: Baron, Cagey, Evy, Milli (2), Surf Dawg (2), Tomahawk (2), and Welzy. The all-important runs were scored by: Baron, Brooklyn (2), Burner, Cagey (2), Evy (2), Milli (3), and Welzy (2). The four walks were issued to eagle-eyed Buzzards: Brooklyn, Burner, Evy, and Milli.

The defense was excellent all season and continued through the final game. There were not a lot of chances with the Welzatron dominating the game defensively. The outfield was bored with only one fly ball out during the game, plus chasing just four base hits. The Baron caught the high fly in right field to end the sixth inning. The one pop-up in the sun was handled by Wook at second base in the ninth.

The infield grounders were efficiently disposed of during the game. Evy smoothly handled four assists showing off his range, three were to first base and the last one was the game-ender with a flip to Wook at second. Burner had one assist playing third base in the eighth. Wookie was involved in three put-outs and two assists at second. Cagey had 12 slick put-outs at first base, while the Baron had two put-outs covering first in the first inning. Milli was rock solid as usual behind the plate. Jim had two assists, one early and one late, in the game. The initial assist ended the first inning with a throw-down to first on a loose third strike. The second was more exciting as Milli nailed the head-first sliding Igor trying to steal second base for the first out of the last inning. A fast and big Igor had stolen second base earlier in the game.

There were two controversial incidents during the game, and both surprisingly involved the shy Burner. In the second inning with Buzzards on first (Tucker) and second (Garcia), Welzy hit a fly ball to deep center that was caught. Cagey tagged up at second and moved to third on the play. But before he could get to third, Norm was standing on second. None of the umpires noticed that Burner had forgotten to tag up, but the Solons thought it was suspicious and called-out that Burner had left first base too soon. After a long umpire pow-wow, they determined that since Norm did not have super powers that he must have left early and was declared out.

The second incident occurred in the fifth. With Barry batting and Norm at first, a wild pitch sent Burner hustling to second. The ball bounced off of the backstop and right back to the catcher. Igor was able to grab the ball quickly and throw a bullet to second base to get Burner sliding into the bag. The throw was toward first base a little and Norm’s arm and shoulder met the shortstop’s face (John Hagen) on the play. Hagen’s glasses were smashed on his face and briefly injured his eye. John had no vision initially in his left eye, so in frustration he threw his hat at Norm lying on the ground and followed quickly by the ball. The cap hit Norm, but the ball missed him.

Burner, not sure what happened, then quickly stood up and chest bumped the shortstop for throwing the hat and ball at him. At this point the ump jumped between them and calmed the situation down. Tucker returned to the dugout, while the Solons gathered around Hagen for a few minutes until his vision returned and the game resumed. There were no hard feelings, but there were several comments from the peanut gallery and the Solon dugout, since Burner has a little bit of a reputation for tough play with the Solons. One of the umps later told Norm that the play was a clean, hard slide.

Other than that it was a fun, fast-moving three-hour game. The Buzzards celebrated in the parking lot for quite a while before leaving Davis with the NABA booty. The Buzzards received team and individual plaques, as well as two t-shirts.

What a great Buzzard season and it is too bad that Fall is here and we have to put away the orange jerseys until next year. Thanks for the good times and the championship memories.

Several Buzzards are playing in Phoenix next month for other teams and gold rings. Good luck to all. The Buzzards will return in 2015. It’s good to be a Buzzard.

Buzzard Note #1: The team party will be this Sunday at Rick and Vickie’s house in Rescue. Salmo sent out directions and the gate code earlier. The plan is to cater in Felipe’s Mexican food for lunch with margaritas and probably Coronas at 1 o’clock. The cost will be $10 per adult with food and drink provided. There is a solar heated pool available. Family and kids are invited.

Buzzard Note #2: The 42+ championship game between the Dodgers and the Athletics, following our game, included the only two teams to beat the Buzzards this year. Now that’s impressive for a bunch of ol’ guys.

Buzzard Note #3: There are only about 120 days until the next Buzzard practice.