Markel Realty

One Pitch Tournament: Z's Sport Shop defeated Willis Tent

Regular Season: Z's Sport Shop (16 Wins - 8 Losses)

Play off Champions: After a bye in the first round as the #1 seed, Z's Sport Shop defeated Healy Oil (3 Games to 1) and the Mustangs (3 Games to 1).

One Pitch Tournament: Drew Farms

Regular Season: Drew Farms (17 Wins - 7 Losses)

Play off Champions: Z's Sport Shop defeated Healy Oil (2 Games to 1), Drew Farms (3-1), and Mario's Restaurant (3-0). FIRST championship for Z's.

Games scheduled for Wednesday, June 7, were washed out by the monsoon that hit the region. Games scheduled for the 7th are now scheduled to be played on Sunday, June 11. Times are 5:30 (Mario's v. Mustangs) and 6:45 (Healy Oil v. Short Cut).

Now collecting stories for this part of the site. - Ken Teal's 23 oz. bat. - Steve Ingalls running through the fence to catch a ball and ending his career, never mind his season. - The Jim Lamy triangle. - Bruce O'Leary's cigars. - Greg Bohenko playing the outfield in his workboots. And his State-requested "sabbatical." - Derek and his warm beer- NO, you will NEVER live this down! And don't forget that he was the only injury during the 2004 championship celebration. Youngest guy on the team, and so many career "high" points. - The "catcher's" collision, when catcher Eric Riseman steamrolled 1B Al Nudler (who probably regrets coming out from behind the plate) as Al came in for a short pop fly. Have any others? Let's hear them. Original Spinners on current roster- John Bodi, Jeff Fuller, Brian Harrington, Gary Royal, Larry Zupkosky. Other members of the Original Spinners roster included Player/Coach Paul Carey, Greg Bohenko, Randy Boyd, Bill Fay, Gerry Hennessey, Jim Lamy, John Noyes, Bruce O'Leary, Mike Ratchford, Dave Peterson, and Ken Teal. Others that wore the Spinners black and gold- Matt Dolan and Mark Urlage. Dave Chirokas, did you? Final record that inaugural 1997 year was 9-15. That included 2 forfeits. First win in team history came on Friday, May 30, against Parents Market (how many of you can name their current sponsor?). First loss came on Tuesday, May 6, against Exxon (again, who can name the current sponsor?). Some team history: Paul Carey looked at the large number of people in the draft and offered to expand a 7 team league to 8 teams as long as he could take some friends and relatives (who can name the relative?). The other teams at the time included Knights, Drews, Healy Oil, Westford Custom Floors, Exxon, Parents Market, and KFO (for Kevin F. O'Brien, believe it was an accounting firm). This should be your hint for the questions above, as each of these teams still exists in one form or another, although only 2 of the sponsors are still the same. First playoff appearance came in our sophomore season, after posting a 12-12 record during the 1998 regular season. This included a 5 game winning streak to end the season to climb back to a .500 record. From the draft, Manager Paul Carey stayed with M's- Mark Urlage, Matt Dolan, and Mark Kolenko. Most notable occurrence during this season (at least from this writer's perspective) was a 2 HR outburst by SS John Bodi against Exxon (returning from missing the month of July with a broken thumb; showing an early ability to cause games to get postponed when I couldn't play, this was only 3 games), followed by another HR in the first Spinners playoff game ever, a 10-5 win over KFO. You haven't seen one since- which says a lot about the golf lessons that they give over at Stow Acres. Spinners went on to take the opening series from KFO, 2 games to 1. Drews Farms was the next opponent, and the entire league was shocked when Spinners won the first game 8-7. After losing the next 2 games, the Spinners squad shocked again when they took the fourth game in extra innings. Drews eventually pulled out the fifth and deciding game (10-7) to end the Spinners run through their inaugural playoff journey. 1999 saw Spinners record continue to improve, finishing the regular season at 13-11, the first year that saw the team finish with a record over .500. But a 7-5 loss to the Mustangs in the third game of the first round showed the squad to an early exit in the playoffs. 2000 saw a new sponsor. Now playing in purple (ok, EGGPLANT) as Sports on the Common, the squad finished at 12-12. Another early exit from the playoffs came at the hands of a 2 game Willis Tent sweep. The current squad started to take shape in 2001. The team's first legitimate power threat since Bill Fay (Tim Schutt) was added to the lineup. Of course, a One-Pitch Tournament appearance in which we gave up 15 runs in one inning, only to be followed by giving up 17 in the next, almost saw Tim go home in tears. Good thing Willis was there with some beer to keep him interested. Then, showing the managerial prowess that causes us to love him and the rest of the league to hate him, Larry Z pulled off a mid-season draft move that added Tom Coffey to the line-up. With Jim Lamy leaving the team, Larry felt a need to add a player to the roster who could only hit the ball within 10 feet of the LF line. But this time, he added one with some power and who was a defensive force. In our first year as Z's, the squad finished 19-5, posting their first regular season title in team history. 2002 saw the addition of more power with the arrival of Jerry Cressman. An 18-6 record produced the squad's second consecutive regular season title and earned the team a first round bye, only to fall to the Mustangs in the second round. The inaugural Z's Open Golf Tournament was also held August of 2002, with the Schutt/Dolan/Bohenko team taking the title. Matt Dolan was crowned sand-bagger of the tournament. 2003 was to Westford Softball fans as 2004 was to Red Sox fans. A loss to Drews in the One-Pitch tournament (which they won) preceded a fourth place finish with a 13-11 record. Z's then started their historic run in the play-offs. Healy Oil was defeated in the first round, 2 games to 1. The second round saw Z's defeat Drews 3 games to 1. The finals against Marios was almost anti-climatic after the upset of Drews, as a 3 game sweep gave Z's Sports Shop their first league title ever. 2004 was even better. Tri-champs! For the first time,(and maybe last, with the demise of the one-pitch tournament), Z's won every title the league has to offer: the One Pitch, Regular Season (the team's third in four years), and Play Offs. Possibly causing the end of the One-Pitch was the appearance of Bohenko/Bodi/Schutt in Willis green, all playing key roles in Willis' defeat of Drews, then switching back to Orange and Black to defeat Willis for the title. Turning point of the season? Many would point to the low point of the confrontation between Manager Z and Greg Bohenko, which led to the first and only trade in the history of Z's. Bohenko was shipped to Mario's Restaurant for a player to be named (MUCH) later. 2005 produced a tie with the Mustangs at the top of the standings with a 20-4 record. This was the fourth time in five years that Z's finished atop the league standings, creating the kind of legacy only seen from Drew's squads of past. Once again, Larry Z showed his managerial prowess by winning a coin flip that crowned the team league champs. After a first round bye, the team was knocked out of the playoffs by a red hot Healy Oil squad in 3 straight games (after going 4-0 against them during the regular season). Healy's went on the win the playoff title, beating Drews in 3 straight as well and not losing a game in the entire tournament. 2005 was most notable as the year of the experimental rule changes. Mid-way through the year, in an attempt to get players more at bats, the league lengthened the games from 7 to 9 innings. In addition, players were limited to 3 balls and 2 strikes per at bat. Because of the league's tampering with the basic tenets of the game, the Kangaroo Court suspended (possibly for the first time in league history) the strike out = a case rule. Emphasizing his disdain for the rule, SS Bodi led off the first game played with the rule changes by fouling out for the only time in his career. The strike out rule was reinstated at the start of the 2006 season only after the league returned the game to its natural 7 innings. Now if we can only get umpires to stop drawing boxes behind home plate and claiming that such represents the strike zone. 2006? No new draftees. An undefeated and historically rainy May. A runaway Kangaroo Court. Beyond that, ?

Derek- you are up. Who's got the dry ice to cool the beverages quickly in case Derek lives up to his standard? And no "this is how the English drink it" lines. Food factor- High. Early game on a Wednesday means a lot of guys coming directly from work without eating a nutritious dinner. Oh wait, look at us, forget the nutritious part of the dinner. Kid factor- Medium. Early game, but a school night. Girlie Drink factor- High. E is in, JB hopes to show up after coaching (and if things go as they have been, he will need several), and one of the leaders of the girlie drink faction is on beverage duty. Pressure factor- Low. Expectations are low to begin with, and the Beer Wench has not started to write his review columns yet.