Heavy Metal Softball

Team Shows Signs Of Strength -- More Stamina Needed! 

First, as always, I want to thank all of the players who represented Heavy Metal Softball this weekend for their effort, help, and cooperation in making our second tournament of the year a somewhat successful effort -- in the sense that we were very competitive against some roughly comparable teams.  Here are some final tournament statistics for those who actually visit our website and are truly interested in such things.  I would like to state here again that unlike previous seasons a couple of years ago -- when I published an extensive summary of each tournament regardless of the outcome -- I will only do so if we achieve playoff status or have a winning record, with just a bare-bones tournament rundown for those events of little distinction.  So, without further adieu, I present some facts from this particular contest:

Slugfest Super 7 Series, Tournament #2 Summary --

Tournament Record:  1-3 (made playoffs)
                                1st game:  Won 16-11 vs. Dead Weight
                                2nd game:  Lost 7-9 vs. It's All Good
                                3rd game:  Lost 1-21 vs. Bad Boyz
                                4th game:  Lost 8-13 vs. Whazz Up  

Team Statistics (alphabetically):

Donny Aguiar -- 6 for 11; .545 BA; 21 points.
Vern Amaro -- 4 for 12; .333 BA; 12 points.
Rich Avery -- 3 for 14; .214 BA; 16 points.
Wes Avery -- 10 for 14; .714 BA; 25 points.
Lucio Cobos -- 9 for 11; .818 BA; 33 points.
Brian Hollingshead -- 3 for 12; .250 BA; 7 points.
Paul Lawrence -- 2 for 8; .250 BA; 15 points.
Mike Lujan -- 5 for 14; .357 BA; 11 points.
Devin Stafford -- 1 for 10; .100 BA; 10 points.
Steve Stafford -- 5 for 13; .385 BA; 16 points.
Mike Vanaalst -- 8 for 12; .667 BA; 33 points.

Team Batting Average:  .427 (56 for 131; we averaged 8.0 runs/game for the whole tournament.  We need to definitely improve our team batting average, as this current one won't win games, much less tournaments....)

Tournament MVP:  Lucio "Bubba" Cobos (33 points -- Sizzlin' Stick award!)

Manager's Award:  I would like to take this time now to recognize a few other players who shined just as brightly this weekend with their contributions to the team:  Donny Aguiar, Wes Avery, and Mike Vanaalst. Their stats above speak for themselves, but their consistency throughout the tournament is what I noticed most and appreciated greatly -- here's a "hats-off" to all three of you!  

2009 Season Statistics (alphabetically; all players):

Donny Aguiar -- 12 for 21; .571 BA; 47 points (2 tournaments)
Vern Amaro -- 9 for 21; .429 BA; 29 points (2 tournaments)
Rich Avery -- 7 for 24; .292 BA; 41 points (2 tournaments)
Wes Avery -- 14 for 26; .538 BA; 37 points (2 tournaments)
Lucio Cobos -- 14 for 20; .700 BA; 49 points (2 tournaments)
Lee Garcia -- 4 for 9; .444 BA; 10 points (1 tournament)
Gene Hitt -- 2 for 9; .222 BA; 8 points (1 tournament)
Brian Hollingshead -- 5 for 21; .238 BA; 13 points (2 tournaments)
Paul Lawrence -- 4 for 18; .222 BA; 25 points (2 tournaments)
Mike Lujan -- 10 for 25; .400 BA; 26 points (2 tournaments)
Lencho Martinez -- 3 for 8; .375 BA; 13 points (1 tournament)
Devin Stafford -- 1 for 10; .100 BA; 10 points (1 tournament)
Steve Stafford -- 11 for 23; .478 BA; 40 points (2 tournaments)
Mike Vanaalst -- 8 for 12; .667 BA; 33 points (1 tournament) 

Year-End Award Progress:  Lucio "Bubba" Cobos has now taken the lead in the race for the Batting Champions: Metal Men perpetual award bat, based on his two-tournament batting average of .700 -- but Mike Vanaalst is close behind during this 2009 tournament tour with single tournament batting average of .667 (Donny Aguiar is third with a two-tournament batting average of .571). Please remember -- just in case everyone forgets -- a player must have played in a minimum of 5 tournaments to earn this recognition, which is something to think about when I ask everyone next time if they want to play some more ball in an upcoming tournament....

And, once again, that's all, folks!!!