New Lenox, IL - Heading into Tuesday's action, the Gnaturals had fate in their own hands as a win versus the Demons would assure the team of their first regular season title in its existence. Some of the tension was taken away in the preceding game as Ivy League knocked off the Brew Jays 19 -16 in an oddly ending game which will be discussed in the Noteables section. That didn't stop the Gnaturals from taking care of their own business as they held the Demons scoreless in the first inning while throwing up a nine spot to lead 9-0. The Demons were resilient as they put a combination of clean hits and Gnat miscues together to plate nine runs to tie the game at 9 heading into the bottom of the second inning. The Gnats answered back with 14 runs to pull ahead 23-9 after two innings and break the spirit of the Demons. Each team tacked on a run in the third inning to continue the 14 run margin. The Demons went quietly in the fourth inning to allow Matt Sutor the opportunity to lead off the inning with a long home run to left field to end the game at 25-10 on mercy rule. The win puts the Gnaturals at 7-1 on the regular season and in sole possession of first place heading into the playoffs next week. With the win, the Gnats secure a 6:30PM game next Tuesday against the Demons in what will be their third match of the 2022 Fall season. Come on out to the ballpark next week for Let's Beat These Guys and Get the Heck Out of Hear Night.
Noteables:
Pre Game - The Gnats all showed up for class early on Tuesday and had to wait out the Ivy/Brew Jay game. Not sure who showed up first, Arik or Jack, as they were both there when our reporters showed up for duty.
Spotless - Zlogar took the win as the starting pitcher last night and pushed his record to 3-0 for the Fall Season. Z helped his own cause by going 3-for-3 with 5 RBI's on the night while clubbing a first inning home run.
Fan Appreciation Night - The chilly weather was no deterrent to the Gnats faithful . A "big" crowd was on hand Tuesday night to watch the Gnaturals end the regular season in 1st place.
Tough Commute - Ump Lovey was on hand for the second week in a row. It's not easy coaching the winless Texans and commuting back and forth to New Lenox on Tuesdays to oversee Softball Night In America but Lovey is up to the task. With that coaching record in Houston, Lovey may have more time to attend softball games in the future.
29 Again - Happy Birthday to Deb Pratl who enjoyed her special evening by taking in a Gnats game. Deb was treated to a gift by her son Mike when he went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBI's. Deb is flanked by Kathy Schoenhofen and Louise Belcher as they celebrated the birthday and subsequent Gnat win.
Kerfuffle - The Ivy vs Brew Jays game ended quite strangely. With Ivy leading 19-16 in the top of the 7th inning and two outs and two Brew Jay runners on base, the Jays were out of home runs on the night as they had reached the quota of three. That is when a Jay hit a long drive to right that was misplayed by an Ivy fielder, the ball tipped his glove and flew over the fence for what would be a tie score on the "four base error". Salesman Uncle Gary convinced Lovey that the ball hit the Balderman Screen and then the right fielder's glove thus making it the 4th Brew Jay home run and final out of the game. That's the easy call that gets Lovey "outta there" and that's the call he went with as everyone else at the Lion's Den saw the ball hit the right fielder's glove and then fly over for a home run. Moot point in the standings as the Jays would end up finishing in second place either way with the Gnat win.
Yabba Dabba Dooooo! - To help the efforts of Z in 2023, there are three openings for Commissioner in next April's local election. Zlogar has the endorsement of the Gazette so if you are serious, our people will pound the streets with you to get the requisite number of petitions signed. Related to this story, the Gazette was contacted by Cap'n Jack to see if he could get our endorsement if he were to throw his hat into the Park District Commissioner's race. The Gazette declined as it fears that all future New Lenox Park District logos would be replaced by Braves or Patriots designs.
Z Fuel - It was pointed out by Koz that Recreation Supervisor for New Lenox Community Park District Keith lives in Romeoville as his LinkedIn account attests. Of course the NLCPD supervisor lives in another town.
11th Man - The ominous Orb showed up again at The Lions Den for Tuesdays ballgame. Seen here just over the head and to Dylan's left. The Demons complained to Ump Lovey that the Gnaturals had too many players on the field but Lovey would not take the Orb into consideration. Do that at your own risk Lovey. Btw, the Orb did not make any errors in the shortened four inning game. The Orb took the roster spot formerly owned by Reverend Dave.
Tori Scorey - If the scorebook looks a little neater toward the later part of the 2nd inning, thank our apprentice official scorer Tori Koz for classing up the place.
Tough as Nails - You don't spend gobs of money to have your nails done up and help keep score without getting some pub in the Gazette. Tori, we'd plug your preferred place of manicure but they are not official sponsors of the Gazette. The Nail Job is the sole manicurist of this publication.
Two Out - Stapes letting Zlogar know that either there's two outs OR he found two more signatures for the Park District petition to get on the ballot.
The Best Holiday - This picture was taken on the way to the game on Tuesday by staff photographer Chuckie Ghoul. The house is on the north side of Joliet Highway just east of Cedar Road so if you are passing by, show some love for these folks who decked out their property for the festive Halloween season.
One-Fifth Less - Uncle Gary heading to the dugout as Ivy took on the Brew Jays Tuesday night. Everyone's favorite uncle has dropped 50 pounds since the start of the Spring league. Hats of to Uncle Gary!
Skid Mark - In one of the more interesting plays of the night, the Demons had runners on 1st and 2nd base. Demon batter hit a ball to Suter who had to charge in for it. Sutes did not have many choices so he threw across his body, and the runner, to Ken at third. A stunned Ken could not reach the ball and it bounced off the dugout wall. Ken still in disbelief, stood on third with his hand and glove on his knees while the ball sat idly for a few seconds and the runner on third ran home. Jeff, who was surely covering 2nd base for a potential force out, hustled all the way from his position to the third base dugout to slide 20 feet and secure the ball before any further damage could be done on the base path. Gazette has two tough questions: 1. Ken, what happened there after the ball whizzed by third?
2. Ryno, where were you on that play?
Take That! - Move over Jeff and Matt, Mr. Sutes has something to say about that fancy stash contest with an entry of his own. Looks like the dad's need one more guy to even the score. Who's next?
Two in a Row - Two weeks straight that the outfield scoreboard works. This shot is particularly sweet as it documents the 25-10 Gnats win over the Demons on Tuesday night. Is Ken officially off the hook for wiring up the original scoreboard in the early 2000's? Team vote...
The Yanks Are Coming - While we're on the subject of shilling for out of town teams, look what is hanging again at the Sutor Estates. Playoffs start this Friday so got to support your team. Last thing on the Yankees..........Dear Television Networks, you've been more successful in preventing Aaron Judge from hitting home runs than opposing pitchers. Once you started cutting in to televise every Judge at bat, he's gone cold. Knock it off and report the story after it happens and stop putting so much pressure on the player to provide a news story for your sorry ass networks. Regards, Gazette Baseball Expert, Slappy Buntwell.
How Do You Like Your Thirty Now - The Gazette offered the team a $5 kicker into the fine jar if the Gnats would score 30 runs and win the game. With the score at 23-9 in the second inning, Arik With An A came over to this reporter and said "Pay up Mr. Koz, we're getting to 30 tonight easy" of which he was reminded; "You have to score 30 runs and win" to which Arik's reply was "we have 23 now, we're getting to 30 easy". Well...............................this is why you all should not bet other than the occasional five or ten here and there. The sports gods are interesting to say the least. The Gnats scored no more runs in the second, only one run in the third. Meanwhile, the Demons stopped scoring so the slaughter rule after four innings is 15, which ended the game at 25-10 when Sutes blasted that homerun over the fence to lead off the 4th inning.
Turd of the Week - You think it would be easy to take four final scores from one of the three nights that softball is played in New Lenox, and record them on the park district web site for all to see. That is unless The New Lenox Park District is the entity involved. As of Tuesday, October 4th, the league standings do not include week 7 action. New Lenox Park District, you are the turd of the week.
No Retraction - The rumor of the NLCPD becoming the turd of the week lit a fire under those clowns as two weeks of delinquent work were brushed under the carpet to update the final standings. Take a good look boys. Who's on top!!!
Miner 49 - All fines but one were paid off this week. Ryno carries a one dollar fine into Tuesday's fines, which are as follows:
Koz 1 for failing to run out the ball when he was sprawled on the ground from catching a spike on the grate. PAID
Stapes 1- Pop out to right field in 3rd inning
Sutor 1- Solo home run to win the game PAID
Arik 1- Little league pop up double to right in 1st inning that fielder misplayed
Jeff 1- Pop out to third in 1st inning
Ken 1- A self-policing ownership of sending Jeff on catch by Tubby Lumpkins to get doubled off of first base in the 3rd inning
Foster 2 +1(3) - Pop out SAC fly in 2nd inning. Pop out to SS in 3rd inning.
Koz still has three dollars left in the bank.
Family Stuff - Jeff, Ken, and Jack take a picture to commemorate the long road of going from a winless team to the heights of a 7-1 regular season.
Family Stuff II - Jake is really getting into this hug by sister Tori, who is happy to see big brother win with the Gnats.
Doink - Here's a more in depth look at the individual contributions that led to the team victory.
Jack - 3/4 with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI's. Jack's night featured a lead off little league home run that will go down in the books as an inside-the-park variety.
Jake - 3/4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI's. The grate incident cost Koz a 4/4 evening as he had a clean hit to left before getting a spike caught in the insurance liability.
Stapes - 2/3 with 3 runs scored, 2 RBI's and a walk. No drama for Stapes tonight as it took longer to recant his golf trip than to play this game.
Sutes - 4/4 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI's. At one point, Sutes was bitching because the team had hit two home runs and none of them were his. Matt ended the game in walkoff slaughter style with a leadoff solo homerun in the 4th inning to "feel better".
Pratl - 3/3 with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI's. Mike has the distinction of following up the Thunder Show and has handled the challenge quite well. Pratl is also the only guy who has paid his fines entirely with quarters. Thanks for making the bucket o cash a lot heavier than it needs to be.
Arik - 2/2 with 3 runs scored, 3 RBI's and a walk. Arik recorded a triple that would have been a more legit inside-the-parker than Cap'n Jack's except he made a weird 90 degree turn at second base to slow him down, and then was stopped by third base coach Ry as the infielder for the Demons mishandled the cutoff throw. Arik has wheels and is the third fastest Gnat as was determined in a pre-season match.
Jamaica - 0/1 with 1 run scored, an RBI and 2 walks. Dylan was back to walkin' on Tuesday night and will easily decimate the single-season walk total when Jacky Stats puts together the end of season recap.
Zlogar - 3/3 with 2 runs and a team high 5 RBI's. Z started off his night in grand fashion with a first inning two-run home run to left field.
Jeff - 1/3 with a run and an RBI. The Artist took part in two interesting plays. First being doubled off of first base while running for Ken when the first base coach, Ken, sent the plucky 2nd baseman on an infield pop over the head of Tubby Lumpkins that was in fact caught when it looked hopeless. See "Skid Mark" for the second interesting play. Noted that with the two outs on his own and being doubled off as Ken, Jeff made 33% of the outs on Tuesday. You are lucky the park district has our attention this week Mr. Artist. Jeff is the second fasted Gnatural.
Ken - 2/2 with 2 runs scored and a walk. Ken has a solid evening at that plate, which is more than we can say on his efforts as a base coach.
Foster - 1/2 with 1 run scored and 3 RBI's. Ryno hit a two-run 1st inning homerun and immediately likened himself to Barry Bonds. We'll have to check the books on that Ry. Mr. Foster finished the game on the hill and was not issued a save due to the lopsided nature of the score when he entered as pitcher.
Congratulation to the Gnaturals for a great regular season and all-time high 7 win mark. Good luck in the playoffs!!!
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