New Lenox, IL - The game was not pretty but in the end High Voltage came away with an 11-8 victory over White Horse (formerly The Scrappers). The game started ominously when Jamaica struck out to lead off the game, and High Voltage scoring a season low one run in the top half of the first inning. White Horse came out hitting as the first five batters got on base, culminating in a Keating home run but only led 4-1 because of an earlier WH runner getting gunned down at the plate on a Koz-Sutes-Zlogar 9-6-2 putout. That would be the first of two firehoses from Sutor....more on that later. The next two batters flew out with the Volts trailing 4-1. The second inning was more customary of what the fans expect as Jack and Arik led off the inning with singles to set up a Jeff force out RBI. After a Ken single, Ryno hit the first of his two homeruns with a three run shot to left center field. Volts added another run on a Stapes SAC fly for a temporary 6-4 lead. White Horse scored two in the bottom of the 2nd on the strength of a couple of infield hits and a bloop single to tie the game at six apiece. Both teams went scoreless in the third inning, and the Volts went scoreless back-to-back for only the second time this season. Francesco Mozzarella led off the fourth for WH with a seeing bloop single to short left field. Mozzarella scored on a triple from Spesia, but the latter was thrown out at home on a Jamaica-Sutes-Zlogar 8-6-2 putout. WH pushed another run across on an H. Lumpkins (Current 2022 Character of the Year and formerly known as Tubby Lumpkins) single to put White Horse ahead 8-6 after four innings. The bats woke up briefly in the fifth with a Koz leadoff triple followed by a Stapes RBI double and Sutes RBI single to knot the game up at 8-8. Ryno and the Volts held White Horse to zero runs in the final three innings while Ryno hit a homerun to knock in Arik and himself for a 10-8 lead. Volts added another insurance run in the 7th inning on a Sutes home run that landed in Minooka for a final score of 11-8. With the win and Alcoballic's loss to the Blow Jays, High Voltage stands in first place heading into a crucial double header on June 13th at 7:30PM against Alcoballic's and the nightcap against Blow Jays at 8:30PM. Tuesday is moving day in the standings as High Voltage squares up against two of the big players for top spot in the Tuesday New Lenox Men's Softball League.
Final scores for the evening of June 6th:
High Voltage 11 White Horse 8
Brew Jays 21 Alcoballic's 15
Sons of Pitches 4 Beggars Pizza 14
Sons of Pitches 15 Ivy League 24
Noteables:
Standings - High Voltage moved into first place by percentages points over the Brew Jays after the latter beat the Alcoballic's on Tuesday night. HV has a game in hand against the BJ's. Thank you to 4th grader Billy Lipshits for correcting the NLCPD standings with his red Crayola.
Mad Hatter - As you recall from last week, El Capitan rode a dirt wave all the way to home plate, which resulted in the picture on the left; a very dirty hat. The hat looked much better last night to the point that Gazette reporter Tide Sparkle asked Cap'n Jack; "who does the laundry?". Surprisingly, Jack put a portable vac near the hat and the dirt was so fine that it vacuumed away with ease. Well done Cap'n Homemaker! Not so well done New Lenox. Water down the infield!!!
Hat's Off - Da Coach, who was a notable in last week's edition, made it two weeks in a row. The game after the Volts vs White Horse featured a tussle between the Brew Jays and Alcoballic's in which #9 Coach hit an infield tapper and proceeded to hustle down the line in an attempt to beat out the throw, BUT not before grabbing his precious hat and running down the first base line clutching it like a winning lottery ticket. The ball was bobbled and thrown away, thus # Coach is seen here standing on second base, hat in place.
Time Stamp - Cap'n Jack runs a tight ship, we all know that. Apparently, the Cap'n is in talks with Rolex and Musk Industries as he's had microchips installed in each High Voltage player and scans them in as they appear to the field. Pictured is Sutes getting a scan of his right arm by the Cap'n to check into yesterday evening's game. Sutor was overheard; "Thanks Cap'n, now my GF wants to get one of these things so that I start being on time to social events".
Crowd - Yesterday was Bring a Lauren to the Ballpark and Get Free Admission Day. Kathy brought Gazette favorite, Lauren I, to the game and got her free ticked to the White Horse matchup. Later on in the evening, Cap'n Jack was seen at the ticket booth trying to get a couple dollars in cash for bringing Lauren II to the game. The complaints fell on deaf ears as Jack had to be escorted to the parking lot.
Incidentally, there are at least three Swifty's in this picture
Time and Temp - Jack beat everyone to the field by miles last night and still declared himself six minutes late. Very pleasant evening to play softball as the cloud cover allowed batters and infielders to see the ball without having to dodge the sun. The winds did kick up and started blowing inward, which resulted in a few high fly balls only making it to the warning track. Thank you to Palmer Beach for the time and temp for Tuesday's tilt.
Early Halloween - Jack meets up with a fellow tradesman before the game to discuss Halloween of all things. Number 38 on White Horse decided to dress up for tonight's game as none other than Billy Barta. Hey 38!, nobody knows who Barta is so dress like a real ballplayer........Uncle Gary.
Crimes Against Baseball -
WARNING: Watch this on a full sized monitor or smart TV. A smart phone will not give this justice.
WARNING II: What you see may be offensive to your baseball sensibilities. Arik With An A in the first inning. Forget telling the story. Take a look here and let the presentation do the talkin'
Crimes Committed Against
Baseball . Even the dog at the end barks out "Com on man".
Hats Off Again - During the 1st inning rundown, Ken yells to Zlogar "one throw!". Z did one better with the pickle by pump faking and making no throws. That's how you do. Well done Z!
Lauren's Corner - The Plucky One is doing quite well for herself. Lauren stopped at the game in between a Taylor Swift concert and a trip back home to the Northlands. She not only had enough dough to cover the concert, she found the money to fund this brand new tattoo. That is before she incurred the biggest expense of her trip, paying Jeff and Ken's kangaroo court fees. Geez guys, at least but the girl an ice cream. Never without words, Lauren was quoted after Ken blooped out to the catcher; "That's pathetic". Thanks again Lauren for taking one for the team and showing up for the game instead of packing it in and heading home early.
- Well, this was teased out at last night's ballgame in an attempt to sell more newspapers. Laurie and Dave Sutor are pictured heading to their customary seat near home plate. With a lifetime of likely being called Sutes and with this apparatus to help his bum wheel, Dave shall now be known as Scoots. Sorry Dave, we calls them likes we sees them.
- With a big game to play last night, Brew Jays took to the offensive by bolstering up their team with a few ringers. This dude in the shorty shorts, Randy "The Macho Man" Roid is seen laboring from his defensive position all the way to the dugout. Don't let the short of breath thing fool you, he was absolutely smashing the ball around last night. Pitch him high and deep boys.
Unpaid Fines - Thank you to all who paid their fines and late fees. Outstanding fines are Sutor $2, Pratl $2, and Ryno $4. Ryno, instead of throwing bats, throw a couple of bucks in the bucket to support your team.
Stapes has 8 in the bank.
Jamaica, a secret admirer picked up your dollar tab.
Update To Fines - Maybe the reason that the team only scored 11 runs is from the 15 easy outs the team handed to White Horse.
Here's the list of fines for the June 6th game against White Horse:
Dylan (1) - K in the first at bat
Koz (1) - Foul tip to H. Lumpkins in the 6th inning
Stapes (2) - Fly out in 2nd inning (yes it was a SAC fly), Fly out in 7th inning PAID
Zlogar (3) - Fly outs to left in 2nd and 5th inning and a pop out to shortstop in the 7th inning
Pratl (2) - Flyout in 1st inning and pop out to Mozzarella in 5th inning.
Jack (1) - K looking in 3rd inning
Arik (2) - Pop out to shortstop in 3rd inning and another to right fielder in 7th.
Ken (2) - Pop out to left field in 4th (much debate amongst players on that) pop out to Lumpkins in the 6th inning.
Foster (1) - Pop out to left field in 4th inning.
Here's the total money each player owe:
$1 - Dylan, Koz, Jack
$2 - Arik, Ken, Sutor
$3 - Zlogar
$4 - Pratl
$5 - Foster
Be Careful When You Meet Your Heroes - High Voltage took on White Horse and the winner of the Best Character Name of 2022, Tubby Lumpkins. Jake and Ken were so enthralled with the svelte part-time catcher that each of them popped up to him IN THE SAME INNING. Pratl tried to get in on the festivities but didn't realize that Lumpkins was not catching when he popped out to his favorite cheese. Three pop outs to the catcher in one game, Good Lord.
Behind Every Great Cap'n is ......... - Deb. Deb is seen here pre-game, barking out orders to Cap'n Jack as he furiously takes notes in the scorebook. All of the defensive assignments were doled out for the evening by Deb. The only disagreement that Team Deb (Deb and Jack) had was over who should bat last. Deb wanted her son Mike to bat last because he'd get less at bats err go less fines. Jack argued for Foster in the last spot because he "had a feeling" Ryno would hit two dingers if he batted last. Hey, let's see what the kids cook up for next week as High Voltage has its most important double-header to date lined up.
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