New Lenox, IL - The temperature was sweltering at the Lions Den last night and so was the action as High Voltage took on Ivy League in a battle for sole possession of first place in the Tuesday Night Fall league after just two weeks of play. The visiting Volts scored three runs in the top of the 1st inning on singles by Jack and Jake, followed by a Sutes two RBI double. Zlogar knocked in the run with a single of his own. Ivy did their best impression of High Voltage by scoring ten runs in their half of the first inning to take a 10-3 lead after one frame. The volts scored a run in the 2nd inning when Jack drove in Jeff on a fielders choice. The score held up with Ivy League leading 10-4 after two innings. The Volts scored three runs in the 3rd inning. The first came on a Stapes solo homerun that dingged off the top of the fence. Sutor followed with a double and scored on a Zlogar RBI triple. Z would score one batter later on a Pratl RBI single. Ivy plated two runs in the bottom of the inning for a 12-7 lead with the Volts chipping away slowly but surely. High Voltage continued the rally in the 4th with a Foster walk and Jack single, followed by a Koz two RBI triple. Stapes RBI single scored Koz, and the former would score three batters later on a Pratl RBI fielders choice. With the score at Ivy 12-11 heading into the bottom of the 4th, things looked hopeful until Ivy threw down for nine runs to run up the score to 21-11 after 4 innings. The barrage did not stop the feisty Volts as they put up seven of their own runs, all after two outs, to close the gap to 21-18. Ken and Jack scored on a Stapes two RBI single. Sutes followed that up with a three run blast that looked higher than longer, but the warm air did not put a dent in the shot deep into the right-center field trees. Zlogar continued the inning with a single, and the inning was capped off with a two run homerun by Pratl. The obnoxious Ivy League bench suddenly sounded like crickets when they were held scoreless in their half of the inning as the Volts put themselves in position to complete the rally with time winding down on the clock to start the 6th inning. Unfortunately, the Volts went out quietly in four batters to go down to Ivy League 21-18 in a thriller. Ivy League is the solo leader in the Tuesday division while the Volts are in a four-way tie for second place with the Daytona Turtles bringing up the rear. Next week's game is on August 29th at 6:30 PM versus the Turtles. Come on out to the ballpark for what the forecast calls for an 84 degree high temperature with a 40% chance of rain. This is the fall season so no matter how hot and dry it seems, rainouts happen and the fans will be standing in freezing temps in November cheering on the hometown crew.
Notables:
Wedding Banns - Congratulations to Liz and Mike on their recent engagement. Not sure how long they have been together but apparently Miguel survived the trial period and is one thing that Liz has decided to keep.
What's the Chance? - Given that Zlogar will go the way of the married man soon, only four current Volts remain untaken. Gazette wedding advisor and now prognosticator, The Reverend Dave, has made Matt Sutor the -110 favorite to be the next Volt to get married. Ryno is a tepid 2nd choice at +400 while Jeff and Pratl bring up the rear at +2,000. Hey Cupid!
Adieu, Bon Voyage - While we are on the non-baseball subject, let us continue. Tori Anne is heading to Europe later this week to begin her Masters program at The American College of the Mediterranean. These two Live Wires are seen at the Lincoln-way Area Business Woman's Organization scholarship award ceremony earlier this summer. The Gazette (and your mom & dad) congratulate and wish you the best of health, happiness, and success as you embark on the year-long journey in Europe. Go make your dreams come true!
About Time - Hit this picture at full size to find out what each said yesterday when they finally got whacked. Hey, print it out too while you are at it so you can draw mustaches on these two clowns.
No Surprise - Not so long ago it was easy to take natural crowd shots but not these days. The Live Wires are always aware of their surroundings (and the camera) as they pose for this opportunity. Notice the mini bottles of prosecco in their hands as they fight off dehydration while watching the contest against Ivy League. Oh, and they probably celebrated the engagement of Liz and Mike. Is Mack smiling because she read the latest odds on the next proposal OR because she hadn't read it yet?
In Our Defense - The boys take the field in the first inning against Ivy League with a 3-0 lead. The defense has had better nights in the outfield. The infield was like the surface of Mars again, which made all groundballs difficult to corral. A 21-18 loss to Ivy is tough to take for the moment but playing sub-par defense as a team and losing by only 3 runs is encouraging because the team of old likely would have been run-ruled right out a game like this in the past.
Not Again - After having quite a bit of success lately making the 25 foot throw into the home dugout, Ken missed everything early and often. He is seen here taking the walk of shame to kick the ball into the dugout after missing the toss after warmups were complete.
No He Didn't - He did. Ken missed two balls into the dugout in the same inning. This one had to be chased down by Grump Wendelstedt, the umpire of the evening. Grump did not appreciate having to walk the 15 feet to retrieve the ball into the dugout and let Ken know it by shooting him a glance in the process. The ump was quoted after the game; "geez, it's the third game and I had not moved fifteen feet all night and I had to go that far to remove a ball from the field? Come On Man!".
Crowd-ed - Everyone gathers after the game to discuss softball in tropical conditions. Ken wears his fake park district yellows as he pets Argus, while the real park district guy combs the infield for signs of moisture in the Martian surface.
Tough Loss - Jack left the field without saying goodbye, bringing his wife home, or grabbing the Official "Oversized" Scorebook. Here's the unhappy totals:
Jack - 2/5, 3 Runs, 1 RBI
Koz - 3/4, 3 Runs, 2 RBI
Stapes - 3/4, 3 Runs, 4 RBI
Sutes - 4/4, 3 Runs, 5 RBI
Zlogs - 3/4, 3 Runs, 2 RBI
Pratl - 2/4, 1 Run, 4 RBI
Jamaica - 1/4
Jeff - 1/3, 1 Run, 1 BB
Ken - 3/4, 1 Run
Foster - 0/3, 1 Run, 1 BB
Contrary to prevailing opinion, High Voltage only left five men on base in yesterday's contest. One each in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th innings. Oddly, Ivy League left five men on base; one in each of the five innings they came to the plate.
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