White Horse Hurdles High Voltage

 

New Lenox, IL - With a win under their belt in the opening round of the playoffs, High Voltage set to go deeper in the playoffs with a match against White Horse on Tuesday night.  It was a picture perfect late October evening with a game time temperature of 79 degrees.  Soon to be retiring WGN weatherman, Tom Skilling, was on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch and to provide the game time temps before hightailing it out for the 10PM broadcast. The game changed on the first at-bat as Cap'n Jack legged out a double to open the game but he injured his quadricep muscle and was gimpy the remainder of the evening and held out on defense. Koz knocked in the pinch runner Jamaica to put the Volts on the board first. Pratl would later knock in Stapes on a SAC fly with Jeff following with an RBI double to plate Sutes who had previously doubled. With the Volts up 3-0 after a half inning, White Horse scored with their top four batters to take the lead 4-3 after an inning. The Volts went scoreless in the second inning while W.H. tacked on another four runs, all powered again by the top of the order. White Horse led the game 8-3 after two innings. High Voltage stormed back with six runs to take a 9-8 lead. Stapes scored Koz on a double and would score on a Sutes single. Jeff hit a long triple off the fence to score Sutes.  Zlogar singled in Jeff on a double and would score on a Jamaica single up the middle. The Volts held White Horse scoreless to hold the lead 9-8 after three innings but could not score themselves in the visiting half of the fourth inning.  W.H. answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning on a Bling Schwarber homerun to lead 11-9 after four innings. The Volts came back with a leadoff homerun by Sutes and a Noah two-run dinger to score Jeff  to take a 12-11 lead heading into the home half of the fifth.  White Horse batted around in the fifth to score seven runs and take an 18-12 lead going into the sixth inning.  In one of the strangest plays of the year, Dylan scored from second base on a Koz SAC fly while Jack, who originally ran three quarters of the way to second, went back and tagged up and tried to advance to second as the ball from the outfield was cutoff by the pitcher.  Circus music played as Jack got in a pickle and was eventually put out 9-4-1-6-3-4-3 on the perfectly executed rundown and thus ending the inning and the scoring for the remainder of the season.  White Horse was blanked in the bottom of the sixth inning while the Volts went down quietly in the seventh to lose 18-13 at the hands of White Horse for the second time in the 2023 playoffs with an earlier summer loss.  The Volts finish the fall season with a 4-6 record and failed to advance to the finals, where they are looking to play in The Show for the first time ever.  

Notables:

Off The Bus - We snuck up on Mike and Deb on our way in.  Problem is that someone must have been shaking our cameraman, Roy Charles, as this is not one of his better efforts.  Maybe the kid sitting at the table needs a job.

 

Just To Piss Him Off - Jack has been badgering the New Lenox Zoning Commission for several years now, trying to get his name plate on the closest spot to the fields at the Den.  Jack has also been badgering the zoning commission to place a Do Not Park sign in the area where the grey Toyota is parked.  The same area that has faded stripes to prevent folks from parking there.  Jack even went so far as talking to the N.L. Chief of Police so that he could get deputized to arrest offenders of the parking spot.  That dog ain't hunting Jack.

High Voltage - Thank you again gentlemen for your generous gift last Tuesday evening!  Totally unexpected, and humbling.

Sunshine and Balloons - Things were looking sunny this past Sunday as nearly every member of the team attended batting/fielding practice.  Oddly, in two simulated games, H.V. lost both times to White Horse.

Five Saves - The net is credited for saving Richard Blatzo's life five times during Sunday practice.  No sane person should be pitching without a net.  Hats off to all of those who play that position.

Shag Me Baby - Everyone on the team heads to retrieve the balls that were sprinkled throughout the yard.....except one.  Koz nearly put out a window with a house job.  Sutes hit a ball that landed in the center field screen in less than 2 seconds and was rising like a frisbee when it collided with the fixture.

Picture Perfect - This is where memories are made folks.  Thank you to Mike Pratl for providing a box of Munchkins and Box O Joe.  The Box O Joe in and of itself, was a chore for the good folks at Dunkin to fill properly.  We hear that they got it right by the third or fourth try.

Coffee Break - The boys take some time out from practice to take a coffee break.  Rumor has it that next year, the team is going to add a water cooler to the final Sunday practice of the season.

The Woods - If any of you ever wondered what the view looks like from the woods in back of the third base line, today is your lucky day.

Ringers - Brew Jays brought out a few ringers to help pick up the championship trophy and 75 bucks that goes along with it.  Tumbo McBarrel pitched for the Jays on Tuesday night.  This is quite a physique.  It's as if he may have been a re-dressed inflatable Halloween pumpkin on legs who can pitch. Hat off to you Jays, like your inflatable pitcher, you BLOW.

Cash Kath - Why is Kathy filling the fine jar for Ken?  I didn't see Kath hit any popups this year.  Maybe someone can introduce the bucket to Ryno, who seems to have amnesia when it comes to knowing what the bucket looks like or stands for.  It would only be fitting if a Ryno popup would crash down on the bucket and send the proceeds into the wind.

Speaking Of..... - Ryno stretches out his legs before the game.  Maybe if Jack would have joined Ry, he wouldn't have pulled a quad on the game's first batted ball.  Incidentally, Ryno was probably no further than 10 feet from the bucket on this picture.

Captain Quad - Another segway. This one to the injured Cap'n Jack. Sparky is seen here after reporting to Lauren II that his quad was shot.  Jack has claimed that he had a great practice on Sunday and felt great on Monday for the Blues surprise playoff victory.  He even said that he warmed up fine on Tuesday and felt great.  We are here to point out that Jack had some issues on Sunday that may have led to the Tuesday demise.  

Photo Finish - We'll go four-bagger with the art of the segway.  Koz is seen here narrowly beating Jeff on the wire to claim the Fastest Man on the MB/Gnats/Volts for the second year in as many running's. Koz got out to a quick lead and extended, but Jeff came on late to narrow the gap and almost nip Koz at the wire.  As far as what led to Jack's demise, as well as his placing in the race, click here.

One Man Gang - Doesn't seem like one man can make a team but the third baseman for WH was the difference maker in Tuesday's match.  The Kyle Schwarber lookalike accounted for half of his teams offense while easily robbing HV a half-dozen runs on defense.  Tip of the cap to the dude.  Buried here so nobody will ever remember, Blow Jays beat White Horse 12-1 in the championship game. 

They Came To Play - The crowd was certainly big, rowdy, and loud enough to support the Volts. Rest your vocal chords crew, you've had a noisy year.

Packing It Up - For the second week in a row, the Volts joined the crowd to thank all for the support in 2023.  Rumor has it that one or two of the Volt players were hitting fans up for a collection to bridge the gap of the Ryno fine.  Mission not accomplished.

Friendly Advice - Another pic of family and friends providing love for the Volt players.  The girls broke down the team in sections to offer post game critique of Tuesday's play.  Among the advice was; "Catch more balls. Get more hits". 

Game Faces - Or in this case, backs. Our photographer, Helena Keller, does not have a credential to gain access to the field during the games, so back and side shots are the only possibility.  God forbid if she had to walk to the other side of the field where the other team's fans sit.  Never underrate the crowd, they are here thick and thin.

On Second Thought - Jack is seen here begging Jeff to have another race when the Cap'n has two legs again in a few weeks.  The ploy didn't work as Jeff responded; "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name".

Getting Ridiculous - Jack is now claiming that he was shot with a dart in the leg by a guy behind the trees in the grassy knoll. 

Something Good - Fist bumps go around for something good that just happened in the outfield.  Z interjected by making a pitch to Koz and Stapes for Zlokozelton. Hey, maybe.