WHYBL Travel and Summer League Scores

 Travel Scores

12U70 Rebels -   Ripken Iron Man Experience

August 7th

Boyertown PA 8, West Hartford 5

August 6th

West Hartford 8, MOJO Baseball 7

West Hartford 4, Martha’s Vineyard 0

August 5th

West Hartford 7, NY Hurricanes 2

West Hartford 13, Western Mass Storm 8

11U Bandits  - New England Regional Champions

Cal Ripken New England Regional Finals

August 8th

The West Hartford 11U Bandits took both ends of an evening doubleheader to win the Cal Ripken New England Regional Championship Thursday night and make West Hartford Youth Baseball history.  The Cardiac Kids beat host West Warwick, Rhode Island 3-2 in the front half and then allowed their fans to rest easy by cruising to a 10-0 victory in the title clinching game.

In the first game, the Bandits jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Tim Cotter singled to score Gabe Salomons who had singled and advanced to second on a ground out.  In the bottom half of the inning West Warwick was active and scored two runs to take a 2-1 lead and had a third runner tagged out at home to end the inning.

The 2-1 score held until the top of the fourth inning when the Bandits loaded the bases with one out.  Ryan Farley scored Will Layden, who had singled earlier in the inning, on a fielder’s choice, but unfortunately that was the only run the Bandits could produce and the score was locked at 2-2.

In the top of the fifth, the Bandits loaded the bases with none out and Will Layden singled home the go ahead run, but again the team was unable to produce a big inning and left West Warwick six outs to tie or win the game.  In the bottom of the fifth, the host team nearly did just that.  The second batter to the plate hit a one-out double and then one batter later the West Warick batter hit a hard line drive to deep center.  Gabe Salomons made an outstanding jumping catch on the run that preserved the Bandits lead and left the host team just three outs.

In the bottom of the sixth it was white knuckle time again for Bandits fans, but player of the game Jack Livingstone continued his sensational performance on the mound, and set down all three batters he faced to keep the Bandits dream alive.  Livingstone pitched all six innings for West Hartford, allowing only three hits.

In the second game of the double header the Bandits relied on their pitching ace Griffin Van Rye to bring the championship home and he didn’t disappoint.  Van Rye pitched four scoreless innings, allowing only two hits while striking out six.

On the other side of the ball, the Bandits offense finally woke up in the second game and came through with clutch hits.  The scoring started in the bottom of the second inning when Matt Lazor picked a perfect time to blast the first homerun of his career to give the Bandits a 1-0 lead.  In the bottom of the second the Bandits added another with some station-to-station baseball.  Andrew Gingold got things started with a walk.  Then Jay Falvey walked, and Ryan Farley grounded into a fielder’s choice that advanced Gingold to third.  Gabe Salomons then hit a sacrifice fly that scored Gingold to give the Bandits a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third the pace really picked up.  With one out Tim Cotter hit his fifth homerun of the tournament to produce a 3-0 lead.  Next Griffin Van Rye and Jack Livingstone singled, and Will Layden walked to load the bases.  One batter later, with two outs, Jay Falvey continued his hitting tear, cracking a double that cleared the bases and increased the lead to 6-0.  Falvey also reached third on a throw home and after Ryan Farley was hit by a pitch and stole second, Gabe Salomons came up and hit a single that scored both Falvey and Farley.  Salomons was able to take third on an errant throw home and then ended up scoring when the throw to third went into left field, leaving the score 9-0.

Coming up in the bottom of the fourth, the Bandits needed a single run to invoke the mercy rule and win the championship.  As fate would have it, player of the game Tim Cotter led off the inning with the chance to produce a fitting ending to his prolific hitting performance at the tournament.  On a 3-1 pitch Cotter launched a ball high into the night only to have it drop down straight onto the yellow tubing on the top of the fence and bounce out of the field to give the Bandits the Cal Ripken New England Championship and start the celebration.

August 7th

West Hartford 5, Stoughton MA 4

The Cardiac Kids struck again on Wednesday night as the 11U Bandits came back from a 4-0 deficit to eliminate Stoughton, MA 5-4 and advance to the Cal Ripken Regional Championship.

The Bandits got into in early hole when Stoughton scored three runs in the bottom of the first, and another in the bottom of the second to take a 4-0 lead.  On the other side of the ball, the Bandits were facing a dominant pitcher in Stoughton’s Evan Gibb who struck out all nine batters that he faced while he pitched in the first, second, and fourth innings. 

Gibb was only eligible for three innings however, and in the third Stoughton brought out a replacement pitcher in the top of the third and the Bandits bats came alive.  With two outs on the board Ryan Farley walked, followed by a single from Gabe Salomons and a double from Matt Lazor that scored the Bandits first run.  Up next was Tim Cotter, owner of three tournament homerun pins already.  Inexplicably, Stoughton decided to pitch to Cotter and paid the price as Cotter nailed a 1-1 pitch over the wall to tie the game at 4-4.

The game was quiet until the top of the fifth when Jay Falvey started things off with a single.  Gabe Salomons followed with a single one batter later to put the runner in scoring position.  One batter later, with two outs, Tim Cotter came up again and delivered a single that brought Falvey home to give the Bandits a 5-4 lead.

From that point on it was white knuckle time for the Bandits players and fans once again with six outs left for Stoughton.  Tim Cotter was on the mound, coming in to pitch in relief part way through the bottom of the second inning and had shut down Stoughton through the bottom of the fourth.  Cotter struck out three of the four batters that he faced in the bottom of the fifth to leave Stoughton with three outs left to change their fate as the Bandits were unable to add to their lead in the top of the sixth.

In the bottom of the sixth with one out, a Stoughton batter singled with one out.  Two batters later, down to their last out, another Stoughton batter singled to produce runners on first and second for Evan Gibb who, in addition to his pitching dominance, finished second to Tim Cotter in the homerun derby.  With the winning run on first, the battle of heavyweights between Cotter and Gibb was intense, with Gibb producing long ball swings that just missed connecting and on a 2-2 count Cotter blew a fastball past Gibb to end the game and begin the Bandit celebration.

Cotter was named player of the game for pitching four and two-thirds shutout innings with six strikeouts and four defensive assists, and for his two hit, four RBI performance at the plate.

The Bandits will be back in action Thursday against host West Warwick, Rhode Island for the Ripken Regional Championship.  The first game is at 5:00 PM, weather permitting, and a Bandits win will force a double header game starting at 8:00 PM – winner take all

August 6th

West Hartford 10, Massachusetts 8

The West Hartford 11U Bandits advanced again in the Cal Ripken Regional Tournament on Tuesday night with another dramatic win against Arlington, MA.  Just three days after the initial game with Arlington, the Bandits had a rematch with the team that fought back from an 11-0 deficit only to lose in extra innings. 

The Bandits opened the scoring in the bottom of the first.  Jay Falvey got things started with a single, was advanced when Tim Cotter was hit by a pitch, went to third on a passed ball, and scored on a ground out by Griffin Van Rye to give the Bandits a 1-0 edge.  Arlington struck right back in the bottom of the inning however, scoring three runs to grab a 3-1 lead.  

The Bandits scored another run in the bottom of the second to close the gap to 3-2 when Andrew Gingold singled, advanced to third when Ryan Farley reached on an error, and scored on a groundout by Matt Lazor.  Arlington kept their offense rolling in the top of the third though, scoring another three runs to increase their lead to 6-2.

In the bottom of the third Tim Cotter hit a solo shot to close the gap to 6-3 and the scored stayed the same until the top of the fifth when an Arlington player hit a two-run home run to increase their lead to 8-3.  

With just six outs remaining, the Bandits body language appeared to go south as they walked off the field in the middle of the fifth.  The game appeared even more desperate a few minutes later when the Bandits had two outs with Griffin Van Rye on second and Jack Livingstone on first, but this is when the momentum began to change.  Will Layden singled to load the bases, followed by Andrew Gingold singling home a Bandits run.  Next Ryan Farley reached on a fielding error that scored another run and Matt Lazor followed doubling home another two.  Gabe Salomons then also reached on an error that scored a run to knot the score at 8-8 at the end of five.

In the top of the sixth Jack Livingstone was on the mound and helped produce the Bandits second three-up-three-down inning of the game at the most critical time, giving the Bandits the opportunity to steal the game in the bottom half of the inning.  Arlington walked Tim Cotter to start the bottom half and then promptly changed pitchers.  On the new pitcher's very first pitch Griffin Van Rye crushed the ball over the wall to give the cardiac kids the win in a game that seemed out of reach just fifteen minutes earlier.  Van Rye was named player of the game for his walk-off heroics.

August 5th

West Hartford 13, Stratham NH 3

The West Hartford 11U Bandits advanced in the Cal Ripken Regional Tournament on Monday night with a strong and efficient 13-3 victory over Stratham, New Hampshire.

The game was tight early on, with no runs scoring in the first inning.  In the bottom of the second inning, the Bandits opened the scoring.  Jack Livingstone walked to open the inning, advanced to second on a passed ball, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Andrew “Crab” Gingold, and scored on a bunt single from Ryan Farley.  In the top of the third Stratham answered however, scoring two runs to take a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the third inning, the Bandits started to make their move.  Matt Lazor opened things up with a walk, followed a Gabe Salomons single, and a Jay Falvey walk to load the bases.  In the next at bat, Tim Cotter crushed a 1-1 pitch over the wall that changed the game and gave the Bandits a 5-2 lead.  The Bandits scored one more in the frame as Griffin Van Rye, would had reached on an error and advanced to second on a walk to Jack Livingstone, was singled home by Ryan Farley.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Bandits padded their lead.  Matt Lazor got things going with a walk, followed by a double by Gabe Salomons, and a walk to Jay Falvey.  Tim Cotter then ripped a single down the left field line that scored Lazor and Salomons.  One batter later, Jack Livingstone reached on a fielding error, followed by Will Layden singling Falvey home.  Next Chase Rancourt hit a hard fly ball to center that scored Tim Cotter on a tag up to increase the lead to 10-3.

In the bottom of the fifth, Matt Lazor once again got things rolling with a single.  One batter later Jay Falvey walked, followed by Tim Cotter reaching on a error that scored Lazor.  Griffin Van Rye then singled home Falvey and Jack Livingstone hit a walk-off single to score Cotter and complete a five inning 13-3 mercy-rule victory.

Griffin Van Rye was named player of the game for a strong pitching effort – going all five innings and allowing only three runs.  Van Rye helped himself out plenty, showing great composure in registering six put-outs on the mound.  Tim Cotter was the unofficial offensive player of the game registering two hits including a grand slam, seven RBI, and three runs scored.

August 4th

West Warwick RI 5, West Hartford 2

August 3rd

West Hartford 12, Arlington MA 11

The 11U Bandits opened up their Cal Ripken Tournament in West Warwick, Rhode Island Saturday with a heart-stopping 12-11 extra innings victory over Arlington, MA.

The Bandits appeared in control early. The scoring started in the first inn...ing when Jack Livingstone cracked a line drive down the right field line scoring Gabe Salomons and Will Layden who had each singled earlier in the inning.

In the top of the second inning the Bandits increased their advantage. Ryan Farley led off with a single and then was doubled home by Matt Lazor. Next Gabe Salomons produced a ground ball that scored Lazor, who had advanced to third on a wild pitch. Will Layden followed with a walk and Tim Cotter - the skills competition homerun champ - belted a homer to right field to score them both. Griffin Van Rye and Andrew Gingold both singled after Cotter, and then Jay Falvey singled Van Rye home to complete the scoring in the inning with the Bandits ahead 7-0.

In the top of the third inning the Bandits kept the offense rolling. Tim Cotter singled home Will Layden who had reached earlier in the inning. Next Griffin Van Rye and Jack Livingstone both reached on errors by Arlington to load the bases. Chase Rancourt came up next and hit a clutch single to score Cotter. Jay Falvey and Ryan Farley then followed with singles of their own to bring home two more runs and increase the lead to 11-0.

All the while, Griffin Van Rye had been outstanding on the mound, shutting down Arlington for the first three innings. But in the fourth, Van Rye began to tire and was relieved with the bases loaded and one out. Arlington walked home a run, but then struck out to bring the Bandits within one out of clinching a mercy rule victory with the score 11-1. Arlington refused to cooperate however, and the next batter doubled to clear the bases. The next three batters walked to load the bases and score one more run, and then an error allowed two more runs to score to reduce the lead to 11-7.

The Bandits now had a feisty opponent on their hands with renewed confidence. Arlington produced three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to get within a single run at 11-10. The Bandits bats had gone cold in the meantime as they had failed to score in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. Arlington came up in the bottom of the sixth with a last chance to tie or win the game, and with one out an Arlington hitter crunched a 3-1 pitch over the wall to tie the game. The next two batters singled before Gabe Salomons came in to pitch. Salomons was able to induce a pop out from Arlington's clean up hitter and strike out the next hitter to end the inning and give the Bandits renewed life.

In the top of the seventh, Jay Falvey doubled with one out to put the winning run in scoring position. Falvey then reached third on a wild pitch and then scored when a throwing error sent the ball into left field. The run set the stage for the dramatic bottom half of the inning. Arlington's first batter walked and then was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. The next batter walked and the two runners were advanced on another sacrifice bunt. With two outs and runners on second and third, the Bandits attempted an intentional walk to load the bases. The third pitch was overthrown however, and the Arlington runner sprinted towards home in a last ditch attempt to tie the game. Only a perfectly executed underhand toss and tag would catch the speedy runner, and fortunately for the Bandits that's exactly what Jay Falvey and Gabe Salomons produced to end the game.

Jay Falvey was named player of the game for his three hits, game winning run scored, game clinching underhand toss, and overall stellar play behind the plate where he blocked countless balls in the dirt to keep the Bandits in the game. It was a great overall team effort by the Bandits though. The team played solid defense, produced a prolific offensive performance, and was able to stay in the game mentally when they struggled to throw strikes and weren't getting any help from the umpire in a marathon game that lasted more than three and a half hours.

Skills competition:

Home Run Derby - Tim Cotter (1st place)
Road Runner Relay - Gabe Salomons, Matt Lazor, Ryan Farley (1st place)
Team Competition - West Hartford (2nd place)

10U Bulldogs – Duquette Tournament

August 3rd

West Hartford 20, Wayland 1

West Hartford 10, Western Mass Storm 0

August 4th

West Hartford 5, Westfield 4

Rockaway 3, West Hartford 0

Summer League Scores

August 7th

Cardinals 10, Orioles 7 – Cardinals win Summer League Championship

In a Battle for the West Hartford Youth Summer League Baseball Championship The 3rd seeded Orioles hosted the 4th seeded Cardinals.  The Cardinals got off to a quick start with 2 outs in the 1st inning when Josh Wolmer homered to deep right center field off Orioles Pitcher Drew Wendorff to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.  It was the only run Wendorff gave up in his 2 innings.

In the bottom of the 2nd the Orioles struck back with 2 runs scored by Connor Olechna and Scott LaBranch.  It was the only 2 runs given up in 3 innings by Cardinals starter and winning pitcher Ben Foxman.

In the top of the third the Cardinals broke the game open with runs scored by Jimmy Gaston, Jonathan Pedraza, Daniel Gallagher, Edward Salerno and Connor Smith.  The key hit was a 2 run bases loaded single by Wolmer.

In the 4th inning the Cardinals struck with 3 more runs scored by Dylan Errico, Jon Carlos Colon and Xaviel Amarat. 

In the top of the 5th the Cardinals pushed one more run across the plate scored by Salerno to give the Cardinals a 10-2 lead. The Orioles fought back with 5 runs in the bottom of the 5th with runs scored by Olechna, LaBranch, Ryan Lafferty, Braden Flowers and Alex Jakubowski to close the gap to 10-7 heading to the 6th. 

The Cardinals put 2 men on base in the top of the 6th but were held scoreless. The Cardinals brought in their closer Michael Costello to save the game. The Orioles managed a triple but Costello shut the door and the Cardinals were Summer League Champs. This is the 2nd straight Summer League Championship for Head Coach Chuck Nicklas.

Tigers 14, Pirates 5 – Consolation Game

After one inning of play the Tigers took a 4-2 lead, both teams added to their totals in the second, 2 for the Tigers and 1 for the Pirates.  In the third inning the Tigers added 4 more runs and held the Pirates scoreless for the next two innings.  In the 5th the Tigers pushed 4 more across while limiting the Pirates to 2 runs in their last two innings.

The Giants were led offensively by Dylan Jackson (double), Brandon Barnett (double) and Michael Majewski (double).

The Tigers offense was powered by Tommy Dowd 4-5 (three singles and a double)  Zander Boehm 4-4 (triple, double and two singles), Devan Mahoney 3-4 (three singles) and Luke Bronson (single).

The Tigers pitching was anchored by Brady Tober 3 innings, Devin Mahoney 2 innings and Zander Boehm 1 Inning.

Pitching:

Tigers – Zander Boehm 1 Inning, Brady Tober 3 Innings; Devin Mahoney 2 Innings;

Pirates – Dylan Jackson 3 innings;  Andrew Mazzatto 3 innings

August 6th

Orioles 15, Tigers 4

There was a moment during last night’s 15-4 Orioles semi-final victory over the #2 seeded Tigers—a moment just before the start of the 6th inning, in fact--where things felt just a little bit tense for Oriole fans. 

Sure, the Orioles had been in command of the game ever since a four-run top of the third inning pushed their early two run advantage out to a little-bit-more-comfortable 6-0 lead; and yes, the pitching so far had been fabulous, beginning with Drew Wendorff’s no runs, no hits, four strikeout opening innings, and followed by Ryan Lafferty’s 1 run, 2 hit, middle-inning performance; and, of course, the defense had been spectacular—from the way the outfielders were consistently hitting their assigned cut-off men, to third-baseman Brennen Ravenberg’s third-inning, rally-defusing, forty yard dash, run-down put-out, to shortstop Drew Wendorff’s line-drive double-play at second base; and certainly, the evening itself—with temperatures that were hovering somewhere right around a gently-considered 75 degrees or so, and the two elevated sides of the baseball diamond filled to happy capacity with grandparents and dogs on long leashes and dirty-faced, skinned-kneed little brothers and sisters running up-and-down the hills after butterflies and foul balls—was so beautiful that the idea, for an Oriole fan, at least, that this game, so clearly meant to be enjoyed, rather than fretted over, could, in any way, be spoiled had, thus far, seemed impossible..

But still, for all that, something a little bit uneasy, something a little bit anxious, something a little bit—what?—motivating, perhaps? had suddenly introduced itself so rudely into an evening at the park that had, until that point, been moving along so swimmingly:

And so, as the Orioles’ first-three hitters began to collect bats and hitting gloves and slightly oversized helmets before making their way out to the on-deck circle, half-swinging and half-considering vague thoughts of long home runs and wild post-home run celebrations; as the other Orioles began to mill around the dug-out clapping and laughing and arguing over lost hats and half-chewed gum; as the players from the teams playing in the night’s second semi-final game finished their long-toss and extra-batting practices and assembled along the fence on the left-field side just in time to add not just an extra little charge of weighty, eye-balls-are-watching-me excitement to the proceedings but to also offer their own thumb-nail observations about pitching staff, right-handed hitting stances and the wonder of their being too many non-proverbial ducks on Wolcott Park’s non-proverbial, and slightly sinister-looking, left-field pond, you could almost hear the most vexing questions:   
Hadn’t the Tigers—hadn’t the #2 seeded home-team, six-win Tigers; the Tigers who, all the way back in game two of the season, had not just defeated our Orioles by a more-than-comfortable 12-2 count here at Wolcott Park, but also hit an early-inning, grand slam home run that travelled so far and so fast over the left-centerfield fence the ball had had to be escorted to a semi-secret landing-strip by navy fighter jets who were concerned the ball itself, flying at that speed, was a potential terrorist threat—hadn’t those Tigers just scored two runs in the 5th and threatened, with two on and only one out, to score more?  Weren’t the Tigers 3-4-5 hitters due up in the bottom of the 6th? Weren’t they, all three of them, the kind of fierce hitters and deftly aggressive baserunners capable of starting a rally which could easily erase, for good, in the case, our favorite visitor-side Orioles all-too-precarious, it suddenly seemed, 8-3 lead? Wasn’t the top of our order, including #2 hitter Ariel Caplan, who homered yesterday and who was already 1-2 with a walk and run scored today, and #3 hitter Drew Wendorff, who in his second at-bat had doubled in a run and in his third at-bat had hit an inside the park, two run homerun, still a full six batters away?  Weren’t there only three outs in an inning? And didn’t 6-3=3 which meant, oh my gosh, it had all been—all of this fun, all of this weather, all of this good feeling, all of this happiness, all of THESE EIGHTS RUNS—for naught?
And so how did the Orioles respond?  What did the Orioles do, now that the Tigers pitcher had finished his last warm-up tosses and the Tigers catcher had thrown his coming-down strike to the shortstop covering second base? 

The Orioles did what they have done all season: they sent up the bottom part of the order—beginning with #8 hitter Braden Flowers (0-1, 1 run, 1 walk, 1 HBP)—to the plate and began building the sixth inning rally that would put away the Tigers for good and deliver the Orioles, who started the season losing their first two games by a combined score of 30-4, into Wednesday night’s championship game against the #4 seeded Cardinals.

And so first up in the sixth it was Braden Flowers, who draw a walk—thus pushing his OBP well over .600 for the season—and advanced to second on a passed ball.  Then it was #9 hitter Alex Jakubowski’s (1-1, 1 run, 1 RBI) who singled, scoring Braden from second.  Then it was a single from # 11 hitter Greg Olechna—his second of the game—which scored Jakubowski.  Then it was #12 hitter Charlie Krajc  (1-2, 1 run, 1 walk) whose single helped set up #13 hitter Drew LaCasse’s (1-2, 2 runs, 1 RBI) run-scoring fielder’s choice.
Then we were back to the top of the order—a top of the order, the first four hitters, I mean, who went a combined 8-14, with 7 runs scored and 8 RBIs—where a single by lead-off hitter Brennen Ravenberg (2-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI) led to a two-run double by #2 hitter Ariel Caplan (2-3, 2 runs, 3 RBIs), a run-scoring double by Wendorff (3-4, 3 runs, 2 2Bs, 1 HR, 4 RBI’s), and then another  run-scoring double by #4 hitter Luke Hache (1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI) which drove in the last of the 7 runs scored in the inning—7 runs which gave the Orioles the comfortable 15-3 lead they were looking for, and, once pitcher Connor Olechna finished off the Tigers in the bottom of the sixth—helped in part by more spectacular defense—this time it was pitcher-turned-late-inning-shortstop Wendorff who wheeled with his cut-off throw from just past the deepest edge of the shortstop-side of the infield, and then fired a strike to catcher Scott LaBranch in order to cut down the inning’s lead-off hitter at the plate for the first out of the inning—set Oriole fans and players alike to a long night of quiet dreaming about Wednesday night’s championship game. 

Orioles pitchers: Drew Wendorff (2ip), Ryan Lafferty(2ip), Connor Olechna(2ip)

August 5th

Orioles 13, A’s 12

This, then, was the end: bottom of the 6th inning, the visiting A’s up 12-11, first round of the playoffs, and the homestanding Orioles, the team that has provided their faithful cadre of fans with so many thrills and chills this season, were down to their final two outs of the season.

Worse, the Orioles #2 hitter Ariel Caplan, who had earlier launched a first inning home run so far over the left-field fence that it is rumored to have landed in the famous, possibly Loch-ness-monster-possessed Wolcott Park pond, had just strided, colossus-like, to the plate for his let’s-lead-off-the-6th-inning-with-a-big-hit at-bat, confidently taken the measure of the A’s pitcher, and, first-pitch-hitting, lined a ball as hard as it you could possibly hope to line a ball just to the right of A’s shortstop and star of the game Bailey Nemirow, who, swiftly and with the grace and deftness of an early Ozzie Smith, snagged the screaming drive from out of the air for the all-important first out of the inning. 

And so, how is it possible, you have no doubt asked yourself several times this morning, over your ice-coffee and heaping bowl of locally-grown blue-berries; how is it possible, you have said to yourself while shaking your heads over the memory of last night’s endlessly exciting, slightly mad-cap first round playoff match-up; how is it possible, you’ve muttered to yourself and then chuckled disbelieving as you snap off the second half-hour of the Ripa-and-Strahana hijinks and good-natured, insouciant frivolity that you just can’t seem to focus on; how is it possible, you wonder again, that the Orioles—already down a run and with one out already gone in the bottom half of the last inning—still managed, somehow, to come from behind for the third time in the game, win 13-12 and advance into Tuesday evenings semi-final against the #2 seeded Tigers?

But then again, you remind yourself, it was just the kind of thrilling, see-sawing kind of playoff-opening game that one has come to expect from Summer League baseball.

Remember the first inning?  Sure, the A’s led off the game with a single and a run-scoring double, but then the Orioles, behind Caplan’s monstrous no-out, two-run, pond-bond home run to left-center, answered in the bottom of the inning with the five runs that seemed to promise the kind of easy stroll into the semi-final that you, dear friend—your newspaper folded neatly under your arm as you unfolded your orange baseball-watching chair—were hoping for.

But not so quick, my friend: because soon there were early-to-mid-inning pitching-and-hitting heroics of A’s left-handed pitcher-shortstop-and-#3 hitter Bailey Nemirow (2-3, 2 runs, 4 RBIs), who not only held the Oriole batters to 1 run on 2 hits during his dazzling 2nd through 4th inning pitching performance, but also capped the A’s third-inning first-of-two five-run rallies with his own one-out, two-run way-over-the-right-field-scoreboard home run.   

Now, suddenly, the A’s were winning 6-5 after three, and 7-6 after four.  Hmmm. 
But not to worry, my Oriole-loving friends: because in the fifth inning, the Orioles, still only down 7-6 after a masterful two-inning pitching performance from first-time-pitcher Connor Olechna (2 IP, 1 run, 1 hit, 4 Ks), were, in the words of Sarah McLaughlin, building a rally of their own.  This time, though—as they have done so often in games-past, they were building their rally with the bottom half of their order.  There were runs scored by Ryan Lafferty, Braden Flowers, Alex Jakubowski, Connor Lafferty and Greg Olechna, and key RBI singles from #12 hitter Charlie Krajc (1-2), whose run-scoring line-drive over the first baseman’s head gave the Orioles a two-run cushion, and from lead-off hitter Brennen Ravenberg (1-2, 1 run), whose sharp single to left-center ended the inning and gave the Orioles the kind of comfortable-seeming 11-7 lead they would need to cruise through the 6th and into Tuesday night’s semi-final match-up with  the two-seeded Tigers.  

Excellent.  11-7.  6th inning.  Game in hand.  Onto the Tigers. 

Certainly not, my friend (and can you picture here my little spat of good natured, if slightly British-and-so-clearly-condescending, guffawing here?), because the A’s, not to be outdone by the Orioles, surged back ahead again in the top of 6th.  Jiminy-crickey! How? How did they do it?
 
Using patience, speed, crafty base-running and timely hitting—Nemirow notched two more RBI’s with a no out single, and then eventually scored the game-tying run—the A’s scored, seemingly done-and-out for good, scored five runs in the top of the 6th and would have almost certainly scored more if it hadn’t been for the relief pitching heroics of rightfielder-second-basemen Alex Jakubowski.
 
Enter the Sandman, you turn and say to the friend next to you, and you, sir, would be correct for having done so.
 
And so Jakubowski, pitching for the first time since the opening week of the season, made the long, slow jog in from rightfield, coolly took the ball from manager, quietly assessed the gravity of the one-out-and-runners-on first-and-second situation, promptly walked the bases-loaded, calmly shook off the sometimes suffocating pressures that all of our giddy playoff hopes, dreams and expectations can create, and then proceeded, with all the late-game class and skill of a young Mariano Rivera, to strike out the last two batters of the inning…

And so it was 12-11 going into the bottom of the 6th.  And you, having forgotten completely about your newspaper, remembered to move your canvas chair just a little basketball-court-ward for good luck.

But then, improbably, there was the bad luck of Ariel Caplan’s (1-3, 1 run) lead-off line-drive out—and such, we all thought to ourselves, is the beautiful cruelty of baseball: you can hit the ball as well and as hard as any ball can possibly be hit, and it still can end up as an out. 

Still, it was only one out—and when the next hitter, #3 hitter Drew Wendorff (3-3, 2 runs) singled hard to centerfield, Hope once again peaked her impish little lavender eyes out from behind all the dark clouds of the sports-side-disappointments which had gathered in the last half-hour over the first-base side of the field (despite the best efforts of the mid-6th inning bum-first rally-dancing of a large-handful of Orioles players).  Then Wendorff’s single was followed with the kind of unexpectedly slow rolling groundball from #4 hitter Luke Hache (0-2, 2 runs) that allowed Wendorff to advance to third and Hache to advance to second.  Suddenly, with #5 hitter Connor Olechna (1-2, 1 run) coming to the plate, things started looking undeniably sunny for the rally-cap wearing Orioles and their cadre of faithful, high-fiving, quasi-superstitious fans among which you count yourself a charter member.  And then, when Olechna, first-ball hitting single scored Wendorff from third and tied the game, the game landed squarely in the lap of Orioles catcher-and-#6-hitter Scott LaBranch (1-3, 1 RBI).

It was well past 7:15 at this point, and with Hache on third and Olechna, eventually, on second, it didn’t seem to matter to any of us—least of all to LaBranch—that the sun had long disappeared behind the unseen mall in the distance or that the all of us were on the edges of our literal or figurative seats, fingers-crossed, chairs moved to the best of all possible lucky places or that there was a bench full of rally cap wearing teammates desperately hoping for a single or that LaBranch himself, just for the drama of it all, had dug himself a two-strike hole.

He was up there to hit.  And so LaBranch took the called strike two, coolly considered things by stepping out of the batter’s box, idly adjusted his gloves, nodded ever-so-slightly at some passing thought, stepped even more coolly back into the batter’s box, ritualistically tapped the plate with the fat-end of his bat, and, eyes glued to the spinning laces of the A’s pitcher’s 1-2 pitch,  delivered the run-scoring, line-drive single to center that finally, at long last, and after much sturm und drang, advanced the Orioles to Tuesday night’s semi-final game…

Orioles Pitching:
Drew Wendorff (2IP), Ryan Lafferty (1IP), Connor Olechna (2IP), Luke Hache (1IP), Alex Jakubowski (1IP)

Home Runs:

Orioles: Ariel Caplan

A's: Bailey Nemirow

July 31st

Orioles 18, Giants 2

Friends, correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it was the immortal punk-rap-rock artist/cultural critic Adam Yauch—known affectionately to us West Hartford Summer League baseball fans as M.C.A.—who, while lounging away the last of another late July afternoon poolside at Kennedy Park, once said, “well,” in a voice (no doubt) heavy with the first fleeting glimpses of regret, “with the end of the Summer League regular season there arrives, inevitably, the first chilly inklings of fall….” And although there is no known record of the late Cary Grant’s response to such a guruing sentiment as the one offered by Mr. Yauch---and perhaps that’s because Mr. Grant was too busy frantically searching his Docksiders for the quarters necessary to buy himself the 3 p.m. Slurpee he so dearly loved or because he was too deeply distracted by that particular day’s heated game of Frisbee golf being hotly contested by park-staff and park-kids alike out there on the sweltering side of the gently sloping red-tennis-court-heading hill just beyond the two fenced-in pools—the truth of Mr. Yauch’s statement has never been as apparent as it was during the Orioles 18-2 Wednesday night end-of-the-regular-season Eisenhower Field defeat of the visiting Giants. 
 
Now, wait a minute, you’ll say, and, of course, I will hasten, politely, to agree: yes, absolutely, it’s true: everywhere you looked last night, across the entirety (almost) of Eisenhower Park, summer still seemed to hold a definite kind of sway.  There was the calendar itself—still July, the last time we checked (but only just barely, dear friends) —and so there were still plenty of happy little conversation to be had and laughed over about vacations still to be taken, beach houses still to be arrived at, sites still to be seen, and long, child-full car-rides still to be “cheerfully” endured.  And there was the baseball itself—both here at venerable old Eisenhower park and in the form of the cheering we heard coming from the unseen Legion-level game at Hall High—and not just the games themselves, but, as early arriving Oriole fans will (no doubt) be quick to point out, there was even a whole conclave of Oriole coaches gathered by the batting-cage in the still summery pre-game sun, money-balling the evening’s batting order, obsessively arithmetic-ing the various playoff possibilities, and even trotting out the thick Chicago brogues and the studied nonchalance necessary to half-mimic, for amusement and a convivial kind of summer scorn, the salty post-Bond Sean Connorys and young Ray Liotta of our movie-watching, wholly star-struck youth.
 
And there were the families, too, in shorts and in t-shirts and in long summery skirts; there were aunts and cousins; there were mothers and fathers; there were proud grandparents and camp counselors who’d walked over with friends to support their favorite day-campers; and there were the scores of well-fed, popsicle-stained younger brothers and sisters be-bopping tirelessly between field-side bleachers-chairs-and-blankets and the (not one but) two Eisenhower Park playscapes, both of which—the Playscapes, I mean—affording maximum good climbing possibilities while also providing a whole host of let’s-pretend-there’s-a-dragon-in-the-cave or this-is-a-castle-let’s-assault-it-from-the-ground-and-make-it-ours storymaking.
 
There was even a picnic, a full-fledged one—our first of the year, if memory serves—set up unassumedly and with a quiet, understated hopefulness on the lone diamond-side picnic table, which itself was situated comfortably beneath the last of the Great American Beech trees.
 
But there was something else, there, too, wasn’t there? Something announcing itself for the first time since the last of last July; something rattling its slow, gelid way across the vacant basketball courts and long fallow soccer fields of our souls; something arriving in the little unarticulated chill sensed unmistakably in the suddenly zephyrous-feeling wind; something feeling very much like the ghost of old Abe Vagoda—the one not so much of the Godfather fame (“Mikey, for old time’s sake? Hmm?) but more of Fish and Barney Miller post-life ; something that could be heard in the silence descending field-ward from the closed-Eisenhower park pool; something in the way in which all the bleacher-side conversation kept returning, inevitably, to talk of class schedules and teacher assignments, to books and to dirty looks, to new Principals and old Deans of Discipline, to homework and overly-stressful morning “routines” and to—perish the thought—football….
 
But fortunately for us, there was a game to distract our attentions.  And what a game it was, especially for those who prefer the gently sonorous melodies of tree-topped Orioles to the grand fee-fie-foo-fum-ing of the Giants and their sky-rising bean-stalks...
 
And so let’s begin, then, friends, with the pitching, which once again, as it has in all of their six victories this season, proved to be a source of great and very vital strength for the Orioles.  And so, last evening, behind the collective efforts of Drew Wendorff (3 IP) and Ryan Lafferty (1 IP), the Orioles were able to hold a Giant team, who just two weeks ago had defeated the Orioles by scoring ten runs on thirteen well-placed and powerful hits, to just two runs on two scattered hits.
 
And then there was the Orioles’ offense, which again featured the top-to-bottom contributions of the entire lineup, including multiple hit games by Luke Hache (2-3), Scott LaBranch (2-2), and Jack Navin (2-2), multiple RBI games from Drew Wendorff (1-2, 2 RBIs) and Braden Flowers (1-1, 2 walks, 2 RBIs), multiple runs-scored performances by Brennan Ravenberg (0-1, 2 walks, 2 runs), Ariel Caplan (0-1, 1 walk, 1 HBP, 2 runs), and Connor Olechna (1-2, 3 runs), and expert, head-up baserunning from Charlie Krajc (0-1, 1 walk, 1 run) and Drew LaCasse (0-1, 1 walk, 1 run).
 
But it is perhaps the Orioles fielding that has, over the course of the long Summer league season, improved most noticeably.  And so last evening, it was catcher Scott LaBranch’s, second-basemen Alex Jakubowski and shortstop Ariel Caplan’s time to take their turn on the stage: it was LaBranch who threw out a runner attempting steal third in the first inning, Jakubowski who made a tough play and a great throw on a third-inning grounder from second, and Ariel Caplan who was able to expertly lay the tag on a runner attempting to stretch a 4th inning single into a one-out double and thereby paving the way for pitcher Ryan Lafferty close out the defensive portion of the game with his second strike out of the inning.
 
The Giants pitchers were Thomas Miller (1 IP), Finn McHugh (1 IP), Michael Neff (1 IP), and Brian Chelli (1 IP).
 
And so it is, friends, the end of another Summer League season, one marked by sultry weather, a half-week’s-worth of rain and October-like chills, and a kind of beautifully inconsistent up-and-down roller-coasting from all six teams competing for league fun and domination.  And now, to the playoffs, which start Monday.  Please join us, Oriole fans.  Or, to put it another—and to borrow the words of Detroit Red Wing and Hartford Whaler hockey great Gordie Howe: be there or be hexagonal!!!!!

Tigers 4, Cardinals 2