Playoff Week

We played 3 smashmouth games of ball this week and were ultimately eliminated 15-11 last evening at the hands of Mt. Calvary Black. Other scores during the week included a 13-8 loss to Mountville I and a 14-13 win over Mountville II.

It was an awesome season! While our team can't claim any divisional, league, or tournament championships, I've got to believe we're the most overall athletic team on the field. Any team who wants to challenge our guys to a combined time 5K in the offseason, bring it on!

Thanks to everyone, I had a blast this year! Special thanks to folks who filled in at the last minute when we were short guys...Danny, April, Nystrom, anyone I missed.

I'll see you guys at the Armstrong fields the first day temps hit 60 in March 2012.

Stay classy...xoxo, gossip girl

7/25/2011 - Double-header - Bainbridge game 1, Mountville II game 2

We won a pair last evening on a field that played in our favor. No outfield fence gave our speedy outfielders the luxury of tracking deep fly balls with no obstacles except each other. Long outfield grass let us turn singles into doubles and doubles into triples. 15-10 was the score in game 1, and 12-2 in game 2. We finished the regular season at .500, a decent accomplishment after a 2-9 start.

Playoffs start next week...yes we're talkin' 'bout playoffs.

6/18/2011 - Hershey Free

I missed this game but it sounds like a doozie. We won via 15-run rule with a final of 21-6. Not too many teams we can't beat with that kind of run production. We have one double-header left in regular season play, next Monday 7/25, against two division opponents. It's crowded in the middle of our division, we could finish as high as 3rd and as low as 6th, we'll see what happens...

7/9/2011 - DACSL Tournament

We went 2-3 in the annual tournament yesterday and were knocked out in the 2nd round of elimination with a 18-14 loss to Weaverland Mennonite. All-in-all, a good day of ball, lots of swings and fielding practice. Players with .500 or better OBP's for the day were:

Justin Weaver - .778 (12/16, 2 walks)
Lloyd Herr - .667 (6/9)
Tom Gish - .589 (9/16, 1 walk)
Dustin Ebersole - .579 (10/18, 1 walk)
Shane Miller - .556 (10/18)
Lance Nissley - .556 (5/9)
Kreg Hortnig - .500 (3/6)

We're coming down the home stretch with 3 season games left followed by playoff week in August.

7/6/2011 - Chestnut Hill

We lost a winnable game last evening to Chestnut Hill, 10-5. Tied 5-5 headed into the bottom of the 5th they tagged us with what proved to be the final 5 runs scored in the game.

The DACSL tournament starts at 8:00am Saturday at Governor's Stable Field (doesn't that sound swanky...afternoon activities include a gentleman's round of polo on the courthouse lawn followed by a pheasant hunt on the back 40 acres.)

Come out and support us...we're in the opening round bracket with the team who won this thing last year!

After a long stint on the DL...Doug came out ripping.

7/1/2011 - Calvary Bible

We lost this one 13-5 in a game that was closer than the score for the most-part. We were down 8-4 going into the 7th before the wheels came off. After our 3-run 1st we didn't put another run on the board until the 5th. Another DI opponent coming up on Wednesday, then the big tourney.

6/27/2011 - Bainbridge

We lost an exciting game to Bainbridge last night 8-6. We waited until the 6th to do all our scoring and took a 6-4 lead into the top of the 7th. One out away from the win, old man winter corked a pathetic single (he ended up on 3rd) behind second base - the start of our demise in this one. Special thanks to Nystrom, Danny, Jeffery, and April "the rally starter" for filling some open lineup holes in this game. DI opponent on Friday night at 7:00.

6/26/2011 - Game 1 - West Greentree, Game 2 - Alliance

It was a good old-fashion double-header on a sunny Sunday afternoon and simply put, our bats were on fire. We scored 35 runs in the two games and finished with a team batting average of .608 for the day. Both of these teams are decent DIII teams with .500 or better records even after today.

 First up was West Greentree. We got the win 13-3 playing all 7 innings. Hands-down highlight of the game was Dave Gish launching a triple in the gap during his first ever DACSL atbat...oh yeah, and he did it in a pair of New Balance tennis shoes.

Next up in the 4-oclocker was Alliance. We got another W with a score of 22-12. We scored 12 runs in the first 2 innings, but it still took us 6 innings to reach the +10 mark and put an end to this one. Their 3-man outfield didn't hurt us.
A solid day of softball...we're back at .500 for the first time since we were 1-1 for about an hour before dropping the 2nd game of a double-header way back on April 27. The win streak sits at 7, record at 9-9, division position at 4th and climbing, and team OBP/Avg at .548 and .531...great numbers that give an optimistic outlook to a squad who was at 2-9 and in 7th place 3 weeks ago.

We have another game tomorrow night at 7:00 and look to keep rolling.

Textbook Bryan Miller.

Ben ripping.

6/23/2011 - WOLC

We won another one against Word of Life Chapel on Thursday night. I wasn't at the game so I don't know much about it. I do know we have a double-header against two Division III teams on Sunday, giving us a reasonable (I don't want to jinx it by saying likely) chance to get to .500 for the first time in team history. One game at a time...time will tell.

6/17/2011 - Hershey Naz.

Just when we though it couldn't get any easier than our last game...we "earned" a W in this one via forfeit. That makes it 4 in a row and we've improved our record from 2-9 to 6-9 in less than 2 weeks. It should probably be noted that the teams we beat during this win streak have a combined record of 9-45.

Next up is Word of Life Chapel round deux on 6/23 at 7:00.

6/15/2011 - Harvest Community

The Brown brothers know how to end games...first Ben jacks a walk-off triple on Monday, then Chris lays out to make an insane diving catch to end tonight's contest. A 15-2 win was the outcome but it could have been closer. Harvest hit multiple line-drives right into the gloves of our fielders. We played solid defense all evening and didn't give anything away. Our old friend/opposing pitcher Dice didn't disappoint us by singing several classic rock songs laced with Chubaka noises, all while toeing the rubber.

We have a nice little 3-game win streak going, our defense is starting to run like a Swiss watch, our team OBP sits at .544 and is creeping ever closer to our target of .550. Things are starting to look up for this group of skinny white boys and it couldn't have come at a better time, next up is Hershey Naz on 6/17 at 7:00.

Tom followed Bryan's homerun in the 5th with one of his own.
Check out the ball on the left side of the picture...that one's not coming down anytime soon.

Zach had a 3 for 3 night at the plate...thanks to his ability to
cut the ball in half with the good part of the bat.

6/13/2011 - Etown Mennonite Red

We relied on a 9-run first inning nest-egg to carry us to victory in this one. The score went back and forth but in the end it was a line drive 2-run triple off the bat of Ben Brown in the bottom of the 7th that wrapped up the 17-16 W. That win makes it 2 in a row and we have a chance to make it 3 on Wednesday, 6/15 against one of the league's relics...DICE!

Kreg launches a chest-high pitch deep into left field.

6/5/2011 - Community Chapel

The losing steak is over! We beat Community Chapel in a 14-4 landslide this afternoon punctuated by Bryan Miller's walk off inside-the-park home run to put us at the +10 mark with 2 outs in the bottom of the 5th. The losing steak stops at 6, just 1 game shy of our team's worst skid since rejoining the DACSL in 2009.

Next up is Hershey Naz. 6/9 at 7:00.

Chris...

Zach...

...and Nate square off on 18-28mph pitches

6/3/2011 - Etown BIC

We're having trouble avoiding the big inning. In this case it was a 10 run bottom half of the 5th that ultimately doomed our chances in this one. We lost 17-8, our losing streak is at 6, and our season record sits at a division worst 2-9. Brighter days are just around the corner for our squad, I guarantee it.

5/31/2011 - Mount Calvary Black...A Comedy of Errors

After an 11-6 loss last Monday against Mountville 1, the bats came alive in a big way tonight. We scored 17 runs. That's more runs than we scored in our last 4 games combined. But we should have scored 5 more. We dropped this one 21-17. The defense was as bad as the offense was good. The losing streak now sits at 5 games and brings back memories of the cursed 7 game losing streak during our 2009 season. I broke the '09 curse by wearing throw-back cleats and Umbro soccer shorts...desperate times call for desperate measures, we'll see what I look like on Friday for our game against Etown BIC.

5/16/2011 - Mount Calvary Navy

We lost 17-3. That makes it 3 games in a row we scored exactly 3 runs...At least nobody can accuse us of playing inconsistent softball.

5/9/2011 - Etown Menn. Red

Lost this one 14-3 in 5 innings...not much else to write.

5/5/2011 - Mount Calvary Black

We dropped our Cinco de Mayo game to Mount Calvery Negro with a score of siete(7)-tres(3). We scored our three runs in the first three innings, then took a siesta on the base paths. I managed to strike out 4 of Mount Calvary's batters in this game, 3 swinging and 1 looking, a new personal record.

Next up is a game against our bitter rivals Etown Mennonite Red, 5/9/11 6:15 at Armstrong 2. I can't remember any game with so much hype for two teams that have not yet faced each other in league play. Should be a good one!

5/2/2011 - Word of Life Chapel

Sticking with the "big inning" theme, we tagged WOLC with 8 runs in the 2nd, en route to a 14-4 victory. It was a game that took only 4.5 innings for us to reach the +10 run mark and end it early. It was our 2nd win and 1st dominating performance of the season.

Newest roster addition, Nate Gish rips a line drive.

Next up is Mount Calvary Black on 5/5 at 7:00.

5/1/2011 - CBC Navy

Trailing 15-5, we put a 9-spot on the board in the bottom of the 6th to draw within one run. Then after managing to keep CBC from scoring in the top of the 7th, we stranded the tying run on third and the winning run on first in the bottom half resulting in our third loss of the season, 15-14.

4/30/2011 - 5-man Tournament

We didn't repeat as champs, but we did have some good swings. Lots of softball in the week ahead...stay tuned for more!

 Darin making clean contact.

 Ben's textbook slide at the plate.

 Robbie squaring off on a pitch.

 Tom preparing to drive the ball.

 Ben ripping the ball.

Yours truly swinging at a would-be ball 4.

4/27 Double-Header

The boys in black won a shootout in the first game 16-14 over Mountville II. After trailing all game, Darin Miller cleared the bases with an inside-the-park grand slam, driving in what proved to be the winning run.

8-2...it's a horrible starting hand in poker and even worse as a losing softball score. We dropped the second game to Etown COB. It was a game that included such oddities as lightening, thunder, rain, "swamp-rule-singles," and umpires who apparently whisper their time out calls.

All in all: a decent evening of softball. Next up is the 5-man tournament on Saturday, 4/30. We look to repeat as champs!

Game 1 is in the books...

...and it's a loss, a dismal loss actually.

After not being 10-runned during any of the 24 regular season games last year we opened this season with an 11-1 loss to CBC Navy. We hit the ball hard, just not at the right time. There were many bright spots however; Kreg Hortnig had an outstanding defensive game at 3rd base and his son Zach did equally well at 2nd in a last minute position change. Danny Keener quickly went from spectator to participant when he suited up behind home plate to help us out, while the Miller cousins patrolled the outfield with their usual swagger.

The gang looks to bounce back on 4/27 in a double-header against Mountville Mennonite II and Etown Church of the Bretheren.