GAMES OF 10/31-- FREDS VS MARVINS

Freds 11, Marvins 7
The Marvins had early leads of 3-0 and 5-3, but the Freds scored 5 times in the bottom of the 4th to open an insurmountable lead. The Marvins did succeed in making it nearly impossible for the opposing fielders to tell who was batting. Ken Walker was 2-for-3 with 3 RBI for the Freds, Josh Balsam drove in the go-ahead run, and Jeff Appell picked up his 7th win and lowered his ERA to 2.71.

Freds 4, Marvins 3
In the bottom of the 7th, the Marvins loaded the bases with no one out and a run already in. However, Jim O'Connor (12-8) induced Tony Connor to pop out, and then Havelock Hewes lined into a double play, as Freds SS Ian Parfrey made a diving stop and then doubled Alex Rodriguez off of second. The game was a pitchers' duel all the way, with Jim O'Connor scoring the go-ahead run on a dropped fly ball in the 5th inning.

Freds 4, Marvins 2 (5 innings)
Laura Stoeth (7-9) picked up her first win since July 11, allowing 4 hits and 1 earned run. The Freds scored all of their runs with 2 outs in the 4th inning, starting with Ken Walker's solo bomb to deep center. Parfrey then doubled to left. Sam Magnus walked, Joe Geller singled to center for the go-ahead run, and Jeff Appell ripped a 2-run double to left for the final margin.

Games and Notes of 9/12

Courtesy of Brian Hernandez and ABC News, here's a brief video of this morning's action. What you're seeing is Phil Ciccone's 3rd inning double to left-center off of Dave Rosengard in Game 1, advancing Zach Nilva to third. The infielders are Fred Lang (2b), Sam Magnus (3b), and Dave Sommers (ss).

Found at field: One righty Mizuno Premier glove, tan with dark brown trim, and an improvised relacing between the second and third fingers.

In last week's comments section, we learned that IF Bob Holzwasser is on the 60-day DL. Hope to see you on the field again soon, Bob.

Games of 9/12:

O'Connor 15, Rosengard 4
Jim O'Connor picked up his 10th win behind the batting heroics of Phil Ciccone (3-for-4, 3 doubles, 2 RBI), Ian Parfrey (2-for-4, HR, 4 RBI), Zach Nilva (3-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI), and Tony Connor (3-for-3, 3 RBI).

Appell 2, Stoeth 1 (8 innings)
Jeff Appell (5-3) and Laura Stoeth locked up in a real pitcher's duel. In the bottom of the first, Phil Ciccone singled in Don Weiss to give Laura a 1-0 lead. Appell didn't allow another runner to reach third base the rest of the way. His own offense was stymied by Tony Connor's pitching protege until a pair of errors in the sixth inning tied the score. In the top of the eighth, Bill McLaughlin tripled up the left-center gap, and scored on Dave Sommers' sacrifice fly. Appell flew out with the bases loaded to end the inning, but retired Zach Nilva and Phil Ciccone after Don Weiss's one-out single to preserve the win. Appell allowed 8 hits, 1 walk, and struck out one. Stoeth allowed 6 hits, 5 walks, and struck out two.

GAME OF 7/11

Stoeth 5, O'Connor 4 (11 innings)

In one of the more thrilling SFLOI contests of recent years, Laura Stoeth (6-0) remained undefeated by throwing shutout ball over the final 9 innings. O'Connor's team lost an early 4-1 lead, as Stoeth's team scored twice in the 5th, started by a Freddy Melendez triple, and capped by a sac fly from Freddy's son Kelvin. That was it until the 11th, when Brian Hernandez led off with a hard line single off of Dave Sommers' glove, and alertly advanced to second on Alex Rivera's flyout. An intentional walk to Ian Lebowitz and a pitcharound of Freddy Melendez set up Havelock Hewes to be the hero, as he lined a single to right-center over a drawn-in infield for the win. Bill Vernick drove in two for the hard-luck losers.

Earlier in the week, SFLOI lost a similar heartbreaker to Tony Connor's Duke alums, 7-6 in 11 innings. SFLOI led 4-1 early, but fell behind 6-4, and fought back to tie with a Glen Lawrence RBI single in the 8th inning and a Derek Martinez sac fly in the 9th. However, David Larado led off the 11th with a bunt single, and scored on Tyler Patla's bomb to deep left. Glen Lawrence had 3 hits for SFLOI, and Rob Anapol doubled and drove in two. Tony Connor (1-1) pitched an 11-inning CG and had 3 hits for the Duke team.

GAMES AND NOTES 6/27

Reminder: Bonus games Monday July 5th in addition to regular schedule. Great Lawn #8 at 5:00pm.

Games of 6/27:
Stoeth 7, O'Connor 1
Laura Stoeth (5-0) threw a 5-hitter, allowing a run in the first on an Ed O'Connor double, then completely shutting down a good lineup for the final 6 frames. She was backed by a balanced offensive attack led by Phil Ciccone (2-for-4, 2B, RBI), and Sam Magnus (2-for-4, 2 RBI).

Parfrey 7, Hewes 2
Ian Parfrey (7-3) scattered 7 hits and struck out 4, and was backed by Phil Ciccone (3-for-4, HR, 3 RBI), and 3 hits from Fred Lang. Alex Rivera (2-for-2, RBI, SF) led Hewes's team in a game that was close until Parfrey's team scored 4 times with 2 out in the top of the 7th.

Let's Play 2 update: LP2 split a doubleheader this week, losing 9-2 to the NYC Knights, but beating the Wallbangers 2-1 on a complete game gem by Jeff Appell and a 2-run, 2-out single by Nick Stefanides.

GAMES OF 6/20

Game 1:
Stoeth 5, Hewes 2
Laura Stoeth (4-0) tossed a 4-hitter backed by Ed O'Connor's batting (3-for-3, solo HR). Her team scored 3 times in the first and never looked back, capped by Paul Geoghan's 2-run single following a semi-intentional walk to Bill McLaughlin.

Game 2:
Melendez 6, Nilva 3
Freddy Melendez (4-4) scattered 11 hits and lowered his league-leading ERA to 3.43. Glen Lawrence had an excellent day at the plate (4-for-4, 2B, 3B, 3 runs, 2 RBI). Dave Sommers went 4-for-4 for Nilva's team, and Ed O'Connor was 2-for-4 with his second HR of the day, and 2 RBI. Nilva's hard-luck streak, temporarily broken with a win over Havelock, resumed today. He had pitched most of the way out of a 7th inning jam when Ian Parfrey hit a soft line drive to SS Phil Ciccone, who caught and then dropped the ball. It was ruled a catch, though in the resulting confusion, the defensive team 1) tried to double Glen Lawrence off of third, where he was safe; 2) tried to double Alex Rivera off of first, claiming he had never returned to the bag; 3) allowed Lawrence to sneak in with the 5th run in the ensuing argument; 4) allowed Alex Rivera to score all the way from first as the argument continued and home plate was left unguarded.

As this play, and a similar David Cone meltdown from the early 90s Mets both prove, it is best to call time out before arguing, or at least to guard the bases ahead of the runners.

GAMES AND NOTES OF 5/23

1. Celebrate Memorial Day with a softball marathon! Sunday May 30 is business as usual, 8:30am at Heckscher. Monday May 31 we're on the Great Lawn in the late afternoon-- courtesy of Joe Gerber-- time and field will be posted here soon.

2. Games of May 23:
Hewes 7, O'Connor 3
A shaky defense and the clutch hitting of Nate Sillman (3-for-3, 3 RBI) prevented Jim O'Connor from becoming SFLOI's first 6-game winner. Zach Nilva also had 3 hits. O'Connor's team stranded 13 runners. Jaime Orochena was 4-for-4, and Laura Stoeth had 3 hits.

Parfrey 9, Connor 2
Parfrey's team exploded for 6 runs in the 3rd to break a scoreless tie, and he improved to 5-2 while only allowing 4 hits. Connor's team got a 2-run bomb from Brian Hernandez, but little else in the way of offense.

3. Let's Play 2 played a Thursday doubleheader, beating the MMC Outlaws 5-1 in game one, and playing Weintraub & Haber to a 2-2 8-inning tie in the 2nd game. The Appell / Parfrey pitching duo combined to allow 3 runs in 15 innings. LP2 is currently in first place with a 5-0 record.

GAMES of 5/16

Game 1: Stoeth 7, Martinez 3
Laura Stoeth (2-0) continued to silence the SFLOI bats, allowing only 3 runs. Her pitching was backed by Jaime Orochena (4-for-5, solo HR), and Ian Parfrey (3-for-4, HR, 3 RBI). Derek Martinez had 3 hits in a losing cause.

Game 2: Melendez 3, Nilva 2 (5 innings)
This was a dramatic battle, unfortunately terminated at 11:00am. Freddy Melendez hit a 2-run single after a disputed play at second base in the bottom of the 1st, and this was all the offense Melendez would need. Zach Nilva was the hard-luck loser, allowing only 3 hits, and no earned runs.

GAMES AND NOTES OF 5/9

1. Stoeth 12, O'Connor 6
Laura Stoeth won her SFLOI pitching debut, allowing only 9 hits. Derek Martinez (3 for 4, 2B, 2 RBI) and Freddy Melendez (3 for 4, RBI triple) led the offense as Stoeth's team built a 10-2 lead and coasted to a victory. Ian Parfrey was 2-for-3 with a 2-run homer for O'Connor's team.

2. Parfrey 6, Hewes 4
David Sommers (2 RBI) and Tony Connor each went 3-for-3 as Parfrey's team scored five times in the first and hung on for the win. Chris Hall was 3-for-3 with an RBI for Hewes's team.

Notes:
1. Pitcher Dave Rosengard stopped by the game, on his bicycle. Good to see you back so soon, Dave!

2. LP2 defeated Reif's Tavern 4-2 Thursday evening and is off to a 3-0 start. Jeff Appell allowed one run in 5 innings for the win.

3. PLEASE slide into second or third base on a close play rather than colliding with the infielders.