Awards and Results of Winter Meeting

Awards

Gold Gloves:
Pitcher-- Ian Parfrey
Catcher-- Josh Balsam
First Base-- Sal Cipriano
Second Base-- Ben Indek
Third Base-- Freddy Melendez
Shortstop-- (tie) Ian Parfrey and Phil Ciccone
Outfield-- Zach Nilva, Alex Rivera, Eric Schulman, Brian Hernandez

Best Pitcher-- Freddy Melendez
Rookie of the Year-- Sam Melendez
MVP-- Alex Rivera


Rule Changes:

1. When there are 22 players at a game, it is closed to
non-duespayers. Dues payers have a right to play no matter how large
the teams are. This rule takes effect when we move to Heckscher.
Non-duespayers cannot be displaced from a game they are already in,
and have the option of paying on the spot.

2. Due to the rising cost of permits, the league has raised annual dues to $40.

3. The league has banned alcoholic beverages at the games. Any
player drinking during a game will be subject to immediate ejection
and possible additional penalties.

4. The league has decided that outfielders will be required to play a
certain distance (to be determined) behind the infield basepaths.
This distance will be marked with a small orange cone on each foul
line. This is to discourage (but not eliminate) throws to first from
the outfield, and will eliminate the possibility of turning a double
play through the centerfielder.

5. A grievance committee has been elected for one year. Members are
Josh Balsam, Zach Nilva, and Alex Rivera.

6. Selection of pitchers-- Havelock, or whoever is making teams in
his rare absences, cannot tell a manager who to pitch. Regular
pitchers should not act as managers, unless no one else present is
willing to. It is hoped that this will result in an equitable
distribution of pitching innings.

There are two other items which will soon be presented to the league
for voting, as there was not a 2/3 majority at the meeting.

Thanks to Anne Atkinson and Gil Schmerler for hosting.

Games of Dec 11

Hewes 11, Nilva 9
Havelock Hewes won his 20th, settling in after a rocky start. Sam Melendez was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI, and Sal Cipriano and Sam Magnus each added 3 hits. Bobby Echevarria had 4 hits for Nilva's team.

Velez 15, Melendez 6
Cisco Velez won his SFL pitching debut, backed by the bats of Sam Melendez (3-for-5, 4 RBI) and Sal Cipriano (3-for-3, 3 RBI). Alex Rivera hit his 21st HR, and broke last year's alltime RBI record-- Cid now has 94.

Games of March 13

Martinez 11, Appell 3
Derek Martinez (2-0) allowed a 2-run HR to Eric Schulman in the 1st inning, and proceeded to only allow a single to Zach Nilva over the final 6.2 innings. Bill McLaughlin and Nel Yomtov had 3 hits each, and Ian Parfrey homered to back Martinez's pitching. And, possibly the most improbable play I've ever seen occurred when Marvin Cohen struck out looking in the 6th inning, and flipped the bat in disgust!

Parfrey 13, Melendez 6
Parfrey survived a 5-run 2nd inning capped by Zach Nilva's inside the park grand slam, and his offense battered Freddie Melendez for 17 hits. Sal Cipriano (4 for 4, 2 RBI) and Derek Martinez (4 for 5, 2 RBI) led the way. Parfrey hit 3 doubles, and Bill McLaughlin drove in 4 runs. Freddie went 4 for 4 for his team.

GAMES OF 12/11

We played a tripleheader at M.S. 141 in Riverdale yesterday, some records were broken, and they are described in the previous post. Here are the games.

Hewes 8, Appell 4
Havelock Hewes (15-21) picked up the win. His team struck 4 times in the top of the first and never trailed. Adam Garcia and Adam Horowitz each drove in 2.

Garcia 14, Stoeth / O'Connor 13
Adam Garcia's squad trailed 11-4 after 5 innings, and mounted an improbable comeback by scoring 5 times in the 6th and getting 5 more in the 7th. Sal Cipriano (3-for-4, 2 2B, HR, 3 RBI) capped the 6th inning with a 2-run blast to left, and drove in the winning run with a groundout (immediately after blasting a foul home run down the left field line). Eric Schulman also drove in 3 for the winners. Garcia struggled with his command all day but pitched a 1-2-3 7th for the closeout. Alex Rivera went 3-for-3 with a HR and 3 RBI for the other side; Jim O'Connor took the loss in relief.

O'Connor 8, Connor / Hewes 0
After blowing a non-save situation in game 2, Jim O'Connor (14-10) redeemed himself by tossing an 8-hit shutout. Adam Garcia was 3-for-4 with 2 homers and 4 RBI, and Eric Schulman added 3 hits. Jerry Ramirez was 3-for-4 for Hewes's team.

SFLOI PLAYS 14-INNING MARATHON

Melendez 7, Appell 5
Freddy Melendez improved to 12-8 on the season, as his team scored 4 times in the first and never looked back. Zach Nilva was 2-for-3 with a home run, and Tony Connor was 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Alex Rivera was 2-for-4 with a home run and 3 runs scored for Appell's side.

Hewes 9, Nilva 8 (14 innings)
There was talk of playing a tripleheader, but we decided to just play Game 2 forever instead. As is his usual custom, Havelock Hewes gave up 6 runs in the first 2 innings (only 2 of them earned), and then masterfully held Nilva's team to 2 runs over the final 12 innings while his team battled back.
Sal Cipriano lined a 2-run single with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th to tie the game at 6. In the bottom of the 8th, Nilva escaped a bases-loaded 1-out jam by retiring Don Weiss and Alex Rivera on short fly balls. Ken Walker singled and later scored on a throwing error in the top of the 9th, and Nilva got the first two outs before Alexander Rodriguez tripled to right-center, and came around to score on an infield grounder when Marvin Cohen failed to hold on to a high throw. In the top of the 10th, Ken Walker's single to left plated Fred Lang, but Zach Nilva was tagged out in a rundown between third and home, and Walker was out advancing to second to end the inning. Alex Rivera's 2-out infield single to deep short scored Jaime Orochena in the bottom of the inning, after Orochena had just beaten out a hustle double earlier in the inning. Rivera was gunned out with the winning run by Glen Lawrence on Sal Cipriano's single. Nilva escaped a bases-loaded no-out jam in the 12th when Don Weiss led off with a single and reached third when it got past RF Derek Martinez. Afrer two intentional walks, Sal Cipriano popped out, and Alex Rivera was inexplicably caught off of second base. Jeff Appell grounded out to end the inning. Finally, Ian Parfrey led off the 14th with a double to deep right-center, and scored when the relay throw to third ended up in the dugout. If anyone knows of an SFLOI game that went longer than 14 innings, let me know. I've never played in a game longer than 11.
Offensive stars in the long game were Jaime Orochena (5-for-7, 2 doubles), and Alexander Rodriguez (4-for-6, 3B) for Hewes's team. Ken Walker was 5-for-7 with an RBI for Nilva's team.

The Steal Rule

Previous posts have debated the increased pitching speed that has appeared in SFLOI over the past few years. What occurs to me is that there is no downside to a pitcher winding up and flinging it as hard as he or she can. Not the ricochet off the top of the backstop, bruises to the umpire nor fear of the hit-by-pitch free pass dissuades the fastball chucker. There are always consequences in baseball. An outfielder playing too shallow to cut off the line drive risks seeing the ball sail over his head. The outfielder who plays too deep gives up many doubles and extra bases. The slow pitch pitcher must use guile and throw pitches that are not strikes risking walks to get outs. So what is the risk to the fast pitcher? How can we even the score?

Enter the SFLOI Steal Rule.

1) For pitchers designated as "fastball" hurlers base runners are allowed to steal. This rule DOES NOT apply to non-fastball pitchers.

2) Runners cannot leave the base until the ball is released by the pitcher (option is until it crosses the plate).

3) Players can advance on passed balls and wild pitches (rule would be suspended with certain players who can only play catcher).

4) Catchers may attempt pick offs at first (Pitchers cannot pick-off since the runner can't leave until the ball is thrown).

4) A pilot game is proposed for Hastings in 2010 with full adoption to be voted at the winter meeting

5) Added bonus is rule adds strategy to the game and the hit and run play

I look forward to a lively debate.

NYMSL PLAYOFFS SUNDAY!

Hello folks,

So as most of you know, I play for and co-captain the DC Comics softball team. Well this Sunday, soon after SFLOI's weekly gameday ends, DC will be squaring off against the Wall Street Journal in a semifinal match to determine who plays in the final directly afterward. High Times will be playing WNYC at the same time in the other semi. I invite all of you to stick around Heckscher and cheer on two of your boys, myself and Nel Yomtov, and the rest of the DC Bullets!

Here's the NYMSL Playoff info:

All games @ Heckscher Playground

Seminfinals: 1:30 pm

WNYC vs. HT, Field 1

WSJ vs. DC, Field 4

Championship Game, Field 1, 3 pm

Consolation Game, Field 4, 3 pm

Best,
Sal

APRIL 18 GAME RECAPS

Game 1: Parfrey 8, Hewes 3
Backed by the bats of Chris Hall (2-for-3, triple, 4 RBI), and Freddy Melendez (3-for-3, RBI), Parfrey (2-2) scattered 12 hits and won. Hall's 2-run triple broke a 3-3 tie in the 4th inning.

Game 2: O'Connor 4, Melendez 3
With the 11am curfew rapidly approaching in the bottom of the 6th, Don Weiss tripled to right, and Zach Nilva hit a deep sac fly to right-center to bring him in, breaking a 3-3 tie. Jim O'Connor (4-1) settled down after allowing a run in each of the first 3 innings to shut down a good offense over the final four. Ian Parfrey was 2-for-3 with an RBI for O'Connor's team, and Fred Lang made two game-saving catches in right field. Sal Cipriano hit his first HR of the season in a losing cause.

RECAPS OF SUNDAY's GAMES

With unseasonably warm and beautiful weather, Zinsser Park in Hastings was packed to the gills with softballers. We had a near-record 27 players in Game 2.

Game 1
O'Connor 21, Rosengard 18
Jim's team built a quick 16-5 lead and then had to sweat it out, as the Rosengarders stormed back with a 9-run 5th inning to close within 17-16 before Alex Rivera (3-for-3, 3 RBI) tripled to key a 4-run rally that proved to be decisive. Ken Walker also drove in three runs for the winning side. Ian Parfrey had a home run and 5 RBI for the losing team. Freddy Melendez added a home run, Joe Geller drove in 3 runs, and Sal Cipriano was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI.

Game 2
Hewes 11, Melendez 5
Havelock was sharp in his first outing since the Massacre at Riverdale, scattering 11 hits and allowing very little after a 3-run first inning. Freddy matched him until a 6th inning defensive collapse led to 7 runs scoring. The winning team was led by Rich Rowlands and Alex Rivera (2-for-3, 2 doubles each). Parfrey was 3-for-3 with an RBI and a boneheaded baserunning mistake for the losers.

WHO'S WHO IN SFLOI???

***NOTE: This post will keep resurfacing to the top once a week; this way we can get everyone on it at one point or another.

Since SFLOI rosters seem to constantly rotate, I thought it would be great if we had a sort of meet and greet here on the blog. This way players old and new can get to know each other a little bit better. Here's my info as an example:

Name: Sal Cipriano
Age: 34
From: Brooklyn, NY
SFLOI Info: Joined SFLOI in the Fall of '08 through Ian Parfrey; I play RF and 2B mostly, but love 1B most.
Occupation: Comic Book Letterer for DC Comics; Writer of various facts and fiction.
Your Teams: Yankees, US Soccer National Team; have followed the Giants, Jets, and Rangers in the past; will be a fan of the Brooklyn Nets when they arrive ;)
Other Info: I love movies, cooking, fantasy baseball, reading, graphic design, and throwing good parties amongst other things. I'm a rabid foodie who likes going to new restaurants and cooking new dishes. Besides SFLOI, I play softball for the DC Bullets in the New York Media League as the starting catcher. I designed the Bullets logo as well as the SFLOI one.
My Websites: http://www.salcipriano.com/, http://www.besballtalk.com/, http://www.flixfiend.com/

That about covers it. Now just copy my info, paste it into a comment, and replace it with your own!

SFLOI DREAM TO RING IN THE 2010 SEASON

Just as the title states, I just woke from a SFLOI dream 5 minutes in advance of my alarm clock, which I would have slept through because the sound was off, so I would never have had Kathleen Marple of 1010Wins tell me to get up. So today, Saturday January 16th at 7:00AM, I am up in, I guess, anticipation of of the start of the 2010 SFLOI season, also known as the Polar Bear portion of the season.

This surprises me for a few reasons: A. I went to bed at 1:15AM, not the latest I've gone to bed on a SFLOI night, but still, B. I had a cup of green tea with honey before I did causing me to toss and turn for the first hour, C. I had a bad dream at 3:30AM which woke me and caused a small panic attack (which caused me to miss 2 or 3 SFLOI dates last year!), and D. I never spring out of bed for anything!

Onto the dream, which I jotted down the highlights so I can transfer them here after the morning piss; dreams usually fade rather quick for me. So, OK, first off, before you think I'm a crazy man, this is the first softball dream I can remember having. That said, it's still pretty vivid. We start with me, Ian, and Seung on a subway train on our way to the city of Riverdale. As we prepare to get off the train, Seung climbs into the bat section of my Easton equipment bag to take a nap. With Seung on my back, Yoda or C3PO style, (interesting to note that two Star Wars characters were carried on the backs of others almost at the same time in Empire, weird, huh? Analyzation for another time.) We get out in Riverdale, which looked like a weird mid-town Manhattan to me. I wanted to stop at Dunkin Donuts (hmm...), but Ian decided to keep going to the field, naturally. Inside Dunkin, I ordered a Box of Joe for all (hmm...) and a large grape juice for the sleepy Seung on my back. I think I got an egg and cheese sandwich, too. Upon leaving, we meet with Ian again, who got lost, and decides he wants yogurt to go along with the coffee I bought. We stop in some yogurt store where he orders a yogurt, but is pissed when it comes with giant hunks of indescribable fruit. Onto the field we go.

Once there, everyone is kind of blurry, and for some reason the only familiar players are Havelock, who is already formulating the sides, and Angel Torres, who I think I've seen once or twice in my life. There's a big puddle by home plate. We meet the owner of the field, a big rowdy Texan, who shows us the lower level, which is another small indoor field with absolutely no outfield. His wife appears and wants us to play down there because of an upcoming storm. Me and Ian convince them otherwise, and I head upstairs. I walk over to Torres who has our line-up card, which he proceeded to make. Here was the top five: 1. Ian 2. some name I cannot recall 3. Marvin! 4. another guy, but he was a man-mountain at the plate, and 5. me. Ian comes up from the basement level, and I hand him the line-up, to whom I offer up the disclaimer that Torres made it already, and he's fuming.

The game begins. Ian leads off and bunts off the female pitcher. Four errors ensue and Ian rounds the bases and scores basically a bunt homer! (Alex's goal for 2010, btw) The next guy gets on somehow, I miss Marvin's at-bat, but heck, Marvin batting third is awesome! The next guy is the man-mountain and he walks. So there's at least two on, and I'm up. I get to the plate and then decide to change bats to my new one. I have a tough time finding it, and then I'm disappointed that the bat is already all scratched. Ian inspects it, and likes the barrel. I step up to the plate and then realize I don't have cleats on, but rather my house slippers. I put on the cleats, although I think this is a quick blur, and step back to the plate. I'm in my stance when my dream completely shifts, and I'm now in a house with my girlfriend's uncle, who has just bought us matching smoking jackets. He's trying his on when I wake up 5 minutes in advance of my alarm.

Story of my playing career, folks, men on and I don't even take a swing! Welcome to 2010, SFLOI!

INSTANT IMMORTALIZATION NOW AVAILABLE

Let's all join in thanking Don, Sal and Zach for these great cards. If you haven't sent in your order, don't wait. Supplies are limited. OK, maybe not - but why wait? It will easily be the best money you spend this winter! (That includes the Ant Farm you intend to buy so you'll have some company during the long, cold winter months.)

I have in on very good authority that these cards will triple, quadruple and even fivetupple in value when you attempt to sell them on eBay in the year 2050. They will also provide archeologists with a truly excellent look back at how we lived our lives in the early years of this century. You can easily imagine them wondering how these individuals were able to earn a living while playing a game they loved!

Again, thanks Don, Sal and Zach for a job well done!

COMMISSIONER'S REPORT

Players,

Thanks to all the people who have helped move us into the twenty-first century. A year ago our on-line presence was our e-mail list and LarrySavell.com. Then we were on Heywoodtheband.com (Ian Parfrey's site) and we had a Facebook page, thanks to Tony Connor. Now we have our own web site, thanks to Sal Cipriano.

Also this year we were discovered in The New York Review Of Books as a "curious collection of players" whose game is more compelling than the Mets or Yankees. These "curiosities" can be seen on the first Softball For The Love Of It softball cards, thanks to the work of Don Weiss.

Besides achieving all this fame, the on-field experience of playing our game has never been more fun. Despite two horrific injuries (dramatic limb dislocations to Phil Ciccone and Marvin Cohen) and lots of rain, we managed a full and glorious season. Derek Martinez hit seven homers in one morning on his way to breaking Phil Kotik's single-season homerun record. Martinez, Parfrey and Alex Rivera all had historic seasons which will make for an interesting MVP vote. We are considering a ballot with only those three names, to insure that no one loses because he was entirely left off one ballot.

Going into the last week of the season, Parfrey, Alex Rivera and Bob Holzwasser were tied in the pennant race at ten games over .500. Holzwasser's strategy was to stay home. Parfrey and Rivera both lost two games, handing Holzwasser the pennant with his Sunday breakfast and newspaper.

We welcomed back Richard Tedesco on a regular basis this season, but I am coming to the conclusion that, for a number of our players, the single biggest factor in attendance is geography. When we move to Westchester, Richard Rowlands, Dan Schneider and Larry Savell show up. Bill Vernick is a Manhattan-only player. We had not seen Joe Balento in a couple of years, until Joe Gerber got us a permit for Lowenfish Field at 108th in Riverside Park and here comes Balento! Could it be that we finally got within Joe's geographical sphere (he lives 5 blocks away).

In the past we have had several theme games. Most notably the Capitalist/Communist game in which the commies scored one run in virtually every inning, only to lose 8-7 because the robber barons put up two boom innings among their goose eggs.

This season, we played the first-ever "Backwards" game. Several players could not remember to run to third out of the box, inspiring at least one new nickname, Richard "Wrong Way" Rowlands. My favorite moment of the 2009 season came on the last day. Game One was our backwards game. In game 2, Alex Rivera hit a line drive and ran to third base! That's what I call a fast learner.

-Havelock Hewes