Games of February 26

Melendez 13, Hewes 9
Sam Magnus (4-for-5, HR, 5 RBI) and Adam Garcia (3-for-5, HR, 5 RBI) led Melendez's team to the win.

O'Connor 22, Mishkin 22 (8 innings)
This was one of the most dramatic SFL games ever. O'Connor's team stormed back from a huge deficit to (apparently) tie the game in the top of the 7th. Gil Schmerler's 2-out single to center plated Eric Schulman with the winning run-- except a scorekeeping error was discovered later-- Mishkin's team actually had 21 runs in the 7th, not 22, and Magnus's HR could have been the game-winner. No one noticed at the time and the game was declared a tie. Sam Magnus had an amazing game, going 4-for-4 with 5 runs scored, 2 HR, and 8 RBI. Bill McLaughlin had 5 hits, Matt Mishkin drove in 5 runs, and Sam Melendez and Mike Sulyman each had 3 hits, a homer, and 4 RBI.

Games and Notes 5/22

Today we had a pair of games featuring little scoring and lots of mud. In the opener, Havelock Hewes improved to 8-3 by winning a 3-2 decision over Laura Stoeth. Hav scattered 8 hits in the win. His infield single tied the game, and Mike Palma's single to center plated the go-ahead run, both in the bottom of the 5th. In the nightcap, Zach Nilva (4-1) beat Jeff Appell 5-3. Zach scattered 9 hits.

On May 8, SFL played a tripleheader. Game 1 went to Havelock Hewes 13-10 over Jim O'Connor. Hav's team clawed back from a 7-0 deficit. In Game 2, Jeff Appell beat Dave Rosengard 8-6, and Appell's team came from 5-0 down to win. In the third game, Hav won his rematch with O'Connor, 7-3. Bill McLaughlin went 4-for-4 for the winners and Sam Melendez's 2-run HR was almost all of the offense that O'Connor got.

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 March 5

1. Martinez 7, Hewes 2
Eric Schulman hit a 2-run bomb in the top of the 1st for Hewes's team, but Martinez settled down to throw 6.1 shutout innings, and Alex Rivera went 3-for-3 with a home run and 4 RBI. Bill McLaughlin also had 3 hits.

2. Nilva 10, Parfrey 7
Bill McLaughlin's 5th inning double broke a 6-6 tie, and the Schulmans teed off on Parfrey's pitching. Eric was 2-for-2 with 3 RBI and Dave was 3-for-3 with 2 RBI.

3. Melendez 10, O'Connor 3
Alex Rivera continued his hot hitting (8-for-9 on the day with 3 doubles, 2 HR's, and 11 RBI). He had a 2-run double in the 1st and a line-drive 2-run bomb over the LF fence in the 3rd. Bill McLaughlin was 3-for-3 as he also had an excellent day at the plate. Melendez scattered 7 hits and the only batter to touch him was Havelock Hewes, who had a 2-run double.

Game Photos from November 19

These photos were taken by my friend Matt Holden at East River Park two weeks ago. He's a pretty good photographer, and there's some nice action shots and portraits. Enjoy!

Softball @ East River Park

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.

GAMES OF 8/1

1. Hewes 4, Stoeth 2
Havelock Hewes (8-14) pitched a 9-hitter, and Laura Stoeth was almost as good against a tough lineup. Hewes's team led all the way, and Bill McLaughlin had a 2-run HR for the winners. Ian Parfrey had 3 hits in a losing effort.

2. Appell 10, Melendez 3
Jeff Appell (2-3) scattered 9 hits, and his team blew open a 3-3 tie with 3 runs in the 5th and 4 more in the 7th. Phil Ciccone (2-for-3, HR, 3 RBI) and Alex Rivera (3-for-4, 3-run HR) led the attack. Ciccone's 5th inning sac fly was the tiebreaker. Appell pitched out of difficult jams in the 1st and 3rd innings, and then settled down to retire the last 9 batters in order.

THE INDEPENDENCE DAY MARATHON

Thanks to everyone who braved the insane heat and made this weekend a success. By game 5, there was a cloud of flies circling me, which I took to mean it was probably time for a shower (or an embalming). Here are the recaps.

1. Melendez 6, Rosengard 4
Melendez's team took an early 4-2 lead, but it took RF Ian Parfrey throwing out Dave Sommers at first on an apparent bases-loaded single to keep the game from being tied in the 4th, and in the 6th inning, Bill McLaughlin did score the tying run on a botched rundown attempt on trail runner Derek Martinez. In the bottom of the inning, Fred Lang came up with the bases loaded and no outs, and lined the go-ahead single to center.

2. Martinez 7, Parfrey 6
Parfrey took a 4-2 lead into the 5th, but allowed 5 runs to score, keyed by Glen Lawrence's 2-run single. Furious comebacks in the 6th and 7th innings fell just short, as Martinez (3-5) struck out Fred Lang with two on in the 6th, turned an acrobatic 1-8-3 DP on Marvin Cohen's chopper down the first base line in the 7th, and then retired Zach Nilva with 2 on to end the inning. Brian Hernandez hit a monster HR into the trees in left for Martinez's team. Ben Indek had 3 hits in a losing cause.

3. Melendez 11, Hewes 0
Bill McLaughlin (3-for-4, 2B, 4 RBI) led the offensive attack against Havelock Hewes. Freddy Melendez backed his 5-inning shutout with 3 hits including a double and a triple. Ian Parfrey and a walk-on named Edward in a vintage Pirate jersey also had 3 hits each.

4. Parfrey 10, Hewes 7 (8 innings)
The action shifted to the Great Lawn on Monday, courtesy of Joe Gerber. Parfrey's "Paisans" battled back from a 5-2 deficit to score twice in the 6th on RBI doubles by Joe Gerber and Joe Geller, and once in the 7th as Bill McLaughlin tripled to lead off the inning and subsequently scored on an error. In the top of the 8th, Parfrey's team scored 5 times. McLaughlin drove in a run with a double, then Parfrey (4-for-5, 3 RBI) hit a 2-run single to right-center. Ross Barkan (3-for-5, 3 RBI) singled in another run, and then Parfrey "stole" home on an erroneous flip back to the pitcher. Hewes's team (aka Connor's Compadres) loaded the bases with one out, and did get 2 runs back on a groundout and a Chris Hall single, but Hewes grounded out as the tying run. For the winning team, Mike Palma added 3 hits, and Glen Lawrence (playing first base!) had a key assist, recovering an overthrow and gunning out a runner at third to snuff out a 6th inning rally. Hewes's team was paced by Rob Anapol (3-for-4, 3B, 2 RBI), and Zach Nilva and Bill Vernick (in his first at bats of 2010) also had 3 hits.

5. Melendez 3, Nilva 2
Freddy Melendez (7-4) won his 3rd game of the weekend against SFLOI's unluckiest pitcher. Nilva pitched well, but Freddy singled in 2 runs in the 3rd inning for an insurmountable margin. Nilva's team scored twice in the 4th but Freddy retired Zach and Alex with the bases loaded to escape further damage, and then retired Josh Balsam with two men on in the 5th inning of a game shortened by darkness and extreme heat.

GAMES OF SUNDAY 5/2

Game 1-- Parfrey 5, Martinez 4
Havelock Hewes's 3rd-inning single broke a 3-3 tie, and Paul Schuman followed with an RBI single to give Parfrey (3-2) enough breathing room to win it.

Game 2-- O'Connor 5, Hewes 0
Jim O'Connor (5-1) threw an 8-hit shutout, and backed his pitching with 2 hits and an RBI. Bill McLaughlin was 3-for-3 with 2 RBI, and Zach Nilva had 3 hits in a losing effort.