2012 SFL Season Ends, 2013 Begins

A strange game was played on December 15, where Havelock Hewes pitched for both teams, and won. And lost. On December 23, Hewes beat Freddie Melendez 27-25 in an offense-heavy game at Dyckman. Sam Melendez cranked 3 home runs and drove in 11 runs against his brother. I wonder if Freddie got him anything for Christmas.

SFL's 2012 season was a record-breaker. 105 games were played, due to an unusually mild winter and early spring. SFL batters came to the plate a record 7516 times, and scored 1647 runs on 2580 hits. Many individual records fell by the wayside. Sam Melendez scored 161 runs, got 197 hits, and batted 443 times, setting records in all three categories. After 29 seasons of no one driving in 100 runs, three players did. Eric Schulman drove in a record 147 runs (helped by 62 extra base hits and 22 sacrifice flies), Cid Rivera drove in 108 runs, and Freddie Melendez drove in 105. Cid also had 59 doubles, shattering his previous record of 36. Ian Parfrey won his third consecutive batting title at .514, and Marvin Cohen won his first pennant, winning 54 of the 89 games he appeared in.

Remember, our default setting from Christmas until Easter is "no game." When the weather, and player demand, are strong enough, we will play, and it will be announced here, as well as via facebook and email. The location until further notice will be the Dyckman fields.

There will be a winter meeting as always, date and time to be determined.

Games of December 2

Hewes 6, Sulyman 2
Havelock Hewes allowed 6 hits, and threw 6.1 shutout innings, and Ian Parfrey broke the game open with a 2-run triple in the third inning.

Melendez 12, Rosengard 2
Freddie Melendez was equally sharp in picking up his 20th win, and his team broke a 2-2 tie by scoring 8 runs in the 5th inning. Adam Garcia hit a 2-run HR, and Cid Rivera was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI.

Games of November 18

Hewes 11, Melendez 3
Sam Magnus drove in 4 runs with a pair of triples, and Ian Parfrey and Zach Nilva had 3 hits each. Havelock Hewes allowed 3 runs on 10 hits.

Martinez 11, Nilva 0
Freddie Melendez was 3-for-4 with a triple and 3 RBI, and Alex Rivera and Chris Hall each added 3 hits. Derek Martinez threw a shutout, allowing only 5 hits, and striking out three.

Games of 10/28

Ever wonder what softball in a wind tunnel would be like? We found out. A fly ball to right-center blew foul. A fly to medium left landed 20 feet behind the infield. It was interesting. And high scoring.

Hewes 12, Mishkin 8
Will Romero drove in 4 runs, and Freddie Melendez drove in 3 for Hewes's team. Sam Melendez was 4-for-5 for Mishkin's team.

Parfrey 9, Melendez 8
Ian Parfrey took a 9-3 lead into the last inning, and then gave up 6 consecutive hits before retiring Bob Holzwasser on a bases-loaded fly to right. Sam Melendez homered and drove in 2, and Sam Magnus was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles. Alex Rivera was 3-for-3 for Melendez's team.

Games of 10/21

Hewes 8, Rosengard 5
Ian Parfrey's 2-out, 2-run single broke a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the 5th, and Alex Rivera homered and drove in three.

Martinez 4, Nilva 3
Freddie Melendez hit the tiebreaking single in the 5th inning, as Derek Martinez allowed 3 runs on 6 hits for the win. Zach Nilva was just as good, allowing 4 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits.

F.Melendez 4, S.Melendez 1
In a very rare instance of brothers pitching against each other, Freddie Melendez picked up his 17th win and allowed only 2 hits in 5 innings. Sam Melendez allowed 3 runs in the 1st, with Chris Hall's 2-run single being the big blow.

The Lost Boxscores of SFL

Like The Lost Engines of Roanoke, the lost boxscores of SFL were eventually found. They were hidden in one of my books for my fall league, and here they finally are:

Hewes 10, Melendez 5
Ian Parfrey was 4-for-4 with 4 runs scored, a double, and 2 RBI, to lead Hewes's team. Bob Holzwasser had 3 hits for Melendez's squad.

Lawrence 8, Nilva 4
Cid Rivera's 3-run HR in the 5th inning broke a 4-4 tie.

Appell 9, Connor / Hewes 9 (5-inning tie)
Eric Schulman (3-for-4, 4 RBI) hit a 2-out, 2-run double to tie the game for Appell's team. Cid Rivera was 4-for-4 with a HR and 5 RBI for the Connor / Hewes team.

Games of 9/23

We're slowly catching up here...

Rosengard 10, O'Connor 2
This game was tied at 2-2 going into the top of the 7th, when Rosengard's team erupted for 8 runs. Sam Melendez's infield single scored the go-ahead run. Ian Parfrey was 4-for-4 with 2 RBI, and Eric Schulman added 3 hits. Dave Rosengard allowed one earned run on 7 hits for the win.

Melendez 8, Lawrence 5
Freddie Melendez was staked to a 6-0 lead after 2 innings, and cruised to a win. He helped his cause with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. Phil Ciccone was 3-for-3 with 2 RBI for Lawrence's team.

Mishkin 7, Hewes 7 (5-inning tie)
In the third game, Mishkin's team led 7-5 after 2 innings, but the pitchers eventually regained control. Nel Yomtov was 3-for-4 with a double, triple, and 4 RBI for Mishkin's squad, and Havelock Hewes backed his own pitching with 3 hits and 2 RBI.

Games of 9/16

It looks like I'm never going to find the boxscores for Sept. 9 (don't worry, the stats were already entered), so we'll skip to the 16th.

Rosengard 9, Parfrey 3
Phil Ciccone had 3 hits, and Eric Schulman drove in 3 more runs. Dave Rosengard scattered 11 hits for the win. Ian Parfrey backed his "pitching" by going 3-for-4 with 2 triples.

Melendez 4, Hewes 3 (10 innings)
In an extremely hard-fought game, Freddie Melendez singled home Ian Parfrey (3-for-5) in the top of the 10th for the winning run. Melendez allowed 3 runs, none earned, on 10 hits, and struck out five. Havelock Hewes was almost as good, allowing 4 runs, 3 earned, on 12 hits. Hewes's team scored the tying run in the bottom of the 7th, and stranded the winning run on third base.

Games of Sept 2

Parfrey 7, Hewes 2
Parfrey's team struck for 6 first inning runs, capped by a 2-run HR by Sam Magnus. Cid Rivera also homered, and Ian Parfrey escaped 5 bases-loaded jams and scattered 14 hits for the win.

Melendez 9, Nilva 7
Again, Sam Magnus capped a first inning rally with a HR, this time a 3-run shot. Eric Schulman was 3-for-3 with 4 RBI, and Ian Parfrey also had 3 hits. Matt Mishkin homered and drove in 2 runs for Nilva's team.

Lawrence / O'Connor 7, Rosengard 6
Glen Lawrence pitched 4 scoreless innings of relief for the win in a back-and-forth battle. Freddie Melendez drove in Cid Rivera with a 2-out single in the 5th inning for the win. Victor Waldron hit a 3-run HR for Rosengard's team.

Batting Titles

With the 2012 batting race currently featuring 4 players within 16 points of each other, I thought I'd go back and find other close batting titles in SFL history. Surprisingly, there weren't many, but this is what I found:

1985-- John Decker and Tony Connor tie at .500.
1987-- Bill Weinberg beats Rich Rowlands by 4 points, .452 to .448
1992-- Dan Schneider beats Kurt Hettler by 4 points, .486 to .482
1996-- Joe Gerber beats Phil Kotik by 8 points, .484 to .476
2003-- Ian Lebowitz beats Chris Hall by 7 points, .500 to .493

Here are the widest margins of victory:

1983-- Bill Weinberg (.605) by 114 points over Jose Balento
2007-- Phil Ciccone (.558) by 85 points over Dave Sommers
2005-- Chris Hall (.580) by 80 points over Carl Weinberg
2000-- Larry Savell (.623) by 78 points over Ian Lebowitz
2008-- Carl Weinberg (.541) by 75 points over Ian Parfrey

Players who won multiple titles:

Phil Kotik, 3-- 1994, 1995, 1999
Bill Weinberg, 2-- 1983, 1987
John Decker, 2-- 1985 (tie), 1986
Dan Schneider, 2-- 1992, 1997
Joe Gerber, 2-- 1996, 1998
Ian Lebowitz, 2-- 2001, 2003
Carl Weinberg, 2-- 2002, 2008
Chris Hall, 2-- 2004, 2005
Phil Ciccone, 2-- 2006, 2007
Ian Parfrey, 2-- 2010, 2011

Players who were runners-up multiple times:

Larry Savell, 4-- 1989, 1990, 1991, 1999 (won in 2000)
Phil Kotik, 4-- 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002 (won in 1994, 1995, 1999)
Dan Schneider, 2-- 1993, 1994 (won in 1992, 1997)
Carl Weinberg, 2-- 2005, 2006 (won in 2002, 2008)

One time runners-up:

Jose Balento, 1983
John Decker, 1984
Austen Ruse, 1985
Bill Weinberg, 1986
Rich Rowlands, 1987
Mark Allen, 1988
Kurt Hettler, 1992
John Grieco, 1995
Ian Lebowitz, 2000
Bob Holzwasser, 2001
Chris Hall, 2003
Gil Schmerler, 2004
Dave Sommers, 2007
Ian Parfrey, 2008
Derek Martinez, 2009
Freddie Melendez, 2010
Eric Schulman, 2011

Games of August 26

Hewes 2, Appell 1
Havelock Hewes picked up his 500th win by pitching a 2-hitter. All he needed was a botched rundown involving Cid Rivera, and an outfield miscommunication that allowed Freddie Melendez's 6th inning 2-run single to drop in.

Melendez 3, Parfrey 1 (8 innings)
Sam Magnus's single tied the game in the bottom of the 7th, but an RBI single by Fred Lang and a sac fly by Glen Lawrence won it in the top of the 8th.

Lawrence 11, Rosengard 6
The bats finally woke up for the third game. Rosengard's team led 5-0 in the third inning, but Eric Schulman's 19th sac fly of the year was the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 5th. Schulman was 2-for-3 with 5 RBI, and Glen Lawrence was 2-for-3 with 3 RBI. Cid Rivera hit a 3-run HR for Rosengard's team.

Games of July 29

We played a tripleheader at the Dewitt Clinton field, with Heckscher under water. Several dramatic finishes occurred.

Rosengard 7, O'Connor 6
Rosengard's team trailed 5-2 after 5 innings, but rallied to tie on an RBI triple by Sam Magnus, and took a 6-5 lead when Russell Rivera singled him in. A two-out RBI single by Dave Sommers tied the game in the seventh, but O'Connor lost the plate in the bottom of the inning, walking the bases loaded before Sam Melendez won it with a walk-off infield single.

Melendez 4, Parfrey 3
Freddie Melendez prevailed in a pitcher's duel, stranding the winning runs on base in the bottom of the 7th when he induced Joe Geller to ground into a game-ending DP. Parfrey lost despite allowing only four hits.

Martinez 10, Hewes 9
In another dramatic finish, Sam Melendez came all the way around on an infield hit and two errors to break a 7-7 tie in the top of the 6th, and Gil Schmerler singled in an insurance run in the 7th. Martinez's team rallied for three runs and the win, with Bob Holzwasser singling in Ian Parfrey with two outs to end the game. Derek Martinez homered and drove in 3, and Joe Geller was 3-for-4 with 3 RBI. Phil Ciccone and Sam Melendez had 3 hits and 3 runs scored each for Hewes's team.

Games of July 15

Schmerler 7, Rosengard 4
Gil Schmerler (2-0) allowed 4 runs in the first and none the rest of the way. Joe Escobar singled in Seung Lee in the top of the 7th to break a 4-4 tie.

Nilva 9, Melendez 3
Zach Nilva (7-2) backed his pitching with a 3-run HR, and Ben Indek and Ian Parfrey each added 3 hits.

Games of Memorial Day Weekend

Sorry I'm running a little behind here. We played a single 9-inning game on Sunday at Dewitt Clinton (due to a brief 7:30am downpour at Heckscher), and another Monday afternoon at the Great Lawn.

Martinez 16, O'Connor 12
Alex Rivera was 6-for-8 with 2 HR's and 5 RBI, then nearly gave it all back with a rocky relief outing for winning pitcher Derek Martinez (1-2). Derek also went 5-for-8 with 3 RBI. Ian Parfrey was 5-for-7 with a HR and 4 RBI for O'Connor's team.

Appell 18, Parfrey 6
Appell's team put up 8 runs in the first inning and never looked back. Alex Rivera had another great game at the plate, going 5-for-6 with 3 RBI.

Games of May 20

Melendez 11, O'Connor 9
Freddie's team battled back from a 6-0 deficit, scoring 6 times in the bottom of the 6th for the win. The go-ahead runs came in on Marvin Cohen's bases-loaded grounder to first, as Sam Magnus threw a 3-3-6 DP attempt into centerfield. Phil Ciccone and Chris Hall homered for O'Connor's team.

Parfrey 6, Holzwasser 2
Sam Melendez had 2 hits and 2 RBI in a three-inning second game.

Game of April 22

Parfrey 9, Hewes 8

Zach Nilva (3-for-5, HR) hit a walkoff sac fly, as Parfrey's team overcame two Brian Hernandez home runs. Marvin Cohen graciuosly played first base for both teams despite injuring his thumb in batting practice.

Games of April 15

Parfrey 13, Melendez 10
Parfrey's team came back from a 5-run deficit to win. Jeff Appell had 3 hits in his 2012 debut. For Melendez's team, newcomer Mike Heller was 3-for-4 with a 3-run HR.

Hewes 10, Appell 3
Appell's team committed 6 errors and allowed 7 runs in the first inning. Neither game was crisply played, to say the least.

Opening Day-- Games of 4/8

Parfrey 17, Hewes 4
Ian Parfrey backed his pitching with 4 hits, Don Weiss also had 4 hits, and Alex "Cid" Rivera drove in 5 runs. Parfrey's team scored 9 times in the 2nd inning to blow the doors off of this one.

Nilva 12, Melendez 4
Zach Nilva scattered 9 hits for the win, Sam Melendez was 3-for-4 with a grand slam, and Bob Holzwasser also homered in his return to SFL after missing all of 2011. Freddie Melendez was victimized by his defense-- only one of the 12 runs was earned. Eric Schulman was 3-for-3 with 2 RBI.

Lawrence 4, Connor 3
Glen Lawrence picked up the win and hit the winning sac fly to score Alex Rivera.

Games of March 18

This week we played a twin bill at 260th Street & Broadway, after being kicked out of every other field in Riverdale.

Sulyman 9, Hewes 7
Sulyman's team blew an early 6-1 lead, due to a multitude of errors, misplays, and a Zach Nilva 2-run single. Eric Schulman's RBI groundout plated Ian Parfrey for the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 6th. Freddie Melendez was 4-for-4 with an RBI.

Melendez 13, O'Connor 7
Freddie Melendez picked up his 5th win, and added 3 hits enroute to a 7-for-8 day. Ian Parfrey and the Melendez brothers combined to score 10 runs on 9 hits from the first 3 spots in the batting order. Chris Hall was 3-for-4 with 4 RBI for O'Connor's team.

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.