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 August 5

Hewes 7, Rosengard 5
Eric Schulman homered and drove in 2, and Sam Magnus was 3-for-4 with an RBI double to lead the Havelocks past the Rosengards. Phil Ciccone was 3-for-3 with 3 RBI for Rosengard's team. Defensive play of the game: Marvin Cohen catches a popup and initiates a 3-2 DP.

Appell 9, Parfrey 3
Russ Rivera's 2-run opposite field double broke a 3-3 tie in the 5th inning, after which the wheels came off for Parfrey's team. Appell scattered 6 hits in a strong pitching performance.

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.

Happy Opening Day

A BARTERING EQUIVALENCE Marvin Cohen

After the last game, Ian Parfrey and I happened to be let off the same car, into the same subway station, aimed for the same C train. But I descended the stairs too slow, causing him to miss the train he would have made if he hadn't waited for me. It cost him an extra 5 minutes till the next train came. This is like I cost him a double or triple if he hits it into the gap with me on first and I can't make it past second base. Since time is money, and he's busy, I asked him how much I owed him for the 5 minutes between trains. Unlike a hard-nosed businessman, he didn't charge me anything except this contribution to our website. Thus the barter system is still informally alive in a social economy that shows good will pitching a meatball strike to a forgiven batter whether he can respond to the opportunity or not.

AWARDS

The second annual winter meeting live blog will follow. Here are your 2010 award winners.

GG Pitcher: Freddie Melendez
Catcher: Josh Balsam
1st Base: Marvin Cohen
2nd Base: Laura Stoeth
3rd Base: Freddie Melendez
Shortstop: Phil Ciccone
Outfield: Zach Nilva, Alex Rivera, Eric Schulman, Bill McLaughlin, Brian Hernandez
Rookie: Ken Walker and Eric Schulman
Pitcher: Freddie Melendez
MVP: Ian Parfrey

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 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.

The View From the Batter's Box, Part I

While Marvin is certainly our resident philosopher, I will admit to having spent most of the last three years thinking about hitting. It has done wonders for my batting average but has probably ruined the swings of half a dozen people I've talked to. The batting title is within my grasp this season, though Freddy Melendez scares me with his right-field power and disciplined approach, and he swings with a sort of precise gusto, if you will, embodied in the 3-run triple he clubbed off of me to end yesterday's game one.

I have also learned the advantages of a right-field swing, though when I see Don Weiss standing there and inwardly grinning at the thought of a line drive coming his way, I realize that given time a defense will adjust to anything. Anyway, I take pride in the ability to hit line-drive singles between the first and second baseman, and I am always on the lookout for the pitch that can be blasted right down the line and over the head of an unfortunate right fielder for a home run.

I have thought a lot lately about batting slumps, as I have gotten into one-- not a terrible one, where I am adrift at sea in an open boat and starving to death for want of a hit, but a more pernicious sort of slump where I find myself wasting several at bats a day-- flying out on a first-pitch chicken-dance changeup from Havelock; deciding to pull no matter where the pitch is and then popping out; that sort of thing. This season has seen far more horrible slumps-- Marvin going 4-for-108 at Heckscher; Alex Rivera's 20-for-74 midsummer; Fred Lang's recent 5-for-63 freefall on the heels of a 16-for-29 hot streak that involved a batting tip from Phil Ciccone and a lot of sharp grounders into the shortstop hole. And Havelock's whole damn season; Bob Holzwasser's as well, until the day he went 5-for-7 and then tore a groin muscle... so I am 11-of-32 in September. No biggie, right? I suppose not, but I find the feeling of wondering what the hell's wrong with my swing for six days of the week and then going out on the seventh to fuck up some more just as unpleasant as everyone else.

Slumps can be physical or mental or some combination thereof. Dipping the back elbow is a good way to get under everything. Thinking too much about placing the ball can be equally deadly. Injuries can cause slumps, though they can also cause hot streaks. I think Alex's slump may have been caused by the conundrum posed by his role as a top-of-the-lineup hitter-- should he take pitches like a #2 hitter or be aggressive like he wants to be-- so, for a little while he took strikes and swung out of the zone, with a resulting dip in average. Lang's slump was at first a natural reaction to an unnatural hot streak, but he got frustrated and dug himself in deeper. I thought to myself last week, a lot of slumps are caused by swinging too aggressively. So my first time up Sunday, I was struck out looking by Jim O'Connor. Lately I've been considering acupuncture, or maybe going back to drinking too much on Saturday nights. Hangovers sometimes lead to a meditative approach to hitting.

As you may have seen from the leader boards, the race to break records is once again on. Joe Gerber's marks of 103 runs and 139 hits may possibly fall. Gerber had 376 plate appearances in which to achieve this; Zach and Freddy and myself will be lucky to get much over 300. I'm not asking for an asterisk for Gerber. I just want good weather until 2011.

Strange Plays I Have Seen

Sunday's Game One ended on one of the more bizarre plays I have seen in my SFLOI career. With one out in the top of the 7th, and runners on first and second, Bob Holzwasser-- the tying run-- hit a bloop to shallow center that fell in front of OF Derek Martinez. Martinez came up throwing to third, where runner Solomon Sarway was narrowly forced out. Trail runner Alex Rivera forgot how many outs there were, and wandered off of second base thinking the game was over. He was retired in a brief rundown.

Now, two obscure rules governed the putout at third base. Martinez's throw was low and into the runner, forcing the third baseman (me) to stretch towards home plate and inadvertently block the entire bag with my body. Solomon, rather than sliding into me and knocking me into next week, gave himself up. There was still a pretty strong collision. This is an interesting test of the no-collision rule. The runner would have been within his rights to slide into me. With Holzwasser, the batter, representing the tying run, it would have made good softball sense to slide, but perhaps bad common sense, because, as was mentioned a few weeks ago, there is nothing of vital importance at stake here, and we need to be able to go to work on Monday.

The other rule is the interference rule, which is widely debated and sometimes misinterpreted whenever it's called into play. As the fielder, I am allowed to go into the basepath to make a play, whether on a ground ball, popup, or attempting to field a throw. So the play was legit, the umpire made the correct call (assuming the ball actually beat the runner), the runner did the right thing by giving himself up, and the only unfortunate circumstance of the whole play is that it came in a situation of game-changing importance, and snuffed out a last-inning rally.

Before I recap this week's games, here are a few other strange plays from the last few years:

In the bottom of the 7th inning of the last game of the 2007 season, Phil Ciccone was on third base as the tying run with two outs. The next batter, John Pyne, hit a soft ground ball down the third base line. Phil remained on the bag, and made no effort to avoid the ball (and may have even leaned into it a little). It hit him and bounced into foul territory. Phil was called out for interference, and a long argument ensued. As I interpret the rules, the call was correct, even though being on the bag usually provides protection for the runner. I believe the hit-by-pitch rule in baseball is a reasonable parallel. If a batter leans into a pitch, he may not always be awarded first base.

Amusingly, while umpiring, I fucked up a similar call in early 2008. Phil was the batter this time, and smoked a line drive that hit runner Seung Lee on third base. I called Seung out, as he was in fair territory. This was probably the wrong call, IF he was still on the bag. I don't remember. Maybe Seung does.

Now, here's a couple of interference plays. While pursuing a popup in one of the Great Lawn bonus games last year, 1B Freddy Melendez collided with a runner. Both runners were declared safe because of Freddy obstructing the lead runner. This was an incorrect call, because Freddy was the fielder nearest the play, and HAS THE RIGHT TO ENTER THE BASEPATH TO MAKE A PLAY. The runner has the right to leave the basepath to avoid him, but the fielder has the right-of-way if he is pursuing the ball AND is the closest fielder. I believe the correct call would be that the runner should have been out, and the batter awarded first base. If the runner's interference were intentional (it was not), both would be out. In this case, the legendary vociferousness of Joe Gerber influenced the umpire's call, but the game was still won by Freddy's team.

The other case is Marvin's injury from last season. A slightly errant throw carried Marvin's momentum into the baseline, where Jim O'Connor collided hard with him. The umpire ruled Jim safe, and this was also correct, because Jim was in the baseline, and had no time to try to avoid Marvin-- when ball, fielder, and runner arrive at a base simultaneously, there is no interference.

Games and Notes of Memorial Day Weekend

Sorry this took so long to put up, but I was haunted by my epic meltdown in Game 4 (see below), and it wasn't until now that I was ready to focus on the positives. Despite the fatigue and occasional frustration of playing 5 games in a weekend, we managed to get some good ones in.

Game 1
Sunday 5/30
Rosengard 9, Appell 1
Dave Rosengard returned from the DL to baffle Appell's team with an 8-hit gem. Ben Indek and Bill McLaughlin were each 2-for-3 with 2 RBI. This game also marked the return of Phil Ciccone (ankle) and Marvin Cohen (eye surgery) to active duty.

Game 2
Melendez 5, Martinez 4
Melendez's double broke a 2-2 tie in the 4th, and Solomon Sarway drove in 2 runs. David Sommers had 2 hits and 2 RBI for Martinez's team.

Game 3
Nilva 7, Hewes 5
Zach Nilva recorded his first win as a pitcher, after going a hard luck 0-7 over the last two seasons. Fortunately, unlike 1990s Met hurler Anthony Young, Zach had his outfielding and hitting to fall back on. Derek Martinez backed Nilva with 4 hits including a solo HR. Jaime Orochena homered in a losing cause, and Ian Lebowitz drove in 2. Nilva stranded the tying run on base in the 7th.

Game 4
Monday 5/31
Stoeth 9, Parfrey 5
Crusing with a 5-1 lead in the 6th inning, Ian Parfrey surrendered 8 runs. The first 4 came on Ken Walker's grand slam. Freddy Melendez's 2-run single broke the tie later in the inning. Bill McLaughlin was 3-for-4 with an RBI for Parfrey's team, and Laura Stoeth ran her record to 3-0 on the year. Havelock Hewes recorded his 100th career sacrifice bunt in this game, on an amusing play where pitcher Parfrey accidentally kicked the ball right into the waiting glove of Marvin Cohen.

Game 5
Hewes 7, Martinez 2
Alex Rivera broke a 2-2 tie with a solo HR to lead off the 6th inning. Rivera was 3-for-4 in the game, snapping out of a slump. Hewes pitched masterfully, scattering 6 hits.

Dave Sommers' LP2 team dropped a 4-0 decision to the ridiculously named Lawyertime.com, and are now 5-1 on the year. LP2 is off this week, and resumes action Wednesday June 9th.

COHEN'S CONCOCTIONS #2

FROM THE START, A NON-COMPARISON

The batter hits a slow roller and manages to beat it out. His momentum carries him 30feet beyond first base. He gets no credit for those extra feet. Compare safely getting to first base with football's goal of getting the first down. The runner succeeds not only in getting the first down but 6 yards more, and furthermore he gets extra credit to the tune of those 6 yards. Isn't this inter-sport comparison unfair to baseball? Shouldn't the batter, beyond getting to first base successfully, get extra credit for his momentum-driven extra 30 feet?

In a word, no. What's the moral? To each his own. Don't let borders get out of hand, or foot. To each its zone. Remain territorially distinct, don't blur rules.

Marvin Cohen is the author of several books including Baseball The Beautiful (1974) and a former creative writing teacher at the New School. Marvin plays first base for Softball For The Love Of It.

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!

SFLOI CARDS #4: MARVIN "THE MARVELOUS" COHEN

Order Marvin's card here.

COHEN'S CONCOCTIONS #1

HAPPINESS IS OKAY, BUT NOT GLOATING?

The problem is the immorality of gloating, which makes the one you gloat against feel bad. My happiness began in November & will continue through Spring at least. I earned the happiness by being a Yankee fan. But my happiness is at the expense of my fellow human beings who care for the Mets. Should I feel guilty in my happiness, so as to spare the Mets' fans' feelings? Do I owe Mets fans some reparation--should I try to destroy my happiness, so as to lower myself to equal their feelings? Should human beings be granted a democracy of emotions, leveled down to conformity? I want to do good to my fellow mankind's--at the cost of denying my Yankee pride? Why can't I just feel good, while I'm still able to, & let Met fans fend for themselves? Guilt is unpleasant, so why can't Met fans be kind enough to let me off the hook?

Am I accusing Met fans of interfering with the happiness that started in November & has enough staying power to last even beyond Spring? If they accuse me of gloating, can't they just look the other way, & forgive my lack of tact?

Tact is superficial compared to morality itself. Now I'm in it deep.

-Marvin Cohen

Marvin Cohen is the author of several books including Baseball The Beautiful (1974) and a former creative writing teacher at the New School. Marvin plays first base for Softball For The Love Of It.

THE GOLDEN SOMBRERO

One of the interesting awards we have here is the pennant. How do you win one? You have to be a good, but underrated player, who gets traded inbetween games a lot. Gil almost stole one this year by playing one half of every doubleheader. Bob, who did win, was frequently traded when the losing team requested a good infielder. I came within 1 game of the pennant by going 18-7 as a pitcher, and many of the previous pennant winners-- Gil, Jorge Loarte, Pete Bochan, Havelock-- have been pitchers. The pitcher can control his destiny a little better than the fielders can.

The dark side of this award is the negative pennant. I can't take credit for coining the phrase; it's Seung's. Only one player has won three positive pennants (Bobby Naranjo), but three different players have "won" four negative pennants. Pete Bochan, Bobby Naranjo, Havelock, Gil, and Bob have all won both awards. Havelock, in his "winning" season, was 24 games under .500. That was also the year he walked 63 times. Karma? You tell me. The negative pennant has been won by some good players. Alltime OPS leader Phil Kotik won one, while never winning the actual pennant. Alltime RBI leader Jose Balento is one of the unlucky four-time winners. I guess his bat was asked to cover some outmatched teams over the years. Rich "Wrong Way" Rowlands set a record of sorts in 1999 by winning the negative pennant and only playing 13 games; he went 2-11. We all know Rich can play the game-- that couldn't have been his fault.

Taken together, the positive and negative pennants can measure how well balanced the team-choosing is. 2009 was a well balanced year, with the two pennant winners a total of 19 games off of .500. This makes it the most balanced year since 1993. The most unbalanced year was 2007, when Carl won the pennant at +17, and Marvin won the negative pennant at -20. I think it took all of Havelock's skill to hold Carl to +17 that year, as Carl also led the league in doubles, triples, homers, and RBI.

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

SFLOI CLASSICS-- 9/6/09

While waiting for the weather to warm up, here's a recap of one of last season's most thrilling games.

On September 6, 2009, SFLOI played a day-night quadrupleheader. The 4th and final game went 11 innings. Derek Martinez pitched for the visitors, and Jeff Appell for the home team. The visitors took an early 5-1 lead, but Appell's team scored four 2-out runs in the bottom of the 2nd to tie, highlighted by a Mike Palma 2-run single, and a Don Weiss RBI single on which Marvin Cohen tried to go first-to-third, made it, and then scored on an overthrow.

The pitchers then got down to business, and the game remained tied at 5 until the top of the 9th inning. Martinez's team took a 6-5 lead on a throwing error, but the game was quickly tied again. Marvin came to bat with the bases loaded and no outs, and beat an attempted 5-2-3 DP, and the runner from second alertly scored. Martinez got out of the jam by inducing a 9-2 DP, with Nel Yomtov gunning down the winning run at the plate.

Things got dicier in the 10th, with Martinez needing a rare 4-6-2 DP to escape. Ian Parfrey threw a strike to Josh Balsam to catch Don Weiss trying to score. Weiss's clean, hard slide toppled the catcher, who somehow held the ball. Both players were injured but remained in the game.

In the 11th, Martinez's team loaded the bases with nobody out, but only managed one run, with Martinez's SF to left just barely scoring Yomtov. Martinez held down the fort in the 11th, and came away with a 7-6 win.

WELCOME TO SOFTBALL FOR THE LOVE OF IT

Dear Members of SFLOI,

Welcome to your new softball home! All of the great off-field content can now be centralized here from Ian's stats to Havelock's ideas to Marvin's delightful soliloquies plus game recaps, analysis, photos, and more.

As you can see this website is being done blog-style, so it'll be very interactive. While we can only grant authorship to a few of you, as in any of the mass emails, your commentary is welcome and encouraged. Let's make this a community we are proud of, on and off the field!

So bookmark this page, and make sure to check in weekly for all the updates including changes to game-affecting weather conditions, leader boards, etc. ***Better yet, subscribe to the website by clicking the Follow tab down towards the bottom of the side-bar. This will tell you when a new post is published. Enjoy!

Best,
Sal Cipriano
SFLOI Webmaster
RF/2B/1B/C
'09 STATS:
.348/.390/.516
6 HR 36 RBI