Matthew Roberson and the Crows soared into the playoff picture with a pair of wins on Sunday.
We had four fun matchups this week, with ISO Pale gritting out two doubleheaders by playing a weekday game. There was a World Series rematch, a slugfest that revealed a new playoff contender, and many, many home runs. Playoffs are looming and the race is heating up. Be sure to check out the updated playoff picture after the recaps!
Washout shutout skidding Juice in World Series rematch
Dan Rish shut down the Juice on four hits to lead the Washout to a game one win.
DAN RISH, West Coast Washout
West Coast Washout 3 || 100% Real Juice 0
The last time the West Coast Washout walked onto a field with 100% Real Juice, the Juicers walked off with the Leaning Golden Man. The stakes were a little lower this time around, but somehow it didn’t feel much different. Things started dicey for the Washout, with your narrator working himself into and then out of a bases-loaded, one out jam, a double by Matt Guindon being rendered harmless. Reigning Cy Young winner Aaron Hunter then took the mound for the Juice, not showing any signs of lag - jet or otherwise - as he recorded three quick outs to start his third series of the season, gaining playoff eligibility after an offseason move to California.
Andrew Winter hit safely twice and continued to raise his average against some of the toughest pitching in the league.
In the third, Max Melendez and Andrew Winter led off with back-to-back singles just past the foul arc. After a Rish popout and a Jeremy Salvo strikeout, Conor Roberson delivered a clutch two out hit to plate the first run of the game. Salvo doubled home another run the following inning to make it 2-0. The Juice made things interesting in the bottom of the inning, with singles from Hunter and Epo Olivarez, but Hunter was cut off going to third on a controversially close inning-ending fielder’s choice. Winter doubled home an insurance run in the 5th, then three K’s later, it was over. Olivarez, Winter and Salvo each notched two hits to lead all hitters.
West Coast Washout 3 || 100% Real Juice 0
Max Melendez struck out 15 while pitching a shutout on two hits in his best 2019 performance yet.
At this point, the Washout and Juice were tied for the #3/4 playoff spots. The all-important distinction would be determined for the moment by the winner of Game 2. The duo of Max Melendez and Epo Olivarez would settle it with a duel. The visitors started off by loading the bases with no outs, only for Olivarez to skirt trouble. Melendez responded by striking out the side.
Epo Olivares worked out of jam after jam before giving up three runs in the fourth in an otherwise sparkling performance.
The biggest threat from the Juice came in the second. With the bases loaded and two outs, Tim Haggerty slapped a ball the other way, but right into the basepath where Adam Brickett was the victim of a fielder’s choice. Back and forth, scoreless -- but with Epo piling up bases loaded jams and runners left on base. That would catch up to him finally in the fifth, when Jeremy Salvo scored on a 50-50 ball, leaving third only after the ball was already in the infield. Kevin Tsuchida then supplied the dagger with a two-run double two batters later -- that would be the difference. Both pitchers fanned 15, but Melendez allowed only four baserunners to Epo's 15.
Crows doubledown Chickens to keep playoff hopes alive
Eric Sanford’s first career home run paced the crows to their biggest win of the year.
MATTHEW ROBERSON, Sheryl Crows
Sheryl Crows 17 || Chicken ‘n’ Wiffles 5 (F/4)
As the Sheryl Crows and Chicken ‘n’ Wiffles converged on Sunday afternoon for a massive pair of games, the vast expanse of Cowen Park stretched before them. Apart from two foul lines and a fence, the park was a blank canvas, begging for an injection of art. But upon further inspection, this hallowed ground had received a visit from an unexpected if symbolic visitor. Glistening in the afternoon sun, just a whisper away from the very same batter’s box where the Crows would soon begin to rake, sat a solitary crow feather.
“I knew we couldn’t possibly lose,” said one Sheryl Crow, possessing the trenchant, concise lyricism of his team’s namesake and the correctness of baseball’s best thinkers.
The two resilient sides painted the field for three hours and change, combining for eleven home runs over the course of eleven wild innings. In the end, the Crows came away with two victories, taking the first 17-5 before besting Chicken ‘n’ Wiffles 22-19 in an instant classic.
Sunday marked the first known appearance of a fan sign in support of...who else...the Sheryl Crows.
Game one saw the triumphant return of Grant “Adam BongosVino” Bronsdon, who debuted a devastating new pitch that local fans have called The Wiggler. Zach “Five Tools, Six If You Count Sunscreen” Gottschalk went a perfect 5-for-5 at the dish while recording three RBI and two walks. Coupled with his usual stellar defense in left field, Gottschalk has become one of the league’s analytical darlings, a real WAR hero if you will. The Crows got out to a 6-3 lead and never looked back, scoring 10 runs in the fourth and final inning to grab their fifth win of the year.
Sheryl Crows 22 || Chicken ‘n’ Wiffles 19 (F/7)
Matt Pearson launched three home runs in game two to continue his offensive tear.
Life has a way of providing moments that make you remember exactly where you were when they happened. For the Crows—mostly a young group—these moments have been limited to mostly to the 21st century: 9/11. The 2008 and 2016 elections. The day Ichiro was traded. None of these days will have the historical implications to match 1:45-3:15 p.m. on July 14, 2019. For on that fateful day, the greatest Wiffle ball game of all time took place.
Down 11-6 heading into the fourth inning, the Crows rallied for three quick runs to shorten the gap. A shutdown inning from Matthew “I Don’t Know Why He’s Pitching Either” Roberson brought his murder of crows to the fifth with a manageable two-run deficit. Gottschalk got things started with a single to the left side, followed by another single from Tyler “Handsome Hunter Pence” Racher. Racher’s very own brother-in-law, Eric “Kurt Gibson With Hair” Sanford crushed the first homer of his Wiffle career to improbably put the Crows on top. The fifth inning ended with the visitors up 15-11, which stretched to 19-12 after Bronsdon cleared the bases on a carousel single in the sixth.
Zach Gottschalk watches his home run leave as Chicken 'n' Wiffles' Mike Constantine can only lean back and watch.
Clinging to a seven run lead, Roberson took the mound looking for his second complete game victory. Instead, he found himself in hot water, facing Matt “There’s No Way He Hits Another Home Run” Pearson with the bases loaded, and the lead now down to four. His team down to their final out, Pearson clocked his third dinger of the game, giving him 9 RBI and probably the biggest Win Probability shift in league history.
The Chickens have found a promising offensive threat in PJ "The Bedazzled One" Siberell, who homered again on Sunday.
The Crows, no stranger to a winding road, got out of the rest of the inning unscathed and came back for three of their own in the top of the seventh inning. Roberson’s extra-inning blast was the final fork in Chicken n’ Wiffles’ hopes, as their day came to an end when Pearson’s shoe was hit by a dart as the overzealous runner tried to reach third base on a single to right. That peg, much like Sheryl Crow’s ex-lover, showed just how powerful one ball can be.
Pale get off the schneid, split with Bangers
GREG NYSSEN, Hang and Bang
This just in: Alex Arkfeld hits bombs. BOMBS.
Hang and Bang 22 || ISO Pale 21
The wiffleball is a fickle beast, one that could not be tamed with 59 base on balls on the day. For the second straight week HAB’s J Mack gave his team a chance to win with a workhorse effort at 138 pitches, while ISO's Macgowan hurled 165, often frustrating HAB's best hitters with 35mph breakneck speeds at the top o’ the zone. After three ISO was up 14-12 and kept the pressure on throughout, led by 5 RBI's from Baugh and 6 from Wozniak. Wozniak and Watari each hit two run blasts to nearly put the game out of reach at 21-12 after the top of the 5th. But HAB hitters, resilient as they have been since losing two of their top pitchers to injury, loosened up with four long balls in the final two frames, a liner from Chuck Ries (his first since Little League) and three bombs from Alex Arkfeld. Four runs in the 5th and a brave no run 6th tossed by Mack put the game within reach at 16-21. Macgowan weathered the storm early but the train was now a rollin'.
Hiro Watari's continued a quietly productive rookie year for ISO Pale.
With the winning run on first, Arkfeld singled to left, and Nyssen tried to stretch it to third. An errant throw had him thinking home and game over, but ISO's third baseman reacted quick, chasing down the ball and pegging the diving Nyssen in the back just in time. Despite the dramatic save, a walk-off single by Ybarra ended it three batters later at 22-21. A true battle.
Captain Joe Wozniak homered in his league debut for ISO Pale.
ISO Pale 26 || Hang and Bang 11
Shane Huddlehuff hung tough to earn his first career win for ISO.
HAB, high off the game one comeback, started strong with five in the 1st and four in the 2nd behind three long balls from Ybarra and another from Arkfeld, his fourth on the day. Down 9-2 ISO was not deterred, taking full advantage of the lack of pitching depth from HAB and jumping to an 11-9 lead behind a Stephens homer.
Andrew Ybarra homered in his first three at bats in game two.
HAB tied it in the third, but could not hold off the ISO sluggers and the wiffle-wheels did come off. A grand hammer from Baugh made it 17-11, at which point three HAB pitchers no longer seemed capable of tossing their fickle friend, the wiffleball, across the plate. Nine walks and a few hits later, the game ended in the third at 26-11 on a fielder's choice by Par, giving ISO a well deserved win.
The Playoff Picture
Leading Contenders
1. West Coast Washout (10-4)
- vs Sheryl Crows
2. Bilabial Stops (9-3)
- @ Hang and Bang
- @ Sheryl Crows
3. RBI Steaks (8-2)
- @ Mighty Knucks
- @ ISO Pale
- vs Chicken ‘n’ Wiffles
These three teams are in good position to make the playoffs with no more tough games against each other, but there is still time for nasty plot twists to change up the seeding. West Coast Washout is sitting pretty after sweeping the Juice, but they could tumble with a hiccup against the Crows. The Bilabial Stops and RBI Steaks have more games to play and either could take the first seed, but both could just as easily fall into the wild card with poor performances. Vegas is leaning toward the Steaks taking the regular season crown given their pedigree and remaining schedule, but it’s really anyone’s game.
Wild Card
100% Real Juice (9-5)
- vs Mighty Knucks
Mighty Knucks (8-4)
- vs RBI Steaks
- @ 100% Real Juice
Sheryl Crows (6-6)
- @ West Coast Washout
- vs Bilabial Stops
The recent run of poor form from 100% Real Juice has made their playoff path more difficult -- their season finale against the Mighty Knucks could very well be a wild card game preview. Although the Mighty Knucks seem to have a firm grip on the second wild card, they are about to be seriously tested by two historic powers and could slip. Meanwhile the Sheryl Crows have a puncher’s chance to overcome the Knucks or force a play-in, but they also have tough draws against two leading contenders.
Eliminated from Contention
Hang and Bang (5-9)
- vs Bilabial Stops
Chicken ‘n’ Wiffles (2-12)
- @ RBI Steaks
ISO Pale (1-13)
- vs RBI Steaks
After Sunday’s games, Hang and Bang was hanging on by a thread after suffering a rain soaked sweep by the Mighty Knucks and a tough split with ISO Pale. Unfortunately the Knucks punched in another two wins in their midweek matchup against ISO Pale, eliminating the Bangers from the playoffs. Though they have been ravaged by injury this season, they are a talented team with the tools to make a run next year.
On the other hand, Chicken ‘n’ Wiffles and ISO Pale have had a rough go of it this season. Both teams have brought leading contenders to the wire, with the Stops just walking off the Chickens and the Washout squeaking by the Pale, but that’s cold comfort in the cellar. Both teams can still spoil the proceedings by upsetting the RBI Steaks in their finales.
