Fall 2011 Week 3 Recap

As the NFL season kicks off, we're always reminded of the phrase "Any Given Sunday, any team can beat any other team." Well, the same holds true for VA Peninsula competition, just replace Sunday with Wednesday. This week was no exception, as there were some close games and a couple of upsets. Without further ado, let's recap the games.

Free Ballin' 4, Foul Balls 1 

Crystal Tanner loads the gun.

The Ballers came into this game as one of the only undefeated teams in the league, and 6.5 run favorites against the cellar dwelling Foulies. It's easy to see why Free Ballin' would come in expecting an easy win, but as I said in the opening paragraph, 'Any Given Wednesday'... Foul Balls came to play and would almost make Free Ballin' pay for taking them lightly.

Free Ballin' had plenty of opportunities early on to bury Foul Balls. They got runners on in every inning, including bases loaded with less than 2 outs in the 2nd and 3rd inning. But each time, Foul Balls was able to wiggle their way out of the jam. A lack of discipline on the base paths severely hampered Free Ballin', as they continuously ran into outs. Foul Balls recorded 3 double plays in the game.

One of those double plays was initiated by the Foulie's Crystal Tanner. With the bases loaded, she caught a pop fly in shallow right field, and tossed the ball into 1B Dennis Gholson. Myung Bae hesitated before tagging up and heading home. Gholson threw the ball to the plate and hit Bae in the leg as he attempted to leap over the throw (the play ended up being the subject of the week 3 Caption This! contest).

Foul Balls celebrate after one of their 3
double plays against Free Ballin'.

Tanner was not done impacting the game. In the 2nd inning, she started off by reaching base on a beautiful bunt. Then on the following play, she aggressively went 1st to 3rd, which put her in a position to score the games' first run.

Through three innings, the Foulies lead 1-0. In the top of the 4th, Free Ballin' finally broke through the Balls defense, manufactured a run, and tied the game up. Headed into the 5th, if the Foul Balls could hold Free Ballin', they'd come away with a big tie. However, the pressure may have gotten to them, as the wheels fell off. Free Ballin kicked off the inning with a couple of bunt singles before David "D-Bizzle" Baum came to the plate. Baum crushed a ball to deep left field for a triple that cleared the bases. Baum later came in to score to make the score 4 to 1... Mark Flores took the mound in the bottom of the 5th and closed out the game for the undefeated Free Ballers.

Flores was throwing heat all afternoon.

Jiminy Kick-Its 8, New Kickheads 4

Jenelle Richards and JKI had a lot
to smile about on Wednesday.

Not a lot of things went right for the Kickheads in the beginning of this game. JKI came out on fire, scoring 5 runs in the top of the first. They didn't give up though. NKotB cut the deficit to 5-3, but in the third inning, Jiminy kept on kicking it and they tacked on 3 more runs. The JKI defense would hold strong, limiting NKotB to only one more run. Final score: 8-4 as Jiminy Kick-Its wins it's second game in a row. The big victory has JKI riding high and setting their sites on grand aspirations. In the postgame press conference Rick Kellner asked, "Why can't we win this and go to Vegas? I'm serious."


Kick Ass 5, Battlestar Ballsacktica 4
With high expectations headed into the season, Kick Ass had to be somewhat dissapointed with their 0-3 start. This week though, they jumped out to an early lead and held off a strong Battlestar rally. For more details about the game, please check out Karen Savell's excellent recap.

Shake N Bake 9, Chubby Gangsters 2

No bad blood: Colby with Greg Moore.

One of the big stories to come out of the off-season, was the departure of Jeffrey Scott, Tracy Colby, and AJ Derr from the Chubby Gangsters. The trio left the club to found the expansion team, Shake N Bake, which caused some controversy. Some members of the Chubby Gangsters were caught off guard by the defections and the team, which went 10-2 in the spring, was left with some challenges to fill the spots vacated by Derr, Scott, and Colby. In week 3, it would mark the first time the Gangsters would get a shot at their former teammates as they took on Shake N Bake. Make no mistake. Both sides really wanted to win this game.

The SnB offense would prove to be more than the Gangbangers could handle on Wednesday though. Shake N Bake came out in the top of the first with consecutive base hits by Tim Lobdell, Derr, and Kim Koricich to load the bases. Patrick Jones, Brent Wentworth (3rd Person Alert!), and Jiselle Anderson followed each with RKIs to give the Bakers a 3-0 lead. After the Chubby Gangsters put a run of their own on the board, the bottom of the SnB lineup picked up right where the top left off. Scott, John LaNeave, and GMOT cover model Nick Anderson lead off the game with consecutive base hits to load them. Nina Richardson then drove in Scott and LaNeave. Lobdell and Derr would then follow up with 2 more RKIs and SnB would have a commanding 7-1 lead after 2 innings.

From there, the SnB defense took over. Jeffrey Scott pitched all 5 innings and was very effective against his former team. Catcher AJ Derr was on fire as well, smothering any CG bunts that fell short and making several nice plays during the contest. Afterwards, in the SnB locker room, Derr was asked how much the win meant to him personally. He responded simply by saying, "It felt good."

Scott in action on Wednesday night.

Burning Bridges 15, Chicken Tetrazzini 0
Burning Bridges came out on fire in this contest and murdered a quality Chicken Tetrazzini team. BB scored runs in all 4 of the innings played, with most of the damage being done in an 8 run 2nd inning. Without starting catcher Taylor Wilson (on the 15 day DL with cracked ribs), the Angry Birds struggled to stop the BB bunters, while the outfield had quite a few holes that were exposed by the Bridges skilled kickers. All in all, it was an impressive victory for the upstart Burning Bridges squad.

A shell-shocked Kris Hodges.

Vicious & Delicious 7, Lick It Before You Kick It 4

I wonder who that ball belongs to...

Headed into this game, the defending champions, VD had yet to taste victory in the Fall season. They had lost to JFK and tied the Clockers. On the other side, Lick It had been world beaters in this young season. Winners by 1 run against both the Clockers and JFK. In what could possibly be a preview of the league finals this November, these two teams would go to battle on Wednesday night.

VD was eager to get their first victory. The elite kickers at the top of their lineup did their job, taking advantage of LIBYKI mistakes and scoring 4 runs to start off the game.

On defense, VD employed a 'bend, but don't break' approach. The highly skilled Lick It offense consistently got runners on base and scored runs in 4 out of 5 innings, but they were never able to bust it open. In each of the innings they scored in, Vicious & Delicious limited them to a single run.

With the score 5-3 headed into the 5th inning, VD manufactured a couple of key insurance runs in the top. The final score was an impressive 7-4 win for the current Wentworth Trophy holders.

5 O'Clockers 4, Just For Kicks 1

The Doctor.

This was another early season clash between two of the top teams in VA Peninsula. Like VD, the Clockers were coming into this game with an 0-1-1 record and were determined not to go winless against the toughest stretch of their schedule. They would not be disappointed, as the Clockers came to play on Wednesday.

The story of the game was the inability of JFK to close out innings. Nearly all of the Clocker runs were scored with 2 outs. Josh Waldrop, who has a well deserved reputation as a dangerous kicker, was responsible for two of the RKIs on laser-like line drives.

Defensively, the Clockers kept Just For Kicks off balance and out of their comfort zone all game. Daniel Reyes pitched very effectively, while Jeff Pauley, Adam Flowers, and Randy Devlin rotated in at catcher and charger and played great interior bunt defense. When Just For Kicks decided to adjust and start testing the outfield with some kick aways, Waldrop was there, making a couple of running catches to rob them.

"Really, we were epic last night," the Clockers' Jess Scott (who drew a base on balls during the game), said on Thursday, "Our team played 5 solid innings. It was a great game!"

Jagernauts 8, Rumspringa 7
This game between the two "Alliance" teams was remarkable for a number of reasons. Jagernaut 1B Mike Ramey pulled off an unassisted triple play and the 'Nauts had a meltdown that nearly caused them to blow a 7 run lead in the 5th. In the end, 'Springa fell just 1 run short in their attempt to tie their third straight game. For a more detailed recap, check out Justin Littell's great write up.