Hello ECC Softball fans. Welcome to another exciting recap of ECC softball.
This was going to be an interesting week. The team was already starting in a bit of a hole. Kyle Small was not in town. On top of that, Coach (and centerfielder extraordinaire) John Quinlan was on vacation with his family and unavailable. Coaching duties fell onto the shoulder of rookie manager, Craig Butler. Sure, he’s a big guy and can carry the bag with all the bats in it, but what about the little things…the writing names in the batting order, the keeping up with the number of outs and the score, the shouting of important things like “okay guys, let’s turn two”—the things that make management a daunting task. How would Coach Butler do? Fortunately, Coach Quinlan took care of the hard part, making sure everyone was there. Pete Bjorlin arrived to do the pitching. An old friend, Brian Board, showed up from Seattle, and a new teammate, Jon Adsem, who recently returned to ECC from New York, joined the squad.
Some things, however, remained the same. Brian Wiersma homered (#5, for those counting at home) against St. Therese in game 1. Kit Housh, inserted into the #2 spot in the lineup by Coach Butler, responded by going 5 for 5 with 4 runs scored. Jon Volling scored 3 runs from the leadoff spot and made a number of fine plays in the outfield. Clint Talmo also crossed the pay station 3 times and Mike Mrosko turned in his usual outstanding job at shortstop. This was an exciting game on a hot and humid night at Freeman Park. St. Therese, on the back of an 8 run second inning, had a 10-3 lead heading into the bottom of the 2nd. This is when the ECC bats took over, highlighted by Wiersma’s dinger. 6 runs in the 2nd, 5 in the 3rd, and 5 more in the 4th. Pete Bjorlin also found his groove after the 2nd and held St. Therese to 5 runs over the final three innings. Big Innings took their toll on the clock and the game was called after an hour with 4.5 innings complete. Final Score: ECC 19, St. Therese 15.
Game 2 was more of the same for ECC, this time against Maynards. The only change made by Coach Butler for this game was the insertion of Jon Adsem into the lineup. Jon responded with 2 hits (including a triple) and a run scored. Kit Housh and Jon Volling continued their hot hitting by both going 3 for 3 with 3 runs scored. Brian Wiersma hit his 6th home run of the season. He has now homered in 3 consecutive games. The high point of the game, and perhaps the season, was the 11 run 3rd inning that saw ECC send 15 men to the plate. The highlight of the inning, from this writer’s point of view, was Craig “Wheels” Butler scoring from first on a double by Matt Dickinson. The fact that Craig was already gasping for air as he rounded second and headed for 3rd did not deter 3rd base coach Mike Mrosko from sending him towards home. Yes, he made it, and did NOT require medical attention. All but one member of the ECC team scored in the 3rd inning. Pete Bjorlin, backed by excellent defense all over the field, pitched a near flawless game. He threw shut out softball for 2 innings before ECC’s big inning gave him a commanding lead. After that, he gave up a total of 6 meaningless runs. Final score, ECC 19, Maynards 6. That’s it, sports fans. ECC is on fire with a 3 game winning streak heading into next weeks late game versus Westwood at 9 pm at the Excelsior Commons. Hope to see you there.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
June 16—Another Day, Another DH split
Hello ECC Softball fans. Sorry for delay in a report but the talented author of these reports is on vacation and I am filling in.
Things were not looking great for your ECC softball team as 6:30 approached on Monday night. At game time, 8 men had arrived for the game and the clock was ticking towards a forfeit. Even after some valiant dialing by many, ECC was prepared for instant defeat. Fortunately, Kyle Small, with a keen eye for softball talent (and clothing sizes) found Aaron To quote from the “Johnny Bravo” episode of “The Brady Bunch”, Aaronfit the suit, or in this case, the uniform jersey. Aaron stepped in at catcher and performed admirably. In the 2nd inning, his bid for a base hit was thwarted by a nice play by the St. John’s send baseman. Reinforcements in the form of Patrick Stolz and Mike Mrosko soon arrived to even up the odds. The Convenanters jumped out to a 1-0 lead before surrendering 3 runs to St. Johns in the bottom of the inning. After taking a tieing up the score at 9 in the 3rd inning, ECC thought momentum was on their side. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case. St. Johns scored 10 runs in the last two innings to take a 6 run lead into the 4th. ECC mounted a comeback scoring 3 quick runs. However, the late start and slow pace of the game proved to be the Covenanters undoing. The game was called because of the time limit with ECC on the short end of a 15 to 12 game.
Game two saw Coach Quinlan’s team at full strength, battling the team for Our Savior. This game was highlighted by the return of Brian Wiersma’s home run swing (#4 on the season), the clutch pitching of Kyle Small, and a 4 hit night by Craig Butler. Some stellar work in the field was turned in by many, including Matt Dickinson, who needed to keep his mind on the game while wondering if the phone call from Tina would come in saying it that the baby was on its way. The Covenanters jumped out to a quick lead, leading 7 to 0 after 2 innings. Four more runs in the 3rd inning staked Small to a 11-1 lead after 3 innings of play. After that, it was hold on tight as Our Savior fought back, chipping away at the lead. RBI by Brian Wiersma and Craig Butler in the 5th gave ECC enough insurance to hold on to a 13-10 victory.
So, another day, another double header split. After starting the season being swept for two consecutive weeks, ECC has fought back to split the last three double headers? Will this .500 ball continue or will your Covenanters find their stride and pull off a long winning streak? Only time will tell.
Things were not looking great for your ECC softball team as 6:30 approached on Monday night. At game time, 8 men had arrived for the game and the clock was ticking towards a forfeit. Even after some valiant dialing by many, ECC was prepared for instant defeat. Fortunately, Kyle Small, with a keen eye for softball talent (and clothing sizes) found Aaron To quote from the “Johnny Bravo” episode of “The Brady Bunch”, Aaronfit the suit, or in this case, the uniform jersey. Aaron stepped in at catcher and performed admirably. In the 2nd inning, his bid for a base hit was thwarted by a nice play by the St. John’s send baseman. Reinforcements in the form of Patrick Stolz and Mike Mrosko soon arrived to even up the odds. The Convenanters jumped out to a 1-0 lead before surrendering 3 runs to St. Johns in the bottom of the inning. After taking a tieing up the score at 9 in the 3rd inning, ECC thought momentum was on their side. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case. St. Johns scored 10 runs in the last two innings to take a 6 run lead into the 4th. ECC mounted a comeback scoring 3 quick runs. However, the late start and slow pace of the game proved to be the Covenanters undoing. The game was called because of the time limit with ECC on the short end of a 15 to 12 game.
Game two saw Coach Quinlan’s team at full strength, battling the team for Our Savior. This game was highlighted by the return of Brian Wiersma’s home run swing (#4 on the season), the clutch pitching of Kyle Small, and a 4 hit night by Craig Butler. Some stellar work in the field was turned in by many, including Matt Dickinson, who needed to keep his mind on the game while wondering if the phone call from Tina would come in saying it that the baby was on its way. The Covenanters jumped out to a quick lead, leading 7 to 0 after 2 innings. Four more runs in the 3rd inning staked Small to a 11-1 lead after 3 innings of play. After that, it was hold on tight as Our Savior fought back, chipping away at the lead. RBI by Brian Wiersma and Craig Butler in the 5th gave ECC enough insurance to hold on to a 13-10 victory.
So, another day, another double header split. After starting the season being swept for two consecutive weeks, ECC has fought back to split the last three double headers? Will this .500 ball continue or will your Covenanters find their stride and pull off a long winning streak? Only time will tell.
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