Hot Night, Cold Bats by John Quinlan

Hot Night, Cold Bats by John Quinlan

The headline tells it all ECC Softball fans. On a humid Monday night at Freeman Park, your local 11 men of the diamond dropped both games of the doubleheader to run their record to 7-11. The first game was against the young guns called the Mudhens and it turned out to be a rare pitcher's duel until the late innings. In the first inning, each team darkened their score books with a run; however, ECC did start out with the bases loaded and no outs, so the game could have been blown open right off the bat. Then, in the bottom of the sixth and the Mudhens up 3-1, the covenanters finally solved the five infield defensive alignment and sent 8 men to the plate while scoring 3 times to take a brief one run lead. The inning was highlighted by a Brian Wiersma laser beam double that shook the left field fence and scored brother Andy all the way from first base by the young Wiersma athletically avoiding the catcher's tag at home. It is too hard to put into words this play, but it involved being airbone horizontally. The top of the final frame saw the Mudhens bounce back with 3 runs of their own when the strong ECC defense showed some vulnerability. Unfortunately, those were the last runs of the game as ECC mounted a two out rally, but couldn't cross home plate in the home half of the seventh. Final score: Mudhens 6 ECC 4.

The second game of the doubleheader, against St. Therese, wasn't as exciting. The Catholic squad went yard twice, both with 2 ducks on the pond, and handled ECC 11-2. Councilman Steve Adams pitched his final games of the season, so he can use the offseason to heal up after taking a wicked line drive off his leg in the first game. It was good to have Kyle Small, back from vacation, handling third base and batting in the number two spot of the order and for the first time this year, David Soliday made an appearance and played a stellar right side of the outfield. Thanks to everybody that attended and battled the steamy conditions.

Only one game next week as we begin to wind down this 2007 campaign. Freeman Park 6:30. Hope to see you there.

A Tough Way To Lose - July 16

by Staff Writer, and soon to be chief writer, John Quinlan

Well, ECC fans as you can tell by the headline, our guys were unable to even their record at 8-8 Monday night against Westwood Church at beautiful Excelsior Commons. Final Score: Westwood 12 Excelsior Covenant Church 11. Unfortunately, the game ended on a controversial appeal at second base involving Brian Wiersma and resulted in a heated discussion with the umpire. With one out, in the bottom of the seventh, and men on first and second, Jeff Causton hit a deep drive to left field that was initially bobbled but was eventually caught by the Westwood defender. Brian Wiersma appeared to tag up from second base and head towards third representing the tying run. As soon as Brian hit third base, Westwood asked the umpire for an appeal because they felt that he left second base too early. As you probably already guessed, the appeal worked and the game was over. A stunned and disappointed Wiersma, along with some of the other ECC players, tried to explain to the umpire that Brian did properly tag up before advancing to third base, but the man in blue saw it differently. Despite this questionable call, the game did feature a great effort by the Covenanters. Steve Logan, a game time pitching decsion, recovered nicely from a rough first inning and the versatile Mike Mrosko made some nice plays at the hot corner filling in for the vacationing Kyle Small and Brian Everett. The long ball was also on display Monday evening courtesy of the Wiersma family as Brian hit two mammoth drives to left field and brother Andy tallied a 2 run round tripper in that faithful bottom of the seventh.

Let's hope next week's doubleheader at Freeman Park (6:30 & 7:30) will produce a better outcome for our beloved men of Excelsior Covenant Church. Hope to see you there.

Former chief writer, Kyle small, would like to thank John for writing the updates for the blog during my time away. His wiritng ability is exceptional, and he desrves to be promoted to chief writer...at least I still have third base.....i think....

Business as usual for the ECC Softball Team by Staff Writer and HEad Coach John Quinlan

Great thanks goes to Head Coach and eccsoftball.com staff writer, John Quinlan, for his exquisite writing ability and game summary.

Business as usual for the ECC Softball Team. Two games = one win and one loss. As you know the schedule makers were not on our side as we had to play Our Savior Lutheran two weeks in a row. The last game ended with ECC prevailing in a tight contest 8-6 at Freeman Park. This week, the Lutherans got their revenge easlily handling the Covenanters 18-4 at Excelsior Commons. Councilman Steve Adams was back on the rubber as he made his every other week appearance. The ECC bats didn't wake up until the second game of the doubleheader which featured a big fly from our big guy and a game winning rbi from the new guy. Playing Faith Presbyterian Church for the only time this year, Brian Wiersma ended a nearly two month homerless drought by hitting a 3 run dinger in the top of the first inning to start the scoring. Brian Everett, playing third base in place of the vacationing Kyle Small, turned a nifty 5-3 double play. Then in the top of the sixth, with the score 9-5 in favor of ECC, Tom Talmo's son Clint, playing for only his second week, hit a 2 run triple into right center field. This proved to be the winning rbis as the final score was Excelsior Covenanat 11 Faith Presbyterian 9. Unfortunately, there were a few injuries to report. Scrappy veteran Tim Carlson suffered another setback with his calf and Kit Housh showed up to play but he was limited due to his nagging hamstring.

Only one game next week (7/16) as ECC looks to even their record at 8-8. Hope you can make it to Excelsior Commons at 6:30.

Big Defense and some bigger bats

Another split night for the Excelsior Covenant Team. The first game was against the only undefeated team in the league. THe final score was 4-1 (ECC losing) with few hits and big defensive plays. With the one exception of our good friend, and soon departed Brian Board, there were few errors. Unfortunately, Board misjudged the distance of a fly ball that went just over his head. More exciting (and redeeming), he caught a fly ball with an extended back - we were going to give him a gift certificate to our friend, Mike Isaacson at South Lake Chiropractic (a healer, if I may), but since Board is leaving for Seattle in a week, we decided to go on the cheap and simply mention him in the blog.

No big hits this game, but the gloves were hot. Wiersma (Andy) was quick on the glove at shortstop picking up anything between 2 and 3 (the third baseman needed an extra foot of ability). Wiersma grabbed one at the grass and hurled it to first for the final out of the inning. THirdbaseman, Small, did a fine job at third thanks to the encouragement of his team. He almost forced a 5(UA)-3 double play, but the ump wasn't watching as closely as Small would have liked...

Steve Adams was at the mound for both games, and he held a close game at 4-1. Welcome Back Steve (don't leave again!)

The second game was even more exciting. The defense continued playing tough, and the bats were on fire. Andy Wiersma (the youger brother of Brian) had two big homeruns! We are waiting for next week for Brian's big bat appearance. Tom Talmo is a hot bat with quick speed. He always gets to first and is around the corner by the time most of our team would be leaving homeplate (especially Mrosko). Speakking of Mike, he went opposite field twice for multipl RBIs, and did well hustling in Right-center field. A fine performance in front of his two children and wife.

Jon Volling was another hot bat with consecutive base hits - unfortunately late in the game, Kyle hit a big double (with an attempt at triple) and sent john sliding into home...Kyle failed to listen ot the base coaches yelling "stop" at second base...thanks John for taking it for the team (Had Kyle stopped at second, he would have been driven home by Wiersma's second homerun...impatience is never splendid!)

The game ended early as ECC pulled in a few runs for a final score of 19-6.

As always, a big shout out for the fans! We had a large crowd at mini-Wrigley, including Nancy, Emma and Annie Carlson supporting Tim. The new baby's Ashlyn, Lauren and Micah James attended with great grunts and yawns...Mary and Pete Studer came down from the hill to enjoy the show, and the Clawson's happened to arrive at the end of the game after enjoying a delicious dinner at 318, where their daughter Katie (sp) serves most graciously.

Finally, Coach Quinlan continues to organize a great team. Thank you for all the work you put into the team and the encouragement you offer.

Look forward to seeing everyone on Monday at Freeman fields at 7:30 (note that there is only one game this week).

The Schedule Link works

I have finally corrected the softball schedule link on the right side of the page. Try it out.

See you tonight at Wrigley Field, I mean Excelsior commons - 7 and 8 pm.

Thank you to our visiting player

A big thank you to Jordan FromWisconsin (I think that was his name). And to Brian Everett who brought his friend, Jordan, to play with us.

Come back, anytime (and bring the bat).

A Short Walk Home...and we beat the Baptists

Well tonight was bittersweet.

The first game was a doozy, and we lost 25-9. Councilman Steve Adams was no where to be found, so Kyle had to step to the mound for another double-header (all of our games are double-headers). Kyle decided to let the opposing team start off easy, so he walked several batters, only to have Bruno hit a grand slam - finally a perfect pitch, followed by a perfect bat! TO Kyle's defense (the Sportswriter saw the whole thing) - the winds were blowing 30 mph across the plate, and pitching was less than an easy endeavor on this beautiful, yet windy, summer evening.

The game quickly progressed in the same direction. After a 7-run first inning, the team finished all three of their home runs in the following at bats (each team has three home runs - after this each homerun is an out). It was a long first inning, especially if you were on defense watching the pitcher continually walk players around the bases. (Sadly to say, the pitcher was furious that the opposing team wouldn't swing when the pitches were close...)

There was a highlight - Anderson struck out with two beautiful swings that slightly missed the ball (he made up for the strikeouts in the second game).

It was a breath of fresh air when the game was over and we could move to field 4 to play Ridgewood Church (the church formerly known as Minnetonka Baptist).

The second game turned out much better. First of all, Kyle struck out the first batter as he watched the third strike blow by him. (Kyle had 4 strikeouts on the evening - two were backwards Ks and since I cant figure out how to do a backwards K on the computer, I simply have to expain it)...

There were several triples in the game - from Brian Everett, Brian Wiersma, Jordan from Wisconsin, and Kyle Small. Jordan from Wisconsin had an in-the-park-homerun, which was cause for great celebration. THe bats were alive in this game, and in the fourth inning, everyone but two players crossed home plate. We won the game 13-3.

The play of the night, however, was the defensive Unassissted Double Play by Sir Brian Everett ( he looks like a royal-family type fellow). Brian was playing first base, and Ridgewood had runners on the corner. The batter hit a high line drive down the first base side, and Brian grabbed it as the runner on first was trying to get back to base. However, in the split second that Brian caught the ball, he tagged the runner, and we joyously walked back to the dugout, as Brian, single-handedly turned a double-play. Good job Brian - you daughter and wife are proud. (Brian had several representatives at the game, including his wife, daughter, Mother and father-in-law, and his dog (who appears to be needing obedience lessons from Tom Talmo).

Speaking of Tom Talmo, who came out with a consistent swing of singles. Tom is our all-star histler. He hits the ball weekly, and runs around the bases despite sprained and strained ligaments in several areas of his body. Tough work, Tom!

We had a good night, and it was good to see us end the evening on a high note. NExt week we play the only undefeated team and Haggerty's painting. The best part is that the game is located on our own Wrigley Field in downtwon Excelsior. Come and join us for a slug fest!

As always we want to thank out fans - a long list that includes: TIna and Adrienned Quinlan, and grandparents Steve and Pam Pitts. Harlan and MArgie Swanson, THle Wiersmas (and dog), Debbie Talmo and Jackie and Ashlyn Everett, Connie Volling, Tricia, Patrick, and Freddie Stolz (Patrick cheered from the sidelines tonight - see you next week in uniform?), Jaci, Rachel and Jacob Mrosko (and a grandparent, I believe), Jessie and Lauren Volling, And the Jones', who its always hard to keep up with - good to see you Dave, Diane and Andy. The list goes on, and we thank the growing group of fans, who continually come out to support the team.