Aurora Dolan and Murphy take two from Rockford (Al’s Fastball) Pitcher Jason Iuli, who previously played in SoCal, picked up the win in the first of the two games, striking out 6 and going the distance.
Archive for the ‘So Cal’ Category
ISC #28 Aurora Dolan and Murphy take two from Rockford
Monday, May 23rd, 2005Long Beach Black Sox Capture Title at Lancaster
Sunday, May 22nd, 2005Click Here for our complete recap of the weekend.
Vranich Tosses Two-Hitter in Finale, while Hanker, Lopes and Otte Power Offense
In So Cal ASA Alliance play May 21-22, 2005 at Lancaster, California, the Long Beach Black Sox scored 38 runs in 4 games Sunday including 8 in the title game against Primetime., an 8-0 shutout for winning pitcher Chuck Vranich. Chuck Vranich surrendered just two hits to Primetime. Fred Hanker and John Otte drove in two runs each, while Damian Guerrero, Chris Minogue and Dan Fleming added one RBI each, as the Sox pounded out 10 hits. The momentum swung to Long Beach early, as Joe Nuanez was called out for leaving third on what otherwise would have been a sacrifice fly off the bat of Rick McCarthy, to end a Primetime scoring threat in the first.
Scoring Recap:
Black Sox Third: Benny Guerrero got things started with a single to left; Chuck Chaple walked, followed by a single by Andy Martinez to load the bases. Fred Hanker singled to right field to bring home Guerrero and Chapel, sending Martinez to third. Damian Guerrero followed with a line drive RBI single to left, perhaps the hardest hit ball of the game, scoring Martinez, before a double play ended the inning. Three runs, four hits. (Score: 3-0 Black Sox)
Black Sox Fourth:Dale Lopes opened the inning with a triple to the left centerfield gap, a ball that went to the fence. John Otte hit a towering fly ball that carried over the right fielder’s head, scoring Lopes and Otte. Two runs on two hits; (Score 5-0 Black Sox)
Black Sox Fifth:Chuck Chapel opened the inning with a walk, and scored when a ball hit by Andy Martinez was thrown wide of first, Martinez advancing to second. Chris Minogue singled to left with two outs, scoring Martinez. Two runs on one hit, and one error. (Score 7-0 Black Sox)
Black Sox Sixth:John Otte reached on an infield error at first on the throw. Marcel Bernal singled to center, Otte stopping at second. With one out, Dan Fleming singled to center field, scoring Otte, and ending the game. One run on two hits and one error. Final Score, 8-0 Black Sox.
Primetime could not get untracked offensively, mustering only two hits in the game, a single by Jimmy Buentello in the first and a single by Brian Webb in the third. Meanwhile, the Sox defense was stellar, with Otte running down a long fly off the bat of Johnny Nuanez, five putouts by shortstop Andy Martinez, including a web-gem back hand play in the third, and a gem by third baseman Dan Fleming on a hard hit ball by Jimmy Buentello in the 6th. The breaks and bounces seemed to go Long Beach’s way. Even a line drive hit by Joe Nuanez in the sixth that richocheted off of Chuck Vranich took a Long Beach bounce to second baseman Chuck Chaple for a 1-4-3 putout. Vranich was not hurt on the play. Aside from a one-out walk to Joe Nuanez in the first and single by Buentello that put Nuanez on third, Primetime did not have another runner reach second base. (more…)
#19 So Cal Bombers Head to Ensenada This Weekend
Thursday, May 19th, 2005The So Cal Bombers will be competing in a tournament this weekend, May 21-22, 2005 in Ensenda, Mexico, hosted by the Mexican Softball Federation. Prize money totalling $5000 will be awarded. The Bombers, with a 21-3 record, are currently ranked #19 in the ISC World pre-season rankings, and have won tournament titles at Norwalk, CA, (going 6-0), Las Vegas, NV, (5-1) and were runner-ups at Red Rock (5-2) They were also a perfect 5-0 in So Cal ASA A/B league action at Santa Fe Springs. Pitcher Travis Price, shown in photo below, is 9-0.
The Bombers’ top hitters thus far have been Jose “Pepe” Aguila, .640 (25ab’s); Reymundo Parra (39ab’s) .564; Todd Garcia (47ab’s) .489, and Dan Winnick (52ab’s).481. ; and Arturo Solano (40ab’s) .475. Dan Winnick leads the team in hits with 25, while Garcia has 23. The Bombers are hitting .378 as a team, with an on-base percentage of .427, with 205 hits, an average of 9 per game.
The Bombers have truly lived up to their name, hitting 30 home runs in just 24 games, Arturo Solano leads the squad in homers with 7, while Garcia, Jason Porto and Parra have 5 each (Garcia’s coming in one single weekend, at Santa Fe Springs). Mike Butler and Reymundo Parra have 4 each.
For more on the So Cal Bombers, visit their team website here. Kudos to the Bombers’ webmaster Cesar Rodriguez on a great site. He’s added several photo galleries, organized by year, tournament and player. Nicely done, Cesar.
Around Town, May 18
Thursday, May 19th, 2005There’s been plenty of talk about Team Rainey’s new pitching staff for 2005 of Bricklin Anderson, Sonny Perkins and Tony Hunhoff. Little known to many people, though, one of their position players, Jesse Duncan is a fine pitcher in his own right. In seasons past, Duncan pitched for Team Rainey at the Portland Rose Cup tournament, picking up wins against open level competition. Earlier this year, he pitched the Panteras to an Alliance weekend tournament title, including a championship game win over the current league leaders, Primetime Fastpitch. Last night in the Artesia city league, the Black Sox were his latest victim. Duncan fanned 16 in 6 innings, including 11 in a row at one stretch. Andy Martinez had a single and Robert Renteria two hits for the only Black Sox offense in the game, won by Duncan’s Raider team, 3-1. As dominant as Duncan was, the game was actually on the line in the last inning, when a dropped third strike and Renteria double put the tying runs at second and third with two outs. But Duncan then registered his 16th strikeout of the night to put down the rally.
Meanwhile, off in the distance, on the other field at Artesia Park, was another Team Rainey position player working in the pitcher’s circle, the team’s namesake, Rod Rainey, pitching his second game in as many weeks. Hey, how ’bout leaving something for us guys that can’t hit 🙂
So Cal ASA Alliance @ Lancaster (May 20-21, 2005)
Monday, May 16th, 2005The So Cal ASA Alliance heads into its fourth weekend tournament for the 2005 series. The first three tournament weekends were won by three different teams. Fred Hanker’s Long Beach Black Sox won the first tournament at Palm Springs, with a win over the Amigos. In Santa Fe Springs, it was the Panteras topping Primetime for the title. Primetime then beat all comers in Palm Springs II, including a championship game win over the Amigos. Members of last year’s champion, the Edge have played key roles in the improvement of a number of teams, including the current league leader, Primetime (formerly San Diego Fastpitch). Last year’s runnerup, the Rounders, won more tournaments (4) than any team last year, but have yet to reach the finals in any of the first three weekends, currently residing in third place, behind Primetime and second place Amigos. RAW, Rude-Pac and Palm Springs are in a virtual tie for fourth place.
Heading into the Lancaster, the standings for the top five spots:
Primetime…….48
Amigos………….43
Rounders………36
RAW……………..29.5
Rude-Pac………29
Palm Springs…29
Full standings.
Click here for Saturday’s Round Robin matchups for this weekend, posted at the Official SoCal ASA site.
Map & Driving Directions to “Big 8” complex at Lancaster, CA. (At Google Maps, click “Satellite” to see satellite photo of Big 8 and surrounding area)
California A/B league at Sacramento
Monday, May 16th, 2005Rumor has it, the California A/B teams played this past weekend in Sacramento. To those who have written asking for scores and other information, we share your interest, but so far, results are conspicuous by their absence. If you any info, email us and we’ll post ’em up.
Around Town, May 11
Wednesday, May 11th, 2005Team Rainey rallied from 3 down to tie the Long Beach Black Sox in the final inning in the Artesia City League Wednesday night. Dee Nieblas had a key two out, two run single, after Dwayne Fowler received an intentional pass to load the bases. Team Rainey stranded the go ahead run at third, ending the inning with the score tied. The Black Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the final inning, but did not score. It was starter Rod Rainey pitching himself out of trouble. (Yes, you read that right, pitcher Rod Rainey! Not bad for a guy rehabbing from shoulder surgery). Rainey’s centerfielder Roy Guinaldo ran down a towering drive off the bat of Fred Hanker for the final out.
Around Town, May 4
Thursday, May 5th, 2005Fred Hanker had two home runs in consecutive at bats last night in the Artesia league, (CA) driving in all 5 runs in his team’s 5-0 victory. The first was a towering drive to deep left field, landing somewhere in the vicinity of the South Street Deli, scoring three, while the second was a line drive into the right field corner, bringing home two. Hanker played like a veritable action figure. Leadoff batter, shortstop Andy Martinez had 3 hits, scoring two runs, while Andy de La Rosa had two hits including a triple that travelled nearly as far as Fred’s home run. Randy Clay was perfect in his three innings in relief. Fred’s Long Beach Black Sox will return to So Cal ASA Alliance league play May 21-22, 2005 in Lancaster, CA. Always something interesting at Fred’s Long Beach Black Sox website, if you haven’t visited lately. Check out this month’s “Hot Seat” interview with Dale Lopes. It’s in the “Sox News” section.
New Look Pitching Staff for Team Rainey at Red Rock
Wednesday, April 27th, 2005Bricklin Anderson, Sonny Perkins and Tony Hunhoff comprise a new look pitching staff for Team Rainey at Red Rock in 2005. Hunhoff is the veteran of the trio, Perkins a great all-around player in the mold of a Dean Holoien or Trevor Ethier, while hard throwing Bricklin Anderson from British Columbia is expected to anchor the rotation. Team Rainey comes into the Red Rock tournament as the second-highest ranked team in the ISC preseason rankings, at number 19. Rod Rainey‘s squad will return a number of players from last year’s team, including catcher Tony Acedo, Chris Hunt, Roy Guinaldo, Jesse Duncan, and of course, Rod himself. Rod underwent shoulder surgery in the off-season, and originally not expected to return to the lineup until midseason. His recovery has gone very well however, and he is already back playing, although not yet in at full tilt. Perennial All-Star Stan Grebeck is back with the team after a one-year retirement. Team Rainey’s roster for 2005 is a merger of sorts, with Rainey adding a talented nucleus from the Captain Dan’s team which shuttered its operation after a long successful run. Among those joining team Rainey is former Long Beach State baseballer Dwayne Fowler, Neil Sauerheber, manager Don Didion, and Chad Hardesty. Hardesty made a big impression and last year’s Red Rock tournament, hitting the longest home run of the weekend, off of eventual champion Broken Bow. Team Rainey hopes to improve on their Elite Eight showing in last year’s tournament.
Team Rainey’s Red Rock Roster.
Raymond Angulo Memorial Tournament, August 20-21, 2005 @ Corona, CA
Tuesday, April 26th, 2005Ernie Marez, of the So Cal Rebels has released the details for the annual “Raymond Angulo Memorial Tournament”, August 20-21, 2005 in Corona, CA. The tournament is open to men’s “C” teams, and serves as great way for ASA “C” teams headed to the Nationals to get sharp before Labor Day weekened. Details posted here.