By Jim Williamson, Manager of JRW and Associates
jrwilliamson@foodfacility.com
Wednesday October 12, 2005
Carson City, NV … JRW & Associates of Yakima, WA took third in the 40-OVER NAFA Masters World Series this past weekend. This Sat-Sun event also included classes of play for 35-OVER, 45-OVER and 50-OVER.
This Masters World Series was a huge success – team quantity was quadrupled over last year. It seems like each team had players from 3 other teams as the age grouping split this summer’s teams. It was like old home week as everybody greeted former teammates.
A four-plex in Centennial Park at the far eastern edge of Carson City was a great place to play. Joel and his grounds keeping crew kept the fields in immaculate shape. Beer was sold at the concession stand and could be consumed anywhere in the complex except in the dugouts.
The 8 AM starts weren’t very popular, but everybody was in the Casinos by early evening.
This was the first tournament for members of the JRW club that were age eligible for 40 & Over competition. With the exception of one Carson City pick-up, all players were already on the JRW team.
JRW pitcher Matt Barnes was a member of the EZ Promotions team, Champions of the 35-OVER class while JRW pitcher Dave Drotzmann threw for the runner-up C/R DeMarini team of Portland, OR.
The JRW team lost To Dave Drotzmann in a Sunday AM class cross-over game. JRW didn’t get to face Matt Barnes as EZ Promotions used MVP Doug Sleep in a Sat fill-in game. Doug pitched a 5 inning no-hitter, but lost his perfect game on a “betâ€. JRW catcher Troy Grow bet JRW SS Jim Stone that he couldn’t get the bat on Sleep’s pitches. (Jim played mostly SP this past summer). Jim laid down a bunt that Sleep fielded and threw away.
JRW’s first RR game against Nevada Power was an interesting meeting. Team members from both clubs first met in Stockton at the Labor Day ASA Class C Nationals, but not competitively. JRW LF Jake Andreas and Manager Jim Williamson were joined at a breakfast draw table by NV Power Mgr Ed Yuill, Catcher Rick Oxoby and a player to be named later (I forgot his name).
This first game was an 8 inning affair that featured rallies by both teams. JRW jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning as NVP pitcher Randy Watt struggled to find the plate. JRW added two more in the third on RBI doubles by DB Tom Magers and 3B Satero Ramos.. NVP rallied with two runs in B3. Then T4, JRW RF Steve Allen plated a single run to extend the lead to 5-2.
NVP tied the game at 5-5 with 3 runs in B4, primarily on C Rick Oxoby’s 2 RBI single. In B5, NVP went ahead 6-5 on a hit, SB and a JRW error. In T6, JRW CF Mike Parham doubled and scored on C Troy Grow’s single to tie the score at 6. NVP went up 7-6 in B6 as 3B Jim McDonald reached on an error and scored on C Rick Oxoby’s single (his 3rd RBI).
JRW SS Jim Stone’s Solo HR in T7 tied the game at 7-7 and RF Steve Allen added an RBI single to send JRW up 8-7. NVP again scored a run on a JRW error in B7 to knot the score at 8-8.
In T8 JRW CF Mike Parham reached on a walk and JRW DB Tom Magers reached on a single. Both scored on JRW P Kurt Penner’s 2 RBI single to put the score up to 10-8. Kurt’s single was retribution for two errors earlier in the game that allowed two NVP runs to score. Then Kurt shut down NVP in B8 to preserve the 10-8 victory.
In Saturday’s second RR game, Baden Sports of Seattle, eventual champion, scored seven runs on eight seeing eye grounders and 5 JRW errors in 6 innings. BS Tourney MVP Dan Kolda shut down JRW on three hits, two by JRW DB Tom Magers and one by CF Mike Parham.
In Sunday’s first 40-OVER playoff game, Nevada Power pitcher Randy Watt found his control and his rhythm and held JRW to six singles in a 6-1 victory. NVP SS Joe Pollock homered in the T1, tripled in T3, singled in T4 and missed the cycle with a single in T7. C Rick Oxoby was 2-4 with 1 RBI.
JRW 2B Don Cawthron was 3 singles in 4 AB, SS Jim Stone was 2-3 and CF Mike Parham plated a run on a sac fly.
JRW Pitcher Barry Tate came down with a bad case of the flu just before the tournament, but valiantly contributed ten innings.
Players from JRW who made All-World were
SS Jim Stone, .625, 1 RBI, 1 Dbl, 1 HR
DB Tom Magers, .455, 2 RBI, 1 Dbl, 1 SB
CF Mike Parham, .333, 1 RBI, 1 Dbl, 1 SB
P/1B Kurt Penner .400, 2 RBI, 10 IP, 6 ER, 2 W, 6K
3B Satero Ramos, .273
Tournament results and All-World selections for all classes should be posted on the NAFA web site fairly soon. Line Scores for the JRW & Associates games are shown below:
Game One – Round Robin (Sat)
JRW & Associates, Yakima 202 101 22 10 – 17 – 3
Nevada Power 40’s, Reno 002 311 10 8 – 10 – 0
Barry Tate, Kurt Penner (WP) and Troy Grow
Randy Watt (LP) and Rick Oxoby
Highlights:
HR: SS Jim Stone (JRW) Solo;
SS Jim Stone (JRW) 3-5, 2 Runs, 1 RBI; RF Steve Allen (JRW) 2-4, 2 RBI; CF Mike Parham (JRW) 2-3, 4 Runs;
3B Satero Ramos (JRW) 3-5, 2 RBI; DH Tom Magers (JRW) 3-5, 2 Runs, 2 RBI; Kurt Penner (JRW) 2-5, 2 RBI
Pitching: Kurt Penner (JRW) 3 IP, 0 ER, 0 W, 2 K’s
Game Two – Round Robin (Sat)
Baden Sports, Seattle 301 012 7 – 8 – 0
JRW & Associates, Yakima 000 000 0 – 3 – 5
Dan Kolda (WP) and Mike Hathaway
Kurt Penner (LP), Barry Tate and Troy Grow
Highlights: DH Tom Magers (JRW) 2-3, 1 Double; CF Mike Parham (JRW) 1-3
Pitching: Kurt Penner (JRW) 5 IP, 2 ER, 2 W, 3 K’s
Game Three – Playoff (Sun)
Nevada Power 40’s, Reno 131 010 0 6 – 11 – 1
JRW & Associates, Yakima 000 100 0 1 – 6 – 0
Randy Watt (WP) and Rick Oxoby
Kurt Penner (LP), Barry Tate and Troy Grow
Highlights:
2B Don Cawthron (JRW) 3-4; CF Mike Parham (JRW) 1 RBI; SS Jim Stone (JRW) 2-3
Pitching: Barry Tate (JRW) 5 IP, 2 ER, 2 W, 4 K’s