B North Championship and Summer Season Preview
These articles are about reporting on the games and entertainment as always I try to provide something good to read on the toilet or with your morning coffee. With that in mind, this will be a championship write-up, a thought I have about softball and getting the crowd rowdy for the summer season.
Spring Championship: Wire2Wire v Dirty Dozen
Wire2Wire, a multi-time B North champion brought its culture and winning pedigree into the series against a sweet stroking, up and coming, Dirty Dozen team.
Game 1 saw a very game Dirty Dozen rattle off 24 runs highlighted by MVP candidate Sean Taylor going 4-5 with a homer in the first inning, John Erbenstein crushing a grand slam, big daddy slim Jim Lalley going 4 for 4 with a triple, and Ross “the boss” Anderson going 3-4 with a homer. The podcasters fighting like always dropped 11 runs in the first game as Jacob McDevitt led the way with a 3 run homer, Big Tom crushed his way to a 4-4 game with two dingers and Geno legged out a long triple.
Game 2 showed the reliance and previously mentioned champion pedigree from Wire2Wire as they battled their way to a 17 to 15 win. A monster 3rd inning saw 9 runs cross the white pentagon, in a bat around, with nearly every batter reaching base via a single. Tom Segura launched his 3rd homer of the day to propel the podcasters to a huge 4 run 5th inning as well. The Dirty Dozen put up a good battle in the losing effort as Mike “the better” Ivers cranked a 3 run homer, Jarrett Kerns reached base 4 times scoring 3 runs, and Erbie crushed an RBI triple in the tightly contested loss.
Game 3 was a role reversal from game one as Wire2Wire dropped a 26 spot to win in a 5 inning run rule game. They would plate 7 in the first by way of a McDevitt 3 run jack, and doubles from Alex and Tom. Following that outburst they dropped 6 more in the 2nd inning as funny man Tom Segura bambalambed his 4th homer of the day, and a whopping 11 spot in the 5th as SEGURAAAAA cranked ANOTHER homer and nearly the whole lineup reached base and scored. Dirty Dozen put up a good effort but just could not keep up with the torrid scoring pace. They hammered home 11 runs as Mike Ivers smoked a 2 RBI double in the 2nd inning, Justin Kelly went 3-3 with 3 RBI, and the Erb/Kerns duo each launched extra base hits.
Wire2Wire holds serve and is your 2021 Spring T-Shirt Winner!
Random Musings:
A lot of the word on the streets between seasons is what teams are moving up and down between divisions. Sometimes this thought process even gets said out loud and causes contention between parties. At the end of the day, softball should be about competing BUT it should more importantly be about having fun. There is no need to put yourself in a situation in which you enjoy the game less for any reason. If a team wants to step up in competition or step down in competition we are fortunate to be in a situation (thanks to Les) that there are opportunities to do so. We are not stuck in a league where you are forced to play teams which may be above or below the level of your team and this creates great parody season after season. I think the competitive nature of people gets the best of them sometimes, whether it be in a braggadocious way or in a condescending way and we lose sight of the fact that this should be something played for excitement and enjoyment, friendship and competition. Most of the guys who are the biggest crap talkers are some of the nicest guys off the field. Let’s go out and have fun in the summer, compete our asses off and enjoy slowpitch with the least amount of stupidity possible.
Summer Preview:
Wire2Wire is on the marquee for the division as they return to defend their title. They once again bolster a strong lineup headlined by Tom Segura, Jacob McDevitt and Gene Walczak. If they continue to get strong pitching and play smart softball they will surely be there at the end competing to go back to back.
The One Hit Wonders always have an outstanding offensive attack led by perennial MVP candidate Andy Springer, sweet swinging Jesse Grasso, and “el Capitan” Jack Stepnowski. They tend to win a championship every year so I have no doubt that this could be their season.
The Bulldogs added to the dangerous duo of Mike Suda and John Stover, adding lower division stud Spenser Slutsky. What he lacks in stature he adds in talent. If they can throw the leather around, they will be a dangerous team as they knocked off an A team in the spring and look to carry that momentum into the season.
The Misfits are always a top of the heap team as they once again roll out the top scoring offense in B North. Jimmy Cooker leads the way, with hard hitting Chris Quinn, Glen Davis and Zach Downs leading the way. Their high scoring offense will surely give the best of the best of B North stiff competition and if they can get hot in the playoffs they easily can roll the division to a title.
The Birdgang steps into B North as the “new guy” but they do not lack recent success as they are lower division champs and played a very respectable 5th place at the men’s one pitch tournament, defeating A team King’s Corner in extra innings. The young guns of the bird gang will look to fly high in the Summer, lighting up another division on their path to the A league.