1) Minutes after checking in to his VRBO rental for the week, ace pitcher, Ron Massaroni had an accident that caused him to get 5-6 stitches in the middle finger of his pitching hand.
2) We got rained out for not one, but two days before getting going yesterday. That's a first for any tournament we have ever been in.
3) Game one was against a fully sponsored team (2017 champs), that had 3 Wolf Pack players on it. The start was rocky. When we arrived at the field it was still quite muddy, and the footing was poor in the batters box, around second base, and in the front of the mound. Mike Girard went out for the first inning and gave up an infield single, that on dry ground probably would have been an out. He then proceeded to bean the 2 hitter and the 3 hitter, to load the bases. The clean up hitter laced a single, and the Suncoast Suns took a 1-0 lead without an out, and the bases were still loaded. A fly out to short left , and a strike out got the game to a critical point. With the bases loaded and 2 out, if Girard could get the next hitter and escape the jam with giving up just one run, it would be a huge boost to his team. Girard got the count to 1-2, and appeared to strike out the batter with a nice curve on the outer half, but the ump didn't see it that way, and the count moved to 2-2. The next pitch split the plate in two and was right down the middle. A huge mistake, as the 7-hitter sent the pith to deep left center and a bases clearing double, providing his team with the boost and a 4-0 game. The Cubs escaped further damage, as the next hitter singled, but the Cubs executed a great relay (Scott Ross to Tim Brown to PJ Martone to nail the runner at home for the final out. Girard would settle down and silence the Suncoast line up for the next 4 innings scattering just two singles while striking out two. The Cubs would rally in the 3rd inning. Ralph Caputo reached on an error to lead off the inning. A one out error would move Ralph to 3rd and put Darrell Duncan on first, and a Jim Bonaparte walk would load the bases. Scott Ross hit a ground ball and beat the throw to first on an attempted double play, and pulled the Cubs to within 3 runs at 4-1. That would be the score until the top of the 6th. The extreme heat and humidity were starting to get to Girard, but he got the first two batters of the inning in order. He would walk the next two hitters and a bloop infield single scored a run, to make it 5-1. Ralph Caputo came in to relieve Girard and got his team out of the inning, without further damage. The 7th inning saw the Suncoast batters put 5 more up on the board to produce the final score of 10-1. The ace of the Suncoast team scattered 7 singles on the game and was the difference in this one. Scott Ross, Mike Girard, Dave Mitchell, Jerry Rosen, Dean Little, Tim Brown, and Jim Bonaparte had the hits for the Cubs.
4) We then had a three hour break and a change of venue for game 2. The game was picked up with the Cubs leading 1-0, heading into the bottom of the 1st, with a runner on first and nobody out. Darrell Duncan was on the hill for the Cubbies, and he got the Cubs out of the first with that 1-0 lead. That is when this game went crazy. The Cubs went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 2nd, and the Montgomery County Yankees plated 5 runs on a lead off error, 2 hit batters, to load the bases, and 5 consecutive singles. The Cubs would get one back in the 3rd on a Tim Brown triple and an error. With the game at 5-2, the Cubs would rally for 5 runs, in the top of the 4th to take a 5-7 lead. Scott Ross led off the rally with a walk, and a stolen base. Jack Griffen would follow with a single, and the next two batters reached on errors. After a pop out to third, Andy Hoyle and Jerry Rosen and Ralph Caputo would single to give the Cubs a 7-5 lead. That lead would not last long as the Yankees plated 3 in the bottom half of the 4th to go up 8-7. The Yankees would score one more on an error, in the bottom half of the 6th, to pad the lead at 9-7. The Cubs would close it back to 9-8 with a run, in the top of the 7th with Dean Little having the key hit in the rally. With the game running up against the 3 hour time limit, the 8th inning was going to be the last, so the Cubs needed a clean bottom of the 7th and a rally in the 8th. Neither happened, as the Yankees scored 3 very big insurance runs and the Cubs were unable to answer. Game over and the Yankees won 12-8.
The great news is that today is another day, and the Cubs would seemingly need to win just one of their remaining 3 games to qualify for the playoffs. eight of the 9 teams qualify, and there are two 0-3 teams already in the bracket. The Cubbies face off against their second fully sponsored team today at 12:30 pm (South Maryland Fedlock). However the second game of the day is against a 0-3 Tri-state Titan team that face that Fedlock team in their final game of the round robin. So, if the Cubs come out victorious in that one, they will likely qualify for the playoffs no matter what happens in game 3 (vs Fedlock) or 5 (vs Puerto Rico). The goal today will be to win the Titans game and conserve assets for the playoffs.
Hey, Puerto Rico made the playoffs last year with a 1-4 record and wound up winning the title - unfortunately beating us in that finale.
So, keep the faith, get that win and be ready to make your run.
More importantly, we hope Mazz's injury isn't serious and he recovers quickly. He worked hard to put your team together and get it entered into the tournament. My best to him.
