Website trouble continues for the VLB, but the stories and web maintenance progressed as normal.
A short-handed Saturday game featured a pair of new women to play their first Veto League games. Melissa Stoneking, sister of VLB old-timer Mike Stoneking, played in her first official contest. Katie Doyle also joined the growing ranks of Veto League women.
River Bandits 14, Vandals 11
Scott Ellefritz picked a winning team, live via satellite (or cell phone) as he drove to Veterans Park Sunday afternoon. Light rain briefly splattered on the dugout concrete, but subsided before game time. The River Bandits (4-3) ended the Vandals (4-3) four-game winning streak despite a superb defensive effort from VLB rookie Amos Whiting.
Whiting was on the front end of a VLB record four double plays. However, the Vandals had difficulty sustaining offensive rallies.
Off-field enjoyment was provided by "Wrigley" (Jon Escajeda's dog and best companion) and "Sophie" (Jon Kelley's wiener dog). Wrigley stopped to examine and help... clean.... Sophie's underside, Vandal captain Kiel Engstrom noted a striking similarity between Wrigley's behavior and that of her masters. It was left at that.
On the field, enjoyment came in the form of offense. The Bandits scored at least a run in seven innings. Craig Fyfe continues to show signs of improvement at the plate with a 5-for-8 effort, which yielded four runs. Josh Francque (4-for-8) traded in the usual small-ball style for a game-high five-RBI outing.
"Damn," Francque said.
Despite a severe hangover, or extended inebriation, Alex Tschopp produced one of his most productive days going 3-for-8 with two runs and an RBI. Tschopp laid on the infield grass between innings to keep his spinning vision to a minimum.
"I feel like a million bucks," Tschopp said. "I'm having the game of my life."
Engstrom (5-for-7, 4 runs) proclaimed he would be more present during the VLB season and still believes an MVP run could be left in him. Matt Veto suggested that perhaps re-growing the beard of the 2004 season would help.
Not all was comfortable for the River Bandits. They led 12-4 after seven innings, but Engstrom's crew amassed seven runs in the final two innings. They fell just short of a respectable comeback.
With the win, Ellefritz's squad moves to within a half-game of the Meteors in the VLB Saukie Division.
SNK Crushers 12, Eskimos 11 (10)
One extra frame was needed to decide Saturday's 12-11 victory for the improving SNK Crushers (2-5). Is it coincidence that the improvement is coming in the absence of true captain Jeff Kilgard? That's difficult to say. Kilgard's honeymoon tour of Disney World concludes this week.
In the meantime, his team was in action against the equally troubled Eskimos (3-5). In a 12-man/woman game the Crushers scored a pair of runs in the top of the 10th inning to hold off the Eskimos. The victory completed a comeback. The Crushers trailed 9-7 after six full innings.
Josh Traub's return yielded seven hits in 10 at-bats. However, despite hitting safely seven times, Traub was unable to score a single run.
Instead the Eskimos Crushers capitalized on five-hit efforts from Bobby Carter (including his first home run) and a red-hot Josh Francque. Francque scored five times in the game.
Ryan Barton's second multi-hit home run game at Veterans Park went by the wayside. He was intentionally walked late in the game to keep the VLB Bomber from causing more harm.
A short-handed Saturday game featured a pair of new women to play their first Veto League games. Melissa Stoneking, sister of VLB old-timer Mike Stoneking, played in her first official contest. Katie Doyle also joined the growing ranks of Veto League women.
River Bandits 14, Vandals 11
Scott Ellefritz picked a winning team, live via satellite (or cell phone) as he drove to Veterans Park Sunday afternoon. Light rain briefly splattered on the dugout concrete, but subsided before game time. The River Bandits (4-3) ended the Vandals (4-3) four-game winning streak despite a superb defensive effort from VLB rookie Amos Whiting.
Whiting was on the front end of a VLB record four double plays. However, the Vandals had difficulty sustaining offensive rallies.
Off-field enjoyment was provided by "Wrigley" (Jon Escajeda's dog and best companion) and "Sophie" (Jon Kelley's wiener dog). Wrigley stopped to examine and help... clean.... Sophie's underside, Vandal captain Kiel Engstrom noted a striking similarity between Wrigley's behavior and that of her masters. It was left at that.
On the field, enjoyment came in the form of offense. The Bandits scored at least a run in seven innings. Craig Fyfe continues to show signs of improvement at the plate with a 5-for-8 effort, which yielded four runs. Josh Francque (4-for-8) traded in the usual small-ball style for a game-high five-RBI outing.
"Damn," Francque said.
Despite a severe hangover, or extended inebriation, Alex Tschopp produced one of his most productive days going 3-for-8 with two runs and an RBI. Tschopp laid on the infield grass between innings to keep his spinning vision to a minimum.
"I feel like a million bucks," Tschopp said. "I'm having the game of my life."
Engstrom (5-for-7, 4 runs) proclaimed he would be more present during the VLB season and still believes an MVP run could be left in him. Matt Veto suggested that perhaps re-growing the beard of the 2004 season would help.
Not all was comfortable for the River Bandits. They led 12-4 after seven innings, but Engstrom's crew amassed seven runs in the final two innings. They fell just short of a respectable comeback.
With the win, Ellefritz's squad moves to within a half-game of the Meteors in the VLB Saukie Division.
SNK Crushers 12, Eskimos 11 (10)
One extra frame was needed to decide Saturday's 12-11 victory for the improving SNK Crushers (2-5). Is it coincidence that the improvement is coming in the absence of true captain Jeff Kilgard? That's difficult to say. Kilgard's honeymoon tour of Disney World concludes this week.
In the meantime, his team was in action against the equally troubled Eskimos (3-5). In a 12-man/woman game the Crushers scored a pair of runs in the top of the 10th inning to hold off the Eskimos. The victory completed a comeback. The Crushers trailed 9-7 after six full innings.
Josh Traub's return yielded seven hits in 10 at-bats. However, despite hitting safely seven times, Traub was unable to score a single run.
Instead the Eskimos Crushers capitalized on five-hit efforts from Bobby Carter (including his first home run) and a red-hot Josh Francque. Francque scored five times in the game.
Ryan Barton's second multi-hit home run game at Veterans Park went by the wayside. He was intentionally walked late in the game to keep the VLB Bomber from causing more harm.
RSS Feed
