Storm cannot withstand Rebel onslaught

All good things must come to an end, and much of the WMSPL was elated at the fact that Storm’s streak of winning both the regular season and the playoff tournament has come to an end.

It was a rough tournament for the top teams from the regular season. Of the top four regular season teams, only Storm made it to the semi-final. Rebels had knocked out Broadway in a game directly before taking on Storm. Storm had hoped that having to play back-to-back games in the heat would be a disadvantage for the Rebels, but alas, it was not so.

The game started well for Storm as they were hitting fairly well and playing solid defense. But the wheels came off a little in the 3^rd. A bobble and a look that lasted a little too long, combined with some excellent hitting by the Rebels, led to an 11 run inning (more runs than Storm had given up in the first three games of the tournament combined).

Storm still had opportunities to gain the lead, but their bats quietened and the Rebels lit it up again in the seventh, scoring eight more runs (most of which came with two outs).  Storm had the top of the order up to start the bottom of the seventh, but they had let the Rebels get too far ahead. It was another great season, but it didn’t end quite the way Storm would have hoped.

Storm brews up victory

After the A’s lost their seed I the round robin, the Brew Crew came up big and knocked them out in what would be considered a fairly large upset. The question is, what happened in between Saturday and Sunday?

The Brew Crew was stymied by both of Storm’s pitchers. Mike started the game with a strikeout, and a fantastic play at 2^nd set the tone for the rest of the game. Storm would go through a large portion of their order four times before Brew Crew Got back to the top of their order for a second at-bat. Brew Crew didn’t get a base-runner until the 5^th inning.

Storm’s offense was slow and steady as the entire order chipped in to keep the order moving.

Notable Boxcores:

Al – 3/3, 2 runs, 6RBI

Lance ¾, HR, 2 runs, 3RBI

Duran, 2/3, 3 runs, 4 RBI

Joey 3/3,  4 runs, 2 RBI

Bob 4/4, 3 runs, 3RBI

Playoff Tournament - Day One

Storm storms past Bollocks

Storm started strong and finished strong against Bollocks. Storm stormed through the first inning with   hits to start the game and an 11 run first. Things slowed down a little in the second, with a two run second, but the floodgates opened with a thirteen run third. A six-run fourth capped off a solid game, and Bollocks decided to call it quits after their at-bats in the 5^th.

Notable Boxscores:

Jeff – ¾, HR, 2B, 3B, 5RBI, 3 runs

Bob- 4/5, HR, 2B, 5RBI, 4 runs

Duran – 5/5, HR, 4 runs, RBI

Joey – 5/5, 3 runs, 3RBI

Al – 5/5, 3 runs, 2RBI

Kenny – 4/5, 3runs, RBI

Mike - 3/3, 3 runs, RBI

Brian – 4/4, 5RBI, 3 runs

Cycle Watch:

Jeff ended up a single short of the cycle.

Bob missed the triple.

If Duran had two legs he easily would have hit for the cycle, but had to settle for a couple of fence ball singles.

Gimpy watch:

Duran hit a home run on one leg. Seriously.

2^nd inning power surge surges Storm past Surge

Storm started slowly with a two-run first, but they exploded in the 2^nd. A missed throw with two outs opened the door and Storm put six runs in after the error. The nine-run inning put them up by more than they would need. Storm held on to win 15-3. Storm played solid defense,  and had great pitching to keep Surge’s offense down.

Notable Boxscores:

Jeff – ¾, 3 runs, RBI

Bob – ¾, HR, 3 runs, 3 RBI

Joey – ¾, HR, 2 runs, 2RBI

Al – 3/3, run

Dave – 4/4, 3 RBI

2018 Storm Season Recap

Storm had an incredibly exciting end to the season. After losing to the A’s in the second game of the season, they did not hold first place position until defeating the A’s in the last game of the season. There were some tense moments near the end, including the worst game Storm has played in years against Broadway, but for most of the season Storm was solid on defense and the entire lineup hit extremely well. Storm finished the regular season in first place for the fourth consecutive year, and they also led the league in runs scored and gave up the fewest runs against.

Team Leaders:

AVG: Joey - .747, Duran - .743, Bob - .723, Al - .716

HR: Joey – 30, Duran – 20, Bob – 13, Jeff – 8

RBI: Duran – 129, Joey – 118, Bob – 95, Al – 62

Runs : Duran – 112, Bob -100, Joey – 97, Jeff – 79

Hits: Duran – 124, Bob – 115, Joey – 115, Jeff – 101

Doubles: Duran – 33, Bob – 28, Joey – 23, Lance – 18

Triples : Duran – 19, Bob – 8, Joey – 5, Kenny and Brad – 4

Slugging Percentage: Joey – 1.545, Duran – 1.527, Bob 1.245, Jeff - .877

The whole team played well, but there were a few exceptional seasons:

Duran Spray - Duran had a season worthy of MVP consideration. He broke his own personal bests in virtually every category, but also set a number of Storm records.

Storm records:

Doubles – 33

Hits – 124

Runs – 112

Total Bases – 255

Triples – 19

He also set the record for consecutive games with an extra base hit at 39

Personal bests that aren’t Storm records:

AVG. - .743
HR – 20

RBI – 129

OBP - .736

SLG – 1.527

OPS. – 2.263

Jeffrey Thomas - While he didn’t have a record setting year  like Duran, Jeff put up arguably his best offensive season, at least in the power categories:

Personal Bests:

Hits – 101

Runs – 79

RBI – 59

Doubles – 16

Total bases – 143

SLG. - .877

OPS. – 1.485

Kenny Bodnar - Kenny seems to have spent some time at the gym (or lifting lots of crates of food at No Frills) as he also had his best offensive season, and displayed more power and ability to pull the ball than previous years.

Personal Bests:

AVG. - .698

RBI – 51

Runs – 57

Hits – 81

Doubles – 10

Triples – 4

BB – 12

OBP - .689

SLG - .853

OPS – 1.542

Other players with personal bests :

Greg Andrews: RBI – 30

Dave Hobbs: AVG. - .588, Runs – 41

Brad MacDougall: AVG. - .667, OBP - .686, Runs – 48

Bob Peppler: RBI – 95, Runs – 100, Doubles – 28

Al Stanfield: AVG - .716, Hits – 96, Triples – 2,

Because of Co-Ed… Storm finished first

Storm has finished first again, much to the chagrin of the entire WMSPL (at least if you believe the Falcons power rankings).

Before the game, Storm got some disheartening news as Duran Spray, who was having an MVP caliber season, had suffered n ankle injury in co-ed. That’s right. Co-ed.

Storm shook it off and headed into the game with a positive attitude. It was a back and forth affair in the first few innings. The A’s put up 2 in the first, but Storm responded with a three-run inning, including a two-run homer by Joey. The A’s put up another two in the 2^nd, but Storm matched it with a key RBI double from Bob. In the 3^rd, the A’s temporarily took the lead with a four- run inning, but in the bottom of the 3^rd, Storm responded well with six runs capped off with a three-run homer by Bob.

As the temperature cooled, so did the bats, and neither team was able to score a run in the final three innings. Storm won the game 11-9, and finished 1^st in the WMSPL regular season.

Some takeaways from the game:

Storm is, actually, capable of defeating the A’s. They hadn’t done it yet in the season, but Storm was able to get it done when it mattered.

Duran’s campaign for MVP might have taken a hit as Storm was able to defeat the A’s without him, something they had not accomplished with him.

Finishing first could be a big deal. Storm has struggled against the A’s and Broadway this season, and finishing first means that theoretically, if everyone hols their seeds, Storm will only have to face one of those teams to win the playoffs. Of course, as everyone knows, anything can happen in a single game, and the whole seeding system could go haywire after the round-robin.

The Falcons power rankings are only the most respected power rankings because they are the only power rankings. Storm was never ranked first, and yet… they won! Seriously, though, huge shout-out to the writer of the power rankings. It takes a lot of time, effort, analytical ability, poetic prowess, and a great sense of humour to be able to pull something like that off. So great job!

HR's: Joey, Bob

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
A's	2	2	4	1	0	0	0	9
Storm	3	2	6	0	0	0	x	11

Storm solid against Re/Max

Storm was solid on both sides of the ball on the way to a victory against Re/Max.

The game looked like it might be close. In the top of the first inning, Jeff and bob singled, and then Duran launched a three-run home run to put Storm up 3-0. Storm would load the bases, but would be unable to score any more runs. In the bottom of the 1^st, Storm put Re/Max down in order.

In the top of the 2^nd, Storm exploded. It was a massive inning highlighted by Mike’s two run shot off the top of the left field fence. When Jeff came up for the 2^nd time in the inning, one of Re/Max’s outfielders opined, “They’re going through the order for the 3^rd time and we’ve had three batters.” Storm was base to base by the third inning, and many batters were using Kevin’s bat, “Tingy”, to help work it in for playoff readiness.

HR's: Duran, Mike

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	3	11	8	9	x	x	x	31
ReMax	0	2	0	0	x	x	x	2

Storm stumbles (completely falls on it’s a**) against Broadway

Broadway helped Storm out by beating the A’s in the first game of the double-header. Then Broadway turned around and helped the A’s right back by slaughtering Storm in the 2^nd game of the evening. It turns out, Broadway was actually trying to help themselves.

The game started off seeming like it was going to be a another tightly contested game between Broadway and Storm. It was 6-5 for Storm going into the bottom of the 3^rd. And then the floodgates opened.

The inning started with a hard ground ball that got through 3^rd. Then Broadway kept hitting balls that Storm players usually catch, but tonight, couldn’t. What looked like it might be a tragedy, turned very quickly into a comedy of errors as even throws to cut-off men would bounce off of both middle infielders and roll into the infield. It was so bad, that a Broadway player asked if a ground ball to short had actually turned into an out on a force play at 2^nd. The inning played out as if someone had snuck onto Storm’s bench and sprayed all of Storm players’ gloves with ball repellant. It was so bad, that Storm gave up more runs in that single inning than they had in 21 games. 21 times Storm gave up 12 runs or fewer in the game. They gave up 12 runs in that inning.

This brings Storm’s record against Broadway and the A’s to 1-5-1. They’ll either need to correct that in the playoffs or need some help if they’re going to manage the threepeat.

Notable Boxscores:

Al – 4/4, 4RBI

Brad 4/4, 2RBI

Streak Watch:

Duran’s extra base hit streak came to an end at 39 games.

HR's:  None

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	2	0	3	2	2	3	x	12
Broadway	3	3	12	5	2	0	x	25

Storm cools Coulas’s bats

Storm had a slow start to the game on Wednesday. It was another game that they were hitting like they were facing major league pitching. Storm managed only one run in each of the first two innings. The defense, however, was so strong that two runs in two innings was enough as Coulas scored none.

In the top of the 3^rd, Coulas remembered that it was slo-pitch, not major league baseball and they put 3 runs on the board to take the league. This seemed to knock Storm out of their stupor, and they responded with a 6 run inning thank to a grand slam by Joey and a two-run single by Dave.  Had now scored more in their half of the inning than the two teams had scored combined up until that point.

Coulas would not be held down, though, and they managed a five run inning that tied the game at 8.  Storm would take the lead back in the bottom half of the inning with three runs, and they never looked back from there allowing just one more run the rest of the game.

Offensive highlights:

• Joey hit a grand slam.
• Dave hit a two-run single.
•  Duran developed the patience of a private detective on a stakeout waiting for that insurance claimant to take out his five iron, and walked on his first two at-bats without swinging the bat. He then tripled to extend his historic extra base hit streak.
• Al had another solid night with three hits and 3 RBI

Defensive highlights:

• The defensive play was solid all around. Kenny made a nice catch in right.
• Dave made a great stab at first and got an out before throwing an errant ball to second.
• Brian made the same play, but actually made the throw to second to complete the double play.
• Brad made a nice play and shovel pass to Joey for a double-play in the seventh inning.
• All around Storm made all of the plays that they should have, and some that they shouldn’t have.

HR's: Joey

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Coulas	0	0	3	5	1	0	0	9
Storm	1	1	6	3	3	3	x	17

Storm solid on both sides of the ball

Storm hit very well and played solid defense to defeat Brew Crew 37-0. Storm started going station to station in the 3^rd inning, but the hits kept finding holes. Defensively, Storm was solid. Mike made a great catch in right, and every play that should have been made was made as Storm shutout Brew Crew. Brew Crew only had multiple runners on in the last inning, and never got a runner past 2^nd.



HR's: Joey, Duran

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Brew Crew	0	0	0	0	0	x	x	0
Storm	2	9	8	9	10	x	x	38