With four regulars unavailable, the Dragons looked to first burst the Rubber Ducks bubbles.  Captain Muck shows up sporting a braided beard, which after a Ducks sweep (spoiler alert) is bound to show up next week.  

Wiley veteran pitcher John Unell (going old school with his black Dragons shirt from a Shalom season past) held the Ducks to just four runs over the first four innings.  Problem is, the Dragons showed no fire, scoring just 3.  Things finally heated up in the 5th.  Ducks put up a 6 spot, meaning the Dragons had to respond.  

Ray ‘Ray’ Darragh led off the 5th with a single, and was plated by super sub Tim Crites’ triple.  After two quick outs were made, the Dragons order flipped to Ari Loiben who had an RBI triple.  Daryl Drake followed with yet another home run and the home team was now only down 3.

The Ducks went quietly in the top of the 6th, setting the stage for yet another late win by the feisty Dragons.  After plating one, the Dragons found themselves down two with the bases loaded, just one out, and two subs coming up.  Unfortunately, Muck’s braided magic far outweighed some super sub heroics as the Dragons were slayed 10-8.

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From Rubber Ducks to Corny Dogs...only in the Shalom League!  This was a game for the ages.  The visiting Dragons led off with a single run in the first on a solo shot by none other than Daryl Drake.  The bottom of the first brought pitcher John Unell a case of whiplash as the Dogs went back-to-back to take a 3-1 lead.  

After a quiet 2nd, sub Scott Harriman led off the 3rd with a base hit, followed by IPOW nominee Kendal Anthony’s RBI triple.  The law firm of Loiben, Drake, and Kaminski went single, single, single, and all three scored giving the Dragons a 6-4 lead.  Dogs matched the Dragons with 5 in the bottom of the 3rd.

Skipping ahead to the bottom of the 7th, the Dragons were up 3.  The Dogs scratched and clawed their way to tie the game and had a runner on 3rd and one out.  The Dragons issued two intentional walks to load the bases.  The Corny Dogs were unable to plate the winning run and onto extras we went.

Top 8 begins with a Crites walk, then an out.  Kendal Anthony with a clutch single flips the order.  Ari with an RBI base hit, Daryl with a walk.  Bases juiced for Tim Kaminski.  Tim took out all of his frustrations on one pitch that cleared the parking lot for a grand slam!  Dragons score 5, take down the Dogs top of the order and earn the split with a 17-12 win.

Dragons IPOW Week 2:

• Daryl Drake - 7/7, 4HR, 5RBI, 7R and errorless play with many chances at SS

• Kendal Anthony - 3/6, 3B, 3R; most importantly, absolutely fantastic defense, holding down LF all day!

• Tim Kaminski - After going 0-3 in game 1, we officially welcomed Tim to the fall season.  In game 2, Tim was 5/5 with 2HR, 2B, 7RBI, 4R.  Monster grand slam in the top of the 8th to boost the Dragons to the W.

GAME 1: BLUE ROCKS - 15   66’ERS - 5

The 2021 Blue Rocks opened their season taking on the Carver/Golden 66’ers. The day (and season) could not have gotten off to a better start as leadoff hitter Matt Rakofsky slammed a fence blast Home Run in his first at bat after taking some time off from playing. The good guys scored 3 in the first with hits from Peter Hogan, Ryan Richardson and Mark Phares. The 2nd inning saw the Rocks bat around and plate 9 runs. Hits from rookie Grayson Vick, Doug Hogan, Matt Rakofsky, Ryan Richardson, Dennis Brumett, Mark Phares and Doc Levy helped put the opener to bed early as this veteran crew tacked on 3 more runs to close out the first victory of the season 15-5.

Hitting Stars:

Ryan Richardson: 3 for 3, Single, Double, HR, 4 RBI’s, 2 RS

Mark Phares: 3 for 3, 3 Doubles, 3RBI’s, 2 RS

Grayson Vick: 3 for 3, 3 Singles, RS

Doug Hogan: 2 for 2, 2 Singles, 2 RS   

GAME 2: CANNON BALLERS – 7     BLUE ROCKS - 4 

Game 2 was played in stark contrast as the bats were cold from the get-go against former Taco skipper and teammate Craig “take a knee” Dyer. The Blue Rocks couldn’t get on the board until the 5th inning when Doc Levy lead off with a single followed by a Grayson Vick single that got Doc to 3rd. A Sac Fly by Doug Hogan finally put us on the board. The never-say-die Blue Rocks showed some fight and threatened in the last inning adding 3 more runs before the game ended with the bases loaded.

Hitting Stars:

Doc Levy: 2 for 2, SAC, RBI, RS

Kyle Casper: 2 for 2, 2 Singles, fantastic defense in right field

The brand new softball affiliate of the Rocket City Trash Pandas took the field for the first time this weekend with tons of talent and potential, cheered on by our rabid fans—I swear we had at least 6!  While it wasn’t a perfect performance, it was darn good and Captain Alexander was very pleased with the early season results.

First up was the potent offense of Sardi’s Tiburones.  In the initial inning, Captain Alexander gave up a solo bomb--into the wind--to John Kilburn which put the home team Pandas in a hole.  The TPs couldn’t scavenge a run in the bottom of the first or the second frame, quickly falling behind 2-0 after two.  Panda-monium broke loose in the top of the third when an “incredible,” delayed overturned third out call at 3B brought the home team back out of the dugout only to quickly give up 2 more runs to the heart of the Sharks order before the fourth out was recorded. The Ring Tails were now down 4-0 but a little ticked off (ask Sean), and the bats finally came to life. With the bottom of the line-up due at the plate, the next seven batters reached base before Captain Alexander made the first out (he hit like trash most of the day). Rookie Chuck Taylor reached on a walk; Travis Olander and Chris Licurse singled loading the bases; crafty veteran Ronn Forniglia took a RBI walk; lead-off Joshua Forniglia (in his first game back from the IR) doubled 2 home; Chenz Terhune followed that with a rocket, another double scoring two more; Sean Greeley scored Vinnie with a sneaky single; and Jacob Forniglia later got his first RBI of the young season, bringing Sean home with a sac fly. The Pandas took the lead 7-4 after three and never looked back.  Final score 9-5 good guys in a tight contest. Look out for the Tiburones!

Next we traveled to field 2, where the wind wasn’t blowing in, to visit the dangerous Miller’s Flying Squirrels in a face-off between the two small woodland creatures.  The Trash Pandas got off to a better start in this battle, scoring 2 in the top of the first powered by a Joshua F hit, another double by Chenz T, and a sac fly by Greeley.  Facing the wrecking crew that is the top of the Squirrels order, the defense with Captain Alexander on the bump was doing fine until the trash-hurler hung a belt-high 12 inch yellow softball to Troy Steele who promptly planted it over the fence in left center. 2-4 home team Tree Chickens after one inning.  The resilient TPs responded quickly in their first AB of the second inning, a solo hit-and-sit blast by non-rookie Kennin Doyle (I called it). Two batters later, squirrely Travis Olander used just enough inside-out spin to squeak one by the right fielder, the ball rolling to the corner for his first inside-the-park home run! *That I can remember. Our defense held, and it was a tie ball game 4-4 after two frames.  The TPs took the lead 7-6 after three, when blind-squirrel Alexander hit a ball 301 feet to right center--trying to make right for two solo dingers he gave up--with Terhune (still perfect for the day) and Greeley on base.  The big innings came in the fifth and sixth though, when the good guys broke it open, trashing the Squirrels with 13 runs to their 2.  The bottom of the order stayed hungry with multiple hits by Olander, Licurse and Ronn F providing RBIs (2) for Joshua F on a double and a SAC; Chenz with a 3 run bomb; Dan Mele (clutch at second base all day) with a 3 run jimmy-jack; Greeley (3 RBI) on a timely double, and garbage-time Alexander (2 RBI) hitting the TPs sixth HR of the game to dead center. The Flying Squirrels fought like angry caged animals and hit their own fair share of HRs (look out for some guys named Ortega and Jamieson), but it wasn’t meant to be for the fake-winged rodents on this fair Sunday.  Final score 20-8 for the sweep!

Everyone contributed all day, I couldn’t be more proud of my guys :)

Panda Power Players:

Vinnie “Chenz” Terhune – 7-7 with 2 doubles, HR, 6 runs and 6 RBI (*IPOW candidate)

Sean Greeley – 5-6, double, SAC, 4 runs and 6 RBI

Mike Glosier – 4-6 with a SAC, solid SS play

Travis Olander – 4-6 with an inside-the-park HR!

Ronn Forniglia – 3-5 with an RBI walk in the 12 hole!

Chris Licurse – 3-5 with a walk, key in turning the line-up over.

Joshua Forniglia – 4-7, 2 doubles, 4 runs and 4 RBI

Opening Day is always a great day on the fields. Yesterday was not an exception. It was a sunny and “fresh” morning in Allen, Texas. I want to thank the league to let me use my hometown professional team name and be able to call the team “Sardi’s Tiburones”.

This is my 2nd time as a captain and it will be a really nice one for sure. Our 1st game was against the Trash Pandas and it was not good for us. We scored one run on the 1st and the 2nd inning but the Pandas scored 7 on the 3rd and we scored 2 more on the same inning. They scored 2 more on the 5th and we scored our last one on the 6th. A bad inning affected us and we could not hit consistently.

Final Score: Tiburones 5 – Trash Pandas 9

Our 2nd game was what we called “El Clasico de la Capital”. Sardi’s Tiburones vs Cova’s Leones which is the Texas version of the Caracas vs La Guaira into the Venezuelan Winter Ball. We scored one on the 1st inning and kept scoreless the Leones for the 1st two innings. However, we had another bad inning an it was the 3rd inning were we received 6. On the same ideas, we scored 3 and the game was 6-4. As we arrived to the last inning, the Leones scored 4 more and we keep fighting and scored 4 but it was not enough and we ended losing our 2 games.

Final Score: Leones 10 – Tiburones 8

Fun Facts

Leones and Tiburones share the same stadium.

Tiburones are from La Guaira which is my hometown and has the main International airport in Venezuela which is named “Simon Bolivar Airport” and it has the main port of the country too which is named “La Guaira Port”