Editor Remarks

Interdivisional games are over and with that the end of the Lynn vs Baum rivalry until we reach November 21st (weather permitting) when the division champions will be meet again at the Fall classic. Ahead of us is now an intense month in which every win is ‘gold baby’ as it will impact directly into division rivals

For those of you ‘bracket lovers’ here is how the playoff picture looks like as of today (Oct 6th, 2021):

Did I enjoyed doing this bracket? Definitely not! as my beloved Leones is out of the picture, but rest assure our squad will fight back to gain a spot into that bracket when it truly matters, the Oct 31st edition

On the other hand, what I did enjoy were the good memories my fellow Marauders teammates gave me during this past Sunday. At first, I saw my dear friend and recent Spring 2021 Marauders All-Star Ozzie Zurita wearing his Navegantes del Magallanes jersey (biggest Leones rival at the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League) when the Leones faced the Corny Dogs at Field 2 in an attempt to intimidate me with his unique laugh and typical rivalry jokes. What a great way to start a match and how cool is being part of a league that enables this level of diversity making ourselves the foreigners feel closer to home. Kudos for that!

As I moved to field 4 to watch the Tiburones and Aguilas match, I’d the opportunity not only to watch a spectacular game from an offensive standpoint (with Driggers “Gran Bebida” as the superstar of the affair) but also see the level of passion and intensity my great friend/teammate, and also former Fall 2019 Marauder All-Star Ariel Rodriguez put at display after injuring himself when sliding into 2b to reach safely. Not only he played thru the injury in a really close affair, but moreover, he hit a bomb in his next at-bat and kept pitching and pushing his team to win against the Tiburones. A truly remarkable sport effort from Capt Sh0tz!

At the diamond

The biggest highlight of the weekend for the Leones is that for the first time in the season the team scored 10+ runs in each game, which can only mean something, bats came to life now!

The first game of the day showcased one of the greatest comebacks this season will store, as the Leones were able to beat a 1-11 deficit vs the Rubber Ducks, to finally claim a 20-15 victory. How did that happen? Allow me to reconstruct the facts…

It all started with a somewhat quiet 1st inning in which only 1 run was scored, on the Leones side, thanks to Shwarts.M 2-out rbi single to take a 1-0 lead. A lead that will quickly vanish, after an 11-run attack from the Ducks in the 2nd in which everyone reached the plate at least once. Long faces were present no doubt at the Leones dugout, but that changed in a heartbeat after 9 consecutive hits from Holtmann, Barth, Johnson, Moore, Shwarts. A, Mabry, Leonard, Manz, and Cova (last 7 including at least 1-rbi). Hitting feast continued thanks to Mort rbi single to cap a 10-run inning, tying the affairs at 11 after 2 innings

Ducks were astonished by such a comeback and came empty in the 3rd, giving the Leones the perfect chance to wrap up the match, and so they did, with a 9-run inning led by two blocks of consecutive hits from Mabry, Leonard, Manz, Cova (round 1) and Mort, Holtmann, Barth, Johnson and Moore 3-rbi double (round 2) giving the Leones a 20-11 lead after 3 innings. Ducks attempted a comeback with 2-run innings in both the 4th and the 5th but came short and the Leones grabbed their 4th win of the season!

Having the benefit of staying at the same field, Leones prepared themselves to face Corny Dogs led by the Barr/Garza duple, but this time offensive won’t be the protagonist of the day, as neither team was able to score more than 6 runs in an inning.

Leones quickly jumped on the score with 3-runs thanks to Leonard's triple and Shwarts.M 2-rbi double, but the Corny Dogs replied with 3-runs at the bottom of it tying the game after 1 inning. A scoreless 2nd inning (on both sides) was followed by a 1-run inning on the Leones side led by Shwarts.M rbi-single, but the Dogs counterattacked with 3-runs to take a 6-4 lead after 3 innings

The 4th inning will have the largest offensive display of the game by both teams, as a total of 8 runs were scored, 6 of them on the Leones side thanks to 4 consecutive rbi-doubles from Mabry, Leonard, Manz, and Cova, giving the Leones a 10-8 lead after 4.

Fast forward to the 6th inning, Leones aimed to strike on the top of the frame but couldn’t capitalize with the bases loaded, which gave the Dogs a ‘golden opportunity to grab the victory at the bottom of the last inning (as time has ended) and so they did, in a dramatic fashion with a game-ending 3-run bomb from Miggy Duron with 2 outs on the board for a Corny Dogs win of 12-10 against the Leones

Outstanding Leones

-  POW Michael Barth - 5/6, 3R's, 2B, 2RBI's and phenomenal pitching once again

- Dorian Moore - 3/6, 3R's, 2B, and 4RBI's

- Steve Johnson - 4/5, 3R's, BB, 2RBI's pushing his average to an astonishing .647

- Reese Leonard - 6/8, 4R's, 2B, 3B, 3RBI's 

Fun Fact

Did you know that Leones del Caracas and Navegantes del Magallanes are known as the “Eternos Rivales” (Eternal Rivals) at the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League and since 1946 they had faced each other in a total of 791 matches, with the Navegantes having a thin razor lead of 399 wins (50.4%) against their Leones counterparts, yet the Leones has won 20 titles in the league whereas Magallanes has only won 12?

Cap Leo Cova wearing his Leones jersey and Ozzie Zurita wearing his Navegantes jersey on top of the Corny Dogs outfit showing rivalry is only between the lines!