Editor Remarks

After this past Sunday games, one can make multiple assessments from the results and the list of combinations needed to wrap up the postseason picture, but in my view, what stands the most is how everything is connected to a single element, the magic number four!

And not just because our game gears toward four bases, but because of the multiple facts that relate to this number in the 2021 Fall TSSL edition:

· Four are the teams had secured their spot into the playoffs – Congratulations are in order for the Pease’s Storm Chasers, Prim’s Padres, Dyer’s Cannon Ballers, and Dlott’s Dragons

· Four are the spots available to join the November party – Muck’s Rubber Ducks, Barr/Garza’s Corny Dogs and Sardi’s Tiburones will fight for one of those four places, whereas Greenberg’s TinCaps, Banta’s Blue Rocks, Rodriguez’s Aguilas, Alexander’s Trash Pandas, and Cova’s Leones will do the same for the other three remaining slots

· And unfortunately, Four are the teams that are mathematically eliminated for any championship chances in this Fall edition – Miller’s Flying Squirrels, Carver/Golden’s Empire 66’ers, Garber’s Monarchs, and Kravitz’s Legends. Yet, their last 2 games of the season will have a direct impact on the playoff seekers, so every game will mean something!

Speaking of numbers, another remarkable figure that made its appearance this past Sunday for me was prime number three, which were the times my good friend Freddy Barraez went yard during the Aguilas double-header, setting a career-high for him in a single day, but I’ll let Capt Sh0tz describe that more in detail in his Eagle’s article

The reason for mentioning Freddy is because of the unique enthusiasm and joy he brings when watching a game, making it contagious to everyone in the stands promoting a camaraderie feeling like no other. This week I’d the fortune to enjoy a couple of games along with him (where I became aware of his hitting feat – with some bragging rights included lol!) and had a terrific time talking with him and his Aguilas teammates

Among many topics we discussed, what it really stand was his anecdote on the Spring 2021 season Marauders – Bats doubleheader, and how those games were, in his view, the most exciting and fun matches of the season, not only because of the competitive level (both defined by 1-run in the last inning in favor of the Bats) but because of the opportunity he had to face a lot of his dearest friends in a unique fun and competitive fashion, showing that in this league we all fight to win but the most important thing is the friends we make outside those lines. Cheers for many Marauders – Bats alike games in the league!

At the diamond

The ‘Splitsville’ is a term that has been coined lately in the league, and although can be used to describe 5 of the 7 weeks of the Leones performance, personally I’m not a big fan of the word as a lot of what happened in the field can be lost in translation, reason why I prefer to reconstruct the facts as they occurred, so here we go…

At Field 3 in a cloudy and rainy Fall morning, Leones and Blue Rocks faced to fight over one of the playoffs ‘golden tickets’ in the Lynn Division, and what an epic battle this was indeed where a pitching duel was at display between two of the best pitchers in the league, Banta and Barth!

It all began with a quiet Leones top of the 1st that the Blue Rocks capitalize with 1-run in the bottom of that frame to take an early 1-0 lead. One can say let’s fast forward to the 4th, as no team scored in the next 2 innings, but that would be dismissing best in class plays and pitching by both teams to extent that no team was able to have 2 runners on-base simultaneously during those frames, so you do the math about the quality of this game

Heading to the 4th, the Leones were able to score their first 2 runs of the game, thanks to Mort's double and Barth’s rbi single to take their first lead of the game. A lead that will quickly vanish in part thru a 2-run offensive comeback from the Blue Rocks and unfortunately also driven by a sub-par performance from the umpire crew, which once again raises the need of driving accountability via data-based driven performance reviews on the individuals responsible to make the calls in our game. By no means did this rule unawareness have an impact on the ultimate result of the game, yet it did negatively impact the morale in the Leones squad

Leones struck back in the 5th with one more run to tie the affairs again (at 3 apiece) thanks to Leonard’s rbi-single, but then the inspired Blue Rocks massively capitalized against the Leones defense in the bottom of that frame, by scoring a total of 7 runs after 2 outs, which gave the Banta’s squad a 10-3 lead after 5

Leones aimed a final comeback in the 6th, but couldn’t materialize any runs and with the clock winding down in just 2 minutes, Blue Rocks did their part and secured the time-ending win with a final 10-3 score

Hit it hard by that tough loss, Leones knew from now on every game will represent an elimination game as the feline squad could not afford any more losses in this Fall season. For that, Leones went to Field 1 to face the hard-luck Monarchs led by Spring 2021 champion Abbey Garber and his one-of-a-kind fun spirit!

Leones started early with 2 runs in the 1st thanks to 2 sets of consecutive singles, first from Mabry and Leonard, who were droved home thanks to the other pair of singles from Shwarts.M and Mort. Monarchs wasted no time taking the lead in the bottom part of that frame, by scoring 3 runs.

Once again, quiet 2nd and 3rd frames on both sides gave the Leones the opportunity to take their first lead of the game thanks to consecutive singles from Mort, Holtmann, and Barth, who were brought home by 4-rbi singles from Sub Effenbein, Shwarts. A, Mabry and Leonard, giving the Leones a 6-3 lead.

After holding scoreless the Monarchs in the 4th, Leones scored another run thanks to Cova’s single and Holtmann’s sac fly, giving the Leones a 7-3 lead which was preserved thanks to keeping the Monarch’s empty in the bottom of the 5th

The 6th will mark the highest-scoring inning as a total of 13 runs were scored on both sides. Seven of those 13 came from the Leones bats thanks to coincidentally 7 consecutive hits from Ovalle, Effenbein, Shwarts.A, Mabry (2-rbi-double), Leonard’s (2-rbi-double), Manz (rbi-single), and Cova’s 2-rbi bomb (TSSL career homerun #50 for “El Capitan!)

Monarchs rallied back strong in the bottom frame of the 6th by scoring 6 runs, but with no time left the Garber crew will fall short losing to the Leones by a final 14-9 score

Outstanding Leones

· Reese Leonard – 5/6, 2R’s, 2B, BB, 4RBI’s

· Michael Barth – 4/6, RBI and 2 gems in the mound once again!

·  Ashley Mort – 4/6, 2R’s, 2 2B’s, BB, RBI

·  Leonardo Cova – 3/6, 2R’s, HR (career #50!), BB, 2 RBI’s

Fun Fact

Did you know that during the 1975 – 1976 season of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, Leones del Caracas and Tiburones de la Guaria fusion themselves into a single team named “Tibuleones” (“Sharklions”) as they weren’t able to reach an agreement to rent the stadium the share, El Universitario?

After that season, both teams were able to renegotiate the agreement and split themselves once again into the teams we know as of today, Leones del Caracas and Tiburones de la Guaira

Should Captains Sardi and Cova do the same for the 2022 Fall season?

Pitcher Luis Mercedes Sanchez wearing the “Tibuleones” jersey