South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (0-0)

vs

East Pittsburgh Piranhas (0-0)

9pm

Springview Field

The Ducks enter their nineteenth season with title aspirations, again. At the very least, South Oakland figures to be in contention down the stretch. There are a lot of variables during the regular season that can prevent a team from getting a bye, or force a team into a bad draw. Over the last few years, we’ve had terrible post season luck. We’ve also run into some buzzsaw pitchers. We’ve lost to better teams, worse teams and teams that were just as good as us after having several relatively successful regular seasons since we moved down from what is now AAA in 2014. Hopefully things fall our way this year.

It’s already been a wild start to the 2021 season with Herschel Park serving as the venue for a near brawl and a suspended game due to the lights shutting off during the Devils/Grizzlies and Cranberry/D2 games respectively. Incidents like this were much more common in the league’s early days.

In 2003, The Ducks won the inaugural championship vs. the Pittsburgh Piranhas (later the Warriors). Their logo looked like the one below. South Oakland’s team was me and my college friends from Pitt. We played high school and legion ball, along with a few guys who probably never played above JV or rec leagues. On that night, Piranhas manager Craig Boley must have been short on guys so he brought in a bunch of ringers. We faced a team of college players that night, including their starting pitcher who played at Waynesburg.

Boley was commissioner at the time, and umped most of the regular season games, so we didn’t really have anyone to whom we could report roster violations. Adding to the mystique, the championship game was supposed to happen a week earlier, and was “rained out” on a night where John Herb Field was immaculate, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We took infield and then I got a call that the game was rescheduled. We came back the next Monday, under the lights for the first time in years, and we won. We rolled on a team full of college players hand picked by the commissioner. We won 9-6. Then we were kicked out of Hemingways.

There are probably players on this Piranhas team that weren’t born when our team was founded. It’s a fitting opener. The oldest team against the newest team that bares the name of another original 6 squad. Hopefully the weather cooperates. Our veteran roster and young pitching staff had a season to gel, and we’re ready to go.

Bad news for the Piranhas.

Several AA teams will start their seasons on Sunday.

The Devils and Eagles start with a double header in West End, and the Bandidos travel to Bauerstown for an early season tilt with the Grizzlies.

The Bandidos finish the home and home next Friday against Bauerstown, and then host the Eagles in a 9am hair of the dog match at Mellon Park.

A reminder that the Bandidos went with classic white on black uniforms, when they could have gone with something like this:

South Oakland will start some time after April 25th.

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side look to rebound in 2021, after a disappointing season last year. The team finished under .500 for the first time in six years in 2021. After a solid win over South Hills in the first round, we lost to a stacked BIG OIL team in the semifinals.

The big offseason news is that the Oilers merged with the Rebels and are now playing in AAA. Taking their spot in AA are the Senators and the expansion Piranhas. Returning after a year off are D2 and Bauerstown.

Bauerstown is probably the preseason favorite along with 2020 finalist Bandidos and the 2019 champion Devils. I’ll put the Piranhas right behind this group for now, but they’re supposed to be good. They’re a bunch of high school kids from a good baseball school who will likely be disappointed by our fields.

Cranberry is a no longer a sleeper pick after putting together two consecutive solid regular seasons. They also added the third woman in league history who will pitch and play outfield for them. She is a former olympian and likely the best athlete in the league. I’m curious how she’ll fare. D2 has the pitching depth to make a run, and the Eagles are due to rebound in Ethan’s second season as manager. It should be a competitive division.

South Oakland added a couple players who should contribute right away. Dimas is also returning after a year off to play second and clap. We lost Ducks legend James Fago to a new job in Chicago, and our long-time shortstop moved up to the Bulldogs after leaving South Oakland halfway through last season for personal reasons.

Every year I wonder if half our team will just get old all at once, but if it hasn’t happened yet. I think we have the pitching to compete. We need to avoid getting swept by Cranberry again this season. I am now 40. My career will span three decades, and grateful for another season at the Duck Pond.

Quack.