2020 South Oakland Ducks

Ducks Lose. Season Over.

2020 South Oakland Ducks

South Oakland lost to the Hebrew Oilers 9-2 in Brookline Wednesday night. The Ducks were held hitless until the sixth when Mark Lombardi tripled to left, but the game was out of reach at that point. The Ducks leading hitter was ejected in the second in a bizarre move by the field ump. That set the tone for the rest of the game.

Overall, it was a good season despite our record. I’m not one for moral victories, but we added a few guys who will help us going forward, and it was a fun year under difficult circumstances. We were in every game but a couple. Unfortunately, one of those was our final playoff game.

We finished fourth, but we won a playoff game. A couple bounces during the regular season, and maybe we get a bye and things are different. I’ve suffered much more crushing defeats as a Duck. The future is bright in South Oakland.

Tom will post team awards at some point. Good luck to the Bandidos and Oilers in the finals this weekend.

Quack.

Ducks Win: Face Oilers in Semifinals Tonight.

2020 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland eliminated the South Hill Devils, winning 9-1 in Elliot last night.

The Ducks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second before both benches received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Ducks added three runs in the fourth, one in the sixth, and two in the seventh. The runs in the seventh inning came after the Devils starter beaned the Ducks second baseman after a bunt attempt. That loaded the bases for Pulice who drove in two runs with a fielder’s choice on a botched double-play attempt.

The Devils scored their run in the fourth.

Ducks starter Billy Welsh (W, 1-0) pitched five strong innings, and Fago went the last two to secure the victory.

Morgan and Lombardi had multi-hit games for the Ducks.

The Ducks play BIG OIL tonight, 8:00 at Moore Park. The winner advances to the championship series against the winner of tonight’s Bandidos Cranberry game.

Quack.

 

 

 

Playoff Gameday 1: Ducks at Devils

2020 South Oakland Ducks

(5) South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

at

(4) South Hills Devils

8:30pm

Herschel Park

Projected Starters:

Ducks: Welsh

Devils: Brodeur

The Ducks travel to Elliot to take on the defending champs in tonight’s first round matchup. The winner advances to play BIG OIL in the semifinals tomorrow night. South Oakland and the Devils split their season series, and finished even in net runs. The Ducks won 14-8 and 6-2, and lost 7-1 and 5-1. Twenty-two runs for and 22 against. The last time these two teams met in the playoffs, the game went ten innings. This appears to be an even matchup.

The other side of the bracket has the Bandidos and Eagles playing tonight with the winner taking on Cranberry in the semifinals. Andy has a preview on their site. Solid work as always. Andy also put a lot of work into our all decade teams, and scraping our league’s all-time stats from the defunct NABA site.

Here’s the AA team.

The Ducks are well represented. We’ve had some great players on this team. I’m fortunate to have played with and against a lot of ball players far more talented than I am over the last 17 years.Other Ducks who made it are Kenny Rayl who was named all decade in AAA for his time on the Black Sox. Ciccone spent most of the decade with the Oilers, but played on South Oakland from 2013-2014. Bandido/Dirty Birds Eddinger, Friend, and Gallagher played with us in Columbus so they’ve logged almost a dozen games as Ducks. Graff played with us for most of the decade.

2014 South Oakland Ducks

It’s been a tough season for a lot of obvious non-baseball reasons. I have a hard time getting too upset about underachieving this year when it’s amazing we were able to play at all. Still, there’s little solace in losing just because we’re in the middle of a pandemic.

I think every team in the tournament can make a run. We have a tough draw, but there’s still a path for us. We certainly didn’t peak too early this year.

We have Billy going tonight, and I don’t think we’re missing any starters.

Bad News for the Devils

Gameday 18: Ducks vs Devils

2020 South Oakland Ducks

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (7-9-1)

vs

South Hills Devils (9-7)

9pm

Springview Field

Probable Starters:

Ducks: Mullen

Devils: Heinecke

South Oakland takes on the defending champs tonight in Spring Hill with a chance to win the season series. The Ducks have won two straight including Monday night’s 14-8 slug fest at South Hills.

A win tonight keeps the Ducks in the hunt for a home playoff game. South Oakland has won two straight and looks to keep the momentum going as the team heads into the post season. The team is playing with confidence.

Bad News for the Devils

Ducks Lose. South Oakland 3, Bandidos 6

2020 South Oakland Ducks

The Ducks are now winless in five straight after the Bandidos overcame a 3-1 deficit to win in Spring Hill last night. Bakery Square scored 2 runs in the sixth and 3 in the seventh.

South Oakland’s record is terrible, but throwback night was a success.

Bandidos missed an opportunity to go with these beauties when they settled on their new unis. Could’ve used a lowercase b in the same font for the logo.

South Oakland plays next on Sunday, 9am, at Springview Field.

 

 

Gameday 15: Ducks vs. Bandidos

2020 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (5-8-1)

vs

Bakery Square Bandidos (7-5)

9pm

Springview Field

Projected Starters:

Ducks: Blackstone

Bandidos: Gallagher

South Oakland looks to snap its four-game winless streak tonight against Bakery Square. The Ducks won the first two meetings 14-8 and 6-3 (8 inn.), respectively.

Tonight is throwback night. Players from each team are encouraged to wear their oldest NABA jersey to celebrate our league’s rich 17-year history.

Bad News for the Bandidos

 

 

Tie Game: Ducks 5, Eagles 5 (9 inn.)

2020 South Oakland Ducks

South Oakland and South Side battled to a 5-5 tie yesterday in Elliot. The Ducks lead 5-1 early but couldn’t add to their lead. The Eagles scored two unearned runs late in the game, and South Oakland lead 5-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh. The Eagles battled back to tie after a bunch of walks.

The Ducks failed to win another great start from Billy Welsh.

  • We left a lot of men on base yesterday
  • We are 2-2-1 in extra-innings this season
  • At this point, we are playing for the 4th seed, and a home playoff game – still very attainable
  • We are 0-3-1 without 2019 team MVP, SS, Tony Casale. Our other middle infielders have had work commitments the last couple weeks. It’s been a tough four games.

South Oakland plays next on Wednesday, 9pm, Springview Field vs Bakery Square.

Wednesday is throwback night. Both teams will wear historic NABA jerseys to celebrate our league’s illustrious 17 year history.

 

 

 

Gameday 13: Ducks vs Eagles

2020 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (5-7)

vs

South Side Eagles (2-10)

9pm

Springview Field

Probable starters:

Ducks: Patton?

Eagles: Horowitz

The Ducks look to rebound tonight, after back-to-back extra innings losses to Cranberry. The standings are still pretty tight, but South Oakland finds itself two games under .500 with eight games left, 2.5 games out of first. A division title is mathematically unlikely at this point.

The Eagles are 2-10, and that’s not a great record, but they shut us out earlier this year, and took us to extra innings the other time. At least tonight we are at the Duck Pond, our record is pretty good there.

We need to win some games and get on a roll before the playoffs. It would be great to get a home game in the first round if we miss out on a bye. We want to peak at the right time. Tonight is as good a time as any to start a winning streak.

Bad News for the Eagles

 

Ducks Lose. South Oakland 3, Cranberry 8 (9 inn.)

2020 South Oakland Ducks

Game 1: Ducks 8, Cranberry: 18 (8 inn.)

Game 2: Ducks 3, Cranberry 8 (9 inn.)

South Oakland (7-7) lost 8-5 in 9 innings to Cranberry last night in Spring Hill. Once again the Ducks fought back to send the game into extra innings, only to allow several runs and lose. Stumpf hit a grand slam in the top of the ninth for Cranberry, that sealed it.

It’s not easy to lose two games in extra innings by a combined 15 runs.

We only made a couple mistakes, but we paid for them.

We probably played ourselves out of a bye this week, but we’ve been in this position before. We just need to get hot down the stretch. This is the most complete team we’ve had in years, and I think we have a good shot at a title, even without the bye.

The Ducks next game is against the Eagles next Wednesday, 9pm at Springview Field.

 

Gameday 12: Ducks vs Cranberry

2020 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs

Cranberry Crusaders

9pm

Springview Field

Probable Starters:

Ducks: Blackstone

Cran: Valenti

The Ducks look to avoid a season sweep by Cranberry tonight at the Duck Pond. Cranberry has historically been a bad matchup for us, but I don’t think they’ve ever swept us. I could be wrong. Either way, tonight is a big game. We don’t want to be two games under .500 heading into the Eagles series against their new guy who shut us out last time we faced him.

I think we are finishing up last game before we start the next one, but I’m not sure.

We may lose an extra inning game by double digit runs. That’s no small feat. Maybe we will score eleven with two outs. Monday really devolved. Still, with a win tonight we can get out of this two game set even, and jump back in the mix for a bye.

Bad News for Cranberry