pittsburgh NABA

Ducks Win. South Oakland 6, South Side 3

2018 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, Recap, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (6-6) got back to .500 on the season against a tough South Side Eagles (4-5) team, winning by a score of 6-3 in Spring Hill last night.

The Ducks lead 2-1 going into the bottom of the fifth. Dover doubled to start the inning, advanced to third on a wild pitch and Toumisto drove him in with a groundout to the right side. Five batters later, Tony Casale singled with the bases loaded, followed by Ben Sorosky’s clutch pinch-hit single to right to cap off the four-run inning.

The Eagles scored two in the top of the seventh, but the rally fell short.

Randy Patton (W, 3-3) pitched six strong innings, allowing only 2 hits and 3 walks along with 2 Ks. Andy Nichols recorded the save (2).

South Oakland’s next game is Saturday at 2pm vs. 1st place Sheraden Jays.

  • We had the ump with the small strike zone, and there were a few questionable calls
  • I think the Eagles were short guys?
  • This is the first season sweep of the Eagles since 2010
  • If we beat the Jays Saturday, we will sweep all other bird teams
  • We jumped from 9th to a 5th place with the win

 

 

 

I forget what I was supposed to title this blog post: Ducks Win. South Oakland 4, Cranberry 2

Ducks win, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (5-6) came back from a two-run deficit to defeat the Crusaders (4-4) by a score of 4-2 in Munhall last night. Starter Mike Longman (W, 1-0) scattered seven hits over five innings, and Andy Nichols pitched two scoreless innings for the save.

Cranberry scored two runs on a triple, a single and two errors to take a 2-0 lead in the fourth. The Ducks cut the lead in half after a triple by Dover and a sac fly by Lombardi.

South Oakland added two runs in the fifth on singles by Gwin, Zuzak and Maldonado.

Dover stole third and scored on throwing error in the sixth to give the Ducks some breathing room.

South Oakland plays next on Sunday night, 8:30pm at John Herb Field vs. West View

 

Ducks Win. South Oakland 3, Bakery Square 2

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South Oakland of the North Side (4-5) stopped a two-game losing streak behind Joe Graff’s (W, 1-0) masterful complete game in Munhall Saturday night. Dimas Maldonado drove in a run with a sacrifice fly that plated two runs after a throwing error allowed a runner to score from second and tie the game 2-2. Tom Pulice drove in the game winning run with a sac fly late in the game, I think.

The defending champion Bandidos lost to D2 on Sunday and are now 2-5. A surprisingly poor start for a good team.

The Ducks next game is Thursday, 6:45pm vs the Warriors in Boyce Park.

 

 

Ducks Win. South Oakland 7, Bauerstown 4

2018 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, pittsburgh NABA, Recap, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland won its third straight game, defeating the Bauerstown Grizzlies (1-4) by a score of 7-3 in Munhall Wednesday night.

South Oakland lead 3-1 going into the bottom of the fourth when Mike Brandt doubled to the gap and later scored on a ground out by Maldonado.

The Ducks added another run in the fifth on Pulice’s team leading 8th RBI on a single to right to make the score 5-1.

Bauerstown clawed back into the game with a three-run sixth, but the Ducks answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning on singles by J. Zuzak, Petril, Maldonado and Gwin.

Randy Patton (W, 2-2) pitched five strong innings, and Chris Heisler finished out the game with a two inning save. The duo scattered nine hits on the night.

Mark Lombardi went 3-3 with 2 Runs scored.

Ben Gwin recorded the 300th hit of his Ducks career, an RBI single to right in the sixth inning.

South Oakland turned a 1-5-6 double play after a botched bunt attempt in the second.

We were the beneficiaries of a couple close plays in the field. Our 7-10 hitters went a combined: 4-10, 2B, 2 BB, RE, 2 SB, 4R

The Ducks next play Tuesday night at Herschel Park vs. the Devils.

Quack.

 

Ducks Win. South Oakland 7, South Side 1

2018 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland won its second straight game, and improved to 2-3 on the season with a victory over the Eagles (2-1) in Elliot on Sunday.

Ducks starter, Chuck Zuzack pitched 4 strong innings and Mike Longman threw three scoreless innings in relief.

The Ducks trailed 1-0, when Joe Graff tied the game with an RBI single in the second.

The Ducks added two in the third, three in the fourth, and one in the seventh

TJ Morgan had 2 hits and an RBI in his season debut.

Pulice, Gwin and Dover hit doubles.

South Oakland plays next on Wednsday, 9pm at home vs the Grizzlies

 

Gameday 4: Ducks vs Jays

2018 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (0-3)

vs

Sheraden Jays (1-0)

9pm

West Field

South Oakland looks to win its first game of the season tonight vs. 2017 Single A champion Sheraden. The Ducks need to get in the win column before the division is out of reach.

Here’s a random scorebook page from our illustrious 15 year history:

Ducks 6, Lions 4. This is from 2014. I really had fun that season. It was our first year not playing in the most competitive division, and not winning the title that year still feels like a missed opportunity.


It looks like we threw out a couple guys at home. Former manager, TC Jones started the game and went 2 innings, recording 2Ks. Looks like he pitched out of some trouble. We could use him this year. Ciccone came in to pitch the last few innings.

Alex Riley and Garrett Moore both played in this game for us. Hartranft and Swetz with RBI. Ciccone and Culp put the game out of reach in the fifth with back to back hits. I stole a ton of bases that year, so did Tony.

Great weather for baseball. Lets get a win tonight. 0-4 would be our worst start since 2007. We need a spark.

Bad News for the Jays

Gameday 3: Ducks at Cranberry

2018 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, NABA, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (0-2)

at

Cranberry Crusaders (1-1)

5pm

Veteran’s Park of Cranberry (North Boundary Park)

South Oakland looks to win its first game of the season against the Crusaders this afternoon in Cranberry.

Below is an old scorebook page from a game two years ago vs. Cranberry. I remember we played this game at McGee Field because the mound at Spring Hill had been vandalized the night before. TJ had his car broken into, I think. We won on a walk-off hit by Culp in a ridiculous, 12-11 game.

Koshzow hit a ground rule double into the pool in left. We were down 11-10 going into the bottom of the seventh. They had their ace throwing and we knocked him around.

This season we pretty much only had Pat on the mound after Grahme blew out his shoulder. Nichols started this game, I think Brandt’s friend went 2 innings, and then Sorosky finished off the last two.

Alex Riley got on base three times this game in the revenge match against his former squad, and committed an error in RF.

Bad News for the Crusaders

 

 

 

Gameday 2: Ducks vs Express

2018 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (0-1)

vs

Carrick Express (1-1)

9pm

West Field

South Oakland looks to get back on track after a tough loss to West View last week. Carrick is good. We are short a few guys tonight, so some players who might not start normally will get some at bats against one of the better pitchers we will face this season.

Below is an old score book page from 2010.

This was a Ducks vs Maulers game. The Maulers played in single A that season, and would eventually become the Express. South Oakland won 6-2. We lost to them earlier in the season.

Vernacchio’s last at bat was a 2-RBI double.

Kress, Kopy, Cannon, are all former Black Sox and Express players. Gruendle is still on the Express.

This must have been early in the season before all the Waynesburg guys joined the team that season and I nearly destroyed the franchise, which I’ve written enough about at this point.

Casale had a day. Duffy left to be a scientist halfway through this season. Guthrie would get the win on the mound in the deciding game of our second championship.

Bad News for the Express

Ducks & Friends: South Oakland wins two in Capital City Tournament

2017 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

Here’s the Bandidos blog preview. Solid work there as always.

Tournament Recap

Game 1:

The Ducks defeated the Detroit Giants 7-3 behind a 103-pitch, 10 strikeout complete game from pitcher Colin Dougherty (Bulldogs). The Ducks trailed 2-0 going into the bottom of the fifth when Culp drove in Tuomisto with an RBI single. In the sixth Detroit added an unearned run to make the score 3-1.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Ducks sent 8 men to the plate. Casale lead off with a double, Eric Friend was hit by a pitch and after ground balls to the right side by Dover and A. Ciccone (Oilers) the Ducks were within one. Tuomisto was hit by a pitch and Levire (Wolfpack) gave South Oakland the lead with a 2-run double to left.

After Dougherty struck out the side in the top of the seventh, the Ducks scored three more runs when Eric Friend (Bandidos) tripled home Gallagher (Bandidos), Dover doubled in Friend, and A. Ciccone singled home Dover.

Dougherty retired the last ten batters he faced, including one guy he picked off.

Game 2:

After driving across town, the Ducks faced Tri-Cities (Cleveland) in the second game of pool play, and won 8-6 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated.

South Oakland received another great performance on the mound, this time from the Bandidos ace, Ryan Gallagher. The Ducks scored six runs in the first two innings, chasing the opposing starter. G. Friend had an RBI hit-by-pitch in the second.

There was a sweet strike em out throw em out double play in the game by Gallagher, Leviere and Casale.

The Ducks scored two mote in the fifth on a Toumisto double and singles by Z. Ciccone (Oilers), Culp and Gwin.

Casey Thompson (Oilers) doubled later in the game.

Tri-Cities scored four in the bottom of the ninth, but South Oakland held on for the win.

Due to a last-minute cancellation by Chicago, the tournament only had 9 teams, so after all teams played two games on day 1, they were seeded 1-8 for a one-game elimination round before the semis.

The Ducks kept the game close through five, but a six run sixth, lead to an 11-1 loss to the host team Columbus Pirates.

We got screwed out of at least one game by the Chicago team dropping out, but if I pulled Gallagher after 8 in game 2, instead of trying to save pitching, maybe we don’t allow those 4 runs, and we would have been seeded 2nd going into Day 2, and faced Tri-Cities again instead of a stacked Pirates team with home field advantage.

Also of note, the only team that knew all the scores of all the teams was the Columbus coach who also ran the tournament. Someone has to put up a website for this thing.

The fields were fantastic. If Pittsburgh were to host a tournament, I don’t know where we’d even have games.

Overall, it was a fun experience and I plan on putting a team in again next year.

Thanks to everyone from other teams who filled out the roster. Especially the Ciccones and Friends for their recruiting efforts.

We represented our league well for all but one inning. Kind of like a Ducks game. Next year, we add a couple pieces, avoid that one inning and this tournament is winnable.

Tournament MVPs

Zach Ciccone: 7 for 10, 3 RBI, SB, R

Colin Dougherty: W, CG, 9 IP, 10 K, HBP

 

 

Team Awards

2017 South Oakland Ducks, pittsburgh NABA, Recap, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

The Bandidos won the title, after having split from the AAA Dirty Birds of 2016. Now they will move up again. Maybe they will just fold and split again instead? They’ve done an awful lot of branding to go that route. But maybe they’ll become the Astros. Winter meetings should be interesting. They are deserving champions and from what I can tell a bunch of solid guys. The top seeded Eagles lost after a pretty dominant regular season. The Oilers and Ducks were both upset early. 11th seeded D2 was in the semifinals. I wish they would have won it, and gone from A to AAA in two years.

Those first couple Wednesdays when we don’t have a game are always tough. This was a frustrating year for the format to go to single elimination. We had too much time off, I guess, and lost to a hot Express team who almost upset the Bandidos in the semis.

Next year, I’m going to reschedule a rainout for the week prior to the playoffs so we don’t have this problem again.

After another fun season, we once again fell short. We should return most of the same guys next year. Hopefully we can add an arm or two. It was frustrating to have Ben Sorosky and Randy step up, only to have guys who pitched well for us last year not show up to a lot of games for various reasons.

Here are the team awards.

Pitcher of the year: Ben Sorosky 

After not throwing for a few seasons, he came back and gave us solid innings every Wednesday. He was a great teammate and good clubhouse presence. Also had many sweet sacrifice bunts.

Defensive player of the year: Tom Pulice

Tony is probably the best defensive shortstop in the league, but I can’t give him this award every season, plus he was hurt for a while.

Tom came in and was arguably our MVP. Teams didn’t run on us this year, and he handled the pitching staff well.

Co-Offensive players of the year: TJ Morgan and Mark Lombardi

Check their stats. They both raked. We had a good of a 3-7 in the order as we ever had.

MVP: DJ Dover

Dover had possibly the most impressive single season I’ve seen as a Duck. He broke the single season HR record, lead the league in RBI and, and got pitched around a lot towards the end of the year. Bakery Square is not upset they didn’t have to face him in the playoffs. Dover also played short when Casale was out and provided serviceable defense there. Not lost in all this is that he drove from Erie every game and made all but two games when we had guys who wouldn’t show up for seemingly no reason. Also ran BP before every game for those who could make it.

For next year, we need pitching. We offer excellent run support and a home field with shitty lights where it’s hard to hit.

I think next year, we should plan on entering a tournament because it will be fun to take the show on the road and maybe bring some ringers along.

I want to thank all the fans who came out and everyone else in the league for making this year happen. Joe Graff for running the league and dealing with all the bullshit. Thanks to everyone who read the blog.

Finally, I want to thank my teammates for giving me another year to play ball. For a singles hitting hustle guy to play on a team full of former college players, albeit old ones, is pretty great. I’m happy I can contribute. As long as I can run out there in center, I’ll keep managing this team.

Quack