Box Score

Kenny Rayl hit a one out, walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh to give the Ducks a 7-6 win over the first place Eagles last night in Spring Hill. South Oakland starting pitcher Randy Patton (W, 7-3) scattered 11 hits and 5 walks over 7 innings, and held the league’s top scoring offense in check. The win was Patton’s fifth complete game of the season.

The Ducks never trailed. They got off to a 3-0 lead in the first and lead 6-3 after five. The Eagles clawed back into the game, scoring 2 in the sixth and 1 in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh, Tony Casale and TJ Morgan singled. After a creative double steal attempt, the Ducks had runners on first and third with one out for Rayl who lined a single up the middle for the game winning RBI.

The victory stopped a three-game slide that included a walk-off loss to NABA legend Zach King and the Bandidos on Thursday and a 15-0, three-inning mercy rule loss to the Eagles last Sunday.

The Ducks appear to be locked in to a first round matchup with D2 in the 6/7 game. Despite a frustrating, sub .500 regular season, spirits are high as the playoffs approach.

South Oakland wraps up the regular season on Sunday, 12:30pm at Herschel Park vs the Eagles.

Quack.

South Oakland erased an 8-1, 5th inning Devils lead to comeback and win on a John Zuzak walk-off, bases loaded walk last night in Spring Hill. Randy Patton (W, 6-3) pitched a complete game and Tony Casale recorded four hits for the Ducks.

The Devils took an early lead thanks in part to four Ducks errors in the top of the second, and the game appeared to be headed towards another Devils blowout. South Hills lead 6-0 after two innings. The Ducks scored a run in the third to pull within five, but the Devils scored two in the top of the fourth to take a seven-run lead.

South Oakland scored four in the fifth and four in the seventh, highlighted by doubles from Tom Pulice and Kenny Rayl. South Hills committed several errors late in the game. The Ducks loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh, chasing Devils starter Brandon Bouchard (L, 5-4). Three straight singles and a walk ended the game.

Notes:

• This was the second time this season the Ducks have come from behind in the seventh inning to win.
• South Oakland avoided being swept by the Devils for the first time in team history.

It seems like we’ve been on the cusp of disaster a few times this year, and we’ve managed to pull ourselves back from the edge. Obviously it’s better to avoid those situations completely, but it’s not that type of season. This was a messy game, but a gutsy comeback after the Devils beat us decisively on Thursday.

South Oakland plays next on Thursday against Keystone Oaks in the dreaded 6:15 pm time slot at Duquesne Field.

Quack.

Brandon Bouchard threw a complete game, and Scott Rush hit a second-inning grand slam to lead the Devils past the Ducks. The Ducks starting pitcher allowed 7 runs in the first two innings on four walks and three HBP scattered around two singles and a grand slam. South Oakland was not able to overcome the early deficit.

Ducks pitcher Cody Quinn threw well relief, holding the Devils to two runs over six innings.

The Ducks next game is Tuesday, July 5th, 8:30 pm at Springview Field vs the Devils.

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (8-9)

vs

South Hills Devils (11-8)

8:30 pm

Springview Field

South Oakland looks to get back to .500 after an up and down month of June. Despite sitting at 8-9, the Ducks are just one game back in the loss column from second place though they have several teams to jump. South Hills has won 7 of 10 and appears to be firing on all cylinders after a big win against Cranberry earlier this week. South Oakland’s scheduled starting pitcher is on vacation, so they will go to the bullpen to try and scrape out a win by committee.

Last week the Ducks completed their season series against D2 and the Jays, winning both two games to one.

The Ducks also beat Keystone Oaks for the second time this season, winning 10-1 on Tuesday. Casen Wolinsky (W, 3-0) struck out ten batters in the complete game victory.

Realignment Watch 2022

The Senators return to single A has been unspectacular as the team sits at 7-9. The Oilers are enjoying a successful second season in AAA with a recent upset of Jefferson Hills highlighting a robust 11-4 record. The Grizzlies are trying to become the first team to win back to back championships in different divisions, and are in the hunt for a division title at 12-5.

Expansion teams Keystone Oaks and CSI seem to be having attendance issues, which is certainly relatable. At 0-15 with an incredible -138 run differential, CSI seems likely to move down next season if they don’t fold.

This has been a frustrating season. We went through a third of the schedule without a number two starter, and we are still dealing with the repercussions of spotty attendance and last minute no shows. But lately we’ve been playing better. When we have all our starters, we can score runs, and we will have to tonight. A win gets us into the holiday weekend on a high note with Randy ready to go on the 5th. If we can keep it close and try to win one late, we have good shot.

Bad News for the Devils

South Oakland lost to the Jays on Friday, and lost two to the previously last place Piranhas on Sunday. Sunday’s first loss was a continued game that was suspended earlier this season. The second game was a rescheduled rainout. The Ducks record is now 5-8.

The Ducks finish their season series with East Pittsburgh tonight, 8:30 pm at Springview Field.

Quack.

South Oakland 10, Keystone Oaks 3

Box Score

South Oakland erased a 3-2 fourth-inning deficit, reeling off 8 unanswered runs, to defeat Keystone Oaks (5-7) in Spring Hill last night.

In his first start as a Duck, starting pitcher Casen Wolinski (W, 1-0) pitched 6 innings, scattering 7 hits, and striking out 8. Also making his Ducks debut, relief pitcher Luke Hudic pitched a scoreless seventh. South Oakland did not allow an earned run. The defense overcame a few early miscues and steadied itself late. Keystone Oaks pitchers hit six Ducks batters including TJ Morgan who lined a ball off the top of the fence for a long RBI single to help put the game out of reach.

Last night’s win was the Ducks fourth straight; the Ducks beat first place Cranberry on Sunday, after a home and home sweep of D2 earlier in the week.

Offensive Performances of Note:

• Alex Swauger: 3-for-3, 2 RBI
• Tom Pulice: 3-4, 3 RBI
• Mark Lombardi: 1-for-3, HBP, 2 RBI
• Dillon Williams: 1-for-4 2B, R
• Jimmy Murray: 2-for-2, RBI, SB, R
• Ben Gwin: 0-for-0, 2 HBP, SB, 2R

South Oakland plays next against the Jays, Friday, 8:30 pm at Herschel Park.

Quack

Randy Patton (W, 3-2) scattered 5 hits over five innings, and the Ducks offense recorded 13 hits as South Oakland won their second straight over Pittsburgh D2. James Fago recorded the two-inning save (1).

The Ducks improved to 3-5 on the season; D2 fell to 3-6 with the loss.

The Ducks play next vs the South Hills Devils (5-6), Tuesday night, 8:30 pm at Springview Field.

Quack

Every year, at the beginning of the season, I think about what needs to go right for us to win a title. Some years, we just needed to stay healthy. Others we’ve needed some breaks. Ideally, most of what needs to happen is within in our control. I don’t think a season without a championship is a lost season or that we can’t have a successful year without winning a title. There are too many variables, both within the game and outside of it. Vacations, injuries, lack of commitment, players moving, players with tragedies in their families – marriages, kids, and aging. I think we’ve had a great run since 2014, despite falling short of winning a third title.

However, I do think a season where we have no chance of winning most of our games, or even competing in those games, is a lost season. When the list of things we need to go right to win a title becomes a ridiculous wish list of hypotheticals, and the odds dip to say, single digit probabilities, it’s tough. Then we become a slow pitch softball team that is just in it for the social aspect and the post game beers, which is fine if that’s all you want out of your summer league team. But I don’t have many years left, and I want to win. I know most of us do.

The way to eliminate most of the variables is to have three or four solid starting pitchers who are committed and reliable. Really you just need strike throwers and an ace. It helps to have one guy who can shut teams down and win a game when your best players are on vacation or taking their kids to camp or whatever. Cranberry has that this season, the Grizzlies had that last season, the Oilers did, the Devils, and Bandidos in the last few championships. D2 also has the arms, and they have made two consecutive finals appearances. So that’s how we try to construct our roster.

Before this season, we lost six pitchers: three starters, and three relievers. To replace them we had dozens of leads on guys who told someone on our team at some point they’d come pitch. We figured if two of them panned out, we’d be ok. So far none of them have panned out. This includes a few guys we brought on, or had in house, who we thought would pitch and can’t or won’t.

What we have now is one solid starter who basically has to throw seven innings a game, and a good bullpen that is being forced into pitching more innings than they should have to pitch. We don’t even have a rotation. Most of these issues have been out of our control. Everyone has done all they can to find people who can give us innings. We can’t make people show up. We can’t make people be more upfront about their commitment level, desire to play, or willingness to pitch.

It’s important to have a clear, honest assessment of the team. As we are currently constructed, we need everything to go right to win games Randy doesn’t start, and we need the other team to make mistakes. When he does start, we need most of our starters there to play good defense so we don’t waste his innings.

We have played two solid games this year and won them. But in the other games, we’ve run out of pitchers, or had luck go against us in the form of umpires, bad hops etc. The bad hops even out over the course of a season, but when we get bounces in games we’re losing by 7 runs anyway, it doesn’t really help.

It’s way too early to lose hope. That shit is contagious. We don’t do well so people don’t show up, and people don’t show up so we don’t do well. It can spiral quick. We have commitments from three, good pitchers not on our roster to play for us this season, and one guy who I vouch for as committed but has only been available in games that have been rained out. So our hope is to get these guys on board and playoff eligible. If we can do that, we’ll have a solid rotation in place for the stretch run and the playoffs. But until they’re paid and registered, it’s up in the air. We have until the roster deadline to figure something out. I’m hopeful we will, and that we don’t have to write this season off.

South Oakland plays next on Sunday, 9:30 am vs D2. We have a Sunday lineup, but maybe we’ll get the breaks and we can sneak one.

Quack.

The Ducks overcame messy field conditions and an early 2-run deficit to beat the Jays 5-4 on opening day. Randy Patton (W, 1-0) threw a complete game and the Ducks scored 3 runs in the sixth in the comeback win.

Dillon Williams and TJ Morgan hit doubles for South Oakland. Tom Pulice had two hits in the victory.

South Oakland plays next on 5/3 vs East Pittsburgh at Springview Field, 8:30pm

Season Preview

As it always seems to, the NABA season arrived out of nowhere. The off-season was eventful and also very dull. Days felt like weeks, but the months flew by.

South Oakland returns the bulk of its roster from last season. We’ve also added three former Ducks who took hiatuses of varying lengths, another Black Sox all-time great, and some pitchers who are hopefully good and ready to give us innings.

We need a number two starter to emerge. If one does, we should be right there at the end of the season. If not, we will need to win a bunch of high scoring games when Randy isn’t starting. This is familiar territory for us.

This will be the Ducks 19th season. It is hard to keep a team together for a long time. It’s also hard to find pitching. I think there is a correlation.

Speaking of pitching

I’d like to thank the Blackstones and Billy for their service as they re-embark on their Jays journey. They were good teammates. May the Jays stay together for 20 years and their dugout be a picture of serenity.

League Round-Up

The Grizzlies moved up to AAA and will renew their rivalry with the Oilers. Senators dropped down to A. Sheraden and Keystone Oaks will replace Bauerstown and the Senators in AA. The Piranhas return for their second season.

The new teams are young, so they likely will avoid some of the attendance problems and joint inflammation issues facing many AA teams.

South Hills and Cranberry are the AA Ships of Theseus. Both teams saw significant roster turnover.

The Bandidos look poised to start 1-7 before winning 16 straight to finish out the regular season. Hopefully we get them early.

The Eagles will probably take 2 of 3 from us no matter where they finish in the standings.

D2 will sandbag all season and then make a deep run in the playoffs. They always have great pitching depth, and they already started the season with a questionable rainout.

Look for Devils manager and NABA legend, Rich Rodi to post his betting odds/power rankings on the blog this summer. A good blogger knows when to delegate.

Good luck to all, and thanks for reading. Double A should be wide open this year. I bet everyone finishes exactly .500.

Quack

The Fact that I am writing the team awards without at least a championship appearance is tough, if not just down right sad. I felt like we had the team this year to actually compete and make a deep run, but it felt like the only time that pitching and hitting showed up in the same game was the season opener. It was a tough year overall, one that I will highlight throughout this post.

Team MVP

Stef Blackstone (SS, 2B, CL)

Stef was undoubtedly our MVP for the year, although arguments could easily be made of his competitive advantage, being young and in college, I don’t think we could count those. Stef was one of the best players in the league when he was with the Jays, and we were lucky enough this year to have him join up with other former Jays (Brandon, Billy, and Coach Nolan ha.) Stef led the team in batting average, hits, stolen bases, and triples. If we played in a league where pitchers actually cared about guys stealing bases, it would have opened up even more opportunities for our offense to score runs. Not only was Stef our leadoff hitter he anchored us down in the middle infield. We lost our second baseman early this year, and our shortstop had multiple military commitments. If everything goes right, Stef would have been our super utility guy, startiung every game, freeing up multiple guys to pitch and giving rest to some of our older team members. Either way, I am sure things would be the same. Stef stepped up and helped us out monumentally, playing both positions without missing a beat, making plays that most normal PGH NABA AA guys wouldn’t. Even on the rare occasion that Stef booted a ball his arm strength would make up for it and it would be an out. When not pitching, Stef stepped up and shut teams down on the mound. It was truly fun to watch.

Pitcher of the Year

Brandon Blackstone SP

Brandon was once again our anchor this year. Starting off strong with what the MLB would label a ‘notable achievement,’ a shortened No hitter. Brandon pitched most of this year at less than a hundred percent, and it didn’t show. He went out there and continuously gave us a chance to win. Brandon led the team in appearances, innings, wins, shutouts, and ERA. Not only was Brandon productive, he always wanted the ball, no matter the situation. As a manager that is a relief to have in your back pocket, a guy who no matter what is going to be competitive and give you a chance to win. After the first couple weeks of the season I thought I would have a tough decision between three horses when it came time to decide who our Pitcher of the year would be, but when Billy went down, Brandon stepped up and powered us to the playoffs. “Who are you guys throwing,” was a question that we would run into a lot at the beginning of the year, but it quickly turned to the random surprised comment, “Brandon isn’t starting?” Without B, I don’t know where we end up this year. I definitely don’t think we get a chance in the Semi finals, Brandon shut down the Devils when our bats fell asleep, and it was a fun game to catch. It was truly one of those games where I felt like whatever I thought out, that pitch would be executed. I couldn’t have asked for better. Honestly it was one of those seasons.

Offensive Player of the Year

T.J. Morgan (OF, DH)

To me TJ is the Nelson Cruz of PGH NABA, seemingly ageless, and one of the toughest outs in the league. TJ was the Left hook of our “one two” punch at the top of the lineup this year. Not surprisingly, once that change was made, we started rolling to wins, and eventually rolling to the Four Spot in the regular season. Hitting behind the smooth swing, and watching him just hit rockets really made it easy to be a three hole hitter. TJ was running right with Stef in the batting average conversation right up until the last week of the season, when it seemed like the two of us could not hit water if we fell out of a boat, not saying that TJ wasn’t making great contact, he was, but the baseball Gods decided that nothing was to fall. I also think TJ has a bout 3 or 4 homeruns if we played every game at the Pond. TJ was the heart of our offense, and without a doubt one of the Pillars of the Duck soul. Driving long distances to shit on baseballs and giving us a chance to win (and help me to 2nd in the league RBI race) are just more reasons that TJ earns this award. I could say more, but its all been said before.

Defensive Player of the Year

Kenny Rayl (3B)

Kenny was, in my opinion the best third baseman in the league this year. Anything that was hit down that way, I felt like he had a chance get it, no matter the shortstop, the left side of this infield was something I knew that I didn’t have to worry about. I hear some jabroni make a comment this year that was something like “he’s only solid if you hit it at him,” then two plays later Kenny made some diving play that led to someone else on that team saying “it looks like we just shouldn’t hit it to third base,” and all I could do was laugh. Having Ken at the hot corner was one of the saving graces of the Ducks this year, and the infield definitely didn’t feel right if he was out.

Ducks New guy of the year

Ben Doak (OF, P 1b)

Doak was as solid of an addition as it gets, coming in a quarter of the way through the season and maybe missing one game. Doak added some lefty power to an already lefty heavy order. Hitting a definite Home run at spring hill that was called a double (it hit the second of two fences by the batting cage,) and then a little league homer that I would have labeled an actual homerun had I known the other manager a little better. Doak was not only solid at the plate, he was a solid fourth outfielder, pitcher, and heir apparent to Clark at first base. I truly cannot believe that we got so lucky with two straight slugging first baseman. Oh, did I mention that he pitches, pairing what seems like 72 different pitches with an uncanny pick off move from the left side is something that the Ducks have not had since I came on in 2017. Doak is a welcomed addition to the team, and hopefully a corner stone for years to come.

This season was tough, who knows where we stand if 2/3s of our weekend games weren’t in the first month of the season. If Billy doesn’t get hurt, Randy’s schedule doesn’t limit him to weekends, and some other things that are out of our control don’t happen. It was said in another article that I made different mistake than I did last year, which is true, some of them were the opposite of the mistakes I made in the previous year, and maybe I will find a healthy medium in here somewhere. I can’t help but blame myself for us falling short, attendance wasn’t great this year, but not only did I manage poorly at times, I had my worst year at the plate since like, 3rd grade. Its insanely frustrating. I think as a team we need to do more baseball things, while I was watching the Olympic game between Japan and the US this morning I felt like I was watching a Ducks game. Starting extras with guys on first and second, the US team swung away and tried to make the big play, then in the bottom half Japan came up, bunted the two men over and then hit a single to win, you know, baseball things. We don’t do them, but really we don’t need to in the regular season, we are a solid club, a lot of talent, and in my honest opinion the second best team in this division, if it wasn’t for age and attendance I think we would be 1. This team was my favorite I have played on in the last ten years, and second best ever to a team I played on with fellow Duck Steve aka Goose when we were youngsters.

They say hindsight is 20/20, and honestly that factors in for this year, I am not saying we would have made it to the championship, but it would have been an easier road if we would have just played to lose our last couple regular season games. Instead, I thought we could win out, and D2, who is now in the championship, put a halt on us getting the third seed. Its unfortunate, we had the tools this year to smoke the field, but things didn’t plan out. I’ve been playing baseball for 23 years now, and have yet to win a championship. Hopefully, next year is the year.

Quack.