Ducks Baseball

Game Day 3: Ducks vs. WOLFPACK

2016 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA

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

vs.

West View Wolfpack (2-1)

9pm

Spring View Field

South Oakland takes on West View at home tonight at 9pm. The WOLFPACK played three games over the weekend, including an early season split-double header. They split with the Eagles and beat Cranberry. They are always tough to play against and they travel well. This would be a big early season win over one of the top teams in the league and should give us a good idea of where we stand early on.

KellyLeak_cigBad News for the WOLFPACK

Ducks Split Weekend Series. Face WOLFPACK in Home Opener Wednesday

2016 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, Recap

South Oakland lost 9-4 to the Devils on Saturday. The game was 2-1 Devils in the third, then the Ducks relief pitching allowed 7 runs in two frames. The Ducks battled back to score three in the top of the seventh, but it was too little too late. The Ducks had the bases loaded for Tuomisto, trailing 2-0 in the 3rd, and he hit a deep line drive to left, but Huber made a nice catch for the Devils to end the threat. Huber later missed one while playing catcher that hit the ump in the balls.

Our best player was the kid we called up from single A. He went 2-for-3 stole 4 bases and scored twice. Ducks Pitcher Chuck Zuzak had a strong start, allowing 1 earned over 4 innings. Reliever Gary Musiko cleaned up the mess in the bottom of the sixth, striking out the last batter of the inning after allowing a single and a walk.

Overall not as bad a performance as the score might indicate.

The Ducks bounced back on Sunday to beat Cranberry 7-5 in Cranberry. South Oakland had RBI from DJ Dover and Jon Moore went 3-for-3. TJ Morgan went first to third on a single to right. Cranberry scored 3 in the bottom of the seventh to make it close.

The Ducks bullpen has been shaky, but when Andy Nichols and Brian Strom return from injury, it will help. If Moore and Sorosky can give us some innings we will be in great shape going forwards. Hard to say if we have no depth or great depth on the mound at this point. There’s a lot up in the air.

South Oakland will face the WOLFPACK Wed night at home. The schedule still says 8:30 so plan on that start time. However, there is a chance we will get pushed back by youth league.

quack

 

Game Day 1: Ducks at Devils

2016 South Oakland Ducks

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

at

South Hills Devils

12pm

Herschel Park

The Devils are another team that had a bad record last year, but managed to beat us for one of their few wins. They had the right to play in Single A this year, but chose to stay in Double A. Good for them. There are a bunch of guys on this team that I played 28+ Bulldogs with. Also, Chris Wojton is a beast. Who knows. Maybe they’ll be better this season.

Wojton Clan

We don’t have our full compliment of players on hand today, but we’ve got at least nine, so we’ve got a chance.

Bad News for the Devils

Game Day 1: Ducks vs Eagles

2016 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs.

South Side Eagles

8:30pm

Springview Field

 

I trust everyone has been following the intense off-season training regimen put in place after last season, and that we will all be in mid-season form tonight.

Duck

South Oakland will start with four games in seven days. Of course, there’s a stretch from the end of May to mid-June where the Ducks play once a week. Fun scheduling quirk.

The Ducks added a few guys through the draft, and another pitcher off the street. Additionally, the team is in talks to bring back Ducks legend, infielder Andrew McCray, whose retired number 21 will still be worn by outfielder, TJ Morgan. The Commish might also make his long awaited debut in green and gold.

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The Eagles upset the Ducks in the first round of the playoffs last year and then made a run to the semis, losing to the eventual champion Dirty Birds. South Oakland was without ace Doc Brown, who was busy saving the clock tower in Hill Valley.

Doc_Brown

We played the Eagles close in 3 regular season matches last year, but they beat us when it counted. Their manager is a solid guy. Really not much animosity here, considering they ended our season. Hopefully they’re coping with the tragic loss of Glenn Frey.

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The start of every season brings optimism. The Ducks have added pitching depth, kept the core of last year’s team intact and look to make a run at the title again this year. Our lineup will produce runs and we will play solid defense. If our pitching holds, and our staff throws strikes, we can beat anyone. We still have some question marks, but we will figure something out. We really just need guys to throw strikes. Can’t stress that enough.

duck pnc

The best part of this season will be not driving five hours down route 51 to lose to Jefferson Hills by 13 runs and waste pitching in meaningless games.

So we will start this season on the night of a Pens playoff game, in cold weather at our field that will probably be in barely playable shape, with a few starters missing and one practice under our belt. Sounds like a recipe for domination.

Bad News for the Eagles

Ducks Lose. Season Over.

2015 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland lost 12-5 to the Eagles today in Shaler. A couple key errors led to seven unearned runs.

This was a really frustrating game. We were missing our ace, and a couple starters, but we played poorly and the Eagles took advantage of our mistakes. They put the ball in play and we missed it and every error led to runs. Apparently the Eagles beat the Express today too.

This was a microcosm of the whole season for us. We got down after a few errors and we could not come back. Something was off this year and it’s hard to pinpoint. I think if we had some success early in a couple games we blew in the late innings, we could have had a better mentality throughout the season in tough spots. I don’t know. It was a rough year. Collectively, we underachieved right to the end.

But we will be back next year, and with little turnover and a season playing together we will be fine if we can add a couple arms to the top of the rotation. If the Black Sox disband, it might help up in this regard.

I take the blame as manager for not doing more to put guys in o to succeed this season.

My personal highlight of the season was the game at Pie Traynor when my daughter came to watch and I hit a ball about as far as I’ve hit one in ten years, for a triple to center. She was so fired up about it. Her dad hit a triple. That was worth all the hassle of running the team for me. That’s while I do it again next year, because my daughter likes watching her dad play baseball, and that won’t last for much longer.

One time she said to me, “Dad, remember when you lost ten to nothing? That wasn’t very good. But it’s OK. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose.”

So there’s some perspective, I guess, as I sulk in front of the TV, trying to muster the energy to shower.

Thank you, Ducks for giving me another year of baseball, and keeping the team going. Thanks, Joe Graff for doing the thankless job of running the league, again.

Thanks, Bob Faust and Garrett Moore for your years of service to the Ducks. Both Bob and Garrett retired folowing this season. Bob played for a total of five years in 2005-07 and 2014-15, while Garrett logged six seasons at various intervals between 2006 and 2015. Both guys showed up and helped out and played hard. You will be missed.

Thanks, to the fans who showed up every so often, sorry we couldn’t give you something better to watch this weekend.

Big thanks to the Limbachs who kept score and provided all kinds of support and positivity during a tough season.

I hope Jefferson Hills looses, whatever else happens in the playoffs.

Here are the team awards:

MVP:

Pat DiPaola

Defensive Player of the Year:

DJ Dover

Offensive Player of the Year:

Brandon Culp

(with a nod to great seasons at the plate by Morgan, Strom, Koshzow and Tuomisto)

quack.

Ducks Swim Into Playoffs

2015 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland of the North Side has won three straight and four of their last five games to finish with a semi-respectable 10-11 record. The Ducks clinched the 5th seed with a 10-0 win over the Devils, last Sunday.

The Ducks have won their last two games by a combined score of 26-6.

Our game vs. the Bulldogs tonight was cancelled becuase the city gave our rain date to the youth league that plays at Spring Hill, didn’t tell anyone until this afternoon, and we couldn’t find an open field anywhere else tonight on such short notice.

I guess it’s fitting. The regular season was somewhat disappointing (as was the blog), but high points include beating the defending champion WOLFPACK 7-1, the wild, 13-12 walkoff win vs. Cranberry, and the walkoff come-from-behind 3-2 win against the Eagles last week.

We can make up for all that mediocrity with a couple wins this weekend.

Our lineup matches up well. We scored 121 runs in 21 games. If we keep playing sound defense, we can make a run at it, especially given the playoff format. We just have to get past the play-in game. The one and done round is intense.

Here is the bracket:

Screen Shot 2015-07-12 at 4.26.01 PM

Here are the standings, pending the outcome of tonight’s Carrick / WOLFPACK! game

Screen Shot 2015-07-15 at 10.19.14 PM

On Saturday morning we will play the Eagles, with whom we have split a pair of really close games this season.

If we lose to the Eagles our season is over.

If we win, we will play the winner of the Cranberry vs. Oilers Game immediately following the Eagles game.

I remember when the Eagles had a lefty shortstop for like 3 years and routinely beat us anyway. Bad times.

Hopefully we have 3 games next weekend for me to not recap.

quack.

Game Day 12: Ducks at Monsters

2015 South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (4-7)

vs.

Monongahela Monsters (4-7)

9PM

Moore Park

South Oakland looks to build on Wednesday’s win over the WOLFPACK in tonight’s inter-division game against the Monsters. This team played us tough last season. We need to bank wins against Single A teams, but we can’t look past these games. I hope they have their boom box with walk up music like last year.

We need our pitching staff to step up during this upcoming stretch where we have five games in eight days. Four of these games are against single A teams, and another against West End (0-6), who has struggled against AAA competition so far this season. If we take 4 of 5, we can get back to .500 while the teams ahead of us beat up on each other. After a rough start, I think we’re starting to come together.

 

Golf, Confederates Dominated by Bulldogs, misc

Bad News For the Monsters.

 

 

Ducks Win

2015 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, Ducks win, NABA, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland snapped a two-game losing streak last night, beating the WOLFPACK 7-1 at Spring Hill.

Doc_Brown

Pat Dipaola pitched a complete game for his first win as a Duck, improving his record to 1-2 on the season. He struck out 6 and walked 2.

The Ducks took a 1-0 lead in the first when Tuomisto singled in Gwin. Gwin has been hit by a pitch in every regular season game the Ducks have played against West View in the last two seasons.

NYT2009012217442370C

West View didn’t really threaten until the third when they had a guy single and steal second with one out. Limbach threw him out trying to steal third, and Pat struck out the batter to end the inning.

In the bottom of the third, the Ducks added 2 more runs on four singles. After a fielder’s choice, Strom was by a pitch in the goin for his first RBI of the season. AFter a 2-for-2 night at the plate, Strom is batting .500 on the season.

duck water gif

The Ducks scored two more in the fourth when Nichols doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a throwing error by the thirdbaseman on Casale’s infield single. Casale was thrown out at second trying to advance. Then Gwin doubled and scored on another throwing error by the thirdbaseman.

WOLFFPAAAACKKKK!!!!

That kid had a rough night. He’s normally really solid over there.

West View scored a run in the fifth, loading the bases on 2 one-out singles and a walk, and scoring on a single to right. Doc worked out of the jam, getting a wolf to ground into a 1-2 out out, and then inducing a bases loaded flyout to center.

WOLFPAAAAACK!!!

It was during this inning one of their fans taunted Morgan in right. Because the league needs more old men who come to games and scream at the slightly younger men who are playing adult league baseball against their children or grandchildren. Great stuff.

The_Pack_Wolfpack_Party_cover

In the bottom of the sixth, Morgan hit a one-out single to right, driving in 2 runs to put the game out of reach.

Their pitcher threw over 130 pitches. We had many good at bats and wore him down. We didn’t make any errors.

This was a much needed win against a good team. We crushed the defending champs a week after losing to the last place Devils. It’s been that kind of year, but things are looking up.

With the win, South Oakland imroves to 4-7 on the season. The Ducks next game is 9PM Saturday night, at Moore Park vs. the Monsters.

quack.