naba

Die a Hero: Oilers 7, Ducks 1

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

South Oakland of the North Side lost to rival BIG OIL 7-1 in a rain-shortened, 5 inning  game in Spring Hill last night. The loss drops the team to 0-1.

Throwback night, 2014

The Oilers scored four in the first with two walks, two doubles, a single and a run-scoring, two out error.  They added two in the second and one in the fifth.

After a rough first inning, Ducks starter Randy Patton (L, 0-1) settled down and kept his team in it through four, striking out 2 and scattering 7 hits.

The Oilers starter threw well, striking out 9 and working out of bases loaded jams in the second and third innings when it looked like South Oakland might crawl back into the game. The Ducks couldn’t get a big hit with runners in scoring position.

Ben Sorosky had the lone Ducks RBI on a bases loaded walk in the second following infield singles by Pulice and Morgan and a Joe Graff walk.

South Oakland’s best chance came in the third when TJ Morgan drew a one out, bases loaded walk, but the umpire forgot the count. Morgan was not awarded first, and we had a runner picked off first base, attempting to advance as one normally does on a bases loaded walk. Morgan then lined out to left to end the inning.

South Oakland’s next game is 2pm Sunday vs. Cranberry at Veteran’s Park of Cranberry (Not the one in Etna).

 

  • No ringers on the Oilers, but something tells me the player eligibility discussion is not over yet.
  • The Oilers have a few new guys who are solid. They hit well as a team, and if they get pitching, they will be tough to beat. This is true for almost every team in our division.
  • The Scooter will be in the building on Tuesday at Mellon. Big early season matchup
  • We need to hit a better, but as a team our approach at the plate was pretty good. Facing a tough lefty for the first real at bats of the year was a good test, and I think we will improve in this area.
  • There were multiple requests for Garrett Moore to return to his role as bench coach/bullpen catcher
  • Great to be back at it for a fourteenth NABA season, and a run at a third title.

quack

 

 

 

Gameday 2: Ducks vs Oilers

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

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs

Hebrew Oilers

9pm

Spring View Field

It only took a week for the first player scandal of the season.

Apparently the Oilers brought in a former minor league player to pitch for them this summer. Seems surprising given their managers concern for the competitive balance of the league as expressed in the winter meetings when he complained about the prospect of the WOLFPACK! and the 2 Dirty 2 Birds: Return of the Bandidos rostering Division III college players.

Save the fucking sanctimony about how West View hurt your team’s feelings if you’re gonna bring in some dude who is obviously a ringer.

This is the most BIG OIL move I’ve ever seen. The fucking yuppie, white collar team brings in essentially a Dominican refugee, in an attempt to make up for the fact that their team is soft. Soft as cotton.

This explains why they wouldn’t play us on back to back nights. This dude can only pitch one of those days. I didn’t press the issue as the Pens were on last night.

The Oilers are scared.

Maybe three guys have any heart on that team, as much as I love them as human beings. Seriously though, just embrace being villains as far as the league is concerned because there’s no way around it. Get your fucking neoliberal councilman to throw out the first pitch across from Google in God awful Bakery Square and flout your Asian players and your nice unis, then he can go back to helping our mayor force Pittsburgh’s working poor into Penn Hills so ya’ll can bike to work without having to look at them.

So, where does that leave us?

I am excited for the opportunity. If you’re not pumped about the prospect of playing against a pitcher this good, you should go join PSL, or see if the Oilers will take you.

We have the opportunity to beat a team that thinks it’s going to cruise tonight because they networked their way into a stud pitcher. We are throwing an ex-Black Sox, ex-Oiler, and one time Duck junk baller who is already telling me he doesn’t want to come out of the game.

We haven’t seen live pitching yet, so should be a good test off the bat to see where we are hitting wise.

Here is  GIF in honor of the Undertaker.

Bad news for the Oilers

 

 

 

Season Recap, Team Awards

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

We finished in 3rd place. Respectable. And while the Oilers knocked us out of the playoffs, we won the scooter.

When the 2015 season ended, the team had a lot of questions. At times it left me wondering whether it was worth all the time to keep the team going if we couldn’t contend for a title even after dropping down to AA. But if the 2015 season left players wondering if it was time to hang ’em up, the playoff run in 2016 which ended in a defeat to the Oilers in the losers bracket final, has the team generally optimistic and eager to get back at it next spring. It was a tough way to go out, but we battled.

Game Day [7] Ducks vs. Matadors.

Maybe if I handle the pitching vs. the Oilers differently we wind up in the finals and give Shaler a run. Who knows. Shaler probably beats us anyway. They are young and were rested going into that series. But maybe not. If we kept hitting and got a couple solid starts out of our pitching staff, maybe pull the upset.  Maybe if we took care of business against Cranberry and South Hills, we get a better draw and wind up in the finals against the Oilers which we declare a draw to avoid either team having to move up to a division. Anyway, all the hypotheticals are pointless. Shaler will get crushed in AAA next year. Fuck that shitty field and shittier time slot.

razorr_ramon

Beating the Eagles and WOLFPACK back to back to get to the loser’s bracket finals, was one of the highlights of my long-ass Ducks career. In 14 seasons, I don’t think I’ve felt as satisfied after a win as I did when Jon struck that last kid out to end the WOLFPACK game. They did not expect to lose after beating us by 19 a week earlier. That 19-run loss means nothing now.

disco rubber ducks

We played our best baseball in the playoffs, and came up just short due to our lack of pitching depth. Hopefully we can add another couple arms in the off season. Maybe we have some answers in-house that were underutilized this season. Either way, we will return the core of our lineup, which will be one year wiser and even more full of grit and veteran savvy.

I’d like to thank Joe Graff for running the league, and all the players and managers for giving me the chance to play baseball for another year. It means a lot to be able to play anything resembling competent, competitive baseball at age 35. I don’t take it for granted.

Congrats to the Bulldogs, Pittsburgh D2 and the Rebels on your championships. It’s always good to see Jefferson Hills lose.

Thanks again to the Limbachs and all the fans for coming out to watch us play. It’s much more fun when there are people in the stands.

I’d especially like to thank my teammates for giving me a team to play on, manage and write poorly about for another season. We’ll get em next year.

The_Pack_Wolfpack_Party_coverTeam Awards:

Offensive Player of the Year:  Branden Chartier (with a nod to Morgan, Strom, and Graff)

Defensive Player of the year: Tony Casale

Pitcher of the Year: Chuck Zuzak (though Chris and Pat won big games for us down the stretch and in the post season)

MVP: Tony Casale

IMG_1531quack

 

 

 

Ducks Win. 4th Seed Likely Clinched.

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

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side defeated the Carrick Express 5-2 in Carrick last night. Chuck Zuzak (W, 5-2) pitched a complete game for the victory, and Erik Tuomisto drove in 2 runs in his final game as a Duck. The win moves the Ducks (12-11) into a tie for fourth place with the Oilers (11-10-2). Carrick falls to 8-13-1 with the loss.

The Ducks scored a run in the first after Chartier singled to left and moved Gwin to third. Gwin scored on a throwing error on an attempted pickoff.

In the top of the second inning, Tuomisto drove in a run on a bases loaded sac-fly and the Ducks scored again on two-out single by Morgan to make the score 3-0.

Carrick scored in the bottom half of the inning to close the gap to 3-1.

The Ducks added a run in the 5th on an RBI double by Tuomisto. Carrick scored in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 4-2, but the Ducks added another run in the 7th on a sac bunt and a throwing error that allowed Casale to score all the way from from first.

 

Thursday Night

Other stuff:

  • Zuzak worked out of a bases loaded, no outs jam in the second inning.
  • Lonnie Petril made a great catch down the line in right to save a run in the third.
  • In the bottom of the sixth, with two outs and the tying run on second, an Express player tried to steal home and was thrown out. Great poise by Chuck to calmly step off and throw him out.
  • Ducks right fielder, Brian Strom went 2-for-2 with a double and a walk in his return from the disabled list.
  • We recorded a season high 2 sac bunts in the game.
  • Joe Graff and Andrew McCray each recorded a HBP.
  • We definitely have hit harder throwers better this season. We beat Carrick’s ace, and swept the season series against a solid opponent.

ducks invade

An Oilers loss in their suspended game against the Rebels (Shaler is up big going into the bottom of the 4th) or a Ducks win vs. West View on Sunday, will clinch a first round bye for the Ducks.

Ducks first baseman, Erik Tuomisto is moving. He finishes his career with a .500 batting average and leads the team in RBI over the last two seasons. He will be missed.

South Oakland finishes the regular season Sunday night against West View.

quack

 

 

 

Gameday 21: Ducks vs. Cranberry

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

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (11-9)

vs

Cranberry (7-12-2)

9PM

Springview Field

Tonight is throwback night in Spring Hill. The Ducks will wear uniforms representing teams across 14 seasons of the Pittsburgh NABA. I think Cranberry might breakout their inaugural 2010 unis for the event as well.

The Ducks look to bounce back from a bad loss in Shaler Monday night. Cranberry has an impressive two ties on the season.

There’s a log-jam in the 2-6 spots in the standings. We’ve got to get a couple wins down the stretch here and we tend to play better at home.

I haven’t seen our best hitter in like a month, but we have a lot of guys who can step in and contribute.

bad news bears

Bad News for Cranberry

 

 

Ducks Win

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

Chris Heisler pitched a complete game for the win, and South Oakland scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to beat the Express in another one-run game.

The Express scored a run in the top of the second, and the Ducks trailed 1-0 for most of the game. In the sixth, Gwin scored on a fielders choice, and then Moore singled and scored from first on McCray’s RBI double. Greundl pitched well for Carrick in the loss.

We still need to reschedule a rain out vs. the Express. We’ve beaten them 4-3, 3-2, and 2-1. So the next game will probably be 14-12.

duck water gif

South Oakland’s next game is Monday, 6pm at Shaler during the worst time slot in the league.

quack

Gameday 18: Ducks vs. Express

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

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs.

Carrick Express

6PM

Springview Field

The Ducks look to bounce back after a tough loss at the hands of the Devils and get back into the thick of the division race today.

This is only the second non-night game we’ve played at Springview. It will be a whole different experience, I’m’ sure.

We have won two, one-run games against Carick this season so it figures to be another close one tonight. A win will give us the season series win and the first playoff tie-breaker over the Express. With the standings as close as they are, tie-breakers are likely going to figure in to playoff seeding and avoiding the play-in game is huge.

Injury update: Pittsburgh NABA all-time leader in hit batsmen and current Ducks RBI leader, Brian Strom, is out indefinitely with what appears to be a dislocated thumb. He made a diving catch last game in the second inning, popped his thumb back in and finished the game.

Strom will be with us in spirit.

KellyLeak_cig

 Bad News for the Express

 

 

Gameday 18: Ducks vs. Devils

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

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (10-7)

vs.

South Hills Devils (5-11)

9PM

Springview Field

We are responsible for 40% of the Devils’ wins this season with a 1-2 overall record vs. South Hills. Pitching is thin for us tonight, but they’re coming off two games this weekend too, so it should even out. Who knows. We need someone to step up.

bad_news_bears1

Bad News for the Devils

 

Ducks Win: Scooter Retained.

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

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side defeated BIG OIL 7-5 behind Brian Strom’s 3-for-3, 3 RBI night and another strong start from Zuzak (W, 4-1).

The Ducks jumped out to a 4-1 lead after three innings, the teams traded runs until the seventh, when the Oilers pulled to within 7-5 with two outs and a runner on second. Then Ducks relief pitcher Chris Heisler struck out their clean up hitter to end the game. Big time pitching.

Morgan drove in two runs for the Ducks and Sorosky laid down his team leading, second sac bunt of the season.

A. Ciccone went 3-for-4 with an RBI double, reached on an error and stole three bases in a losing effort.

South Oakland wins the season series against BIG OIL 2 to 1, and retains the Spring Hill Scooter, which was thrown at the home dugout during their loss to the Eagles a few weeks ago.

IMG_1531

Chartier is holding the scooter. I’m holding Chartier’s arm in its socket.

The Ducks (10-7) have won four of their last five and are now in third place, 1.5 games behind West View (10-4) and half a game behind the Eagles (12-8).

The Duck’s next game is Wednesday night, 9PM at Spring Hill vs. the South Hills Devils.

quack

Back Down To .500: Ducks Lose.

2016 South Oakland Ducks

devils pittsburgh naba

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (6-6) lost 7-5 to the South Hills Devils (5-6) Saturday at Herschel Field. Ducks pitchers walked eleven batters over six innings and the Devils had a few timely hits.

Trailing 4-0 going into the third, South Oakland rallied and brought the score to 4-3 when Strom singled in a run and Gwin scored on an error and TJ Morgan doubled.

Gwin was later caught in a rundown and picked off trying to steal second.

The Devils added a run in the bottom of the inning, and two more insurance runs in the fifth.

In the top of the sixth, Jimmy Moore drove in a run with a solid hit-by-pitch and McCray added a sac fly to close the gap to 7-5. Moore pitched the bottom of the sixth, struck out 2 and kept the devils off the board.

South Hills held off a late South Oakland rally, and the Ducks left the tying run on second base in the top of the seventh.

DEVILZ_PIttsburgh NABA_GIF

  • This was a tough one to lose, but we played them tough without our entire starting infield.
  • It was good to have Limbach back.
  • The ump had a small zone and we weren’t as patient as we could have been in some cases. Strom got squeezed but we didn’t make their guy work as hard as we could have.
  • We are still right in the thick of it, at 6-6 and only 1.5 games back.
  • Big game against the Eagles (7-5), Wednesday night 9PM at Springview Field.

Quack