pittsburgh naba

Golf, New Uniforms, and Springview’s Swan Song

2024 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

Thanks, Tom, for writing a solid preseason blog. We should be good this year. How good? I don’t know. Personally, I’m always worried I will suddenly just not be able to hit anymore, but I feel great. I’ve been a Duck for almost half my life, and I’m looking forward to riding the coattail of my younger, more accomplished teammates to one more title. Hopefully that happens this year. We should have the pitching. If we get solid middle infield play this year, we will be tough to beat. I’m optimistic.

The point isn’t just winning a title, it’s winning a title with this core. It’s about winning with these guys who have been here for years while we can still contribute. Every off season, we try to figure out how to improve the roster without forcing guys out who can still play. It’s a tough balance, and the toughest part of being a manager.

We’re having a golf outing on 4/20. It will be great. We will raise money to help out our team and the youth league that is also getting kicked off our field after this season.

I’m golfing with my uncle and two Ducks legends. It’s bittersweet. Like most of us, my dad taught me to golf. My dad has been sick for the last year or so. I’m entering that purgatorial stage of life that involves caring for my kid and my parents. It’s kind of surreal and makes me question my mortality. Watching my dad wither away, I am determined to play baseball as much as I can, as well as I can, with as much reckless abandon as possible, until I can’t. I only have so many good years left. I will spend those summers running around in the outfield at Springview and then wherever our new home turns out to be.

The proposed renovations on Springview Field are long overdue, and are also being completely botched. The city wants to move the fences in to little league depth, which makes no sense as there are no little league teams that play there. This will also force out the pony league teams to another field, and futher congest the permit situation which is already bad.

There will be pickle ball courts put in where the basketball courts are – a gentrification move that would make the Oilers blush. They supposedly want to put a walking path around the outfield. Idk. It’s dumb, and not in the best interest of the kids, and it also fucks our team.

We’ve put more work into that field than the city ever has, and we’re probably going to have to play elsewhere after this season. But we will look good doing it. New uniforms, which are like our 2008-2010 ones but nicer, will be in before the season starts.

Around the League!

I don’t really know what personnel moves have been happening elsewhere in AA, so this, as always, is based mostly on vibes.

The Bandidos promise not to be super good again, they swear. No way should they have been voted up. In surprising twist, Greg Friend turned down a multi-year offer from the Ducks to run Bakery Square who have a garbage time slot. I can’t think of a worse place to be at 9:30 am than under the fucking glare of that stupid building, surrounded by Seattle transplants and people going to watch that big outdoor TV and day drink in Shady Side.

Cranberry will win games because of Jon Hart, and because no one wants to drive to Cranberry. They will lose in the playoffs in crushing fashion.

KO is gonna be a tough out. Good mix of young and fast kids with grizzled vets. This is also our recipe. They have the second worst time slot, but a nicer field than Bakery Square.

D2: I predict a 11-13 regular season and a deep playoff run when they shorten the bench. It helps to get this team when they’re batting 14 guys in May. I think they have new management now, so who knows.

The Devils could not agree to terms with former Duck Randy Patton. They must have some pitching if they’re turning away a guy who is at worst a solid innings eater, and a top of the rotation starter on most teams. If the Devils don’t fight each other, they will probably win games.

Butler is maybe folding. They will likely just ask their parents for money and get their fees in at the last minute. I hope they fold. I hate driving to Cranberry.

The Eagles are trying to figure out a way to cheat and bring in college kids as I write this. Their success this year will depend on how well they recruit and skirt league bylaws.

Sheraden/Warriors/Lions will probably give us a couple bad losses that fuck up our playoff seeding. There’s some bad blood between all three of these teams from back in the Single A days. The renewed Sheraden vs. Ducks rivalry should be fun.

Good luck to everyone. Thanks for another summer in the sun.

Quack.

Gameday 4: Ducks vs Warriors

2023 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (1-2)

vs

Plum Warriors (2-3)

8:30 pm

Springview Field

South Oakland and Plum both have a chance to get back to .500 tonight in Spring Hill. South Oakland is well rested coming off a rain out over the weekend while Plum will play its third game in three days. If tonight’s game comes down to bullpen depth, the Ducks should have the edge.

Tonight’s game is a rematch of the 2003 championship, which the Ducks won 9-8 or something. That contest saw the Warriors (then the Piranhas) field a lineup with several active college players including their starting pitcher who we did not see during the regular season. The roster rules were more relaxed then. The Ducks held off a late rally and won the inaugural Pittsburgh NABA championship as the five seed in the six team league.

The Warriors, led by all time stolen base leader, Justin Newman, have won 3 of 4 Single A titles and were forced to finally move up. They seem to be acclimating themselves fairly well with a handful of close wins scattered between lopsided losses. Tonight should be another exciting matchup. I like our chances playing at home with a rested pitching staff.

Bad News for the Warriors

Gameday 1: Ducks vs Cranberry

2023 South Oakland Ducks

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

vs

Cranberry (0-1)

8:30 pm

Springview Field

The 2022 Finalist South Oakland Ducks open their season at home tonight vs. Cranberry. Cranberry always plays South Oakland tough, and tonight should be no different despite a tumultuous offseason for Cranberry which led to significant turnover for the team from Butler County.

The Ducks welcome back some familiar faces this season, sparking a non-controversy over stealing players that ignited an argument in the preseason league meetings. We will return pretty much the same roster with a few additions. We hope to win more games in the regular season this year so we don’t have to win six straight playoff games in the losers bracket to get to the finals again. We should be in the mix late, but there are some great teams in our division. Lets have a look.

Off-Season Happenings Around the League

Bandidos steal Bulldogs manager from Bulldogs, improve uniforms. Eric and John Friend are being fined for player tampering after engaging in premature negotiations with former Bulldogs manager, and occasional Ducks tournament player, Colin “Cups” Dougherty while he was still under contract with himself to play for the Bulldogs. Gregg Friend was quoted, “I don’t know what my family is doing.”

Pittsburgh D2 added mercurial slugger and perennial MVP candidate Luke Gapinski [sic] from Sheraden. This addition brings a solid middle of the lineup bat, and makes a great pitching staff even better. I’m sure they will all get along just fine.

Speaking of the Jays, after their waiver requests were denied, along with their initial attempt to play in A, they decided to play in AAA with three active college players on their roster rather than stay in AA with one active college player. When asked for comment, the jays manager said, “SCARED!” Stunning lack of accountability.

Speaking of college players, the Eagles are off to an 0-2 start. They stayed in AA after winning the title, but supposedly had to cut two of their ringers. But at least they have last year’s MVP who was probably the fifth most valuable player on his own team and maybe the fourth best catcher in AA. I guess he got on base a lot for the Point Park kids. The Eagles will be good again this year, but our catcher is better.

Speaking of the Devils, I think they will surprise some teams this year. Or maybe they will continue their slow, steady decline since their 2019 title. In a parallel universe, they would still have Luke and that guy from Carrick and they would fight everyone and then be forced to move to the Daily News League due to a brawl in the stands or an on-field stabbing.

Tonight’s opponent, Cranberry, saw half their roster leave and form a new team, the Butler Buccos. There is still a non-zero chance both Cranberry teams fold, though I imagine they will both pull it together and play .500 ball this summer. Butler will probably be good, but they don’t have a field permit yet. They have one of the worst nickname and uniform combos I’ve ever seen in an adult sports league. It’s offensive. Though they only narrowly edge the Warriors for worst uniforms.

Speaking of the Warriors, they cheat. The have a storied history of questionable roster moves in the playoffs. They get away with it because no one will call out other teams on having illegal players until the game is over, which is not how the rule works. The only team I’ve seen successfully challenge an illegal player is the Warriors, who did it last year in the Single A Finals against the Lions who were super pissed. Be ready to ask for IDs.

I’m not writing about Keystone Oaks in protest of their 6:15 weekday time slot. I may be forgetting a team entirely. If so, I’m sorry.

This is our 20th anniversary season. I’ve been a Duck for 20 years. Our youngest rostered player is 19. I am humbled to play another season with and against much more accomplished players than myself. This is an unforgiving game, and I’m happy I can still contribute at 42.

We have a couple question marks with Tony and Casen on the shelf with arm injuries to start the season, but we have contingency plans in case they can’t get on the field. Hopefully they heal up by June and get their 7 games in before playoffs.

I think we will be motivated this season after coming so close last year. If we get some bounces, we could make another deep run. We have pitching depth and a solid lineup.

Bad News for Everyone.

Ducks Sweep Weekend, Advance to Championship Series

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The South Oakland Ducks defeated the Sheraden Jays 4-3 to advance to the NABA Double A Championship Series, Sunday evening in Spring Hill. It was the Ducks third straight road win at Springview Field in three days.

Friday

TJ Morgan and Alex Swauger led the Ducks offense with three hits apiece, pacing the team to a 9-6 victory over the Bandidos. Tom Pulice had 3 RBI and Anthony DeFilippo hit a solo home run. Casen Wolinsky (W, 2-0) pitched five strong innings, and Luke Hudic recorded the two-inning save (1).

Sunday

In the losers bracket semi-final, Zach Gift pitched a complete game (W, 1-0), and the Ducks scored 5 runs in the first inning to chase D2’s starter. Tom Pulice hit a solo home run in the fifth to put the game out of reach. Final score: Ducks 6, D2 2

In the losers bracket final, the Ducks came back from an early 2-0 deficit behind a strong start from Randy Patton and another save from Hudic (2). Patton (W, 1-1) allowed one earned run through six, but the Jays capitalized on two, first-inning Ducks errors. South Oakland scored one in the third, two in the fourth and one in the sixth. The Jays added a run in the bottom of the sixth on a fielder’s choice.

With the Ducks leading 4-3 in the seventh, Hudic picked off a runner for the first out after a questionable catcher’s interference call, struck out the Jays’ leadoff hitter, walked a batter, then struck out MVP candidate Luke Gapinski to end the game.

The Ducks will face the South Side Eagles in a best-of-three series for the title.

Baseball!

The Ducks advanced to the finals for the fourth time in team history. We beat the Piranhas in 2003 and the Black Sox in 2010. We lost to Elliot in 2011.

We are 5-1 in the playoffs with five of six games as the visiting team. Our one home game was at Herschel Park, and we played three consecutive road games at Springview, our home field.

We beat D2 twice by a combined score of 16-4. D2 beat us 10-0 when we last played them in the regular season.

Before this year, we had never played the Bandidos or Cranberry in the playoffs. We played them both this post-season: a 7-0 loss to Jon Hart at Cranberry, and a 9-6 win over the Bandidos on Friday.

After hitting zero home runs in the regular season, we have hit three in six playoff games (Rayl, Defilippo, Pulice).

Entering the tournament as the no. 7 seed, we beat the 8, 6 (twice), 5, and 2 seeds to reach the finals against the no. 1 seed South Side Eagles.

The Eagles earned a double bye in the playoffs, and beat the Bandidos and Sheraden in the winners bracket to advance to the Championship Series.

Today’s win got us back to .500 on the season (15-15).

Date and time of Game 1 of the Championship Series is tbd.

What a run.

Quack.

Playoff Gameday 3: Ducks vs. Grizzlies

2021 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

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

vs

Bauerstown Grizzlies (1-0)

9pm

Springview Field

South Oakland looks to even their semifinal series against the Grizzlies tonight at the Duck Pond. The Ducks played the Grizzlies to a 2-2 tie through five innings in game one before the bullpen allowed five runs in the bottom of the sixth. South Oakland stranded several runners early.

The Grizzlies have not slowed down after one of the best regular seasons, record-wise, in recent memory. The Ducks will need timely hitting and another good starting pitching performance if they want to avoid elimination.

Winning this game will take all we’ve got. I like our chances at home, playing for our season.

Bad news for the Grizzlies

There’s Nothing Like a Night Game at Moore Park

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Ducks End Regular Season on High Note. Face Devils in First Round

Back in 2003 the Piranhas had this guy Gustavo Lopez (behind Boley, holding bat), and used to just kill us. He hit like seven home runs in that first year, and hit well over .500. We played out in Ambridge on a tiny field past Economy Park on the other side of rt. 65 across from Red Cap Dry Cleaners. During the regular season, Lopez hit towering home runs into the little league field beyond ours. We would walk him late in the game even if it put the tying run on base. He was cocky, and proved to be one of the leagues first great villains. He’s probably a good guy. I don’t really know him.

In 2003, we had a so-so regular season. We were mostly all happy to still be baseball again. The morning time slot 45 minutes away from Oakland did us no favors. Almost all of us were hungover, still, drunk or smoking weed to calm our nerves on the long ride to the games. We finished fourth out of five teams, and made a run in the post season to our first championship over the Piranhas.

Lopez was a non-factor in the championship. Playing at John Herb the rainbow arced home runs he hit at Ambridge turned to fly outs. When we made the move to wood bats, he hit .176. I have no idea what he’s doing now.

Ducks vs D2 Box Score

Piranhas vs Ducks Recap

South Oakland clinched the four seed behind a solid spot start from Ben Doak (W, 1-0), and clutch hitting from Mark Lombardi Wednesday night in Spring Hill. With the win, South Oakland took the season series from the feisty Piranhas who upset them earlier in the year. The Ducks will be the home team tonight at Moore Park in an elimination game against the Devils.

Playoff Gameday 1: Ducks vs Devils

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (13-11)

vs

South Hills Devils (13-11)

8:30 pm

Moore Park

Both South Hills and South Oakland started slow this year, lost a dominant pitcher, and still put together winning seasons. The Ducks and Devils both sit at 13-11. The Ducks own the tie breaker thanks to winning a tough season series in what many believe has become the premier rivalry of AA Pittsburgh NABA baseball. There’s not much to say here that would do this one justice. It’s been a great season, and it’s a shame one of these two teams has to go home early. Hopefully the Moore Park magic of seasons past is on our side.

Bad news for the Devils

 

 

Gameday 23 and Bandidos Recap

2021 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, Gameday, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, Recap, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland split a weekend set with the Bandidos, winning Friday’s game 5-2, and dropping Saturdays game 2-1. On the season, the Bandidos won the net runs by 1, and took two of three from the Ducks. They also won the negotiating rights of disgruntled, pitcher/outfielder Greg Friend who is set to become a restricted free agent after the season.

“Maybe after next year,” a source in the Ducks front office said. “We wish him the best.”

“Is this real?” Friend asked. “I wish I’d known about this before the game.”

Bandidos management was not available for comment.

Friend made a great catch in Friday’s game and converted the save on Sunday. 

 

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (12-10)

vs

Pittsburgh D2 (7-12-1)

9pm

Springview Field

Over the weekend, the Ducks clinched a non-losing record with their twelfth win. After a rough start, the team has rounded into form winning 9 of 12 down the stretch.

A win tonight would clinch the fourth seed and ensure a home game in the first round of the playoffs. We’d also stay mathematically alive for the three seed, depending on the outcome of the Cranberry (11-11-1) and South Side (13-9) game. A Ducks loss tonight keeps the six seed in play.

We want to stay hot heading into the meat grinder of an opening round next weekend and what looks to be an inevitable rematch with the new look South Hills Devils.

D2 has been a tough matchup for us historically. This one could go either way as both teams empty their bullpens, but we have a slight edge playing at home. Our record at the Duck Pond has been great this year. 

Bad news for D2

 

Ducks Win. South Oakland 7, Cranberry 3

2021 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, pittsburgh NABA, Recap, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

Box score

Brandon Blackstone (W, 6-1) scattered 5 hits and walked 2 over six innings to lead the Ducks to their eleventh win of the season. South Oakland jumped ahead thanks to a five-run second inning. TJ Morgan drove in three runs with a single off the wall. Ben Doak hit what looked like a home run into the overhanging branches in right, but settled for a double. Mark Lombardi had two hits and two RBI for South Oakland. Stef Blackstone faced 4 batters in the seventh for the save (2).

The win is the Ducks first over Cranberry since 2018, snapping an eight (?) game losing streak that included multiple extra inning games and some heart breaking loses. Let this be the start of a new streak.

South Oakland has matched its win total (11) from last season with four games to play: 

  • Two vs the Bandidos are on the schedule with Sunday’s start time up in the air and Friday’s start time moved up 8pm.
  • The D2 game is tentatively scheduled for Monday night in Manchester but is subject to change pending a field upgrade.
  • The Piranhas have not yet confirmed a time and place for our makeup game with them.

We can finish as high as third and as low as sixth. 

 

The Ducks play next on Friday, 8pm at Mellon Park vs the Bandidos.

Quack.

Cranberry Gameday and Grizzlies Recap

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South Oakland (10-9) lost 3-1 to the Grizzlies (19-3) last night in Spring Hill. Bauerstown hit a solo home run in the top of the first, and never trailed. They scored on off a walk and another off a double. TJ Morgan had the lone RBI for South Oakland. The Grizzlies pitcher kept the Ducks off balance all night. Both teams worked out of jams. Walks were the difference in the game.

The Ducks host Cranberry tonight at Springview Field, 9pm. These two teams have been on different trajectories since their last game. Cranberry is 3-7 in their last 10, while the Ducks are 7-3. However, South Oakland hasn’t beaten Cranberry since 2018. The games are always maddeningly close, but the Ducks seem to come up short. Tonight we have Brandon Blackstone going, and Springview is in the best shape of its life. Tonight is a great night to break a long losing street.

Bad news for Cranberry

Ducks Win: South Oakland 14, Bauerstown 4 (6 inn.)

2021 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

Ducks Starting pitcher Randy Patton (W, 3-1) threw four strong innings, and Tom Pulice drove in three runs to lead South Oakland to the win yesterday in Spring Hill.

The game was close until the bottom of the fourth. The Grizzlies led 4-2 before the Ducks sent ten players to the plate without recording an out. South Oakland scored nine in the fourth behind a three-run double by Tom Pulice. They added two in the fifth and one in the sixth. Brandon Blackstone pitched two scoreless innings in relief.

The Grizzlies clinched first place with a 13-0 win over the Eagles in the first half of the split double header yesterday. They ran out of gas in this one, and saved arms for Tuesday.

We were playing without most of our starting infield, and four starters. Tuesday’s game should be a good one against a rested Grizzlies squad with hopefully most of our starters. We need to take wins any way we can get them down the stretch, and we played well in this one.

Stats n’at

Ben Sorosky: 3-for-4, BB, 2 RBI

Hayden Hoffman: 2-for-4, 2 RBI

Matt Mullen: 3-for-4, RBI

South Oakland improves to 10-8 with the win.

The Ducks next game is Tuesday, 8pm at Springview Field vs Bauerstown.

Quack.