Game Highlights 2004

The Division Champs were decided this week, as the Stout Men of Easton and the Free Agents of Raynham prevailed to win their respective division pennants. The Free Agents, who had the bi for the early morning game, handled Midlife Crisis in the later morning Divisional Championship Game. In the early morning final Divisional Elimination Game Midlife Crisis prevailed over the Long Shots. But for the Stout Men it was a longer road to their Division Championship, having to play and defeat the Dirt Dawgs in the early game before matching up with the undefeated Forever Young to determine the Easton Division Champs. And quite a match up it turned out to be, as the Stout Men managed yet another improbable 7th inning come from behind win, this time against the League's most dominant team. After relinquishing an early 9-0 lead, the Stout Men entered the top of the 7th in a 12-10 hole. After managing to get 2 runners on base with 2 outs Pat O'Hare, last weeks offensive hero, jacked a 3 run HR over the fence in left center. Then in the bottom of the frame, Forever Young was set down in order on 3 fly ball outs as the Stout Men iced an impressive victory.

Forever Young, Long Shots, Dirt Dawgs, and Midlife Crisis may not have advanced to the Championship Game this season, but certainly deserve congratulations for the superb play and sportsmanship that got them this far.

UNDEFEATED "FOREVER YOUNG" goes down to defeat in the playoffs to The "STOUT MEN TEAM". They deserved to win as they played a superb game to pull out the win. In the 7th, down by 2 runs, Patrick their power hitter "Jacked" a 3 run HR for a lead that they did not give up. In the Playoffs he is the MVP of Easton say's Coach Mohan of Forever Young.

It ended up a great game between the two teams, but it would not start of great for "Forever Young" as they trailed 9 - 0 after two innings. All year we found ways to win, but after over coming a big defecit by the "Stout Men" bunch they ended up going down three straight in the bottom of the 7th. Ricky Winn was the top offensive star for the "Forever Young" team with 3 doubles & 5 RBI's. Eric Silverman broke out of a late season slump for the team with 2 big hits, but "it was not our day to win".

The "Stout Men Team" hung in even after their 9 - 0 lead was over taken. Billy their pitcher did not have his best day on the hill in the eyes of Coach Mohan, but he was tough when he needed to be with a one-two-three 7th.

As the losing team's coach, I'm very happy for the Stout Men group as they proved with hard work you can become a good team. In 2003 they started off very bad, but with practice & hard work they came on strong to complete the 2003 season and earn the right to be in the Championship Game next Sunday. Great Job!

"Forever Young"
Coach Mohan

The Easton Division had 2 teams make spectacular, come from behind wins in the bottom of the 7th. The Dirt Dawgs trailed the Blockbusters by 3 entering their end of the 7th frame, then plated 4 to win 11-10. And the Stout Men, behind by 3 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th, scored 4 runs, including a walk-off 2 run home run over the fence in left-center. And in Raynham Gang Green managed to hold Free Agents in check through 5 until the Free Agents exploded with 16 runs in their last frame.

Congratulations to the Blockbusters, Pumps, Men In Black, Gang Green, Weekend Warriors, and Good,Bad,&Ugly for playing excellent and very spirited ball all season. They may be out of the playoffs for this season, but just wait 'till next year!!...

It was an incredible game! We made a fantastic comeback. Down 8-1 at one point and to turn it around and win 9-8...in the bottom of the 7th with 2 outs. Wow! We never gave up! Everyone and I mean everyone contributed up and down the lineup and in the field. I have to admit, we didn't look good thru the 1st 5 innings but turned it around in the 6th and 7th innings and what a way to finish.

I do have to mention a few highlights of the game. First we did play some solid defense and Billy pitched a great game to keep us in it when the bats weren't hitting. There were alot of big hits to keep the rally going in the bottom of the 7th but...with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd Jonas ripped a double down the 3rd base line. What a HUGE hit. You are the "Clutch Man", Jonas. That set up Pat with the tying run on 2nd and then it happened. Pat turned on a pitch and drove it deep over the centerfield fence for the game winning homerun! What an ending to a great game.

I would like to add the Weekend Warriors are an incredible team and we tip our caps to them. You guys played great ball.

"Forever Young" wins it's first playoff game 17 to 5. The team got excellent pitching once again from Rick Winn. He was supported by the awesome fielding of SS Brian Reardon, 7 assists. If that was not enough defense for Ricky, an "ESPN HIGHLIGHT" catch by Brian Morrissey in RCF backed his great performance on the mound.

On offense Coach Mohan got things started early in the first with a lead-off single. The team scored early with 4 runs. Throught the game the team saw Mike Raditz and Mike Brown each jack a HR out of the ballpark. Ricky, Matt, Chris, Mike Brown would collect two hits each, while Mike Raditz & Brian Morrissey hit three each. An inside the park HR was hit by M. Fisher. His at bat was funny for he was upset from being walked earlier, so he got into a pitch once one came over the plate.

All in All, "Forever Young" played another sound game. The team got to see "Brian Owens" their teammate who has been battling a illness all season, take an at bat for the coach. Brian the true hitter he is did not let the team down as he hit a line drive single to right center.

As the team left the field happy that they won, it knows their goal of winning it all will be tough! Look at how the "Champions" of last year lost. Any team can win, as your season record is thrown out of the window no matter how good you did during the season. - "Coach Mohan"

The regular season concluded today on an unusually hot day for late August; temperatures approached and possibly passed the 90 degree mark by the time the 11:00am games started. But no one was deterred from from showing up nor was any player slowed down due to the lofty temperatures.

The closest game of the day was the Easton's Stout Men versing Raynham's Good, Bad, & Ugly, playing on the OA High School field. GBU scored 5 in the top half of the 1st inning, with the Stout Men putting up 3 of their own in the bottom of the frame. GBU relinquished the lead in the bottom of the 2nd but then came right back in the 3rd to take an 8-6 lead. The lead see-sawed back and forth 3 more times, with Stout Men staving off a spirited GBU comeback attempt in the top of the 7th to post an 18-16 victory.

“Forever Young” completes unbeaten season with a 10 to 2 win over the, “Weekend Warriors”. Trailing 2 to 0 in the 4th, the bats came alive for “Forever Young”, as they would take the lead 5 to 2. Eric Silverman, “Coach Mohan” & Ricky Winn began the 4th with 3 straight singles and would score on a double by Mike Brown & a single by Ari Soloman. After a single from Mike Fisher, a clutch opposite field double from Brian Morrissey would give the team a 5 to 2 lead going to the 5th. It was an inning which a 2 run triple by “Coach Mohan” had a demoralizing effect on his team, “Coach Steve Davis” stated after the game. “Forever Young” however did not feel a win was in the bag until Ralph Deckert in the 6th, hit a inside the park HR to give his team a 11 to 2 victory.

Throughout the game Eric, Ricky, Brian Morrissey, Brian Reardon, Mike Brown, Ari Soloman and “Coach Mohan” each collected 2 hits to support their “ACE” pitcher Ricky Winn for his 13th win of the season. He also on this day received great defense from the likes of Mike Fisher, Brian Reardon, Cary Nevins and a rocket throw to home plate by Mike Brown to nail a runner.

As the coach of “Forever Young” I’d like to thank “Mike Graff, the Commissioner” on a great job of running the league. As for our opponents during our unbeaten season for the most part we didn’t feel a win was in the bag till the game was over. In looking back on the season we had to pull out 5 wins in either the 7th or extra innings. As for my team if you could put a name next to the word “TEAM” in a dictionary, I’d have “Forever Young” as that is what it is. Trust me in my 25 plus years of softball this group was a team that never trash talked its opponents, gave up on its self when down in a game or felt they were superior to any other team in the league. The reason we were undefeated is because we pull for one another all the way and play strong fundamental softball. -“Coach Mohan”

The Free Agents and Forever Young continued to steamroll along, adding to their impressive win totals. The Weekend Warriors were back to full strength and it showed as they displayed impressive play on both sides of the ball. Gang Green collected a win in a close game with the Long Shots. And the Men In Black took advantage of some opportunities in edging out the Stout Men 8-6.

"The Weekend Warriors flashed signs of old glory on the diamond this Sunday icing the victory early with ten runs in first inning. Then we cruised to an 18 – 8 victory. Gregg Meyer lead the attack with 4 hits from the lead off slot, only missing a double for the cycle while playing his usual stellar game at short. Todd crushed a couple shots off the top of the fence in left and everyone hit the ball sharply up and down the order. Todd, Peter and Carl ran everything down in the outfield and made the plays we needed them." - Steve Davis, Capt.

WHAT A GAME! "FOREVER YOUNG vs BLOCKBUSTER".

"Forever Young" remains undefeated at 12, beating last year champs,"Blockbuster", previously known as "The Roy Team" 27 to 14 in extra innings. Yes, that is right it took extra at bats for, but wow did they explode, with 13 runs in the 8th to win it! The game had many highs & lows for both teams. "Blockbuster" trailing 10 to 6 in the 6th put together their come back effort to take the lead 13 to 10 behind a key HR by John Avila and a 3b by Dave Roy.

As "Forever Young" took the 7th they still felt that a win was possible because the team never gives up till "The Fat Lady Sings" you might say. "Several teams have had our backs against the wall in our final at bat, but this team just finds away to pull out a victory and remain unbeaten". I've been involved with softball for many years, but never has coached or played with a team that plays together as "ONE" and pulls for "One Another" all the time. I've felt like "Yankee Clipper Joe Tore" all year with this team they just find away to win.

In the 7th trailing by 3 runs, "Forever Young's" Ralph Deckert hit a two run 1b, and then Chris Herr slashed the go ahead double for 2 runs giving the team a one run lead heading into the bottom of the 7th. A lead-off single for "Blockbuster" got their rally started. At this point "Forever Young's" pitcher Ricky Win and his Coach Mohan agreed to walk "Blockbusters" two power bats in John Avila & Jay Freitas to set the bases loaded. With the bases loaded, 3rd baseman Chris Herr, fielder a sharp grounder and threw out the runner at home. "Blockbuster" did manage to get only 1 run to send the game to extra innings. You might say, "the strategy to walk their power hitters worked for "Forever Young". In the 8th the bats exploded for "Forever Young" with 14 hits and 13 runs. The key hit 3 run HR by Mike Brown as it put the team ahead by 3. Mike Fisher would then collect a 2 run triple, followed by a 2 run HR by Ralph. "Coach Mohan" would hit his first HR in the league for 3 more runs to put the finishing touches of the big inning.

This was a long game, but very interesting, as both teams showed their hitting ability. On the day, Ari Soloman collected 5 hits for "Forever Young", while Brian Reardon & Brian Morrissey each had 4 hits. Coach Mohan, Jeff, Ricky and Ralph all had 3 hits each. Ralph came up huge with 6 RBI's and 3 runs. This win was a nice for us especially after losing in the finals last year to "Roy". - "Coach Mohan"

Mother Nature finally through us a curve we couldn't hit, raining out our AUGUST 15th games.

Larry Westgate of the Blockbusters hit his first ever home run over the big fence in Easton in what proved to be a pivotal run in a very close game. Playing Raynham's Long Shots, the Blockbusters had an 8-4 lead going into the top of the 7th. And the Long Shots proceeded to make it very interesting by pushing across 3 runs, but fell short in the end with the final score of 8-7 in favor of the Blockbusters.

August 9 -- Hats off to coach Gobin for putting together the FREE AGENTS. Another win yesterday. The team is finally coming along with good hitting and clutch defense. Keep it up Boys. The real season is coming upon us. - Message Center submission

Great Infield Defense by "Forever Young" keeps their unbeaten streak going as they win 20 to 11 against the, "Pumps". Today, the bats came to hit in the first inning for our team. We collected 11 hits to take a 10 to 0 lead early. "Coach Mohan & Ricky Winn got things going with 2 singles, setting up a line drive HR from Jeff for a quick 3 run lead. After hits by Mike Brown, Mike Fisher & Ari, a 2 run single by Ralph increased the lead to 5 runs. "Pumps" then shut the team down till the 3rd when Mohan & Jeff each collected 2 rbi's and Brian Morrissey singled home another for a 15 to 2 lead. At that point the "Pumps" started to peck away with runs lead by their SS Jack & Coach Sean. The game was clinched you might say for "Forever Young", in the 6th on a key 3 run HR blast by Ari. The offense was very strong up and down the line up today for our team. It was lead by 4 hits by Brian Morrissey & 6 rbi's by Jeff, in addition to 3 hits each from Ricky & Ari. Eric, Carry, Ralph, Mike Fisher & Mike Brown contributed 2 hits each on the day. The thing that made "Coach Mohan" & his team most proud of today was the awesome defense by Carry at third 2 outs, 5 assists & Brian Reardon 3 outs & 6 assists. They played one of the best defensive games any third baseman or Short Stop could have for a team. Our team was impressed by the play of the "Pumps" and we do consider their team one of the best in the Sunday Morning League this year. - Coach Mohan!

Anyone present for the 11:00 game at Reid Field was treated to a great game! Gang Green opposed Good, Bad, & Ugly in a contest that featured some outstanding defense, some of the best I've seen in any one game. This kept the scoring down and close until each team managed to finally punch through and sneak past some hits. But in the end it was Good, Bad, & Ugly with a big top of the 7th that prevailed in the end. According to GB&U Captain, Steve Cushing, "As far as the recap goes for Sunday's game what can we say? It was exactly what we expected. A battle that went down to the end that could have gone either way. We were able to string 8 singles and 1 double together and score 8 runs in the top of the seventh to take the lead. We held on defensively in the bottom of the 7th for the win. Outstanding pitching performance by Chris Hebb, stellar defensive play by Mark Williams in centerfield and Vic "The Stick" DeSantis going 4 for 4 were all key contributors. Not to mention the timely hitting by the entire team in the 7th which was enough to pulled out the hard fought victory. Final score 12-7."

"Forever Young" keeps their unbeaten streak going by collecting 8 runs in the 7th inning vs a pesky "Good, Bad,&Ugly" team. The bats could not get it going till the 7th as their pitcher was throwing a great game against us. Trailing 6 to 3 heading into the top of the 7th, Coach Mohan lead off with a sharp single to left. His hit was followed by a walk to Ricky, single by Jeff & a sac fly by Mike Brown to bring it down to a one run game. With two outs Ari tied the game with a single at 6. Brian Reardon then would reach base on a error setting up a key two run double to left by Matt Urban for the go ahead runs. Eric, Cary, Mohan, Ricky and Jeff collected a few more hits and runs for insurance. In the bottom of the 7th, Forever Young set Cushing down in order for their 10th win 11 to 3. On the day Ricky pitched a great game & collected 3 hits, Jeff & Ari each had 3 hits, Cary & Brian Reardon collected 2 hits and "Coach Mohan" the old man, chipped in with 3 hits. As coach for "Forever Young", it does not matter about the standings of a team you face as in this league if you don't play as a team, any one can beat you. Although my team is on a great win streak, by no means have teams been easy to beat. It's a credit to all teams in the league and to our "President Mike Graff" that the games are fun. - Coach Mohan
Also, a congratulations to Gang Green for their first "W" of the season. They have played just about every game very tough and had just been missing. And now that they have a taste of victory they could be one of the toughest teams down the stretch!

July 25th was a week for some uncharacteristic blowouts with a couple of the more typical 1 or 2 run winning margins:

The Weekend Warriors were a bit short handed this week and it showed in their rather one-sided loss to Midlife Crisis. Not to take anything away from performance because Midlife Crisis played a great game on both sides of the ball.

The Stout Men just could not mount any kind of offense behind Free Agents flawless defense. They made every play and got the hits they needed to add to their lead in nearly every inning.

And despite their record, Gang Green is in just about every game to the last out, just missing against the Dirt Dawgs 12-11.

"Forever Young" pulls out another win it's 8th in a row over a very pesky "Dirt Dawgs" team, 21 to 12. Trailing 12 to 1 after the 2nd, the team did not panic. It was in for a tough task with only 9 players. After seeing how the Dirt Dawgs was hitting up the middle we moved our best outfielder "Mike Fisher" to cover center field. It enabled our team to shut "Dirt Dawgs" down the rst of the way defensively, while the bats came up big to capture the win. Ari Soloman was the teams "MVP" as he collected 4 key hits and 5 RBI's. Chris Herr and Brian Reardon were huge in the 8th & 9th slots with 6 RBI's & 7 hits between the two. Matt Urban 4 hits & Ralph Deckert 5 hits in the middle of the order would keep innings going for the team in its come back. Ricky Winn & Mike Fisher 3 hits each set the table for Ari and scored 7 runs between them in the win. After the game, while "Coach Mohan" was speaking to his team, Coach Raymo commented, "you guy's did not panic when down 12 to 1, amazing" Forever Young. - Coach Neal

July 18 had 3 games decided by 1 run, and another where the teams were separated by 1 run when an injury to a player caused one of the teams to forfeit the game -- talk about parity! In any case, great games played all around...

Today's 11:00am game in Easton between Men in Black and Blockbusters was a very close game. At the end of 7 it was tied at 3-3. Blockbusters got up in the 8th inning but could not score, Then Men in Black got up in the bottom of the 8th with Eric Newman leading off he hits a line drive down the right field line, Blockbusters right fielder dives for it but can't get a glove on it. Eric turns on the afterburners for a INSIDE THE PARK HOME RUN. MIB won 4-3 in 8 innings.

The final score between The Men In Black and the Blockbusters was MIB 4, Blockbusters 3 in 8 innings.

Gerry Meyer pitched an outstanding game and it was a very close and well played game by both teams for all eight innings. There were some stellar fielding plays including a great play by Paul "Golden Glove" Clark at third base for MIB.

The game was decided by an solo inside the park home run by Eric "Downtown" Newman in the bottom of the eighth to win it. Overall, an excellent game. -Scot Kudcey (C) MIB

Great Win! Trailing most of the game we battled back to win 10-9. Our opponent "Gang Green" played a solid game and kept us in check...but we eventually pulled out the win in the bottom of the 7th.

Everyone contributed to the win but a few highlights need mention. On defense...Mike "The Vacuum" Graff played a great 3rd base...nothing got by him. Scott Millman pitched great...and also got the winning hit for us in the bottom of the 7th. Kevin Friend made a couple of incredible catches in the outfield(and you're an infielder...ya right). On the offensive side...we had a number of guys with key hits for the win but I have to mention Brian "Wheels" Quinn hit an inside the park homerun to spark our offense. - John Langis

After a weekend off celebrating Uncle Sam's birthday the league was back it July 11th...

The Good, Bad, & Ugly got their first win of the season in extra innings. According to team captain, Steve Cushing -- "We won against the Pumps 18-13. The game was tied after 7 when the Pumps scored 2 in the bottom of the 7th. We got up in the top of the 8th and scored 5 to break it open. We held on in the bottom of the 8th for the win. A total team effort with good hitting, defense and pitching got us the win."

The Dirt Dawgs came up just a bit short once again despite some sparkling defensive work, including 2 unassisted double plays.

And the Stout Men can certainly attest to Yogi's proclamation that "it's not over until it's over". Leading by a score of 15-7 over the undefeated Forever Young squad and going into the bottom of the 7th, the Stout Men were just looking to make a few outs and put the game in the win column. However, the bats came alive and a few balls left the yard as Forever Young mounted a memorable, last ditch comeback to steal this one away. But here is the actual account in the words of Neal Mohan, the Forever Young captain -- "Forever Young Remains undefeated by pulling out a win in the bottom of the 7th inning against, "Stout Men". This game proved that "Forever Young" will not go down easy. Trailing 15 - 7 Eric, Coach Mohan, Ricky & Jeff collected 4 straight singles, which set up a 3 run HR from Mike Raditz, followed by a solo HR by Ari. It was still not enough to tie or win the game till Matt Urban hit a key double, followed by a Brian Reardon single to tie the game. A double by Ralph & walk by Brian set up a bases loaded sac fly by Chris to win the game 16 - 15. Forever Young was put to the test by "Stout Men" as they singled us to death behind a good pitching effort from Billy."

Let us not jinx things by talking once again about how great the weather continued to be for our June 20th games. Instead, we'll mention that we're now down to the last undefeated team -- Forever Young, with this past Sunday seeing the battle between the last 2 undefeated teams. It was waged between Easton's Forever Young and Raynham's Free Agents. And for those on hand it was a battle all the way to the end, with Forever Young making the one play, a great outfield diving catch to save the game in the bottom of the 7th, to save the game and the victory. The final score a 1 run differential 19-18. It doesn't get much better than this!!

Another notable game of the day was the Long Shots over Stout Men. This was a decisive win with the Long Shots bouncing back from some recent tough losses by hitting the ball everywhere the Stout Men weren't.

Finally, the Dirt Dawgs coming oh so close again, battling all the way but dropping another close one to the Pumps 16-15.

Here are some words strait from a couple of the Captains regarding their respective June 20th games:

To the Stout Men -- "Great win! 20-8....Excellent team win...EVERYBODY contributed. 20 runs on 20+ hits. And what made it so good was that we came from behind. Down 7-4...but we didn't give up. We strung together about 10 hits in a row and scored 14 runs in the 5th inning...damn! I have to say we played real loose and we produced. Let's keep that mentality...be loose, because we are a damn good team. 4-2 almost half way thru the season. Again solid win guys."

"We won 14 to 2 behind good defense and offense. Their coach told me they moved their outfielders in to prevent shallow singles, but then we beat them long. Our defense in the outfield played very strong & Ricky Winn pitched a great game only 2 runs against a good team."

The weather was not the best for our June 6, post Memorial Day games, but the rain held out until just after noon, just long enough to complete the 3rd games. There were some battles today --