Guidelines for the wearing of the Poodle Kisser shirt. Revised: 01/25/2008 - Monday, September 24, 2007
In the first meeting of the 2008 softball season, the Team Geritol awards committee established the following honor system guidelines for the wearing of the "Poodle-Kisser" shirt. We use the term "honor system" intentionally. The understanding is.."When in Rome, do as the Romans do"...It is not the teams job to make anyone wear the Poodle-kisser shirt..it is the job of the player who has just earned the Poodle-kisser shirt, to walk back to the dugout and to put that pink puppy on.We have four sizes of pink to choose from.
The following scenarios were deemed as "Poodle-Kissing" moments:
1. Any player making or causing 2 (at bat) outs in one inning...gets to wear the shirt. The Official Scorer shall settle any disputes. Example of a possible dispute scenario: I won't mention any names but at the 2007 State +40 tournament in Great Falls, Terry Souhrada forced John, (I shouldn't have stopped at 1st base), Riley, out at second base, twice in the same inning. This is a poodle-kissing moment...despite Terry's protests.
2. Any player striking out..either by swinging and missing... being called out on strikes...going down looking/taking strike three...or fouling off the third strike....is a poodle-kisser.
3. Any player showing up late for the game...earns the honor of wearing the shirt. Late is ...getting to the game..after the coin flip. If you are at the game but have to use the facilities..that is different. If you pull a Jeff and James and go to the Elbow Room between games for your free pitcher of beer and get back to the game late...poodle-kissing moment. If you pull a Roger Wilhite and don't show up on time Sunday morning....pucker up and put on the pink shirt.
4. Any player who gets ejected from a game...earns the distinguished honor of wearing the poodle-kisser shirt for the remainder of the tournament. We can't really imagine this ever happening, but in the name of preventative medicine, we thought we should have it just in case.
5. A player who earns the shirt, should just put that puppy on and wear it with pride. Let your teamnmates have a little bit of fun with you. that is a part of what softball is all about. The shirt should be worn for 7 innings. If 7 innings takes two games...so be it. If it takes two tournaments...so be it too. We'll have some more good stories to tell at the end of the year.
6. Because we are all about choices and team work..please feel free to offer any suggestions. All input is highly valued.
The 2007 Bubba's and end of the year Team Geritol BBQ. - Monday, September 17, 2007
Saturday evening the team got together for an end of the year BBQ and the presenting of the Bubba's. It was a nice turnout. Lots of players and lots of family, just the way it should be. We had players from our Team Geritol "C" team as well as players from the +35 and +40 Geritol teams. Mike Fuchs, Shawn Hollenbeck, David Felker, Mike Dimmitt, Tracy Elam, Jeff, The Hacker, Weaver, Rich Hoffman, Chris Jones and Mike Perry were there.
The most prestigous Bubba of the evening was earned by 5 players. It is the "I KISSED SHAWN'S POODLE ON THE LIPS TWICE IN ONE INNING," BUBBA. To earn this Bubba, a player must make two outs in one inning. Players eaning this Bubba were, Shawn Hollenbeck (a rare two time winner), Mike Fuchs, Tracy Elam, Rich Hoffman, and Jon Riley. Shawn, Mike, Tracy and Rich good naturedly posed for a picture wearing their new Team Geritol pink "Poodle-Kisser" skirts...I mean shirts. Hopefully, Jeff will get it together and choose to post this picture. This shirt honors a new tradition on our team....beginning next year any player who makes two outs in one inning gets to wear the Poodle-Kisser shirt...They either wear it for the rest of that game or for the next game...it is a choice. Here at Team Geritol, we are all about choices. Up for discussion and team vote is whether or not the shirt should be worn by a player who strikes out. This year, 2 of our teammates (James Stokes and Dean, I get grumpy when I strikeout, Thompson) earned Roger Wilhite Strikeout Bubbas for striking out.....I think all of us would agree that both James and Deano would look marvelous in a pink poodle-kisser shirt. Because we have an eye for fashion...the poodle kisser shirt comes in 3 sizes...Large..like for Shawn or Allen...XL for most of the rest of us..and 2XL for James, Mike D, Rich, Chris...or anyone else who feels comfortable in that size shirt.
More to come....it is time to leave for work.
State +40 Champions!! - Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Nice job Team Geritol. We were able to go 6-0 and win the Championship of the State +40 Tournament in Great Falls. What a nice way to end the softball season. Team members (and batting order) were: Don Chery, David Thompson, Chris Jones, Mike Fuchs, Rich Hoffman, Dean Thompson, John Riley, Terry Souhrada, Lee Baerlocher, Sam Baerlocher, and Mike Perry. The final game ended about 5:PM on Sunday. Thank the Lord we didn't have to go to a second championship game. The tournament format was a 3 game round robin for seeding on Saturday, and double elimination on Sunday. It was a nice setup. Everyone played at least 5 games. Congratulations also go to Mr. C's of Missoula who had a fine tourney, playing 5 games in a row on Sunday, to earn a 3rd place finish. An interesting sidelight was that one of the tourney favorites, Cactus Creek of Billings, ended up losing their 1st two games on Sunday and made a very unexpected early exit from the tourney. A classic example of the old "on any given Sunday" sports expression. Cactus Creek won the State +35 "C" Championship here in Missoula several years back and earned an impressive 3rd place finish at this years +35 "B" State Tournament. They are a good team.
Here are some stats:
1st game Saturday, we defeated the Legion Club of Bozeman, 23-3 in 4 innings. as a team we were 30-42 for a .714 team batting average. Rich Hoffman earned the "Jeff Weaver, arrive at the game in the bottom of the 2nd, with a tatoo of your honey on your behind," Bubba. See the Bubbas for further details.
2nd game, vs Great Falls +40: We won this game 21-2. They just were not hitting and we were. This game went 5 innings. Terry Souhrada put a new twist on the Shawn Hollenbeck, Kiss your poodle on the lips twice in one inning Bubba. In this game, we scored in every inning except the inning that Don Chery hit into a double play...barely beating out the throw to 1st that would have made it a triple play. Don of course wanted credit for a base hit, because he was safe at 1st. Typical banker...spend your money and then send you a bill. You make the deposits...he makes the withdrawals. The team was 30-43 for a .697 team average.
3rd game vs Old Dogs..We won this game 21-9 in 5 innings. We had a monster 15 run 4th inning in this game. Yours truely made the 1st out of the inning and had the opportunity to kiss Shawn's poodle on the lips twice in the same inning, but came through with a solid base hit. It was a little disappointing to hear several of my teammates wishing ill on me. That poodle kissing Bubba will take a weak man down. My thanks to the Softball gods for being there for me at a time when several of my teammates were siding with Shawn's demon poodle. The team was 26-39 for a .666 team average.
Our 1st game Sunday was vs Mr. C's of Missoula and it was a close one. We ended up winning 12-8. We scored 9 runs in the 1st and only 3 after that. As was the case the entire weekend, our defense was outstanding. The infield combination of David Thompson at 3rd, Mike Fuchs at short, Chris Jones at 2nd, Sam Baerlocher and Rich Hoffman rotating at 1st, turned a whole bunch of sweet double plays. It was fun to watch. In this game we were 18-34 for a team average of .529.
Undefeated game on Sunday vs Old Dogs. We won this game 27-14. We scored 9 in the 1st and they scored 9 in the 2nd. The Old dogs were ahead 13-9 after 3. We came back by scoring 18 runs in our final two at bats. ( 8 in the 5th, and 10 in the 6th). The team was 31-47 for a .659 batting average.
Championship game vs Old Dogs. The old Dogs defeated Mr. C's to earn their way back to this game. We won this game 15-12. We were home team but were able to end this game without needing our last at bat. It was a fun game with very nice sportsmanship. The thing about playing in tournaments like this is that the teams have come to know each other and it has been good. The expression that "familiarity breeds comtempt"..did not fit here. In this case, familiarity built friendships. It was an excellent weekend. The softball players were having fun....being good losers and gracious winners. It was an excellent atmosphere. It was certainly one that Tim Barbour, (for whom the tournament was named), would have approved of. In this game we were 25-43 for a .581 team average.
Tournament stats: We scored 118 runs in 6 games for a 19.8 runs per game average. The Softball Gods were smiling on our bats this weekend as we scored enough runs in each game to never have to hit in the 7th inning the entire weekend. In fact we hit in a total of 32 innings in the 6 games we played. This averages out to each game lasting 5.3 innings. It also averages out to us scoring 3.68 runs every inning of the tournament. Our oppenents scored 48 runs in the 6 games for an average of 8 runs per game. As a team, we were 160-247 for a tournament team batting average of .647. Very nice..Many thanks to the Softball Gods who have been most kind to us this season but who have also made take some steps to periodically keep us humble. As is our custom, we give individual ink to any player hitting .800 or better for the tournament. John Riley earns that honor this weekend for his fine performance at the plate. John was 18-22 for a very solid .818 tournament average. Great job John!!
State "C" Tournament Anaconda - Monday, August 13, 2007
Holy bats gone dead Batman!! Who woulda thunk it? 1-2 and the Geritol boys, who have had such a fine year, make an early exit at State. I think the Softball Gods have something really special in store for us and they are bringing us along one step at a time. It has been a great year for us..our best ever. With that success has come hopes and high expectations. I remember us hoping we would be there on Sunday afternoon in the local tournaments. We don't just hope that anymore, we believe we will be there. This year we went to State hoping to have a good tournament and believing we had the potential to be in the thick of things....and we did....as evidenced by Canyons/Westwood's 2nd place finish and Rocky Mountain Eye placing 5th. These are two teams we have been neck and neck with, all season. I think we were trying so hard that we were not able to relax and just let the hits and plays happen. We got beat by two good teams but we did not get beat by two teams who were better than we are. One of the things we talked about while sitting around in Shawn and Julie's room, was playing in some out of town tournaments. It would give us the chance to play outside of our local comfort zone. It would let us play against some new teams and on out of town fields. All of these experiences would serve us well as we head for next year's State Tournament. To play a tournament in Kalispell, or Hot Box in Bozeman, or one in Helena, or Great Falls. Spokane and Coeur D'Alene also have nice tournaments. Even one out of town tournament would give us help in a way that playing in the local Missoula tournaments can't do...getting outside our local comfort zone and seeing some new teams. No James...Goosetown is not the medicine that would cure what ails us. Something for us to talk about. Here are the stats for the tourney.
1st Game...vs. Missoula surgical/Home Interior
We played like we had confidence. This is a team that was 15-5 in the regular season. We won this game 18-4 in 5 innings. We had an 11 run 5th inning to put the game away. We were 22-38 for a .579 batting average.
Our 2nd game was vs a Helena team..Kaos.
We lost this game 16-10. We had defeated this team in a local tournament several years back. I remember they were not happy about it. This game felt flat from the beginning. Poor old David, hitting in the #11 spot did not get his first at bat until the 4th inning. Yikes!! Not a good sign. We came on in the later innings, scoring 9 runs in our final four at bats, but it was not enough to win. We were a woeful 17-41 for a season low .415 batting average.
3rd game vs. Spooky Sprinklers..Helena.
Well this was an interesting exercise in playing softball while having a knot in your gut and something stuck in your craw. We lost 10-9. On the way to this loss, we encountered the worst sportsmanship we'd seen all year. These were not easy guys to lose to, they had a couple of trouble-makers on their team who left a real bad taste in our mouths. It happens, but not very often. I want to add that there were also some nice guys on this team that I had pleasant talks with. Interesting how one or two negative guys can stand out so much, and create such intense feelings. I don't want to give them much ink, or focus on the negatives, so I will leave it at that...oh and just one little goodbye curse I'd like to request from the Softball Gods...may the couple of above-mentioned players on this team, suffer a sudden and unexplained case of the coughing up of poodle hairballs. May this choking and coughing up of poodle hairballs last until these players have an epiphany and see the error of their ways. Thank you Softball Gods. I feel all better now. In this game we were 16-36 for a team .444 batting average. We won't win many games hitting below .500. We have only ourselves to look at re: how well we played.
Please check the Bubbas..as this week not only did several players win Bubbas...so did their partners.
State "C" Results - Monday, August 13, 2007
1. Fattboys..Kalispell
2. Canyons/Westwood Construction..Hamilton
3. Gamecocks/Center Stage....Helena
4. Sting.....Great Falls
5. Rocky Mountain Eye....Bitterroot Valley
Congratulations to Westwood and Rocky Mountain Eye for their nice finishes at State. Good job representing Missoula area softball. We always want teams from our area to do well.
Team Geritol BBQ/Potluck September 15 - Monday, August 13, 2007
Team Geritol BBQ/Potluck:
It would be nice to have a final get together to celebrate the fun year we have had. Saturday, September 15 is the first open weekend I can see. All of the other weekends are filled with Griz games. We can do a survey to see how the 15th is for families. If it does not work we can try it on a weekend the Griz are on the road. We have Griz vision at our house. We'll provide burgers and hot dogs. Please feel free to bring chicken, fish or anything else you would like to BBQ. We've also got some beer and pop. We can talk about the details like salads. deserts, etc. in the coming weeks. I would like to have it while the weather is still good. Of course this is a family get together. Please bring your loved ones and your tatoo's of your loved ones with you.
James has got a big announcement to make.
"C" Districts Final Results - Thursday, August 2, 2007
Here is a breakdown of last weekends District Tournament:
TEAM.............................Ranking..........League Record......District Record
Rocky Mountain Eye..............10.................NA.......................5-1
Team Geritol.........................8.................NA.......................5-2
Silver$/Silver Slipper...............2..................16-4....................3-2
Maulers..............................1...................16-4....................2-2
DPI/Elobow Rm/MT Bolt...........4...................15-5....................2-2
Msla Surgical/H Interiors...........5...................15-5....................2-2
Cordial PT............................7...................13-7....................2-2
Whispering Pines/SG Long.........6...................14-6....................1-2
Doc Mitko's Orosh...................12...................11-8-1.................1-2
Boomers/JGC.........................3....................16-4.....................0-2
Westwood Const/Canyons.........9.....................NA.....................0-2
Boomers/HMFIC's....................12....................11-9...................0-2
The current word is that Missoula has 10 berths for State C. Unlikely that many teams will go. It sure would be nice to see some of our Missoula softball friends in Anaconda. Teams to cheer for. No word yet on when we will play or how many teams will be participating.
The Missoula Softball Association voted to provide money rather than trophies for the district Tournament. The money will be applied to the $200 State entry fee. 1st place gets $200, 2nd and 3rd place teams will recieve $100 each. Thank you to the MSA Board.
"C" District Tournament - Tuesday, July 31, 2007
It seems that ever since we made a team decision in May to play in the State Tournament in Anaconda, we have been subconsciously gearing towards this District tourney, hoping and believing we would do well in it; which would then put us in good shape for the State Tournament. While we may not have imagined it playing out the way it did, it still played out pretty darn nicely. 2nd place out of 12 teams is a solid performance. Rather than looking at our 2nd place finish as a disappointment, my sense is that our team is looking at it as reaffirmation of what a solid team we are and how much confidence we deserve to be taking with us to the State Tourney. There is no doubt in anyones mind that the number 1 seed could just have easily have been ours. The fact is that Rocky Mountain Eye earned it, it is theirs to be proud of. We have some things to be very proud of as well. High expectations and close losses will test the chemistry of any team. We had both and we responded with a chemistry that was strong and positive going in to the tournament and is even stronger after it. That is one of the reasons our team just keeps getting better. One of the players from a team we played made the remark to me that what their team needed to do to start winning more was to mature and find the chemistry that he sees us having. It was an insightful and much appreciated compliment.
Many thanks to Paul Marron for agreeing to come out of summer retirement to help us out. It is always nice when Paul plays with us. He made some nice plays in the outfield and a sweet tag out at home plate. He was also hanging with Jeff and James after our Saturday games..we were all pleasantly surprised when Paul showed up on time Sunday morning. Hereare some stats for the tourney:
1st game vs. Canyons. Yikes! It seemed we were starting off with a darn tough draw. Canyons had beaten us earlier this year in the Championship game of the MSA Tournament. Well...that was then and this was now. They scored 4 in the bottom of the 1st and nothing after that. We won this game 12-4. Deano and Sha-na-na the poodle kissing boy, went deep for us. (See the Bubbas for the Superior Tournament for more details). The team was 24-40 for a .600 batting average.
2nd game vs. Boomers: James called tails and we were home team. We started strong, scoring 8 in the 1st, on our way to a 5 inning 15-2 victory. Patrick hit one into the cheap seats for us. The team was 20-30 for a .666 batting average. Boomers had earned a 1st round bye based on their solid regular season record.
3rd game vs $ilver Slipper: This was the last game of the day. We started off strong again, scoring 11 runs in the first two innings. We won this game 17-4 in 5 innings. Although the book does not show it, I think Mike Fuchs hit a round tripper for us in this game. We were 27-40 for a .675 team average. A very nice first day. The team gathered in the shade after the game and felt good together about how the day had gone. James chose to take this time to rob David's 5 year old son Henry of some of his innocence by asking Henry to pull on his finger...of course Henry did...and of course James made some barnyard sounds and smells come out of his shorts. James is Henry's new hero. Yikes!
4th game vs. Rocky Mountain Eye (undefeated game); It was around this time that James fell and bonked his head on the way to the coin flip. (See the Bubbas for more details). We were visitors and started off strong scoring 5 in the top of the 1st. The game was close right up to the end. Rocky Mountain Eye ended up winning 14-13. Patrick hit a 2 run dinger in the 1st inning for us. This was the 1st of 3 games with RME today, and as with all 1 run games, it could have gone either way. This time it was their turn. There were lots of wonderful defensive plays. This game/loss was interesting in that I saw us tap into our character, put the game behind, us and shift our focus to the task at hand...winning our next game so we could get another crack at RME. I also saw and heard not one discouraging word. How we feel and treat each other is always more important than whether we win or lose. Our team chemistry gets an A+ for how we responded to a disappointing loss. Great job guys.
5th game, vs $ilver Slipper: $ilver Slipper beat The Maulers to earn their way into this game. If it was a football game it would have been The Orange Bowl. As I take a look at our team pictures over the years...it is like a citrus-based virus creeping its way onto our team. Of course it started with Jeff, James and Shawn..three guys who have always been on the cutting edge of how to dress on the softball field. Suddenly there is a whole lotta orange on our team. Uhm...we were visitors again. We started off strong, scoring 6 in the 1st on our way to a 7 inning 17-5 win. The softball gods have smiled on us when playing Silver Slipper this year. They are a good team who has had a lot of success. For whatever the reason, we really come to play ball against them. The team was 31-43 for a tournament high .720 team batting average. This win put us into the Championship game vs. RME.
6th game vs. RME (1st championship game): Visitors again..The 100 degree heat and long weekend was beginning to take it's toll on both teams. We took an early 4-0 lead in the 1st inning. We scored 1 more run in the 3rd and did not score again in the 4th-5th-6th-or 7th, yet managed to hang on for a 5-4 victory. there were some great defensive plays in this game. Yahoo! Rocky Mountain Eye insisted on going back up the middle and Mike Dimmitt, Tracy and Mike Fuchs made them pay for it. We had forced a second championship game and despite the heat, were felling pretty darn good about it. We were 15-34 for a .441 team average. RME was 14-33 for a .424 team average.
7th game, (2nd championship game): Alright James!!...his head is clear again, he calls tails and we win and are home team for the 2nd time this weekend. Oh Lord what a game. Both teams working really hard..It was so hot..it reminded me of that movie "Hidalgo," where the Cowboy signs himself and his horse up for some crazy race across the desert. By the end of the race he is parched and hurting and seeing mirages. This game kept going and going. First it looked like they were going to win, then it looked like we were going to win...then they did finally win 6-4 in two extra innings. I don't think the players were the only ones suffering from the heat and seeing mirages as the strike zone, the batters box, and the legal arc kept getting smaller and smaller, like a water hole drying up in the hot desert sun. It sure was a good time tho. Despite not winning it all, the really good feelings far outweighed the disappointment and frustration. The team was 19-45 for a .422 team average. RME was 15-42 for a .357 average.
For the tournament we were 158-272 for a .580 team batting average. Against teams not named Rocky Mountain Eye were were 102-153 for a .666 team average. In our 3 games vs RME we were 56-119 for a .470 average. On Saturday we scored 44 runs in 3 games for a 14.6 RPG average. On Sunday we scored 39 runs in 4 games for 9.75 average. For the tournament were scored 83 runs in 7 games for an 11.8 RPG average. Our opponents scored 39 runs in 7 games for a 5.5 RPG average. Great pitching and defense guys.
So we are off to State. Our friend David Thompson will be joining us. Again we thank Paul Marron for his much appreciated help this weekend. The injury report is still out. Patrick is recouperating from a nasty water skiing accident and threw himself around just like the doctor, his wife, and his parents told him not to do. Hopefully the two weeks off between tournaments will be enough for Patrick to recover and be even stronger than he was this weekend. Patrick's gutsy play was much appreciated. Shawn is all scraped up as usual, making his sliding catches in the outfield takes a toll on his boney old knees. Shawn said he would wear some neoprene knee sleeves if they were orange...hmmm, we'll see if he is a man of his word. Dean Thompson found some on the internet, they've been ordered and will be here the week before State. I spoke with Shawn today and he told me that he popped something in his wrist playing in a double-header on Monday. We will keep our fingers crossed that he will be okay for State. Last but not least in our injury report is the unfortunate player who was struck with a serious and untimely case of Ultimate Fighter's Elbow (known in sports injury circles as Octogon Elbow), he should also be ready to go. I think everyone else came out of the tourney in fairly good shape. Mike Fuchs is off to Butte this weekend to play in the State +35 tournament. We wish Michael well...
Everybody played great. Mike Dimmitt was incredible on the mound, throwing strikes all weekend and taking away hit after hit from players who were trying to go back up the middle. Patrick and Jeff were throwing themselves around, making stellar plays on the corners, Mike and Tracy were a sweet double play combination...I think Tracy has some kind of stick-um in his glove..amazing snags of hot shots. Shawn made his typical handfull of base-hit-robbing, diving catches in left field, Allen made his patented sliding catches and continued to not listen to his little league coach by catching everything in sight with just one hand. Deano, David and Paul caught every ball that was hit to them..and James of course continued to cement his reputation as the best catcher in the State....and our 3rd base coach only got two guys thrown out at the plate..not bad huh? Great stuff guys. What a fun team to be a part of.
Superior Montana Tournament - Monday, July 30, 2007
Kuddos to Shawn Hollenbeck for doing a great job of putting together a team for this highly competetive, small town, softball tournament. I believe there were 28 men's teams competing this weekend. Just how tough was the competition? Boomers of Missoula had just won the "B" Division of Goostown's huge tournament. A wonderful feather in their cap. They went to Superior and lost their 1st game. I don't know how they finished but I don't think they were one of the final 3 teams playing...
We lost our first two games. The first was to the bi-lingual Helena team that had beaten us earlier this year in the Elbow Room Tournament. The second loss was to Silver City of Idaho. We have beaten them before, but our bats were on strike or something. After this loss, we were placed in the 1-pitch, don't bitch division. It was a blast, partly because we won our 3 games to be the champs of this division, but also because it was just get up there and swing the bat. Who needs to take the first pitch anyway? We hit the ball well. It was a fun time. We are the proud owners of nice new "One Pitch Champions" t-shirts.
Shawn was a great host. His parents were out of town, so just like when he was in high-school he decided to have a house party. He cooked up some softball burgers and gave the team a chance to get out of the sun and cool down. It worked wonders as the team won the game that evening and the next two on Sunday. Thanks to Shawn for a fun weekend and a really nice tune up for the upcoming district tournament in Missoula. Thanks to Rich Hoffman who did a nice job organizing the tournament. Rich also umpired our last two games. We also want to thank Rich for keeping us humble by placing us in the upper division.
4th Annual Keith thompson/Ron corr +35 Tournament. - Friday, July 6, 2007
Repeat Champs! 6-0 record. Wonderful job guys. It sure was a lot of fun. There was nice competition in the tournament and the team played very consistently. One of the trademarks of this tourney was that we had a big inning nearly every game.
1st game vs. Calgary Fatboys..We won 21-7 in 6 innings. Team Geritol was 32-42, for a team batting average of .762. An 11 run 6th inning sealed the game for us. Please check the Bubbas for some highlights of this game. Sorry Mike.
2nd Game vs. City Bar of Great Falls..Team Geritol won 29-16, again in 6 innings. This game was interesting in that City Bar tied up the score at 16-16 in theiir top half of the 6th inning. Team Geritol then scored 12 runs in the bottom of the 6th to end the game on the 12 run rule. We scored the final 11 of those runs with 2 outs on us. The team was 38-53 for a .716 batting average.
3rd game vs. Old Dirty Dogs of Great Falls...We won 22-2 in 4 innings. A 14 run 2nd inning was the key to this victory. All 11 players in our lineup scored before we had any outs on us. For this game, we hit 29-39 for a .743 batting average. Thank you to the Softball Gods. they were smiling on us today. Based on our play, Team Geritol earned the #1 seed for the day. We were the only undefeated team left in the tourney.
Sunday, double elminiation..1st game vs..Mr. C's of Missoula. We won this game 20-7. An 11 run 4th inning helped us gain an advantage. We were 29-43 for a .674 team average. Check the Bubbas for a little Team Geritol welcome to Rich Hoffman during this game.
Semi-final game vs Calgary Fatboys, we won 16-4 in 5 innings. A 10 run 3rd inning helped provide some distance. We were 25-37 for a .676 team average.
Championship game vs The Sting of Great Falls. the Sting was the #2 seed after Saturday's play. The hit first and scored 7 runs in the top of the 1st. We returned the favor by scoring 7 in the bottom of the 1st. The Sting was ahead 12-9 after 4 innings. We scored 7 in the 5th and 7 again in the 6th to forge a 23 -13 lead after 6. In their final at bat The Sting made things interesting by scoring 6 runs before we finally got them out. the game ended with a 23-19 score. We were 36-50 for a .720 team average. For the 6 game tournament, Team Geritol was 189-264 for a team average of .715. Very nice weekend guys.
It was a fine team effort. The members of the +35 Team Geritol crew were, Mike Fuchs, David Felker, Mike Dimmitt, Alex Keffeler, Rich Hoffman, Don Chery, Dean Thompson, David Thompson and Mike Perry. Roger Wilhite did a great job of helping us out as we were missing some of our regulars. Roger played with us and recruited two of his Butte friends, J.P. Gallagher and Scott Ferguson. both were nice guys and played excellent ball for us. Finally a reason to give our friend Roger some positive press. As is our custom, individual ink goes to anyone who hits .800 or better for the tournament. David Thompson earned that honor by going 24-28 for an .857 tournament batting average. Nice job David, especially for your first outing of the season.
Special thanks go to James Stokes and Jeff Weaver for volunteering their time to sell shirts, hats, team photographs, and basically man the tournament command center. We couldn't have done it without their help. Thanks a million guys.
Elbow Room Tournament - Friday, June 22, 2007
Uhm...I seem to have lost the stats for this tournament. I'll be darned. Maybe I will find them in time to offer a little write up for the newsletter. Enough said...Onwards and upwards. Good things are waiting for us. Districts and State will be a blast.
C'mon Blue Tournament - Friday, June 1, 2007
Nice tournament guys! Champs in back to back tournaments. What a fun feeling. Here are some of the tourney stats:
1st Game vs O'fers of Coeur D'Alene, we won 19-7. We were 28-47 for a .595 team batting average. 2nd game was against the Missoula Maulers. We won this game 9-3. The highlight of this game was Alan's amazing, over the fence catch, to rob the Mauler batterof a sure home run. Alan also doubled up the runner who left early from second base. It was the turning point in the game. Oh, to be young and flexible. The team was19-38 for a .500 batting ave. 3rd game was Sunday AM vs. Boomers. We won this game 13-10. We were 27-46 for a team ave. of .586. See the Bubbas for more info on this game. The Championship game was interesting. We again played Boomers, they had some new players because some of their other players were playing in the co-rec games. James won his 1st coin flip of the tourney and Boomers responded by scoring 13 runs in the top of the 1st. Darryl hit two out in that inning for Boomers. Our team stayed calm and poised. I think everyone on the team still expected to win the game. You could feel the calm. We did win, 16-15. finally taking the lead in the bottom of the 5th. We were 27-41 for a .658 batting ave. For the tournament we were 101-172 for a team tourney ave of .587. We scored a total of 57 runs in 4 games. Our opponents scored 45. This averages out to a 14-11 game. Tim Yoder, led the team in hitting and was named CO-MVP along with Alan Fox. Nice tourney guys.
C'mon Blue Bubbas - Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Please check the Bubba's section to see who earned a Bubba for last weekend in the C'mon Blue Tourney.
Rhino Rumble Champs May 19-20 - Friday, May 18, 2007
RHINO RUMBLE CHAMPS!! Nice job guys. Here are some tourney stats: Record 5-0. Game #1, was 20-2, our team was 25-41 for a .610 ave. Game #2 was 20-0, we were 31-43 for a .720 ave. Game #3 was 28-3. We were 36-45 for an .800 team ave. On Sunday we played Silver Dollar twice, winning 10-6 and 20-7. In the first game we were 19-36 for a .528 average. In the championship game we were 28-44 for a .636 team average. For the tournament our team batting average was .670. Patrick gets individual ink for breaking the.800 mark. He was 16-20 for an .800 ave. We scored an even 100 runs in the 5 games we played. We held the opposition to 18 runs. This was a result of Dean's excellent pitching and some outstanding defensive play. Dean was voted team MVP for his efforts on the mound. Great job Deano, well-earned. Our defense has always been strong, and this weekend it was absolutely wonderful. The infield turned a number of sweet double plays. Jeff started some at third, Mike and Tracy took turns making them at 2nd and short. Patrick as always, completed the play. The outfield was as solid as ever. Even with two new faces out there. Billy's basket catches made everyone pucker up. Allen showed nice range and a strong arm. Shawn and David made important catches and of course, behind the plate, nobody stole a base on James. Thanks for a fun weekend guys. Even more important than how well we played this weekend was the healthy atmosphere around our team. Our dugout is wife and kid friendly. Our language is clean, our humor is safe, we have respect for the game and each other. Not all dugouts are that way. Now, if we could just get James and Jeff to own up to the "Poodle-Boy" posting, our team would be burning clean. Fess up boys
C'mon Blue Tournament - Friday, May 18, 2007
This tourney has been rescheduled for June 2-3. We are playing. As always our lineup changes a bit each tournament. It looks like we will have another strong crew for the C'mon Blue.
MSA Tournament, 2nd place. April 28-29 - Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Nice Tournament guys! It was our first outing of the year and second place out of 12 teams, is nothing to complain about. It was a nice effort and a solid accomplishment.
James has been pushing me hard to post some MSA Tournament stats. He thinks he out-hit Jeff and he wants it in print big time. James knows better than that. I'll never tell. James and Jeff can work that one out between themselves.
As a team, we were 4-2 for the tournament. We were 133-235 for a team batting average of .565. We scored 84 runs in 5 games for an average of 16.8 runs per game. Our opponents scored 69 runs in those 5 games for an average of 13.8 RPG. That seems right as we didn't really blow anyone out and we lost our two games, 12-6 and 12-9.
To provide some perspective, In 2005 we were 0-3 in this tournament, Yikes! Last year (2006) we were 5-2 and finished in second place. In 2006, we averaged 24.7 RPG and hit .685 as a team. While the hitting numbers are down this year, it was the first tournament of the year and I have no doubt our hitting will continue to improve. We have solid hitters from top to bottom. I also think the move to 4 home runs per game is going to help us. We showed nice power. Our defense was good this tournament. Infield and outfield both made some great plays. Behind the plate, was also tough..nobody stole a base on James.
As far as out-hitting Jeff, sorry James, you'll just have to settle for knowing you were the best number 10 hitter in the tournament.
Team Geritol photos - Thursday, March 22, 2007
We would love to post as many Team Geritol photos as possible. If any of you have a team photo that is not posted, we would scan it and get it back to you promptly. Thanks.