Mount Up!

Bay City versus Mount Clemons

Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, MI

July 7, 2012

Bay City 16, Mount Clemons 5

The day was nearly as beautiful as the scenery on the pitch near The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island when the Bay Citys took to the field to participate in a pair of match games put on to honor the 125th Anniversary of the aforementioned Michigan icon.  The first match of the day pit the Bay Citys against the current State of Michigan Champion Base Ball Club, the Regular Base Ball Club of Mount Clemons.  Having challenged the Regulars earlier in the week, the Bay Citys were hopeful to bring both he Championship Cup, and the title of State Champion back to our city by the Bay.

The order of striking was decided by a test of skill and speed that was won by the Bay City contingent of Alan "Kid" Garcia, and Sean "Tanner" LeRoux, and the Independents chose to strike last in the contest leaving the Regulars the chance to begin the scoring for the day, and they did so with skill and speed.  The Regular third sacker, Cartwright, began the match with a neatly placed safety that had him make his first, and he took his second by theft, the second striker in the order, Tea Cup, then drove him home to open the scoring for the Regulars and give the Champions the lead in the contest.  The Bay Citys would more then match the Mount Clemons efforts in their first with "Kid" Garcia opening the striking with one hand down, and then pilfering his second.  Kid would tally thanks to the striking of Brian "Butterfly" Beceril, who would also make his second by the art of thievery.  Beceril would tally with two hands down thanks to a howitzer from the bat of Tom "Cat" LeRoux whose blast had him take his second.  Cat would require no theft to make his ace, as the next striker in the order, Justin "Doc" Garcia simply cleared the trees in right to make his second and drive the Cat to tally.  Doc would steal his third, and then tallied on a daisy cutter from the bat of Branden "The Rope" Revette.  The scoring would end there though, as the left fields man for the Regulars would make a brilliant bound catch on a cannonade from the bat of the Silverback that would have easily cleared the confines of our home Carroll Park.  Bay City now held a 4 to 1 lead in the contest that they would never relinquish.

In the second innings each club would trade aces keeping the margins of the contest essentially the same.  The Regulars would add another run in the third continuing their fine striking, but Bay City would match it, and then surpass it with their finest inning of the weekend sending nine strikers to the mark and tallying six aces of their own.  The biggest strike of the innings came in the form of redemption for the Silverback who was able to drive another howitzer deep into the garden that was able to split the fleet fielders of Mount Clemons and allowed him to make his second with ease.  The match was now clearly in Bay Citys favor at 11 to 3.

Bay City would whitewash the Regulars in the fourth thanks to the fine pitching of Mr. Beceril, and the Butterfly would put on another display at the plate by plating a home run with two hands lost in the Bay City fourth.  The Independents would tally another ace in the innings as well when Buttons McInerney made his first, then stole his second and tallied on another two bagger from the bat of Cat LeRoux.  Both clubs would be skunked in the fifth innings, but the Mount Clemons gents would plate an ace to draw closer in the contest in the sixth thanks to a long strike into the garden by Mr. Dublin.  The score would remain 13 to 4 entering the seventh innings, as the Independents would fail to tally again in the sixth thanks to the fine fielding of the Regulars and the excellent pitching of Ray Pachuta.

In the seventh innings the Regulars would tally again thanks to the striking of Mr. Cartwright, and the Bay Citys would plate three more with the largest blast coming from the bat of the Butterfly when he mashed the apple deep into the long field to make his second, and then tallied thanks to consecutive safeties from Buttons, and Cat LeRoux.  Both clubs skunked each other in the final innings to bring the final ledger to bear at Bay City 16, and Mount Clemons 5, thus allowing Bay City to once again lay claim to the title of State Champion.  We thank the Mount Clemons gents for their fine play, and welcome the chance to play them again in just three short weeks time.

Bay City visits Walker Tavern
Cambridge Historic State Park, Brooklyn, MI • June 30, 2012
FINAL SCORE: Bay City 30, Walker Tavern 15

After a long carriage ride the Independents unhitched their wagons at a peaceful setting known as Walker Tavern.  The confines were beautiful to behold, but would pose a challenge for fieldsmen, no doubt this field would play decidedly in the 2011 World's Tournament, Runner-up, Reserve Champion, Walker Wheels favor.

The match began with a bat-toss that was won by the Wheels captain, Jim "Crazy Legs" Terwilliger.  Winning the toss, the Wheels chose to strike first, and they wasted no time spinning their wheels.  The Walker Tavern gents sent 9 men to the plate in the first and struck for two long doubles, while tallying 5 aces.  After the first they would hold a 4 run advantage when Bay City could only tally one run thanks to the ginger of their lead striker Tanner LeRoux, who legged out a safety, then stole second, took third on a ground ball, and plated his ace on a fly ball to the garden.

In the second innings the Wheels would almost mirror their first sending nine strikers to the line, and plating another 5 aces.  Unlike the first innings though, the Bay Citys wouldn't muster a single run, and now the Walker Tavern gents had a commanding lead at 10 to 1.

The bell to open the third innings seemed to awaken the Bay City defenses as they whitewashed the Walker Tavern boys for the next six innings with a variety of excellent fielding plays by the likes of Justin "Doc" Garcia, Sean "Tanner" LeRoux, and Tom "Cat" LeRoux mixed with fine pitching by Jayme "Cap" Johnson and Jeff "Silverback" Rahl.  The offense wouldn't begin crawling back into the contest however until the fourth innings when Tom "Cat" LeRoux opened the striking for Bay City with a long drive that saw him make his second.  Then Branden "The Rope" Revette strode to the plate and unleashed a howitzer that went well beyond the left fields man and saw him make his home run easily.  Those two runs would be all for the fourth innings, but began a string of scoring innings for Bay City that would't be broken throughout the entirety of the day.

The Independents crept closer in the match in the fifth innings when Tanner LeRoux and Kid Garcia tallied to put the contest at 10 to 5.  It was the sixth innings for Bay City that truly broke open the contest.  After whitewashing the Wheels in the previous four innings the Independents put on a striking performance that would rival an Independence Day illumination display sending 16 strikers to the plate, and tallying 13 aces.  Long doubles to the garden by Justin "Doc" Garcia, Tom "Cat" LeRoux, and Jeff "Silverback" Rahl would be the high marks for an inning that saw Dean "Sawmill" Koch tally twice.  The innings would come to an end when the Wheels captain, Jim "Crazy Legs" Terwilliger, nabbed the Bay City captain, Jayme "Cap" Johnson at home plate with a fine throw from the garden.

The Bay Citys would tally three more times in the eighth innings thanks in part to another long strike to the garden by Tom "Cat" LeRoux that saw him make his second and tally for his third of what would be four aces in all for the day.

The Wheels would make a valiant charge in their ninth innings, now down 20 to 10, but much like General Pickett, they would find that the hill to climb was just too high, and it's defenders too well armed.  The Bay Citys would kill their rally with a brilliant grab of a cannonade, that seemed assured to reach the garden and plate another ace by their Captain Mr. Terwilliger, that was snatched from the air by the fine Independent's short stop, Sean "Tanner" LeRoux.  The Walker Tavern gents would put up five runs in the innings though, to effectively end the contest at 20-15.

The Bay Citys would take to striking in their ninth innings and again sent 15 men to the stripe, with long doubles from the bats of Jason "Buttons" McInerney, Doc Garcia, Cat LeRoux, Kid Garcia, and Jimmy "2 Quarts" Arnold.  In all the Independents would add 10 aces to their part of the ledger, and finish the contest with a tally of 30.

The contest finished with both clubs reclining to a fine chicken dinner put on by the home club, and their wonderful ladies.  It was a beautiful day for base ball, and there was a LOT to behold on this day.  Both clubs will meet again in Bay City on July 15th, a Sunday.  If they can dodge the police on this day, and skirt the blue -laws then it should be another great match.

Return of the Grangers

Bay City hosts Rochester Hills

June 23, 2012

Carroll Park, Bay City, MI

Bay City 11, Rochester Hills 6

It had been two long winters since the Grangers of Rochester Hills had graced the ball grounds at Carroll Park in single match play against the Independents in Bay City, and the air was filled with anticipation for their return.  Just as when old friends happen by chance to amble into the same pub, and remake their acquaintance the pitch was filled with handshakes, smiles, warm greetings, and talk of family and time since past.  As sincere as the compliments were though, no doubt each club had in mind to play a fierce match, and the Bay Citys were most assuredly well aware that the last time the clubs met in Rochester of last season, the Grangers wrested the State Championship, which was freshly won by Bay City, and never relinquished it for the season's entirety.  Friends though they may be, these were the Grangers of Rochester Hills and this match would be battle with turning tides, and waves of momentum.

The match began with Bay City winning the coin toss that was presided over by Gary "The Judge" Gerkin, the umpire for the day, and deciding to take the field leaving the striking for the Grangers to start.  Needing no real invitation to apple mashing the Grangers went to work plating two aces after their first two hands were killed in the innings.  The loss of the second hand would be a precursor to the type of scientific base ball that would be put on display by both clubs on this day, as Pat "Barn Raiser" McCay drove a sure safety into the left field only to have his hand erased by a sliding catch by the Bay Citys left fielder, Jason "Buttons" McInerney. Craig "Slappy" Prasatek, the fine first sacker for the Rochesters,  would begin the rally driving a ball into the center garden and making his first.  Not to be outdone "Butterchurn" Straub followed with a nearly identical strike that would place Prasatek at third and Straub at second setting the stage for Anthony "Goodfella" Prasetek who would not disappoint with a cannonade into the left garden that had him make his first and drove home the games first run.  Mr. David "Nails" Mallmann would follow with another well placed ball into the center garden that would drive home Mr. Straub and staked the Grangers to a two run lead that would hold up after the Bay City first as the Grangers skunked the Independents in order.

Both clubs would slap on the whitewash and the score would remain unchanged until Jeff "Silverback" Rahl stepped to the plate for the Bay Citys in their third innings.  The Silverback had injured himself earlier in the week while taking part in some questionable sport whose import does not warrant further mention in these pages, and so required the use of a runner.  Thankfully, the fleet of foot Dean "Sawmill" Koch was available for just such duty as the Silverback blasted a howitzer into the right-center garden that bounded beyond the confines of the yard and into the nearby pond.  The orb safely afloat, and unreachable by those not employing waders, or a canoe, allowed the mercurial Koch to traverse the bases in Rahl's stead.  There was some question near the bench area as to whether Koch should stop at third, in order to more accurately display the physical acumen of the Silverback, but others believed that with the ball safely in the pond even the great ape would have made the complete circuit.  At any rate the heroics of both men allowed the Bay Citys to tally their first run in the contest, and made a tighter scratch of the game at Rochester 2 and the Independents 1.

Neither club would tally in the fourth innings, but Mr. Mallman, and Mr. Rasonke of the Grangers would both plate aces in the fifth innings to stretch the Grangers lead to three.  The Bay Citys then blew the top off the match by sending ten strikers to the mark in the fifth, and tallying six aces of their own.  Two tallys came upon a blast by Justin "Doc" Garcia that traveled into the right field garden and did some tree-top trimming before falling safely to the ground.  At the completion of the fifth innings the Independents held their first lead in the contest at 7 to 4.

The Grangers would tally one run in each of the sixth and seventh innings, but the Bay Citys would match them with two runs of their own in the seventh, one of them from one of their newest members Matt "Barrel-Roller" Bernard, who would make his first safety for the club and then traversed the bases tallying on a daisy-cutter from the bat of Jason "Buttons" McInerney.  Alan "Kid" Garcia would also tally in the innings to finish his day with two aces scored.  After whitewashing the Grangers in the eighth and ninth innings the Bay Citys would tally once themselves in each instance and finish the scoring for the day, and would take home the game ball for the City by the Bay as their trophy in this neatly won contest.  After exchanging pleasantries both clubs reclined to a fine meal and then parted ways hopeful that they would meet again soon to continue this fine base ball friendship and rivalry.