Splitsville Once Again, OBI Should Pull Down the #6 Seed ...

Inconsistency is the bastard child of Effort and Complacency. Ok, maybe it just seems that way when it is cold and rainy and muddy, who nose. 

OBI earned another weekly split and finishes Season 6 with a 6-7-1 record. We hit extremely well at times and at others, soooo not so much. The effort is there, but someone needs to replace the light bulb on the porch as we sometimes seem to not be home ,,, lol ... Ok, enough dark.

With Murphy's Law splitting an early game double header, the 4th seed was out of reach by the time OBI took the field for the 8:15 game. Ok, ok,,, we started this game an hour late due to an earlier rain delay, but I digress. Winning game 1 gave us an opportunity to control our own destiny for the 5th seed, alas,,, spanksville in Game 2 put us back on our collective 6th seed asses ...

We should open first round play vs. either Skeleton Crew, Mammas Boys, or Warning Track Power. With a good effort in this early January 2014 game, a meeting with #4 seed Murphy's Law will await us.

Game 1 had some good offensive highlights: DC and KC each drove in 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning, KC's via a Big Fly. Having fallen behind 7-11 going to the bottom of the 5th, OBI put up a 6 spot to take the lead capped by an improbable Grand Slam by Mighty Matt (his second HR of the season).

OBI then took back to the offense in the 6th and ran out the clock with 5 hits in 6 at bats. No stalling, just hitting. That is how we do it ...

Of course, that said, Chico's Bail Bonds took it to us in game 2 with a 19-9 rout that most likely sent OBI to the 6th seed. Down 16-3 going into the 4th inning, OBI opened up a real small can of whoop ass and punched across 5 runs with DC and KC going back-to-back... Ya, and that was about it in that misty mountain rain storm there on Thursday night.

The stats for Season 6 follow, however, do note that there are a few interesting season long categories up grab in the tournament ,,,

-- Larry leads Michael 163-161 with the most Hits in 2014 ... Ok, boring I know,,, 
-- KC and Spillane have 14 HRs in 2014, with DC at 12 ... Who finishes atop the Bambino category?
-- @ 47-45-2 ,,, OBI needs one win to guarantee a winning 2014 ... Let's just do it !!!

Bulletin Board Material: Truth is Stronger Than Fiction

As inspirational as the League Standings were to Week 5's effort,,, this weeks material fell flat on its combined ESPN and other lame networks broadcasters faces ... And that is about all I got to say about that...

Game 1 started with a nice 2 run First inning as KC drove in both DC and Larry. Michael was the next OBI'er to cross the plate, doing so on a Sac Fly in the bottom of the 7th inning. DC also scored via Sac Fly on the next at bat. Losing to Midlife Crisis is bad enough,,, but a 4-11 loss just sucks jingle balls...

Game 2 ,,, the hits returned !!! Matt was 4-4 ,,, Steve cleared the bases with a two-out, 3-run Double ,,, DC stroked a 2-run Big Fly ,,, KC edged closer to the Season 6 Batting Title with his own 3-3 effort ...

We look forward to having Clint back for Week 7 .. Those are some big shoes for us to fill at the Hot Corner I tell ya ... Whew !!!

Two wins in Week 7 will guarantee us a 5th or 6th seed in the January 2nd tourney ... We could possibly move up to 4th seed with some help as well... Let's take care of business folks and let the chips fall where they may ...

OBI Game 2 Comeback Nets a Tie after Game 1 Blowout of Skeleton Crew

Chris Nuta brought the Bulletin Board material in the form of the current Season 6 Standings and posted them in the dugout. With OBI's Point Differential being well into negative numbers and all tied for next to last at 3-5 ,,, the call to offense was heeded by the entire squad... Fact is,,, OBI did not score in the 4th inning of Game 2,,, and that was the only Doughnut put up by OBI on this chilly evening that was.

4-5-1 OBI tied a Game High for 2013 with 21 runs in Game 1. We last scored 21 runs in Week 7 of Season 1. The loss drops Skeleton Crew to 3-6-1, thus we should move up the Standings list for next week. Nuta will need to find new motivation ... Though marked 11th in the current standings, we were actually tied for 7th annnnnd,,, were only 1 game out of a tie for 4th... LOL

Game 1 began with a 3-Run Bomb by KC to Left Field. The second inning found Steven driving in two with a double and scoring a run himself. Inning 3's five run outburst was highlighted by Jayse's fixed swing and 5 consecutive hits.

Then, a major hit parade rolled out as OBI batted around in the 4th inning and scored 9 more runs. Spillane's inside the park HR was followed up by the second half of the order continuing their assault on Field 5 ...

Game 2 was a back and forth affair with KC strokin' another Big Fly in the second inning. Steven hit his second Sac Fly in 2 games giving him more SFs than BBs in one evening than modern history can recall...

Down 3 heading into the bottom of the 5th (and last) inning,,, OBI scored 2 to tie on JR's single with two outs. Ryan's continued his good hitting with a line drive in the next at bat ,,, however, the SS had him perfectly played and 13-13 tie ended up better than a loss...

Am guessing we move up to the middle of the pack standings wise... Whew, just out of the reach of a Nuta printout ...

This weeks .600 average is the 10th time we achieved the mark in 2013,,, and only the third time since the beginning of Season 4... Keep it rolling OBIers !!! 

Prescott Valley Big Fly ...

The video below is from a Senior Softball tournament game this past summer in Prescott Valley.

In this tournament, I am playing with the Tucson Bandits at the 50+ AAA level. With the Bandits moving to 55+ for 2014,,, ironically, I am now also playing with the AZ Legends at the 50+ AAA level,,, and they are the folks who recorded this shot I hit out to RF ...

As I was recovering from the thumb injury, this is about my only highlight from Prescott Valley...

Into Every Life, A Little Rain Must Fall ,,,

One Bad Inning (3-5) lost two highly contested games to a solid Just Show Up (4-0) squad that won both games with timely hitting. OBI was solid on defense though was the recipient of a few unlucky bounces and was less consistent at the plate than we needed to be on this first real chilly November night.

OBI held JSU to a big fat 0 in the top of the first of Game 1 and promptly tallied 8 in the bottom half... We followed that inning by scoring only 1 more run and were down 9-12 going into the final inning. JSU scored 14 in the top of the 6th inning to go up 26-9 and then J.R. took control and showed off his improved swing with a 3-run Big Fly capping the scoring.

Game 2 started with 4 runs in the top of the first as DC and Spillane homered followed by Humberto legging out a Triple, scoring on a Jayse Sac Fly. OBI remained consistent at the dish lead 6-0, 8-2, and then 11-7 after four innings...

The sixth and final inning of Game 2 proved problematic as much as Game 1's. After stretching the lead in the top to 12-9, JSU scored 4 runs to sweep the double header with a final of 13-12...

Donkey,,, errr,, Spillane, was bloodied by the ball as much as he put a hurtin' on it as well... Hitting three, yes, 3 Home Runs in Game 2 only ,,, well, only one really counted scoring wise,,, but all three make the stat sheet...

Have gone with a different format this time... No minimum 2 Plate Appearances for the remainder of the Season 6 stats (at least until final stats are posted) and the top 3 in each category are highlighted in Red while the Leader's tally is Bolded ...

D'Oh!!! Spoiler Alert!!! OBI Wins First, Loses Second Game in a Split DH...

Well, well, well ... The more things change, the more things stay the same ... OBI Beat up on Midlife Crisis 17-10 in Game 1 on Thursday night. Then, after an hour of libations (honestly, I saw more food consumed than beer, etc.) Coyote Towing stroked their way up from the border and blasted us 3-18 in four innings ...

Game 1 started very well ... The first inning included 4 consecutive hits culminating in KC's first big fly of the season. This 3-run HR was quite the shot out to LF on field #5 ... OBI followed up the 4 run first by batting around and pushing across another 8 runs to push the lead out to 12-4 after two innings of play. Midlife Crisis never fully recovered from our onslaught and hopefully, never will.

Game 2 was ,,, well, it is what we thought they would be... Or something like that ...

A few people hit the ball, others not so much ... Blah blah blah ...

Good News! There will be a few more Outfielders available for this weeks games versus last season's league champs Just Show Up ... We will need some balanced hitting and solid defense to take both games... And honestly, I believe OBI is due for just such a week.

Here are the stats through the first 3 weeks of play in Season 6 ...

The Silver Platter and the Comeback Kids

Unlike many Thursday nights, OBI lost Game 1 and won Game 2 ... OBI handed Warning Track Power Game 1 on a Silver Platter taking a 4-21 loss. There were misplayed grounders, poor throws, and on & on ... Plus, offensively we were anything but offensive ... 'Nuff Said ...

Game 2 could have gone the same as the first game but grit and determination helped OBI persevere. In a 16-15 win, OBI came back from being down 8-2 and 15-7 to steal the win in the last at bat.

Down 7-15 heading into the top of the 5th, One Bad Inning scored 5 and 4 in the 5th and 6th innings respectively. This while putting up goose eggs for WTP in the bottom half of those innings.

The Home Run chase began to heat up as Matt joined the parade with a Han Solo shot to left field early in game 2... Some will tell you that this jump started the offense. Others will say, he did what? Awesome shot, Matt! 

Ok,,, let's throw out Game 1 and build on Game 2 for next week ... Stats follow,,, and please note that our #12 hitter Ryan is tops in Batting Average (.750) and On Base Pct (.778) ...

List of Five All-Time Great Halloween Sports Quotes

In honor of Halloween, here are five scary sports quotes. Alright, the quotes aren't scary but the people who say them are very scary...Happy Halloween.
1) "The guy in front of me got #76 and the guy behind me got #78."
--Red Grange, "The Galloping Ghost", on how he got number 77 during his football career
2) "That's so when I forget how to spell my name, I can still find my clothes."
--Stu "The Grim Reaper" Grimson, on the Chicago Black Hawks decision to display color pictures of players over their locker room stalls.
3) "But I'm not fighting one bum a month, I'm fighting three or four."
--Buck "Tombstone" Smith, on responding to critics who said his 110-2 record was inflated  because he fought a bum a month
4) "Sometimes we have to remind Demetrius that you don't get extra points for degrees of difficulty."
--Roy Chipman, former Pittsburgh Basketball Coach, on the shot selection of Demetrius Gore
5) "We professional athletes are very lucky. Unlike most mortals, we are given the privilege of dying twice---once when we retire and again when death takes up."
--Johnny "Blood" McNally, Hall of Fame Running Back


NO SOFTBALL THIS WEEK FOR YOU !!! Go Trick or Treating as yourself and you will get more treats !!! C'Ya next week OBIers ...

OBI Splits with strong AAA AZ team to open Season 6 ...

Timely hitting, solid defense, two Grand Slams and +1 HRs ... That recipe (plus the other standard ingredients partaken upon within the confines of the OBI clubhouse ,,, errr dugout area) helped hold down the heavy hitting AAA AZ squad. They hit 3 maybe 4 HRs for outs ... Game 1 Bottom of 1st inning started with a HR from their leadoff hitter, and their pain began ...

The Grand Slams were courtesy of Chris Spillane (Game 1) and David Craycraft (Game 2) ... No one going Han Solo on this team ... Spillane added a 3rd Team HR with a 2-run shot late in Game 2 to cap a 9 RBI night.

Winning game 1 17-12 was a great start to the night. Again, timely hitting and solid defense were in play. A fitting end to the game was the double play from Michael to David to Matt that sparkled brightly.

The game 2 loss was due to a dwindling offensive light during the second half of the game. AAA AZ kept hitting and broke open the game with 6 in the top of the last inning. This sent OBI to a 13-19 loss ... However, we have proven our own worth to ourselves and all expect a good run in Season 6.

OBI scored 30 runs this night ... Only the 7th time we have scored 30+ runs in a double header in the 41 weeks of play thus far for 2013 ... This was the first time with 30+ runs since Week 6 of Season 4. Welcome back you offensive OBIers ...

Here are the Week 1 stats:

2013 Season 5 is complete,,, with Stats !!!

A tough season offensively as OBI was consistently inconsistent ... All thru the season, the comraderie remained at the forefront of our softball efforts and all were focused on hard play and good times ... Our Congress and Senate folk could take a few notes from the effort OBI puts forth each week ...

Here are your Season 5 and YTD Stats ...

New Blogsite Under Construction !!! OBI Wins a Tourney Game ?!?!!!!

I have given up on transferring control of onebadinningaz.blogspot.com to this new Google account and have decided to just move forward from here ... That said,,, 

CONGRATS to One Bad Inning for taking 3rd Place in the 2013 Season 5 tournament last evening. OBI won its first round game and is now 1-4 in opening round matchups in 2013 End of Season Tournament play... 220,,, 221,, whatever it takes ...

Stats for Season 5 will be posted over the weekend and we can begin the push for the holidaze with our weekly fill of blog postings once again... Never fear, Underdog is here !!!

We are playing next week to begin Season 6 of the Victory Lane Softball season with two returning players in David and Keith Craycraft. Unfortunately, this does push Paul and Shylo back to On Call status for Season 6. Both played hard in Season 5 and will be missed...


Congrats again to our two most Senior players, Larry and Michael. Finished with Silver medals at the 2013 World Masters Championships in Vegas a couple weeks ago... Click Here for a link to pictures from the winner's bracket finals game between the Tucson Bandits and Stanislaus Sluggers ...