O.B.I. Proves They Belong...

#6 seed O.B.I. uses timely hitting and their McGlovin's to down #3 Shock Therapy 15-10 in the Season 1 D1 Tournament Quarterfinals. In the Semis, the Knuckle Babies put a whooping on us and in the 3rd Place game,,, Warning Track Power cowered up to the bar and gave in to their better judgement not wanting another smacking around of their own... Well, ok, the beer and foodage may also have had a hand in WTPs' decision making process.

But I digress... Game 1 was a good battle with OBI holding onto the lead after being down 1-0 after one inning. 

John and Jayse reached base safely in the second. With two outs, Nuta, JR, Larry, and Rance all collected hits to put us on top 4-3 after 2. We kept rolling as the top of the order started the 3rd inning in fine fashion,,, Matt, Clint, Spillane singles preceeded Steve's 2 run Double. And then, John drove in the 4th run of the inning.

Leading 9-8 in the top of the 5th, Steve walked (prolly on 3 pitches,,, not that there is anything wrong with that, just stating fact, or presumptive scientific guesstimation, again, I digress) and some more players hit the ball where they weren't well enough to drive in a couple more runs, blah blah blah...

Any hooch(ie-mama, sorry, just could not resist,,, arrrrggghh, I digress yet again), and other 3 spot was added in the top of the 6 inning. Rance started it, John finished it, 'nuff said... Shock Therapy went quietly in the bottom of the 6th and that was that.
 
Keep points to the victory that keeps OBI in D1 for another season:

• 9 of our 15 runs were scored with two outs in the inning.
• Only 3 of 25 hits went for extra bases on big ol' field 5 (all doubles).
• John continued his roll in Season 1 with a 4-4 effort.
• 13 of 18 outs made by Shock Therapy were fly balls.
• Only to be out done by us as we flew out 15 times.

A 6-19 loss to Knuckle Babies put OBI in the 3rd Place game. A nice 5 inning run rule that was painful as the KBerz were certainly on task with 'tude in full force. That said, Nuta and Michael both went 2-2 and only Matt and Clint were able to collect 2 hits in the game.

The 3rd Place game was tough but we fought through the 7-0 forfeit and accepted our ,,, crap, we got nuttin' ,,, though there was the extra practice and ,, dammit, am digressing. I so need some new material.

Suffice to say that O.B.I. is in for another D1 Season and we are happy to be here. We open the season facing Chico's Bailbonds and Runnin' Fools on field 4 this week... Don't forget your $$$ ...

OBI 0-2 in 2015 Jerseys...

5-8-1 OBI finished the season in 6th place and will face 3rd seed Shock Therapy in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Season 1 D1 Tourney. This after two decent efforts last week versus #2 seed Knuckle Babies where OBI lost two 3-run games, 7-10 & 10-13.

The big news of the week was definitely the new jerseys being distributed before the game. The bad news is that we have yet to win while wearing them...

The Knuckle Babies squad is made up of tournament players from several teams. They are a solid team that played to enjoy themselves this week. However, we were not able to fully take advantage of their lackadaisical play and we were fairly quiet offensively. Our 29 hits and .460 team batting average were numbers we should not aspire to hit often if we wish to remain in D1 ;~) ...

Game 1 was all about the 3rd inning. After Spillane, Steve, and John produced a solo run in the first, the 3rd ended up being the only other run scoring inning. Nuta singled, then was driven in on JRs Double. Matt and Clint followed Larry's line out to RF, with singles where JR scored on the latter hit.

Spillane stayed out of a double play with good hustle, and then Steve and John followed with back-to-back Doubles. Michael capped the inning with a 2-run single to center. Having pulled to within 7-9, OBI was unable to score in the final 3 innings.

The drought continued into the third inning of Game 2,,, giving OBI 5 consecutive non-scoring innings. Oh Joy... However, the big news of the day was,,, YES!!!,,,

Steve broke up the perfect game with a 3-pitch walk in the bottom of the 3rd. Michael's own Base on Balls and a Jakob single later,,, ho hum,,, Jayse hit it like a MAN! and a Grand Slam was born... The four runs tied the game after 3 innings.

The tie was short lived as the KBs nailed a 7 spot in the top of the 4th inning. Matt then walked to open our 4th inning at bats. And with two-outs, Steve and John go back-to-back again, this time with Triples. Michael once again, caps the run outburst with an RBI, ho hum, single.

Jayse and Paul opened the 5th with singles but a double play put a damper on the rally. Larry followed up with a run scoring single for our solo run in the inning that brought the score to 8-13.

In our final at bat, down 5 runs,,, Clint and Steve both scored on hits by John and Michael. But the rally was cut short two batters later and the final 10-13 was in the books.

We will begin this weeks tournament play at 8:15 on field 5 in hopes of making some noise further in D1.

Runnin' Fools False Start As OBI Reaps an Important Double Header Sweep

In 11 Innings at the dish, 6-5-1 Runnin' Fools scored runs in only three (3) innings. 5-6-1 OBI scored runs in 8 innings at bat and were victorious 12-9 in a six-inning Game 1 and 15-5 in Walk Off HR-to-the-Run-Rule style in Game 2.

JR and Larry coaxed enough ground balls and fly outs to each pick up a win. JR gave up a 4-spot in the 1st inning and another 5 runs in the fifth inning of Game 1. Larry all but threw a shutout by not giving up a run until a 5 run fifth (deja vu all over again)...

The defense really played well backing up our two Aces. A few line drives found their way through a few gloves in both the infield and outfield, however, as is typical of an OBI Big "D",,, these were the exception rather than the rules.

Game 1 started with Matt lining out to R.Fools SS Corey (who later stated that the ball actually hit the ground, grrrrr)... Clint, Spillane, Steve, Juan, Jakob and Jayse lit up the scoreboard for 5 runs following the imitation out. 

After a quiet 2nd inning, Juan, Jayse, Michael and Larry collected four more hits scoring three runs in the process to push the lead to 8-4. In the fourth inning, just after Spillane hit Clint in the foot while he jumped off of 1st base, Steve drove in another run to extend by one more to 9-4.

In the top of the 5th inning, Jakob walked, then Michael, Larry(doubled), Rance, and Matt raked it and produced another 3 spot to open up a 12-4 lead. Runnin' Fools pushed across 5 to pull it within 9-12 in the bottom of the inning. A quiet 6th inning by both teams was all she wrote as OBI took Game 1.

Game Two was all about more hitting and defense. OBI jumped to an 11-0 lead after 3 and a half innings and needed a 4-spot to win it 15-0 in four. The ump knew it, The Fools knew it, and so did we... Needless to say, OBI got two hits and followed the good start with three fly outs.

Then, in the top of the 5th inning with one on for the Fools, a Line Drive to Left caused a spin out and Jakob hit the ground, hard,,, but was able to chase the ball and keep the batter to a Triple. Shutout goes bye-bye... The score now 11-5 heading to the last of the 5th, Spillane, Steve, and Juan each reach base pushing the score to 12-5. 

I would like to say that Jakob's drive ends up a Big Fly 3-run Home Run Walk Off to end the game and ensure OBI's sweep, and all that would be true sans the Big Fly reference as the ball was overthrown at 3B and Jakob was not to be denied (needless to say that Larry was disappointed he did not get a chance to bat and drive in the winning run LOL)...

Run scored, 15-5,,, ah, another eventful, successful, fun filled outing a Victory Lane Sports Park. Now, only a doubleheader against Knuckle Babies remains before the D1 Tournament. Depending upon how other teams finish up Season 1, OBI has the opportunity to earn as high a seed as 2nd but will be no lower than a 6th in this 8 team D1 Division.

Let's have some fun again this week and surprise the rest of the league with a strong finish my friends...