Tottenham Oldtimers Slo-Pitch League

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:  

As you know, the annual "Smile Cookie" campaign run by Tim Hortons raises money for local charities supporting children.  A BIG thank you to Tim Hortons Tottenham for selecting “Help The Kids Play” as their charity for the 2019 campaign. Smile Cookie week runs from Sept 16-22. Smile Cookies are $1 with full proceeds being donated. Tottenham, Palgrave, Schomberg and Mono Mills locations are all participating. Pre-order your box of 12 at your earliest convenience.  www.facebook.com/helpthekidsplay/  There will also be order forms available at the bar this weekend at the playoff tournament.  Let's all chip in and make this a great event for the children of our community! 

*** *** ***

For the next week there will be daily updates on this page, there will be links to the previous page as a new one is published:

For end a list of baseball pool point earners:  CLICK HERE

For 2019 Playoff Synopsis:  CLICK HERE

For Day 1, The First Pitch:  CLICK HERE 

For Day 2, On Deck!:  CLICK HERE

For Day 3, A Seat At the Table:  CLICK HERE

For Day 4, Counting Chips:  CLICK HERE

***

Day 5 – To Rain or Reign?

Our fifth day always stressful.  The full day Saturday is easier on the psyche because you have a full day to look forward to and there is a ton going on.  But Friday?  You’re the only show in town and it’s the only day of the playoffs where there are only four games. 

Not only that, but the scores and standings are posted on the board for the first time.  Now guys that aren’t internet savvy or just find my meandering writing to be distasteful, know what is going in the post-season.  All eyes are on C2 & C3. 

The Gruesome Devils were not in a desperate situation at all coming into tonight.  The were 0-1 but only a -1 but in full control of their destiny.  Not so much for the Draft Kings.  A third loss would see their best possible outcome being 1-3(-3).  Tenuous at best to see an elimination game. 

The Hurtin’ Units and Dusty Cleats both stood at 1-1 with a plus / minus only 3 runs apart.  The winner could still talk about a free pass to Sunday.  The loser still had a better than good chance of an elimination game, but might need some help. 

Dodge City are playing for their post-season lives in this one.  Even a one run loss would see their best possible final result being 1-3 (-6).  They would also have to overcome the loss of their leader in games played, hits and 3^rd on the team in runs in Jason Chiovitti who’s down with a separated shoulder.  Tall order.  Stop me if you’ve heard this one, but the Dog Catchers are already being all “Dog Catchery” at 2-0 +12 and seemingly hell bent on their 53^rd straight year going to Sunday.  Hard to do in a league that’s been around for 34 years. 

Finally the Twisters, who played giant killers against the Grisslies and Draft Kings will try for the their 3^rd upset in a row against the immovable object known as the Bat Flippers.  The best possible record you can have after two games is 2-0 (+14) and that is exactly where the Flippers sit, with wins over last years champs, the Tap Masters and this year’s regular season winners, the Rusty Rebels. 

FRIDAY’S GAMES

#16 Gruesome Devils (0-2, -6) @ #5 Draft Kings (1-2, -4)

The rain mercifully held off for the first two games and the Gruesome Devils and Draft Kings got down to business early, not trusting how long they would have to play.  Gruesome came out of the box hot plating 6 runs in the first inning and sending 11 batters to the plate.  The Draft Kings answered with 3 there own, but found themselves with a 4 run deficit early.  From that point on the Draft Kings started look like the Draft Kings that we've all come to know and love (or not).  The Kings over the next 6 innings would only allow 3 more runs, giving the Devils 10 for the game.  And in typical fashion the Draft Kings did enough to win.  Their 7 runs in the 2nd would secure the tie.  But 5 more would runs would make a safe win.  The final of this one was 15-10 for the Draft Kings. There were a few 3/3's for the Gruesome Devils, but standing out were Dave Connolly and Jerry Muirhead who were both 3/3 with a couple of runs scored.  The Draft Kings have a life fans, people should be worried.  

#9 Hurtin’ Units (1-2, -8) @ #3 Dusty Cleats (2-1, +9)

This game was a mirror image of the Kings Vs Gruesome game.  But on steroids. The underdog Units, much like the Devils jumped out with a huge 1st inning scoring 7 out of the gate.  Much like the Draft Kings the Cleats bounced back with 3.  The subtle change is that the Units would score 6 more runs to count 13 on the night.  However, that wouldn't be nearly enough as the Cleats exploded for 7 in the 2nd, 2 in the 3rd and another 7 in the fourth.  By the time all the dusty (Get it?  Dusty Cleats?) had cleared, the Cleats had counted 26 runs.  The final was 26-13 for the Dusty Cleats.  The Hurtin' Units were led by Chris Bergin who was 4/4 with 2 runs scored.  There were multiple perfect score cards for the very hot Dusty Cleats, but Darrel Hager's 5/5 with four runs and and Cameron Clark's 4/4 with 4 runs were (as Pully would say) outstanding!

#12 Dodge City (0-3, -19) @ #6 Dog Catchers (3-0, +19)

And then it rained. 

I don't know if I mentioned this, but the Dog Catchers are pretty persistent about getting to Sunday.  The Catchers took the long way getting 5 runs in the first inning, sending the maximum 11 players to the plate.  They only needed 9 batters in the 2nd inning to get another 5.  Dodge City was slow out of the gate with a donut in the first, but got three in the second to get on the board.  With their first up in the third inning Dodge got themselves right back into the game, trailing only 10-8.  The Dog Catchers would have nothing to do with the prospect of a close game and immediately threw up a seven spot in the bottom of the 3rd and four more in the fourth to find themselves with 21 runs after four complete.  Dodge wouldn't score in the top of four or five and then the lightening started and the skies opened.  The game was called by the captains under a thunder storm with the Dog Catchers winning 21-8.  Paul Ferris brought his playoff bat tonight going 3/3 with a run scored.  I'm not going to talk about Allen Ellerby's great play at short on this night because it's CLEARLY going straight to his head (yes, there's a smiley face), but I will say that Dave Doucette had a kick ass night going 4/4 with four runs scored.  And he did that in four innings!  

#11 Twisters (3-0, +9) @ Bat Flippers (2-1, +13)

Wow.  You know the timeline of thunder.  And lightening.  And rain.  But with two 2-0 teams, this was a super important game and time really mattered.  The Twisters first three batters reached and scored in the first inning and the Bat Flippers quickly responded with two of their own.  The Twisters had an unenthusiastic 2nd inning and the Flippers did everything the could do except score in their half sending 6 players to the plate but counting nothing.  With two more runs the Twisters would lead 5-2 after 3 complete.  The Flippers bats were crazy in the fourth inning plating seven runs with only a single out to take a 9-7 lead after four complete.  The Twisters came up with in the fifth inning with two out and nobody on and had 5 consecutive hits to score three critical runs and take a 10-9 lead.  In the home half of the fifth the Twisters gave up a lead off single but only three batters came to the plate as they ended the inning on a 6-4-3 double play.  After five complete the Twisters had a 10-9 lead and we had a lightening delay.  And then a rain delay. And a longer rain delay.  Sadly, there was too much water to safely continue and shortly after 10pm the game was called official giving the Twisters a 10-9 win.  Kevin Boston and Kevin Moon were both 3/3 with 2 runs scored for the Bat Flippers.  Mark Clapham was an amazing 3/3 with three runs scored for the Twisters. 

CURRENT STANDINGS

The Dog Catchers have jumped into a strong fist place position, only 2 runs scored of perfect!  The Twisters at 3-0 are pretty solid for a bye.  The Beer Bros., Rusty Rebels, Sons Of Pitches, Sliders, and Inglorious Batsters are fighting for the last two spots!