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All Ron can do is hold the ball as there is no play at first. (Elimov)

The last time Verdasys and Milestones, Inc faced off, Verdasys fielded a strong defense that limited their opponent to a near season low 12 runs. Despite a fielding a vulnerable infield, the Milestones (M’s) fielded a strong outfield unit, which was solid enough to limit Verdasys to just 6 runs and to snag the win.

Today, Coach Wolan will be looking to take advantage of lessons learned from their previous match-up in hopes of collecting win number two. Will the coach be successful or will the M’s have some new tricks of their own?

The area was storm free for the entire day, mooting any doubt that a game would be played. In fact, game day was the best day of the week for a game as the humidity was low and only expected to stay low for Monday. And as before, rains from the previous days made the infield soft but well suited for sliding.

Ill-content with a one-win season, Jerry Buote rallied the club-house before the game with some strategizing and inspirational speaking. In his speech, he referenced what was quoted of him from Game 6 and gave recommendations about how the team should attack hitting and fielding.

“It’s simple folks, solid base hits win ball games, not single homers… (for fielding) we just need to keep doing the best we can for each play. Over time skills get better, so there’s more opportunity for cooler things to happen like double plays.”

He then ended with an assessment of the team’s overall performance to date, concluding that “[the team] is playing much better this season than last.”

Typically, the benches on both teams are not at full capacity 15 minutes before game time. It is quite common for players to trickle right unto game time. But today, the M’s bench had their full compliment of players well before game time. Even though 14 players were scheduled to show-up for Verdasys, some panicked thinking that the team would be short handed. “We don’t have enough players, so we forfeit, right?” asked Colby.

Before the game, Grimard and Jerry gave their approval of the fielding line-up, saying “this looks great”. But in the early going, Colby’s mind just wasn’t in the game, botching an infield pop-up near second and making a certified “fall on field” trying to a field a ball thrown from the outfield to home. Milestones would capitalize and quickly take a 3-0 lead.

Grimard did manage to dazzle the M’s bench with a near single handed double play. With runners on second and third, a fly ball is hit to left field. After Grimard makes the catch, the base runner attempts to advance to home. However, the runner never tagged-up. What follows is a foot race between the base runner retreating back to third and Grimard running in from left field. Though the base runner wins the footrace, the M’s bench was impressed, stating that Grimard “must run daily.”

In the bottom half of the inning, Verdasys would learn quickly that M’s infield would be no pushover as O’Connor and Colby both went down by way of the grounder. Grimard got on base with an opposite field double. But The M’s ruined any scoring opportunity as Avi was robbed of a line-drive hit into center field by the free outfielder to end the inning.

Second inning, Coach Wolan made some minor tweaks the infield, and it paid off as the M’s went down in 2-3-4 order. Leading off in the second inning was Jerry, who forgot about his encouraging word of wisdom and smacked a fly ball to the left fielder for the out. “It’s doesn’t help if I even can’t follow my own advise” said Jerry. “Don’t do what I just did. I’ll make up for it next time I am at the plate.”

Bergstein and A-WOL managed to get outfield base hits, but the M’s infield once again erased any scoring opportunity. Indeed the M’s infield was looking incredibly sharp and efficient.

Top of three, with runners on first and second, a grounder is hit to Bergstein at short. After fielding the ball, Bergstein chases down “The guy with the Red Shoes” and tags him out with the “Bergstein Bump”. The M’s would make a “bump” in the score, scoring three times to take a 6-0 lead. A-WOL helped keep the scoring to a minimum with a nice 5-3 ground-out from short and a behind the head grab of a blooper hit into shallow center field to end the inning. “You managed to keep your balance while making the catch” commented Grimard to A-WOL.

Bergstein tags "The Guy with the Red Shoes" out in the fourth. (Efimov)

Fourth inning was all M’s as they scored 5 time to take a commanding 11-0 lead. The inning was capped by a 2-run ITP run outside the reach of Eno in center field. Bottom half of the forth was uneventful, except for the flying side-kick by O’Connor into second base to end the inning. Apparently, O’Connor made the play because he felt it was the only way which he could outrun the force out at second.

“We’re down by more than 10 runs. That means we have to forfeit, right?” No Colby …

Lady luck would finally side with Verdasys in the fifth. With one down and a runner on first, a batter hits a grounder to A-WOL standing by second. After fielding and tagging second at the same time, A-WOL makes a quick strike to first for the 5-3 double play, the first for the team all season. Not only that, the play confined the M’s to just 4 batters that inning.

With the team scoreless and down by 11 runs, Coach Wolan changed his focus from winning the game to avoiding a shut-out. But he would not have to try hard as Grimard leads-off the inning with an ITP-HR in RF, his second of the season. Following an Avi ground-out, Jerry proves he can live-up to his advice and hits an outfield base hit. Bergstein would later follow with a base hit of his own. With two on and two out, A-WOL steps up and hits a line-drive to third, but directly at the third baseman for the out. A-WOL was visibly frustrated with the output following the out. 11-1 M’s.

Sixth inning, Verdasys shows some good fielding work. With a runner on first and second, Bergstein and Ron would combine for back-to-back 6-5 force-outs at third. This included the second confrontation between Bergstein and “The guy with the red shoes” as the base runner ran outside the base lines to try and avoid Bergstein’s tag. (But was still forced out at third.) Colby ended the inning with a 1-3 force out.

“We though you wanted to forfeit?” After that play, apparently not.

Verdasys would capitalize on the scoreless sixth. Stella gets the inning going with a shallow grounder to third. The third baseman, (AKA “The Guy in the Red Shirt”) falls down trying to field the ball, leading to a hit for Stella. Next up is Ivan the Terrible, who hits a fly ball over the heads of the center fielder, well enough for a double. “When you can hit, you don’t need to run” commented Ivan. The hit puts runners on second and third.

Next up is Aleksey, who hits a grounder to first. The ball looked like it was going to go foul, but the first baseman mistakenly picks-up the ball before it does and fails to follow-through with the play. The play leads to an RBI single as it allows Stella to sneak in and score from third. The run is also Stella’s first career run scored not as a pitch-runner.

Next up is Misha, who hits into a fielder’s choose. The play allows Ivan to score from third. With one on and two out, “Kung Fu” Lijun steps up to the plate with “Big Bertha”. After declining to use a lighter bat, Lijun hit a screaming fly ball into center field. Though the ball is caught of the final out of the inning, the play was later nicked name “Bat of Furry” because of the wallop behind Lijun’s hit.

Avi catches an infield pop-up in the seventh... with a glove. (Wolan)

Coach Wolan shook the fielders around in the seventh to let other players get some field time. During the inning, Avi caught an infield fly ball. While normally uneventful, it is considering that Avi actually used a glove to catch the ball. The M’s would score one to take a 12-3 lead.

And so to the bottom of the seventh we go with Verdasys down by 9. After two quick outs, Grimard keeps the game alive with a double. Next up in Avi, who connects for an RBI double, scoring Grimard. Jerry follows with an RBI single of his, living true to his advice. But the two runs would be all that Verdasys would get as Ron ends the game with a 6-3 force out at first to end the game.

And so, despite putting their best foot forward, the team just could not get around the strengths of the M’s defense and fall 12-5.

On hand for the “Jerry Burote Landscaping Postgame” show was most of the Verdasys team, along with “The guy with the Red Shirt” from Milestones. Burote Landscape, for all baseball and softball field maintenance needs, choose the name everyone trusts, choice Burote Landscaping.

“Who the heck is Jerry Burote?”

He’s a landscaper who intentionally named his company slightly different from Jerry Buote to avoid copyright and other legal claims. Also … Colby’s apparel has been furnished by the Grimard’s, clothing for active people. The show began with a game evaluation from coach Wolan:

“What can I say? The team is understandably frustrated after giving it their best and not walking away with a victory. Our opponent has great outfielder and a very effective infield unit. We just couldn’t break through to score runs.

“As for our team and how we played the three aspects of the game, I think our fielders did very well. We only gave-up 12 runs, which is our best for the season and tied for second best in club history. Our base running was fine. As for hitting, again, our hitters struggled because of the strength of the M’s fielders.”

Q. What was the team’s strategy in today’s game?

Based on what we saw last season, we knew that Milestones had a very effective outfield. But we also felt that their infield was not that solid, which would allow our batters to score hits through the infield. Thus our line-up was setup to try and exploit that weakness.

But to our surprise, the M’s infield was incredibly efficient, sucking up grounders and converting them into force-outs with incredible ease. All we could do was try and connect for solid base hits into gaps. And even then, we weren’t having much success.

O'Connor was 0 for 3 in today's contest. (Efimov)

Q. Mike O’Connor appears to be struggling at the plate as of late. Are there any thought about moving him in the line-up?

Well, I wouldn’t say that he’s necessarily struggling. True, he’s collected fewer hits this season than last season, and yes he made no hits today, snapping a 12-game hit streak. But he only struggled in the games against strong fielding, namely Milestones and Thermo Fisher. Otherwise he’s been productive. Look, if we feel that he is in a slump, we’ll move him around in the line-up until he kicks his funk.

Q. What do you think about the Colby’s performance at this game?

Everyone has the proverbial “turd” game every once in a while. This was hers. Obviously, her mind was elsewhere and not on the game. She’s taking the next game off, so hopefully she’ll be her usual self for the final game of the regular season and the play-offs.

Q. There were a few scouts at today game, including a spy from Greece. Are you concerned?

We had two players interested in joining the team come on down and check the team out. I don’t have any new information on whether or not they will be playing. As for the Greek spy, I believe he was trying to sell us either some European clothing or some baklava, but gave up after we lost the contest.

After the Q&A session, the team spoke about fine coffee from around the world, and what was their favorite. The show ended with a discussion about what motivates the team to come to each game despite a lackluster record. “We won't be playing if we weren’t having fun” said Jerry. “Ya, if we are not having any fun, then what the heck are we doing?" added Eno.