October 15

October 15, 2029 (Liberty Park Sports Complex)

Green faced Blue in the early game in round two of the RASSA Masters World Series. Managers argued about who would be home team, whether it would be decided by seedings or a coin flip. No one had a coin handy, but Bobby Watkins offered to flip a $1000 bill. Handsome Herb decided that since seedings were used in the first day of the tournament, they would be used all the way through. “Team managers stayed up nights figuring out how to win the games in the regular season and these seedings are the only reward they get.”

Bob Slanovits led off for Green and stretched an infield grounder into a double as RASSA’s imaginative throws were on display again. Gene Garcia singled and David Ferguson drove them in. Phillip Cheek drove in David, Carlos Davis singled and Cecil Kwong drove in the 4th and 5th runs. Edwin Yergan led off with a single for Blue, Ken Sransky doubled and Rel Underwood drove them. Then Rick Alston singled and Mike Richards drove him in. Green 5, Blue 3 after the first. Green eked out another run in the second when Mike Madden and Pete Manown singled and Dennis Horne drove in Mike. Then only Brian Gierlatowicz got a hit as Green shut out Blue in the second. Green scored 5 in the top of the third; Bob Slanovits, Gene Garcia, Phillip Cheek, Carlos Davis, Bobby Watkins, Mike Madden, Pete Manown and Doug Ferguson all got hits. Green shut out Blue again in the bottom of the third and added another run in the top of the fourth to take a 12 to 3 lead before Blue rallied for 5 runs in the bottom of the fourth to narrow the gap to 12 to 8. Ken Sransky tripled for Blue and Rel Underwood singled him in. David Brasfield reached on a fielder’s choice, Rick Alston doubled and Mike Richards drove them both in. John Remley got a hit, Tom Wasmer got an RBI single and Brian G drove in the 5th run. Neither team scored in the fifth and both scored 5 in the sixth. Mike Madden, Pete Manown, and Doug Ferguson loaded the bases with hits in the Green sixth and Dennis Horne drove two of them in. Don Stueckler drove in a third run with a fielder’s choice, Bob Slanovits drove in the 4th run and David Ferguson drove in the 5th. Green entered the open 7th inning with a 4-run lead and added 3 more. Carlos Davis singled, Cecil Kwong walked, Bobby Watkins singled, Mike Madden drove in Carlos, Pete Manown drove in Cecil, Doug Ferguson loaded the bases with a single and Dennis Horne drove in the third run with a walk. Blue needed 7 runs to tie the game. Tom Wasmer, Brian G and Rick Erdimer singled to load the bases. John Kuklinski drove in a run with fielder’s choice and Melinda Adkins drove in another run with a single. But that was all Blue could muster and Green won, 20 to 15.

Green hitters were 34 for 49 with 2 walks for a .694 team batting average and a .720 on-base percentage. Bob Slanovits, Carlos Davis and Mike Madden were all 4 for 4 and Dennis Horne was 3 for 3 with a walk and 4 RBIs. Blue hitters were 26 for 43 with one walk for a .604 team batting average and a .614 on-base percentage. Ken Sransky, Rick Alston, Mike Richards, and Brian Gierlatowicz were all 3 for 3.

The winner’s bracket game at 10:30AM featured Red versus Sky Blue. Red led off with 2 runs in the first. Bill Lovell hit a homer, Jim Thompson and Wayne Graham singled and Buddy Cannon drove in JT. Sky Blue jumped out with 5 runs to answer. Dale McWhorter and Chuck Killough singled and Dale got forced out at third by Ronnie Muro’s grounder. Scott Wadsworth doubled in Chuck and David Bedwell drove in Ronnie and Scott with another double. Jeff Tyler singled, Glenn Little walked and Royce O’Donnell drove in the 4th and 5th runs with a homer. Then neither team scored in the second. Red tied the game with 3 in the third; Bill Lovell drove in Wayne Pike with a triple and JT drove in Bill with a homer. But Sky Blue took the lead back in the bottom of the third. Chuck Killough singled and Scott Wadsworth drove him in with a 2-run homer. Holly Whitmire snuffed out the Sky Blue rally with a running catch in left, and Sky Blue led after three, 7 to 5.

Red went scoreless in the fourth and Sky Blue added two more runs. Charles Jones doubled, Glenn Little singled, Royce O’Donnell drove in Chas and David Riche drove in Glenn. Red got back to within 2 in the top of the fifth by scoring 2 runs on Jim Raley and Bill Lovell singles and JT’s 2-run double. But Sky Blue scored 4 in the bottom of the fifth on a string of hits by Dale McWhorter, Chuck Killough, Ronnie Muro, Scott Wadsworth, David Bedwell and Jeff Tyler. Red couldn’t score in the top of the sixth and Sky Blue piled on 5 more runs to take an 18 to 7 lead. Royce tripled and David Riche drove him in. Harold Hagler doubled, Wayne Sheets and Dale singled, Chuck drove in a run with another single, Ronnie Muro drove in 2 more and Scott drove in the fifth run. After an infield out, Jim Anderson walked for Red in the open 7th and Jim Raley hit a fly toward the right field corner. Sky Blue right fielder David Riche ignored his iffy heart and ran all out, snagging the fly at the right field line for the second out. Wayne Pike singled but a ground ball ended the game and Sky Blue won, 18 to 7.

Sky Blue batters were 26 for 42 with 1 walk for a .619 team batting average and a .628 on-base percentage. Chuck Killough and Scott Wadsworth were 4 for 4 and Royce O’Donnell was 3 for 3. Red hitters were 13 for 34 with 2 walks for a .382 team batting average and a .417 on-base percentage. Jim Thompson was 3 for 3. Tournament pitching has been exceptionally good, resulting in brisk games. Pitchers today faced 173 batters and only walked 6.

As the RASSA World Series continues, Red will be the home team versus Green at 9:00AM on Tuesday, October 20. Sky Blue will be the home team at 10:30 versus the winner of the early game.