THE COUNTDOWN TO SUMMER SOFTBALL 2010 HAS BEGUN

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1
Well, it is that time again. A time to count down the weeks to opening day and that is a short 10 weeks away. I will be calling the teams to try and get a jump on who is in and who is out, so that I might be able to knock out a schedule or two if a particular division gets filled up. All is calm this time of year, but as the days click off the calender heading to April, the phone calls and emails start coming fast and furious. 

If you have any questions give me a call. Remember, there will be a Suffolk night division this year, so if you want a slot call in and reserve one.

SUFFOLK NIGHT LEAGUE BACK IN MAJOR SPORTS FOR 2010

THURSDAY, JANUARY 14
After a year with no night softball in Suffolk County in the Town of Islip for the week night leagues down at East Islip Marina, we are back in the game. I believe all the leagues will get back the fields they lost last year down at the Marina. The night teams over the last couple of years will be informed and Major Sports can get back to the business of running a night league in the Town of Islip.

THE SUN SETS AS THE SNOW FELL

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20
Well, the sun sets on another year of Major Sports. This was the 18th year and it just seemed like it was yesterday that I was going around looking at fields that I thought I could use for a softball league. Time does fly.

I want to take this time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope that it is an enjoyable time for all.

I may have gotten my Christmas gift from the Town of Islip a little early. I think that they will be re-issuing the night fields down at East Islip Marina to the leagues. We will see...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

PLAYOFF GAMES
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29

There were a bunch of playoff finals this past Sunday and some good games as always. There are still two teams left that will finish up this week and then that will be it for 2009.

The Outfield Pub met up with the Warriors on Sunday for a final. The Pub has been one of Major Sports best teams for the last couple of years and there is a reason why. The Warriors came out and took an extra inning first game, 20-19. Then the Pub took the next two, 9-4 and 17-8. The Warriors played well, but on this Sunday the Outfield Pub played a little better. The Jimbos took their final by winning, two good games, 12-10 and 14-8. That first game was won in the last in with a three run homer. The Marauders took a well played playoff series from 12 Angry Men. The 12 won the first game in a blow out, 15-2 and then the Marauders settle down and won the next two, 15-4 and 9-4. The Shamrocks and Rebels finish up this week in a playoff final.

THE DALERS, PROTECTING THEIR HOUSE
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22

The Dalers took on and beat the Bellmore Knights last week on November 15.They were the only games played that day. So, with one more series to go they met up with the top seed in Evolution.  I knew it would be a good match up and I also knew it would go down to the wire. The Dalers took the first game, 21-8. They came out of the shoot and took the initiative. However, what happens sometimes is that the second game can be a let down if you do not win it. Evolution has probably more final playoff experience than any team that has ever played in Major Sports the last 18 years. So, they bounced back and took a barn burner of a game, 17-14. Now it is down to one game and anything goes. On this temperate Sunday in November it was the Dalers protecting their house and taking a final, 10-5 victory. My congratulations to both teams in great final playoff series and to the Dalers especially for beating a tough Evolution team.

The Warriors took on and beat the Islip Cardinals, losing the first game, 15-9 and then bouncing back for two victories, 11-6 and 8-2. The Outfield Pub moved on and will meet up with the Warriors in their final on Sunday. The Shamrocks beat the Diamondbacks and the Rebels beat Frequency Electronics. The Jimbos move on to a final on Sunday, also.

In the night division there was one final with the Degenerates taking on and beating the JJK team in two good games. Both these teams have been mixing it up for about 12 years. Joe, the manager of JJK was nice enough to call and say they got beat by the better team that night. 12 Angry Men and the Marauders will meet for their final this Sunday.

THE PLAYOFFS START

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8
Most teams started the playoffs, but some teams finished up their regular season. The Islip Cardinals took on and beat the Gorillaz in what I knew would be a barn burner and it was. The G's took the first game, 20-17, but the Cardinals came back and took the next two, 18-17 and 17-5. Two proud teams, one winner. The Jimbo's move on after beating the Heavy Hitters, 9-6 and 16-3. The Bellmore Knights met up with the Sewer Rats and took their playoff bracket winning, 8-7 and 10-8. The Long Shots beat the Sluggers, 7-0 and 16-2. JJK took two from Manginnelli's, 17-12 and 26-4. The Degenerates beat the Young Guns and Evolution took on and beat the Upper Deckers, 14-2 and 9-7.

AUTUMN PLAYOFF TIME FOR MOST TEAMS

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6
Most of the teams will start playoffs this week. A few will not, put they will be plug in next week. I want to thank all the teams for hanging in there last week. Six teams did not play, but all the other teams did on less than perfect fields. There is only so much I can do when the rains come. Good luck to all teams this week.

2009: THE YEAR OF THE UMBRELLA

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25
Enough is enough with the rain. After this weekend I have just about had it. The only good thing is the sun came out Sunday and we got them in. The Shamrocks and the Rebels were the only teams that did not get their games in this Sunday. The Islip Cardinals got some games in four to be exact. They played the Coaches and dropped the first one and then went on to win the second game and then they beat the A's for a double header sweep. Three out of four is not bad. The Diamondbacks beat the Safelite Auto team for a doubleheader sweep. The Gorrilaz took two from a tough Warriors team, 20-6 and 19-7. The Ball Scratchers beat the Heavy Hitters in a pair and The Jimbos and the Outfield Pub split. In Nassau the Dalers took their games from the Sewer Rats, 8-4 and 9-6. Evolution had their day in the sun, winning against the Bellmore Knights, 10-8 and 11-8. The Upper Deckers took on and beat Frequency Electronics in their games.

In the Suffolk night divisions JJK beat the Degenerates for a pair, 10-3 and 15-11. 12 Angry Men had a big night beating a tough Young Gun team, 19-7 and 16-15. The Sluggers and Marauders split. The Beavers beat the Long Shots for a pair of wins. Mangenelli's took the first game from Schaefer BMW and then the lights went out in the second game before they could finish. So, both teams will get a win.

NOT A TYPICAL AUTUMN OCTOBER

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11
I always look forward to October, because it is usually the nicest month of the entire year. Warm days, no humidity, soft breezes and not much rain. This is not one of those perfect Octobers by a long shot. We got all the games in last week, but this coming Sunday looks bleak and it has been real cold as far as I am concerned. This Sunday some teams will have to move around to get some games in and they may have to start a little later, so I can get the fields ready.

The Shamrocks took two from the Ball Scratchers, 24-11 and 20-11. On the same field in the next game, the Gorillaz split with the Islip Cardinals. They lost the first game, 15-8 and won the second game, 21-9. The Jimbos had a long day. They played 4 games. They took the first two against Safelite Auto, 26-3 and 13-1. Then they got beat by the Heavy Hitters, 7-6 and 15-10. They just ran out of gas in those last two games. The Coaches took two from the Diamondbacks, 8-0 and 10-0. I cannot remember when a team got shut out in two softball games. I am still not sure who won the Warriors vs Outfield Pub games.

In Nassau there were some good games as always. The Dalers met up with the Bellmore Knights and both teams got a win. The Dalers won, 12-10 and in another close game the Knights won, 11-10. The Sewer Rats took two from the A's, 10-2 and 13-9. Evolution split with the Upper Deckers, winning, 7-3 and losing, 11-9.

In the night division in Suffolk JJK took a pair from 12 Angry Men, winning, 33-26 and 20-15. Two barn burners. Scaefer BMW dropped two close games to the Marauders, 11-10 and 16-4. The Degenerates split with Mangenelli's. The Degen's won, 16-9 and lost, 15-10. The Beavers and the Sluggers split.

THE FIRST SUNDAY IN OCTOBER

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4
After last weeks rainout and rain again on Saturday it started looking bleaker as the day went on. However, on a Sunday with no rain the games have to be played. Some teams had to move around and I thank all those teams that did so, because some fields were not playable. However, in the end every team got their games in.

The Long Shots got their first win of the season. Beating the Sluggers, 12-3. Then the Sluggers bounced back for a, 16-8 win. It is nice seeing the Long Shots back in the league after a year off. They go back a long way in Major Sports, 1995. They did not play last year, but it was nice hearing Carl's voice over the phone two months ago saying they were back. JJK took two good games from the Marauders, 18-13 and 17-12. The Young Guns and Mangenelis split. The Degenerates took a pair from BMW, 15-8 and 17-5. 12 Angry Men took two from the Beavers, 15-13 and 14-2.

In Nassau we had the Dalers meeting up with the Upper Deckers at Farmindale. The Dalers took both games and they were two good games at that. Winning, 7-5 and 9-8. The Sewer Rats took on Evolution and took two games, 9-5 and 3-2. The Bellmore Knights took on and beat Frequency Electronics, 20-14 and 20-8.

In the Suffolk morning divisions with the fields still a little wet, the teams helped out on some fields. My kudos to Lindy over at Holbrook Country Club for doing some fine work on the field to get it playable. The Warriors came in though and took two from the Coaches, 18-16 and 8-4. The Rebels have played some of their best softball in the last two months, going back to the summer playoffs. However, they have dropped about 8 one run games during that time frame. They lost to The Jimbos, 10-5 and 10-9. The Ball Scratchers and Safelite Auto split. The talk of the town is the undefeated A's, which are the old Brentwood Yankees. They are now a sweet 6-0 after taking two from the Heavy Hitters, 18-6 and 12-2. The Shamrocks lost two one-run games, 9-8 and 10-9 to the Diamondbacks. The Outfield Pub keeps on winning softball games. They took two from their arch rivals the Gorillaz, 15-3 and 15-14.

RAINED OUT

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
The rains came and that was it. I am just glad that it rained as hard as it did. This way there were no questions about trying to get fields ready. If it would have stopped earlier and the sun was out for a few hours, I would have tried to get some fields ready. However, that did not happen. This will go at the end of the season.

GIOS PIZZA TAKES THE SUFFOLK TWILIGHT PLAYOFFS

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
The final two teams of the summer match up on Thursday night. Gios Pizza was in the cat bird seat going into this playoff game with no losses, while Oscars had one loss. Gios had cut through some tough opponents getting to this game and Oscars was the defending champion. The game started off slow with Oscars taking a, 3-0 lead in to the second inning. It was back an forth for the next 3 innings as the teams were locked into a, 7-7 tie. Then Gios opened the flood gates and scored 5 runs to take a, 13-7.  Congratulations to  Gios Pizza for beating a class team in Oscars and getting to the playoff final by beating the cream of the division.

OSCARS TAKE OUT RERUNS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
The Reruns just cannot seem to get by Oscars when it comes to a playoff. Last year I watch the first inning of their playoff game and they got off to a good start against Oscars only to see Oscars chip away at that lead and finally take the series. Yesterday the first inning was scoreless and then in the second it was Oscars putting up some runs and never looking back. The final was, 11-5. Oscars moves on to play Gios on Thursday.

PERFECT WEATHER AND A PERFECT WEEK OF SOFTBALL

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
It is nice to wake up early Sunday morning and not have to contend with getting lakes off of softball diamonds. With this past dry week of weather and a perfect Sunday it was a pleasure waking up and just going out and grooming fields instead of having to move mountains of water off of infields.

Let's start with the Suffolk Night Division. The Beavers and BMW were moving along playing some nice softball until it was time to cut the lights on at Old Nichols Road. They would not come on. So, they did not finish their second game, which the Beavers won, 11-6. JJK and Mangenelli's had to move to, get this, East Islip Marina to play. They cut the lights on down there because there was no other fields to go to. JJK won, 30-21 and 16-4 and 24-14. The Degenerates beat 12 Angry Men, 18-6 and 24-14. The Sluggers took two from the Long Shots, 27-12 and 8-7. The Young Guns took two more this weekend, beating the Marauders, 27-14 and 8-7.

At Belmont Lake we had Frequency Electroncis taking two real good games from the Rebels, 16-15 and 13-11. A new team in the league, the Upper Deckers met up with the Bellmore Knights and split. The Upper Deckers unloaded on the Knights the first game, 32-11, but the Knights came back in the second game to win, 19-14. Evolution met up with the Dalers and they took the pair, 18-6 and 20-8.

The Suffolk Morning division had some good match ups. The Outfield Pub, coming off their championship 2009 summer season, met up with the Islip Cardinasl. The Cardinals know all about championships. They have won a bunch in Major Sports over the last 12 years. This was not their day to revel in past glory. The Pub took two great game, 18-15 and 15-13. The Jimbos took two from the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks were nice enough to pass on a forfeit even though the Jimbos got to the field late. The Gorillaz took two from the Coaches, 13-6 and 7-6. The Ball Scratchers took on and beat Safelite Auto, 10-5 and 16-9. The Warriors beat the Shamrocks in a pair as did the A's who beat the Heavy Hitters.

AUTUMN CLASSIC 2009 OPENING DAY

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
I knew it would be a sunny Sunday, so I was going to do whatever I could to make sure I got the games in on opening day. Late Saturday night it look bleak, but I did some fields that day and if I had to push some games up for later starts to get them in, then that is what I would do. We got them all in on some slushy fields.

The Islip Cardinasl are back and they took two from a proud Rebel team. The Cardinals won, 18-6 and 21-12. The Brentwood Yankees have changed their name to the A's after 14 years. They took two from Safelite Auto, 34-2 and 15-0. The Heaby Hitters met up with a new team the Ball Scratchers. The Heavies won, 17-0 and 3-1. The Outfield Pub and Gorilllaz met up to start things off and split. The Pub won, 10-7 and the Goillaz won, 15-9. The Coaches are back and played the Diamondbacks and beat them, 11-9 and 14-1.

In Nassau, the Dalers won two,18-6 and 12-0. The only other game that was played was the Bellmore Knights and Evolution. Evolution took them both, 7-6 and 7-9. My apologies to the Upper Deckers for not starting this week.

In the Suffolk Night Division, we had the Beavers and Sluggers splitting. The Beavers won, 20-7 and the Sluggers took their game, 12-11. The Long Shots are back and met up with another team that has returned after a few years and that team is the Marauders. The Marauders won two, 14-2 and 12-11. Mangenellis met up with 12 Angrey Men and they split. The 12 won, 16-1 and Manges won, 10-9. JJK took two from the Degenerates over at Hidden and the Young Guns, another team that is back after a few years away from Major, took two one run games, 11-10 and 7-6.

SILVER BULLETS AND HIGHWAY HOMERS WIN BRACKET

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
The Highway Homers took their bracket and the Silver Bullets took theirs also. Their is one more bracket that has still not finished, because of one of the teams vacation plan fell during the playoffs. Hopefully, we can finish that off real soon.

OSCAR'S TAKE OUT DOUBLE R AND THE WARRIORS

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3
The Suffolk Twilight brackets are getting down to the nitty-gritty. Oscar's played two good games and eliminated two other good teams in that bracket. Oscars beat Double R, 13-5. On the other field at Hidden Pond, the Reruns got beat by the Warriors, 16-12. So, the two winners played and Oscars shelled the Warriors, 24-0. In that bracket Gios has not lost and have played 4 games against 4 good teams. They eliminated the Renegades and Shamrocks on the same night. Reruns will play Oscars and then the winner will play Gios. The Reruns are on vacation this week so it may have to wait until the week of September 14.

HIGHWAY HOMERS AND AC GENERALS MOVE ON

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2
More teams were eliminated last night as we move through the Suffolk Twilight Division. The Raiders got beat by the Highway Homers, 22-5. That was the Raiders first loss, so they are still in it. Over at the other field at Hidden Pond was the Master Batters and Organized Chaos. Chaos took out the Batters, 20-8 and then match up with the Highway Homers in game two. The Homers can out and put up 11 runs to Chaos's 7 for the win. Knocking Chaos out of the mix. At Venetian, the AC Generals took on and eliminated the Muck Dogs, 7-3.

GIOS PIZZA MOVING ON

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1
The first day of September and the Suffolk Twilight Divisions are still slugging it out. At Hidden Pond Gios Pizza took their first game against the Shamrocks, 9-6. On the other field it was PCI Services and the Renegades. The Gades won that won, 11-4. The two winners played at 7:30pm and Gios took the Renegades, 16-11.

STILL SHAKING MY HEAD

MONDAY, AUGUST 31
The last day of August for 2009 and I still have not fully processed how a player can assault an umpire. I know it happens, I have seen the videos on TV and YOUTUBE, but cannot understand it. I know that I grew up in the era of Ozzie and Harriet not Ozzie Osborne. Gentlemen, just go out and play the game. It is a recreational game, not a blood sport. I know all about the heat of the moment and the emotions, but it cannot be done and it will NEVER be tolerated.

The AC Generals took it to the Killer Kleats winning, 11-7. On the other field at Brookwood there was a barn burner. The Renegades just got by the Silver Bullets, 10-9.

CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30
The final Sunday of a long rain soak season. This season should have been over weeks ago. However, I am glad all teams got their games in and with Friday and Saturdays rain I am just glad the fields were playable and we finished up with some good finals.

EVOLUTION WIN OVER ROCKIES

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30
These teams have been playing each for what seems the beginning of time. On this Sunday it was Evolution that had just a little more offense in the end and took both games, 13-10 and 13-8. Two good games and two fine teams.

OUTFIELD PUB DOES IT AGAIN

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30
The last couple of years the Outfield Pub has played some good softball and this was another year they did the same. They match up with the Gorillaz another powerful team and had a shoot out at Hidden Pond. The first game went to the Gorillaz, who won it, 14-5. It is tough coming back from a first game loss, but the Pub did that, winning, 12-3. Now, it all came down to one 7 inning game. By that time both teams were weary and tired and the score reflected that. The Gorillaz could not push a run across the plate in 7 innings and loss the game, 3-0. Once again congratulations to both teams for a good final.

HATS OFF TO THE KORE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30
For years Rocco Gregorio has put a team in Major Sports. Some of those teams did not have the best talent, but they played and enjoyed the softball experience. This year they had a good team that match up well week after week with their opponents. They made it to the finals against another old veteran team UTI. UTI took the first game and had the mojo with them. They took that first game, 12-6. In the second game, The Kore took a good one, 17-15. With one game to go The Kore dug deep and surge ahead and never looked back. They took it, 15-2. The Kore finally had one their championship.

DEGENERATES TAKE ANOTHER ONE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30
5150's took out a good McBrides team last week. They were ready for the competition this week and in the final they would draw the Degenerates. The D's came out swinging and took the first game, 14-6. I have to give 5150's credit for coming out in the second game and pushing the Degenerates all the way to the 7th inning before they succumbed, 8-7. This was 5150's first year in the summer league of Major Sports. They matched up with the veteran team that has at least 14 years of playoff softball under their belt. Both teams played well in the end and that was the last inning of summer Sunday softball for 2009.

TOP GUN BEAT THE BEAVERS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30
Top Gun took the Beavers in a three game series. Winning 2 out of the 3.

THE END OF THE LINE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30
I almost knew it would happen one of these days. Even after my post last Friday on sportsmanship and the taunting of umpires and stating I was not going to let my umpires put up with abysmal behavior from players. On Sunday, for the first time in 18 years, an umpire was assaulted during one of the games. The phone started ringing about 6:30pm and it did not stop for about 30 minutes. The news from the field was that a player hit and tackled an umpire and to be, literally, restrained by the opposition or it may have been even worse.

I am not going to go into details, but, after this I will not be able to tolerate even the slightest disrespect for an umpire. My final warning. Remember,  underneath the velvet glove is a iron fist.

Playoff results will be posted by tomorrow.

SPORTSMANSHIP AND SOFTBALL

FRIDAY, AUGUST 28
I have run his league for 18 years now, and unfortunately not one of those years has gone by where I did not have take a few teams to task for the way they treat the umpire and opponent. Every time I go over a situation I get three different stories if I talk to three different people. However, in the end if comes down to me taking a stand and letting all teams know that I am not going to put an umpire on a field to get abused for 7 innings. If you want to play if this league go down to the field, play hard enjoy yourself and the competition. If you think a game of softball is a green light for bad behavior and for yelling at an umpire for 7 innings, you will find out the next time you do it.

DOUBLE R AND RERUNS WIN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 28
Double R took their game against a tough Warriors squad, winning, 16-9. On the other field it was another good match up with the Reruns and Oscars. The Reruns got the best of Oscars and won a close one,  14-12.

SUPER WEDNESDAY

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26
The Suffolk Twilight Playoff schedule was packed with teams on this night. I had some extra field time at Hidden Pond and put it to good use. Sportin' Wood put the wood to the Master Batters, winning, 12-5. The Renegades moved on with a sweet, 7-6 victory. The Gas House Gorillas took the Weekend Warriors in the first game, 11-10, put were dropped by Damage, Inc. in the next game, 15-10. The Highways Homers took on the Horsemen and won, 10-6. In the game that followed, the Raiders beat Organized Chaos, 16-9.

GIO'S AND SHAMROCKS ROCK

TUESDAY, AUGUST 25
The Suffolk twilight division playoffs continue and there were some good match ups. On paper they looked good, but that is why you play the game. The Apaches had the Shamrocks out of the gate, 4-1 and looked good. The Shamrocks, grizzled veterans that they are, took in stride and commenced to chase the Apaches right out of the Little Big Horn. For those who do not know, and believe some people do not know, the Little Big Horn is where General Custard and the doomed 7th Cavalry met their bloody fate at Custards Last Stand. Anyway enough with the history lesson. The Shamrocks rolled, 17-5. Gios Pizza came into the night with PCI Services ready to play some softball. I had to hear the score twice to make sure it was right. Gios won 26-7.

MUCK DOGS AVENGE LOSS AND
SILVER BULLETS WIN

MONDAY, AUGUST 24
The Muck Dogs got back at the Killer Kleats to avenge a loss to them last week. The Muckers won 12-8. The Silver Bullets took on and beat the AC Generals, 12-2.

DEGENERATES AND 5150 MOVE ON

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23
The Degenerates and the JJK aka Gorrilaz have been mixing it up for over 12 years and last night was just a night where the Degenerates had a little more. A little side bar the Gorillaz won a morning semi-final bracket against half the players on the Degenerates when they beat the Predators. The final score, 13-7 and 11-2. I did not get the scores from Venetian until late Monday, I called around to find out what they were and when I did I was a bit surprised. 5150 took out the red hot McBrides in two games, 10-9 and 21-8. I though McBrides was playing some of the best softball, but softball is that kind of game. In 14 innings it can be all over.

TOP GUNS AND BEAVERS MOVE ON

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23
Top Gun played a game Go Hards team in the gentle breezes of East Islip Marina, pulled out two very close games, winning, 18-13 and 12-10. The Beavers did the same against the Heavy Hitters, 14-2 and 19-12 and now the Top Guns and Beavers will face off in a final.

PANTHERS BEAT REBELS IN A CLASSIC

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23
The Panthers, one of the newer teams in the league, met up with one of the ole veteran teams the Rebels, who have had a glorious run in Major Sports for at least 14 of the 18 years. When one of my veteran umpirs, Jim Baccoli, called in the scores he did so with pride and enthusiasm and labeled it one of the best he has done and he has done many a game and playoff series. It went three games and every game was a one run victory. The Rebels came back in the first game to take a 8-0 win. Then the Panthers clawed back for a 9-8 win. With one game to go, it was back and forth with the Panthers going up in the top of the 7th. The Rebels had the hammer and when the smoke  cleared the Rebels, with the winning runs on base, could not push them across as the batter slashed a line drive into the outfield that was played by the Panthers outfielder for the final out. Three great games and the sportsmanship was marvelous on both benches. My hats off to both teams.

UTI MEET THE KORE IN FINAL

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23
UTI played well and so did Prime Time, but the U got the wins in the end. They took two, 10-5 and 12-9. Another good match up with a great display of sportsmanship in the end. So, UTI get to match up with their pals The Kore, which should be a good final.

GORILLAZ TAKE 2 FROM PREADATORS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23
It was a day of match ups that Major Sports has been having for 10 to 15 years. The same teams come back to play softball and the same rivals renew playoff hopes year in and year out. On this Sunday it was the Gorillaz taking two from the Predators, 7-4 and 14-11. Now the Gorillaz will play the Outfield Pub for the bracket final.

THE ROCKIES BEAT LOCK & LOAD

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23
I know their was no joy on Lock & Loads bench after losing a heart breaking 3 game series to the Rockies. They wanted to play last week and the Rockies were on vacation, so they met up this week. The Lockers had them on the ropes with a 15-12 first game victory. However, the joy was short lived as the Rockies bounced back for a second game win with a one run victory, 9-8. Now it was down to one game and the Rockies pushed 9 runners across home plate and the Lockers only 5. So, there was no joy in Mudville for Lock & Load. Now the Rockes will meet Evoultion for a 9:00am final at Seamans Neck Park.

CLASH OF TITANS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20
Super Thursday came and went as 4 of the better teams in Major Sports went at it at Brookwood Hall. Double R drew the Reruns as their first opponent and the Reruns came out, well...running and hitting. They took the win, 14-7. The Shamrocks met up with Oscars. The Shamrocks have just not played like they did earlier in the season. I think it might be vacation time for some on the team. Oscars came out, playoff ready and scored in every inning for a 17-5 win. Down at East Islip Marina, Gios Pizza took a first game playoff victory from their pals Sportin' Wood, 17-5.

DAMAGE, CHAOS, MASTER BATTERS AND RAIDERS WIN

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19
As the summer heat hung in the air the playoffs continued. Damage, Inc. got the vest of the Weekend Warriors, 11-8. The Gas House Gorillas gave a bunch of runs away and could not match the Master Batters who won, 13-10. Organized Chaos took on and beat the Highway Homers, 10-8 and the Raiders took on and beat the Horsemen, 15-6. All good match ups for the Wednesday teams.

WARRIORS AND PCI SERVICES TAKE HOME WINS

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18
The Apaches could not get out of the batters box in a tough loss to a good team. Softball is like that. Sometimes you go down to the field and you cannot push a run across the plate in one game and in then next game you score 10 in the first inning. Unfortunately for the Apaches, there was no second game. The Warriors won, 12-1. PCI Services and the Renegades on the other hand played right down to the end of 7 innings with a back and forth game and PCI took it 10-9.

PLAYOFFS START IN TWILIGHT DIVISIONS

MONDAY, AUGUST 17
The Silver Bullets got the jump on GSI and took a, 12-8 victory in the first day of playoffs in the Suffolk Twilight Division. The Killer Kleats took on and beat the Muck Dogs, 6-5. Sportin Wood and the AC Generals finished their season with the Wood winning two.

SUNDAY PLAYOFFS IN THE HEAT

SUNDAY, AUGUST 16
It is about time summer rolled around with some good ole country heat. It made me feel right at home, like two a days at ECU once upon a time. The heat was on and so were the playoffs. Evolution took on and beat the Bellmore Knights, 17-10 and 8-7. The Knights had more than a few chances to win at least one or the first two games. However, they could not execute. This week Lock & Load will play the Rockies and the winner will play Evolution the week after.

The Outfield Pub the top rated team in Major Sports came and almost got upended by Road Kill. Road Kill took the first game, 13-8 and then the Pub bounced back with two big wins, 15-13 and 10-3. UTI moves on as does Prime Time. Those two teams will match up this week. The Rebels took their games against Eight Men Out and now will face the Panthers, who took out Platinum Hits, 10-2 and 5-3. In the night division 5150 beat the Heavy Hittes, the Degenerates took and beat 12 Angry Men. McBrides moves on as does Top Gun the Go Hards and the Beavers.

LAST REGULAR SEASON GAMES

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13
In one sense it seemed like it just started and in the other it is always a long season. The last of the regular season games were played tonight and now all teams will be in playoff situations. 

Gios Pizza and their friends, some of Reruns players play with Gios, unless they play the Reruns and then they play with the Reruns, anyway...the teams split their doubleheader to go into the playoffs. Double R and the Apaches met up and the R took the first game and the second game could not be finished. So, I will give both teams a win as I always do. 

Good luck in the playoffs and remember play with the players you played with during the season.  No ringers or you will be sorry.

WEEKEND WARRIORS BEAT MUCK DOGS

AUGUST 12
As the last games of the regular twilight season are being played some teams are turning it up. The Weekend Warriors took on and beat the Muck Dogs, 19-4 and 16-0 as both teams move into the playoffs. Two big wins for the Warriors. GSI and Highway Homers each took a win home as the teams split. GSI won, 14-2 and the Highway Homers won, 11-5.  The Horsemen canceled at the last moment to knock out their games with the Master Batters.

TEAMS FINISHING UP

AUGUST 11
PCI dropped two to their pals the Warriors. I know these teams matched up 3 times this season, but when teams can only play on one day, the law of averages say, when you have 22 teams, those teams will see each other 3 times in a 22 season. Sportin' Wood took on and beat Gios Pizza, 15-3 and 7-5.

RENEGADES TAKE TWO BIG GAMES

MONDAY, AUGUST 10
Under a hot summer sun, it is about time it felt like summer, the Renegades match up with the Shamrocks. Two good teams and two good games. I was umpiring at the other field at Brookwood and you could see the action and intensity of the match up. When it was over, the Renegades had taken two, 12-8 and 14-6. The Silver Bullets finished up their season with two wins over the Killer Kleats.

THE SUMMER PLAYOFFS BEGIN

SUNDAY, AUGUST 9
Several teams started their playoffs today and some teams finished up their season. Let's get into the playoff match ups first. Lock & Load took on the Untouchables in a two out of three. The first game went to the Untouchables,10-9. With a win under your belt you come out fighting in that second game, but Lock & Load answered with a 25-3 win that took the fight out of the Untouchables and then the Lockers's took the third game, 13-8. A good series. The Rockies matched up with the Diamondbacks and they took it in two, 14-9 and 8-6. Evoulution met up with The Meat and took two in go away fashion. The umpire said The Meat could not do one thing right in the two losses. Evolution won, 19-3 and 19-7.

In Suffolk the Panthers had a come from behind first game win against Blue Balls taking the first game, 8-7, with 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th and opened up on the Blue Balls in the second for a, 17-7 win. Hats off to The Kore and their manager Rocco. For years he has had a team in the league and has suffered through a lot of losses and always took it, let's not say with a smile, but with the conviction that he always knew he could put together a better team the next year. Well, they won their first playoff series against Butang, 11-6 and 10-8. Good job Rocco. 

All other teams finished up their regular season and will start the playoffs. One side bar, Mcbrides winning streak came to an end against a tough JJK team. Both teams went home with a win, but Mcbrides had a hell of a run.

RERUNS AND DOUBLE R TAKE TWO

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6
A nice finish to a long week of softball had the Reruns taking on one of their conference match-ups. They beat Oscars, 12-3 and 9-8. These two teams will meet each other in the playoffs, so the fun is just beginning. Double R took two from the Silver Bullets, who were nice enough to fill in for the Shamrocks, who canceled the night before. The Double R's took two, 9-8 and 19-7.

TWILIGHT TEAMS FINISHING UP

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5
This is a make up week and next week will be a make up week also. For those teams that have finished I will try and get them games next week if I can. I will probably have three playoff brackets so it does not drag out. I will go over that with you all after this week. The Highway Homers took two from their pals the Raiders, winning, 103 and 11-9. The Weekend Warriors dropped the first game to the Apaches, 8-4 and then bounced back with an impressive, 16-4 win against a tough team. I knew it would be a good match up, the Master Batters and Gas House Gorillas. Just getting them on the same field was the problem. The Gorillas play most of their games at Venetian and the Batters, coming from Bellport, do not travel that far west. So, last night they met up at Brookwood and it was a good two games for both teams. The Gorillas won the first game, 10-9 and the Master's won the night cap, 8-7. Two good games...

OSCARS AND GIOS PIZZA SWEEP

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4
Oscars took on and beat the formidable Shamrocks. With Perry, Jr. having 3 HR's and going 5 or 6 and Craig Frazier pounding the ball, going, 6 for 8 with another 3 HR's, Oscars beat the Shamrocks, 27-5 and 11-3. Gios Pizza took on another good team in the Renegades and both teams played well. In the end it was Gios winning two one run games, 8-7 and 7-6.

THE FINAL MONTH

MONDAY, AUGUST 3
I always look forward to August. The last month of a long season of softball that leads directly into college football in September. However, it is always a daunting month to make sure all teams finish up and that we finish up with a nice playoff and all the teams in that playoff have nice match ups.
Before I forget, my heart felt sympathies to one of the  Apaches who lost a parent over the weekend. GSI was nice enough to take last night off because of the unfortunate incident. The Muck Dogs got back to work last night and took on Sportin' Wood. They took the first game, 12-9, but the Wood came back for a pay back and took the second game, 10-6. The Killer Kleats better put some of the "killer" in their offense. Silver Bullets took them out behind the wood shed for whip them like a step child. The Bullets won, 9-0 and 21-0.

GOT THE MORNING GAMES IN

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2
I thought the weather man said a nice weekend? Saturday and Sunday??? At this stage of the summer I am glad we have played as many games as we have. In Nassau, my apologies to the Diamondbacks. The Raging Bulls called me at 8:05am to tell me they were canceling. That is it for the Raging Bulls and the Ballbreakers.

The Rockies took two from the Untouchables, winning, 17-5 and 12-0. A couple of good games down at Seamans Neck where the Knights took on Evouliton. The Knights won the first game, 3-2 and Evolution came back for a, 9-8 win.

In Suffolk Road Kill and Platinum Hits met up for two. The Kill took both. The first one was a close one, 7-6. The second game got away from the Platinum Hits, because Road Kill won, 25-1. The Outfield Pub took on the Gorillaz and took both, 7-6 and 10-6. Butang had their way with UTI, winning two, 6-5 and 11-3. The Brentwood Yankees and Keep It Green split their two games. The Yanks won, 10-8 and the Green won, 15-7. Blue Balls got back on track this week with two wins over the Rebels, 14-7 and 5-4. The Panthers met the Predators and the Preds had two much offense for the opponent. The Predators won, 19-7 and 15-3. Eight Men Out had a real long morning. They played 4 games, two against the Diamondbacks and two against The Kore. Unfortunately, they dropped all of them. The Backs beat them, 9-4 and 10-9. The Kore beat them, 13-5 and 4-2.

TWO GOOD ONES ON A DRY DAY

THURSDAY, JULY 30
The last four teams to play this week finished up the rainiest July in memory. This is one month that I can say I am happy to see fade to black. Two good sets of doubleheaders were on the schedule for the last games of July 2009. The Shamrocks and the Reruns met for a pair of games and I knew it would be a good match up. The Shamrocks took the first game, 5-2, but the Reruns returned the favor with a, 10-7 win. Oscars played and took two from Double R, 18-6 and 10-8.

GOT THEM IN

WEDNESDAY, JULY 29
Every time I look at the weather radar it seems as if it is always green and heading our way. We got them in yesterday even with the threat of rain. The AC Generals took the first game from Damage, Inc. and then the Inc. came back for a win. The Master Batters took the first game from the Highway Homers and they could not finish the second game, because of darkness the second did not go the full 5 innings, so both teams will get a win.

WARRIORS TAKE TWO

TUESDAY, JULY 29
The Warriors met up with an old foe in PCI Services. The stage was set for a nice showdown. The two teams have been getting after it for years. In the end the Warriors had just a little more in their arsenal. They took two, 11-10 and 13-9. Gios Pizza, because they play on Tuesdays, always draws a tough team. It was no different on this Tuesday. They faced off with the Apaches a tough opponent for any team. The Apaches took care of business in the first game. However, Gios rounded up the their posse and took the scalps in the second game winning, 7-3.

RENEGADES AND
ORGANIZED CHAOS ROLL

MONDAY, JULY 27
As the last Monday in July came and went, Organized Chaos took their first doubleheader of the year. They beat the Horsemen, 10-8 and 8-7. The Renegades had a little to much offense for the Killer Kleats. They took two, 21-2 and 17-2. Another good match up was the Silver Bullets and Sportin' Wood. These teams played each other last week and the Bullets took two close games. The Wood took the first game this time, 21-17 and then the Bullets shot back for a, 18-6 win.

$#%&@*% RAIN

SUNDAY, JULY 26
I cannot worry about it, but I can curse up at the sky. I mean really, when is the deluge of the Summer of 2009 going to end. Two days of games on Tuesday and Thursday were rained out and we came very close to having a wash out this Sunday. If it was not for getting the fields prep for the rain over the course of this summer we might be finishing the summer off sometime in October. So far so good for the amount of rain that has fell. We have played a lot of softball around the rain drops.

There were some good games in Nassau. Sorry that the Untouchables did not get to play. The Ballbreakers failed to show, they had 4 players and that is that for that team. They are officially out the the conference. The Bellmore Knights took  two from the Meat, 12-9 and 18-12. The Rockies took on and beat the Raging Bulls, 15-3 and 18-9. Lock & Load took on their old nemesis Evolution and both teams took home a win. The L's won, 17-14 and Evolution won, 21-14.

In the Suffolk Night division we have a team that is white hot. McBrides started out the first after the first two weeks, 1-4. Since that time they have run off, 13 straight and they beat some good teams in that duration of games. The boys have been playing for years, they might be the oldest team in the league on average. Great guys and a great run. They took two this week from the Smithtown F.D. on Sunday. The Degenerates and Bulldogs met up at Hidden Pond. The Degenerates took the first game, 15-14 and the Bulldogs came back for a, 14-6 win. The Top Guns and 5150 split. The Top's winning, 10-6 and the 50's winning, 18-11. The Sluggers and the Slackers split as did The Go Hards and the Heavy Hitters. Twelve Angry Men had a good night they took all three games from the Beavers.

I had my doubts about some of the fields in Suffolk after the sky opened up Saturday night. However, I do some of the fields the night before. I guess I am living right, all fields were playable. The Blue Balls were very apologetic to the Road Kill for not having a full team at the game. It is their first forfeit in ever in many, many years of playing in this league. Their manager, Rockie and co-manager, Eric were a little annoyed to say the least at some of their players. UTI called at 8am and told me they could not get a team to the field, so at least I could call off the Rebels. The Panthers and Platinum Hits split. The Hits won, 7-1 and the Panthers won, 6-0. The Outfield Pub took on and beat Eight Men Out, 25-6 and 11-10. Prime Time and the Brentwood Yankees split. The Prime won, 15-4 and the Yanks won, 13-6. The Diamondbacks took two from Keep It Green, 8-5 and 8-0. The Kore are playing good softball. They took two from Butang, 18-4 and 7-6. A big match up was the Gorillaz and Predators. The Preds won, 12-10 and the Gorillaz won, 15-10.

RAIN OUT

THURSDAY, JULY 23
All games were rained out.

HIGHWAY HOMERS, WEEKEND WARRIORS & GAS HOUSE SWEEP

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22
Well, we got them in around the rain from the night before. The Gas House took two well played games from the Muck Dogs. Winning, 10-9 and 10-6. The Weekend Warriors took on and took two from Damage, 13-4 and 9-8. The Highway Homers beat their old friends the Raiders in a pair, 21-1 and 10-9.

RAINOUT CITY

TUESDAY, JULY 20
Just when I thought it had rained itself out, guess what rears it's very ugly and wet head, the rain monster. All games washed out.

WINS FOR THE GENERALS
AND SILVER BULLETS

MONDAY, JULY 19
The AC Generals took two games from the Killer Kleats. That was there first sweep of the season. The Silver Bullets took two from Sportin' Wood and Chaos and the Horsemen split.

PERFECT DAY FOR SOFTBALL

SUNDAY, JULY 19
It is about time we are getting some great summer weather. The sun shined and the teams played. In Nassau, the Ballbreakers, who are having a tough time winning, cancelled their game because they could not muster a full team. My apologies to the Raging Bulls. The Untouchables took two good games from the Diamondbacks at Seamans Park. Winning, 8-5 and 20-7. Evolution met up with The Meat and dropped two close games. The Meat won, 10-5 and 23-13. The Bellmore Knigts won the first game against Lock & Load, 23-11 and then the Load bounced back for a 16-15 win. The Heavy Hitters took three games from the Slackers at Hidden Pond. Some of the night teams in Suffolk played three games to catch up with some of the rain outs. The Go Hards played three close games with 12 Angry Men, unfortunately they dropped all three. Close games, but three losses. 12-3,11-8 and 9-5. The Degenerates got the best of the Top Guns. They took three from them, 15-3, 25-16 and 21-9. The Bulldogs took on and beat 5150 in a pair of games, 12-11 and 6-4.

The Panthers got after and took two from Road Kill at the Band Box, winning, 9-6 and 13-10. Prime Time and UTI got their games in, but were pressed by the league that follows at Nichols Road. The teams split. The Kore, Rocco was right, took two games from Keep It Green, they won, 14-5 and 12-6. Rocco of The Kore said he had his best team ever. The Outfield Pub took two from a tough Platinum Hits, 26-10 and 10-5. The Diamondbacks took their games against the Brentwood Yankees, 19-5 and 16-7. The Predators and Gorillaz split. The Preds won, 19-10 and the Gorillaz won, 25-7. The Rebels are playing good softball. They took two from Butang, 17-5 and 15-10.

RERUNS AND OSCARS SWEEP

THURSDAY, JULY 16
Organized Chaos has a good team. They are new, but their core players have played previously in Major Sports. The trouble is they have played most of their games on Thursday and that is the day some of the best teams in Major Sports play. For their make-ups I will try and get them some of the other teams in the league to play against. The Reruns took a pair, 26-7 and 18-3. Oscars came up with two well played games to beat Double R, 16-7 and 11-9. Make ups for the Suffolk Twilight divisions start this week.

AC GENERALS TAKE TWO

WEDNESDAY, JULY 15
The AC's picked up their first doubleheader sweep of the year last night. They took on and beat the Horsemen, who have been playing good softball. The Generals won, 14-2 and 12-11.  The Raiders got dogged in their first game against the Master Batters, 12-0. However, in the second game they came back to win, 19-10.

At Venetian the Weekend Warriors met up with Damage, Inc. The Weekender's took the first game, 13-7 and Damage took the night cap, 14-2. So far it has been the best weather we have had in some time. I hope it stays dry.

GIO'S PIZZA TAKES A PAIR

TUESDAY, JULY 14
Gio's painted itself into a tough corner when it had to have most of its games on Tuesday. Some of the best teams in Major Sports play Tuesdays in that Suffolk night division. Last night they met up with a team that that they matched up with and they took two from Sportin' Wood. The scores were, 9-2 and 8-7. These two teams will be in the same playoff bracket, so they will see each other again. PCI Services got the best of  the Highway Homers. They took the two games, 8-7 and  6-12.

RENEGADES, TWO BIG WINS

MONDAY, JULY 13
Anthony Rizzo has put together a well balanced team this year with the Renegades. They beat a tough team in GSI for a sweep. The first game was a back and forth, 10-9 win for the Gades. I quess GSI went home after the first game, because the score was not one you would expect after a very close first game. The Gades won it, 19-0.

The Muck Dogs and a new team the Killer Kleats, who have been practicing down at Brookwood Hall all summer. I would see them and would ask them to get off the field because I had to do it. So they called me and asked if I could get them in for a half season. I told them yes, if they could play on Mondays. They said let's go and off they went. The Kleats won the first game 7-5 and the Muck's came back for a 12-7 win in the night cap.

At Hidden Pond the Warriors and Apaches met up with the Apaches taking the first game 13-12 and then the Warrirors taking the second game, 13-9.

FROM MUCK TO SUNSHINE

SUNDAY, JULY 12
The fields were done on Saturday night and then I got home and as I always do, before I go to bed, I took a look at the omnipresent weather channel. What I saw at 10pm did not look good, but I do not worry about the weather, because I cannot control it. Well, the rain came down that night and on my way out at 6am on  Sunday morning I could only hope for the best. I drove by Brookwood at 6:15am and saw that they needed work and headed up to Hidden Pond. As I passed Nichols Road I could not see any puddles. I thought we might luck out. Hidden Pond was not bad and I knoced that field out and headed back down to Nichols Road. Again, from my truck it looked wet without puddles. I even dropped balls off for a pick up by the Panthers and told them at 8am the field was fine. It was not. You just could not see the puddles from the truck. Kennedy in Nassau was wacked as was Newbridge. However, the waited patiently some of the players chipped in and helped work on the fields and we got all the games in. Thanks to all those teams that, as always, just hung in there and had the time to wait it out.    

Evoulution and the Rockes split at Kennedy. Evolution won, 10-9 and the Rockies won, 9-7. The Meat took on Lock and Load and the Load prevailed. Winning, 3-2 and 9-8. The Bellmore Knights took two good ones from the Untouchables, 14-10 and 16-12. The Diamondbacks took a pair from the Ballbreakers, 18-4 and 17-11.
    
Road Kill did just that to Eight Men Out. On a wet and soggy field the Eight just could not score. They posted one run in two games and the Kill won, 14-0 and 14-1. Jay Finneran pitched well, needless to say. Outfield Pub split with the Predators. The Pub won the first won, 11-2 and then the Predators answered, 15-3. UTI split with The Kore.Winning, 10-5 and losing, 6-1. The Brentwood Yankees could not finish the second game, because they had a dust up between themselves. So, Butang won two, 13-3 and 6-4. Platinum Hits are playing good softball. They took two from Blue Balls, 14-9 and 12-5. The Gorillaz had a little two much for Prime Time, they won, 7-4 and 13-0. The Rebels and Panthers split at the swinning pool that was Nichols Road. Sorry about that boys..next time I will get out of the truck look at the field. The Rebels won, 17-11 and the Panthers won, 7-6. Keep It Green kept looking into the parking lot as 9:15am came and went. They only had 7 players. However, the Diamondbacks, being the gentlemen they are said they would supply the catcher to the Greenies 8 men. Keep It Green were not going to let 8 men hurt their chances of softball glory on a Sunday morning, The won, 8-7 and 20-3.

In the Suffolk Night division we had two top teams meeting face to face for the first time. McBrides and the Degenerates. I cannot find the scores, but McBrides took the two games. 5150 played 12 Angry Men and 5150 won the first game, 16-12 and the 12 bounced back for a, 12-7 win. Smithtown F.D. took two from the Heavy Hitters, 9-7 and 7-3. JJK took a pair from the Bulldogs, two good games, 12-6 and 15-11. Top Gun played the Beavers winning two, 13-12 and 11-8. The Sluggers and The Go Hards split at Brookwood.

DOUBLE R AND RERUNS SWEEP

THURSDAY, JULY 9
The Reruns took two big games from their arch rivals Oscars. Oscars took out the Reruns in last years playoffs. So, this had to feel sweet. I am sure this sets the table for a very interesting playoff match up in a few week. The Runs won, 17-5 and 6-5. Double R took a pair from Organized Chaos, 19-7 and 18-8. We had a good week of games except for that washout on Tuesday. I will be talking to all the teams this coming week to go over make ups. Some teams are way ahead and may be pulled from this weeks schedule so some teams can catch up. I want all teams finishing at the about the same time.

THE TRADE OFF

WEDNESDAY, JULY 8
It has been the a season of copious amounts of rain, but when the sun shines it is as nice as it gets. I do not think there has been one humid day since the middle of April. We have got in a ton of games even with the rain, so no complaints here. Last night Sportin' Wood got back on the field and took the first game from a tough Warriors team, 4-2 and then the Warriors came back for a 16-7 win. The Gas House played the Weekend Warriors and took two, 11-10 and 16-1. A couple of the Weekend Warriors had to leave for the second game. The other night the Highway Homers split with the Master Batters, winning 11-1 and losing, 9-6.

ANOTHER WASHOUT

TUESDAY, JULY 7
The fields were done and then the rains came. As Brookwood was under water, Hidden Pond was bone dry. I had no games at Hidden, but did the fields for another league. I got my work cut out for me this morning. After last nights mini-hurricane, the fields will be a watered up. However, I say, lets play ball.

SHAMROCKS AND GSI SWEEP

MONDAY, JULY 6
I hope everyone had a great weekend the weather was perfect and hopefully that will be a sign of good weather for the rest of the summer. The Shamrocks took two from the Silver Bullets, 7-6 and 18-15. GSI got their wins against Damage, Inc. winning, 7-3 and 7-4. The Horsemen came out smoking and had the Muck Dogs on the ropes and were going to 12 run them at the end of 5 innings. However, the Muck Dogs started hitting and had the Horsemen a little worried as the 7th came around. The Horsemen prevailed in the end of the first game and won, 20-15. The Muck Dogs kept on hitting into the second game and took it, 14-6.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

SATURDAY, JULY 4TH
I know the weather was perfect for softball, but I think it was a good weekend to take a little time off and reflect. God Bless America...The land of the free, because it is the home of the brave.

APACHES AND RERUNS SPLIT

THURSDAY, JULY 2
The last day of games before the 4th of July break had the Apaches and Reruns mixing it up. The Apaches took the first game, 3-2 and the Reruns showed the Apaches they can still play with the best of them and took the second game, 8-0.

DAMAGE, INC. TAKE TWO

WEDNESDAY, JULY 1
The rains came, the rain went, a likely start to July. However, we got the games in. Damage, Inc. took two close games from the Gas House Gorillas over at Venetian, 6-4 and 6-5. The Horsemen and Master Batters got to play. With one team not being able to play, I had to change some games around. These two teams played each other last week, but at least they played. Two teams had to sit yesterday, because their opponents could not make the games. The Horsemen won the first game, 11-8 and the Master Batters came back for a 8-5 win.

A few teams said they want to play this week, but it is looking bleak. Some teams has already said they want to play and then they don't want to play. I just do not want to be the messenger if I set up two teams and one of those teams backs out two hours before game time. It happened on Memorial Day weekend twice. So we will see.

WARRIORS TAKE A PAIR

TUESDAY, JUNE 30
The last day of June was dry and the teams played on well-groomed fields. The Warriors took two games from PCI Services, 14-2 and 17-10.  Ken, the manager of PCI, says he is having a tough time getting players down to the games. Sometimes teams just cannot lock in players. Gios took one of their games against Oscars after they dropped the first one. Oscars won 14-8 and the Gios won 5-4.

MUCKDOGS SWEEP

MONDAY, JUNE 28
It was a beautiful night for softball. After last week when one of the teams mis read their schedule the poor Muckdogs were left all dressed up with no one to play. By game time yesterday it looked as if they might be all dressed up with no one to play again. The AC Generals only had 4 players at game, because sadly, the manager had to put his dog down. However, the sun was shining and it was shining on the Muckdogs. The AC's mustered with 8 and the Dogs, yes there was still life left in these dogs, went on to take two,18-10 and 19-7.

GSI and the Silver Bullets met up at the Pond and GSI came out with some offense and took the first game, 9-7. The Bullets bounced back and took the second game, 9-7.

The Kore and the Diamondbacks split in their Suffolk match up. The Kore won, 5-1 and the Diamond's won going away, 18-4. The Gorillaz had two big games against the Road Kill, winning, 11-6 and 11-6. UTI came out smoking and took two from the Butang, 22-8 and 14-9. The Rebels took a big win from a tough Predators team in 9 innings, 13-12. Then the Predators got predatory and took it out on the Rebels, 13-1. A Suffolk-Nassaau match up had two teams facing off for the first time ever and these teams have at leat 28 collective years in Major Sports. Evolution and Platinum Hits. The Hits kept coming for the Platinums, winning two from a very good Evolution team, Blue Balls took two from Prime Time, 9-4 and 7-2. Outfield Pub was ready to play the up and coming Panthers. The Panthers never had a chance to roar in the first game, losing, 9-0. Not much offense in that second game for either team, but the Pub won, 5-3. Two old friends met up for a pair a games Keep It Green and the Brentwood Yankees. Mutual friends on both teams, mutual fans on both teams. It was like a mutual admiration society get together. Of course, the teams split by the same scores, 7-6 and 7-6. A perfect end to a perfect day of softball.

THE 4TH OF JULY BREAK

SUNDAY, JUNE 28
Before I get into the scores of the games for this past Sunday I want to post this. I was going to call all the teams and try and put together a schedule for those teams that want to play. However, I know what will happen on one or more of douleheaders. One of the teams will call me two hours before the game and cancell it. So, no games this weekend. We might triple up on two of the make up weekends. Plan on doing so.

The Degenerates took two from the Smithtown F.D., 8-5 and 4-2. Two big wins for "5150" they took two from JJK, 6-3 and 5-3. The Slackers split with The Go Hards, winning, 18-8 and losing, 12-11. McBrides took the fist game from 12 Angry Men, 20-8 and both teams will get a win, because they tied, 17-17, before the umpire and his laziness decided he did not want to finish the game. I will take care of him. He is a NSA umpire, not mine.

In Nassau, the Diamondbacks and Untouchables split. The D's won, 9-6 and loss, 9-6. The Rockies looked strong aganist the high flying Bellmore Knights. The Knights came in with 1 loss, but the Rockies pierced their armor and hung two losses on them. Winning, 12-5 and 17-5. The Meat had a little two much for the Ballbreakers, winning, 9-3 and 22-12. Lock & Load and the Raging Bulls traveled into Suffolk for a pair at the Homer Dome, The Load was hot and took two from the Bulls, 13-3 and 14-4.

THANKS SILVER BULLETS

THURSDAY, JUNE 25
PCI Services called me at 11am and told me they could not get their team down there (This happen three times this week, I got two teams to muster in 5 hours, but please, try and give me a heads up the day before you cannot play so I can get a team to replace you) With one call to the manager, Vinnie of the Silver Bullets, he said he could get his team down to play Double R. After having to move the teams, because the Town of Islip, once again giving no clue as to what they are doing had teams on my field. We made the move and got them in. Double R took two, 20-8 and 13-5.

Sportin' Wood had a good week. They played Monday and Thursday, they were one of the teams that filled in with not a lot of notice, they won all four games. They beat Organized Chaos, 10-5 and 6-4.

THE GROUNDS CREW AT WORK....

Before....

And After.....


Play Ball!

HORSEMEN AND GAS HOUSE SWEEP

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24
I mean are you kidding me. When is the rain going to stop. I am out of town, but never far from the phone or computer to look in on the weather channel. I see no rain in the forecast, I go out for a long run and when I return I have 8 messages on my phone asking me if the games are rained out. I do the little chinese fire drill, calling umpires to get local updates and at 5pm it is the point of no return, I just have the teams show up at the fields and hope for the best. We did get them in, but down at Venetian it was a wet two games. The Gas House Gorillas beat a very good Reruns team, 7-6 and 9-1. Two big wins the the House. Up at Hidden Pond the Horsemen met up with the Master Batters. Two close games with the Horsemen galloping to two wins, 14-12 and 11-1.

The Weekend Warriors did not play because the Highway Homers could not get a full team down to the field. I want to thank the manager of the Weekend Warriors for being a gentleman about it when I passed that message on to him. Look, teams want to play and some players take time off from work to play. So, when the messenger tells some teams that their game is off because a team cannot muster I can feel the frustration coming through the phone. Thanks, Gary.

APACHES ON WARPATH

TUESDAY, JUNE 23
The first year the Apaches were in the league was three years ago. They played in the Suffolk night division. At that time I had some real good teams in that division and on the days the Apaches could play they had to match up with the best of those teams. So, their first year was a little tough. Not many wins and a lot of frustration. They came into their own last year playing good softball in the Suffolk twilight division. This year they are taking on the best in the division and coming up with impressive wins. Tonight they beat a formidable team in the Warriors, 11-10 and 16-9.

The Renegades are another team that are playing their best softball in a couple of years. Last night they did not win two, but split with a hungry Gios Pizza team. The Renegades won, 7-3 and Gios took out a couple of weeks of losing some real close games by beating the "Gades, 13-0.

SHAMROCKS AND SPORTIN' WOOD SWEEP

MONDAY, JUNE 22
First things. My apologies to the Shamrocks and Silver Bullets for the field not being done. I am out of town, but always make arrangements to have the fields done. The individual who said he would do it and he did do the Brook Wood fields, plane out saw the rain and copped out. He thought it would rain out the game and it did not and he did not do his work. Then he tried to tell me the fields were not playable. I know different. Again, my apologies. The poor Muck Dawgs were ready to go, but Gios Pizza read the schedule wrong. When I got the call from Keith, the manager of the Mucker's saying there was no team at the field I knew that is what happened. The manager of Gios got to me about 7pm and was very apologetic and felt bad about missing the game. Gios like the Muck Dawgs, show up about a half hour before the games. So, when there were no players at all at game time I knew what had happened. Life goes on...

The Shamrocks took two from the Silver Bullets on a ruddy Hidden Pond field, 8-5 and 7-4. Sportin' Wood took their first double header by beating the AC Generals, 7-1 and 11-7.

MOTHER NATURE OR MOTHER F&%$@#...

SUNDAY, JUNE 21
Well, I have seen fire and needless to say,I HAVE SEEN RAIN... What a wet spring and wet start of the summer. I reflected back to last fall and the Autumn Classic league of 2008 and if you all remember it was rain out city the whole fall. I had teams doing 3 games two weeks in a row to make up some games, I will do that for the Sunday teams in the next couple of weeks. So, it has without a doubt been the rainiest four months ever for Major Sports.

With all that said, some teams did play on Sunday. It says a lot about at Town, that is the Town of Hempstead that will go out and work on fields early Sunday morning to get games in. The 8:30am starts were a washout, but the Diamondbacks and Ball Breakers got two in at 12pm, The Backs took two, 14-2 and 12-4. In Suffolk all morning games were washed, but I saw a window of opportunity to work on some fields and I got two fields up and running. Hidden Pond was one of them and the Degenerates took two from the Beavers, 15-7 and 5-4. The night game was a split with the Bulldogs winning, 14-2 and Smithtown F.D. winning, 11-10.

The only other field I got up to speed was Brook Wood North. I was working on that field for two hours bucketing clay onto the really wet spots. One of the players showed up an hour before the game saw the field and looked at me and said, "No way is this field going to be playable". I had to make a believer out of him. The Grand Sorcerer of the the Toro Tractor, the Marquis de Sod would not be denied.

At 5pm it was ready for a double header,looking real nice I might add,  to much thanks from both teams for a job well done. The poetry of it all was both teams won a game each by one run.

WASHOUT CITY

THURSDAY, JUNE 18
Well, it is hard to believe, but we had another wash out. Mother Nature is pounding us and it does not look promising for this weekend. However, the grounds crew (that would be me) will be ready and diligent in hopes of getting some games in this weekend.

GSI LOOKING GOOD

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17
GSI has been in the league 3 out of the last 4 years. This year they have played their best softball out of those 3 years. They beat the Highway Homers, 13-1 and  8-3. The Masters Batters, the newest team in the league, three weeks, and the Raiders, one of the oldest teams in the league, 16 out the 18 years of Major Sports, played last night. The Batters got the best of the Raiders in the first game, 19-14 and both teams got a win in the second, because they had tied after 6 innings, 9-9.

My apologies to the Gas House Gorillas and the Weekend Warriors for the condtions of Venetian Shore. The Town of Babylon does not let me do it and it was very rough yesterday. It is amazing, because they have a machine right in that little shack of theirs and they do not have the common sense to take 5 minutes to do the field. I have been there many a time and have been denied when I have asked to do the field, as they sat in that shack in the middle of the day doing NOTHING. I will look into it and will sneak over again if I have to.

WARRIORS AND APACHES SWEEP

TUESDAY, JUNE 16
It was nice to see the sun for a change. The twilight division is moving along with most of the teams getting all their games in even with this wet weather. The Warriors met up with PCI Services and the Warriors were on their game. They took two, 16-9 and 11-10. That second game was a heart breaker for PCI. A one run loss. The Apaches in their third year with Major Sports, are collecting some scalps. They took two from Gios Pizza, 16-9 and 8-6. Gios has a nice team, but playing most of their games on Tuesdays is tough, because some of the big guns play on Tuesday, also. They always hold their own and will get their share of wins as the season moves on.

SHAMROCKS, RENEGADES AND SILVER BULLETS SWEEP

MONDAY, JUNE 15
As bad as the weather has been, we are still getting a lot of games in. To me, that is all that matters. The Muck Dawgs took on the Silver Bullets and the Bullets got the best of them for a two game sweep,18-6 and 11-4. The Shamrocks look good taking on a Damage, Inc. team. Two wins for the Shamrocks, 14-2 and 17-2. The Renegades met up with the AC Generals and took a pair, 15-6 and 22-16.

WE GOT THEM IN AGAIN

SUNDAY, JUNE 14
More rain than I can remember and I have been doing this for 18 years. I woke up early Sunday to look at the weather channel and looked at a huge rain storm just passing north of Long Island. We lucked out. After working on the fields all day on Saturday I would have been a little annoyed if Mother Nature would have knocked out those games. However, we played in the morning and by the afternoon it was a sunny day.

The Kore and Diamondbacks split. The Kore, won, 6-4 and the Backs, won, 11-2. The Panthers are coming of age and playing real good softball. They took two more this Sunday against a veteran Platinum Hits team, 12-6 and 20-9. Road Kill ran over Eight Men Out for two wins, 22-4 and 17-8. Blue Balls took the first game from the Outfield Pub, 15-12. The Pub came back for a,9-7 win.The Rebels took two from UTI, 10-4 and 17-5. Prime Time and Butang split. Prime won, 13-6 and Butang won, 17-9. Friends on the field, friends off the field. Keep It Green and the Brentwood Yankees split. The Green won, 3-1 and the Brentwood Yankees won, 8-6. A big game was the Predators and Gorillaz. Two good teams and both teams went home with wins.

In Nassau, the Untouchables took two from their pals the Ballbreakers, winning, 13-1 and 13-1. Lock & Load and the Bellmore Knights split two good games. Evolution came back to return the favor from two wet wins for the Rockies over at Shell Creek in a rain soaked doubleheader. The Rockies won in April and Evolution won today, 18-5 and 23-15. The Diamondbacks got two wins from a depleted Raging Bulls team, who only had 9 players. The Backs won, 22-16 and 21-0.

It was a long day for the Heavy Hitters. They played 4 games to catch up with some of the other teams in games played. Unfortunately, they dropped all 4 of them. Losing two to Smithtown F.D. and the Bulldogs. McBrides took a pair from Top Gun in a pair of good games. McBrides are coming on. Top Guns were, 7-1 going into that doubleheader. JJK took two from 12 Angry Men. The Degenerates took two, as did "5150". Old friends met up at for two The Go Hards and the Beavers. The Go's won, 12-9 and the Beavers won, 13-3.
    

OSCARS AND RERUNS ROLL

THURSDAY, JUNE 11
A wet, rainy week, but we got most of them in. Tuesday was the only wash out. The fields were game ready last night and so were Oscars and Reruns. Oscars took on Sportin Wood and won, 13-1 and 18-6. The Reruns met up with Double R and took two from them, 10-5 and 5-4. Even with all the rain this year, we are in good shape with the amount of games played. A couple of teams are behind, but with the weather we have had this could have been a real disaster. So far, so good.

RENEGADES & WEEKEND WARRIORS SWEEP

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10
After a long afternoon of getting the fields ready we got them in. The Weekend Warriors played the Horsemen and took two. Winning, 20-8 and 19-7. A note to all teams, if you get run ruled after the 5th inning you do not get your final at bat if you are the home team. There was a question about that in this doubleheader. The Renegades came out strong and took two from the Master Batters, 14-0 and 18-4. Over at Venetian the Gashouse Gorillas took the first game from Damage, Inc.,11-4 and the Inc. came back for a stunning, 3-0 victory.

MONDAY, MONDAY

MONDAY, JUNE 8
The week got off to a good start, I think Tuesday's games will be a washout and Wednesdays could be rain-out mode too, we will see.

The Warriors filled in for Chaos, who could not play, and took on a hot GSI team. The Warriors evened up their record at 4-4, taking two from GSI, 16-7 and 13-1. The Muck Dawgs got back to playing softball and split with the AC Generals, winning 18-6 and dropping the night cap to AC 18-17. The Shamrocks took the first game from the Silver Bullets 8-3, and then both teams tied when time ran out 10-10. Both teams will get wins for the tie.

SUNNY SUNDAY

SUNDAY, JUNE 7
After the deluge on Friday, I knew my work was cut out for me on Saturday,all day, and Sunday morning getting the fields game ready. The nice day on Saturday dried the fields up and I did the rest.

M&V Limos is out of the Sunday night league. They forfeited last week and after me calling him 3 times, talking to the manager each time, but he kept telling me that HE was HIS brother and that HE was not in. Thanks for the money and enjoy the summer...

Road Kill met up with the Gorillaz in a good match up. The Gorillaz were winning in the first game but the Kill came up with a bunch of runs in the top of the 7th to take the win. The Gorillaz came back for a, 10-6 win. It was nice talking to the boys on Keep It Green. I asked them what the name meant and they told me. Keep It Green and Keep Up The Good Work, guys. They split with the Diamondbacks. The Kore took on their pals Butang. The Kore is playing good softball and took two from the Tang, 28-5 and 12-7. UTI took two close games from the fun loving Brentwood Yankees, 12-10 and 7-6. Two good games. The Panthers came out real slow against Eight Men,The Out had  them in the first game until the 7th when the Panthers got their hitting shoes on and put up 13 runs for a 20-8 win. They took the next game, 18-13. Blue Balls met up with Platinum Hits. To competitive teams, two good games, one win each. The Balls won, 12-9 and The Hits won, 18-7. Prime Time took two from the Rebels, 6-4 and 10-8. The Outfield Pub took two from their rivals the Predators, 19-7 and 5-3.

In Nassau, the Bellmore Knigths are playing the best softball they have ever played in this league. They could always compete with any team, but this year they have cut through some tough teams. They took two from the high flying Rockies, 9-4 and 7-5. They are now 8-0 Lock & Load took a pair from the Ballbreakers, who were the Wizards of Oz. The Untouchables took a pair from their dear friends the Raging Bulls, 18-7 and 10-9. Evolution and The Meat played two and each team went home with a win. Evolution won, 17-5 and The Meat won, 12-8. The Nassau schedule is done and will go in the mail on Tuesday.

Sunday night divisions had some nice match ups. The Slackers and the Sluggers split at Brookwood Hall. Smithtown F.D. took on The Go Hards and both teams went home with a win. The Hards won, 7-6 and F.D. won, 7-6. Old fores the Denerates and JJK met up and as it happens most times when two good teams meet up the teams split the doubleheader. The D's won, 20-16 and Zillaz's won, 15-13. McBrides took two from the Beavers, 18-12 and 19-18. "5150" split with the Bulldogs. They lost 24-16 and won, 15-13. 12 Angry Men took on Top Gun and the teams split. The 12 won, 12-10 and Top Gun came back for a, 8-7.

A little side bar. McBrides has been playing some good softball lately. They have come back in the 7th inning of a couple of their last wins. This week they won one of their games with a 2 out homer in the bottom of the 7th. They may not have the talent they use to have, as they brought to my attention, but they are having as much fun as ever. Before it is all over, McBrides will be a team to contend with.

WE GOT TWO IN

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3
With even a hint of rain on any given day the phone starts ringing. Is the game on...Is it rained out... The rain is cominm, etc. etc. That is what I do all day if there is a threat of games being rained out. I just try and assess if I think we can get them in. Last night was a good call for the teams that played in the south of Long Island. Venetian and Brookwood Hall games were played. The Hidden Pond games were not. All the teams mustered, as they should have, and we got in two out of the three. The Apaches are playing good softball, they took two from Damage, Inc. 24-14 and 16-15.  The Gas House Gorillas met up with a team that just got started, because of college, the Master Batters. The House took the first game, 12-9 and the Batters came back for a, 13-10 win for their first victory. The Highway Homers and Raiders showed up at Hidden Pond, but decided it was to wet to play.


PCI SERVICES SWEEP

TUESDAY, JUNE 2
A tough team that because of the days (day) they play most of their games on, always matches up with a tough opponent, and that team is Gios Pizza. Tuesday is their day and on that day most of the toughest teams in Major Sports play. Oscars, Warriors and PCI Services. Now, there are other teams in that Suffolk Twilight that are as tough as those teams. However, all of those teams have Tuesday as their day and so does Gios Pizza. PCI took both games, one was by the score of, 3-2 and the second game was a barn burner, 17-14. Gios will win their share of games before the season is over. The Renegades split with the Warriors. Two low scoring games. The Warriors won, 4-3 and the Renegades won, 3-1.


SWEEP CITY

MONDAY, JUNE 1
The first games of June, I just like saying that month, JUNE...It is usually the end of the real nasty spring weather even though it is not quite the summer solstice yet, that would be the first day of summer June 20. Six teams played and three teams walked away with two wins. All good games and all good match ups. The Muck Dogs got back to doing what they love doing and that is playing softball on Monday nights. The met up with Organized Chaos, who have played some tough teams their last two weeks. So, it was a nice match up and the boys from Chaos took two, 23-4 and 16-11. The Horsemen took on the AC Generals and they took a pair, 17-5 and 7-5. The Horsemen's first sweep of the season. Up at Hidden Pond Park GSI, who are playing as good as anyone in the twilight divisions took two from a game Silver Bullets team, 14-10 and 15-10. Let's hope the rain holds off for Tuesday.

BACK TO PLAYING SOFTBALL

SUNDAY, MAY 31
I am always glad when May passes into history, because it is always a busy month getting all the teams up and running and you never know if it is going to be 85 degrees and sunny or 45 degrees and raining. Well, the last Sunday in May was a nice one, but not the Friday leading up to it when the rains fell and the winds whip. One or two fields were a little slushy on Sunday, but we got the games in. My apologies to the Rebels and Sluggers. Keep It Green only had half a team, so they forfeited to the Rebels and M & V Limo called at 1pm to say they would not have a full squad. I started calling the Sluggers manager at 1:15pm, put could not reach him. I kept calling and calling, but no luck. The Sluggers showed up, but had to be told they had no game. They were very nice about it and they told me their manager was in Cancun and that is why I could not connect with him.

Also, my thanks to the Rockies and Untouchables for going into Suffolk to play. With a lack of one field in Nassau they were nice enough to make the trip in. I get my field back in Nassau in a week, so now I can send out the schedules to those Nassau teams. Once again, thanks to those all managers and players for their kindness and patience.

The Outfield Pub took two from Road Kill on a slushy field at Brookwood South. They won, 11-6 and 15-7. The Predators had two much for Prime Time, taking two, 21-5 and 12-2. UTI got back to playing ball and split with Blue Balls. They won the first game, 13-4 and dropped the second game to the Balls, 18-11. The Brentwood Yankees took the first game against The Kore, 5-4 and The Kore bounced back for a close and well played, 9-8 victory. Platinum Hits played their old foes, Eight Men Out and both teams went home with wins. The Hits won, 16-9 and the Eight won, 14-13. The Panthers have only been in the league for two years, but in those two years have proved they can play with the best of them. They met up with the formidable Gorillas and lost a hard played first game, 17-12, but came back for a big, 13-6 victory in the second game. The Diamonbacks and Butang, split their two games.

In Nassau, Lock & Load dropped two to a tough Evolution team. These teams have been going at it for 14 to 15 years. The scores, 13-11 and 9-6. Always close games and good games. The Bellmore Knights had two much offense for the Diamondbacks. They took two, 15-1 and 23-11. The Meat took two from the Raging Bulls, 30-5 and 21-7. The Rockies won their games against the Untouchables, 7-3 and 13-9.

The only scores I have from the late games are the Degenerates taking two from the Heavy Hitters, 16-5 and 96. JJK taking two from the Smithtown Fire Department, 11-7 and 11-3. Down at Brookwood, 12 Angry Men beat The Go Hards in the first game, 7-5, but Hards came back in the second game for a sweet, 12-5 win.

SILVER BULLETS ARE
PLAYING GOOD SOFTBALL

THURSDAY, MAY 28
The Silver Bullets have come a long way in two short years. Last year they played as Fed Ex and had a bunch of up and coming players, not a strong team at all, but they could hold their own every now and then. This year Vinnie Perri, the manager told me they had step it up a notch and their schedule reflects his call for some more competition. So, far this year they have split with two of the top teams in the Suffolk Twilight divisions. They split with the Warriors, for years the Bulldogs, and yesterday took a second game, 13-12 from the always formidable Reruns. The Runs took the first game, 12-2. The Shamrocks took two from Double R, 13-8 and 13-5.


GSI SWEEPS

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27
GSI took on Organized Chaos and put up some offense against them. Organized Chaos is a new team and with no point of reference you never know what competition level they will be comfortable with. Anyway, GSI took two, 18-6 and 21-5. The Gas Hose Gorillas split with the Weekend Warriors. They won the first game, 10-8 and the Warriors came back for a, 13-12 victory. The Horsemen and the Raiders split with the Raiders taking the first game, 19-12 and the Horsemen came charging back for a, 10-9 victory.

UPDATE: APACHES TAKE TWO
FROM PCI SERVICES

TUESDAY, MAY 26
Sometimes you just get the scores wrong. With cell phones these days it is hard to hear the scores. I made a mistake by saying the Apaches split, when in reality they took two. They won that second game, 18-10. So, it was a very good night to be an Apache!

NOTHING LIKE BEATING YOUR DEAR FRIENDs

TUESDAY, MAY 26
In the annals of sports there is nothing like beating your someone you are close to. Oscars and the Warriors met up last night, the Warriors are last years Bulldogs, and both teams were juiced before, during and after the games. Jay Finneran, one of the big dogs for the Warriors plays with Road Kill, the old Oscars on Sunday morning. As do one or two of his children. So, when the teams meet before the game it is handshakes and pleasantries before the first pitch, but after that the competitive fire starts to flame and it is, "Katie bar the door"... Last night with good pitching from Gary Smith, Oscars took two, 10-3 and 17-7. As the sun set the teams mingled and reflected on a nice night of softball among friends.

The Apaches thought they were going to be out gunned as they got to the field. PCI has a formidable team, put so do the Apaches when they play well. The Apaches drew first blood and got a,7-6 win. Then PCI settle in and bounced back for a 18-10 victory.

THE NASSAUS SUNDAY SCHEDULES

TUESEDAY, MAY 26
All the schedules have been completed except the Nassau Sunday morning schedule. Since the beginning of the season we have been on a week to week schedule, as were some of the teams in Suffolk County. At the beginning of the year it is impossible for me to complete all the schedules at the same time. So, my main priority is making sure all teams know where they are going a couple of days ahead. All the schedules are now done and sent out, if one or two teams do not have them as of yet it is because I do not have their address. All the schedules, except the Nassau Sunday morning schedule.

For ten years the Town of Hempstead has given Major Sports at least one slot with a 9:00am starting time(usually Seamans Park or Newbridge Park)and on every other Sunday I have two slots with 9:00am starting times. This year when I went to pick up my permits, I was told that they made a mistake and handed out my allotment to someone else. Now, the individuals who run the Town of Hempstead are the nicest and have always gone out of their way to help me out and I am sure other leagues, too. So, my first reaction was to just see what could be done to work things out. They said they would reel some back in, but it would be in the middle of June and on through the summer. They asked that I call each week to find out if someone had given back a Sunday morning field and if they did I would get it. However, week in and week out for the last month there were no fields given back. Honest mistakes are made and they said I would get my fields back next year, but this year it has been a little disconcerting for me and the Nassau morning teams. I few said they would not mind coming into Suffolk for a doubleheader or two and we have done that. So, the update is I will start to get my one and then two fields back soon enough. I have Newbridge Park every Sunday at 1:30pm, but teams did not sign up for and afternoon league and I understand that. So, I hope the Nassau teams can bear with me for another two weeks and then I will start to get at least one of the fields back each Sunday starting June 14(except, June 28) and on a few of those Sunday I will have two fields and Kennedy Park for morning games. Thanks for your cooperation and I appreciate the respect and patience you all have shown. So, I will call the teams this week and get this schedule finished up.


TOP GUNS  AND PLATINUM HITS SWEEP

MONDAY, MAY 25
There were suppose to be four doubleheaders go off this weekend, three did in Suffolk and the one in Nassau did not. The Top Guns took two from the Slackers. The Top Guns started late because of some players in college, so they made up a doubleheader.  The Panthers split with the Rebels and Platinum Hits took a pair from The Kore.

A NICE WEEK FOR SOFTBALL

THURSDAY, MAY 21
After what seemed like weeks of rain, we had a great week of weather and all the twilight teams got their games in on dry turf. Double R and the Reruns took advantage of the great weather and posted two wins each. Double R took on and beat Organized Chaos, 22-6 and 18-5. Organized Chaos is a new team and I think I put them up against some teams that were a notch better. I will adjust that schedule a little for them. The Reruns took on Sportin' Wood, the hybrid ex Techno Cats team, made up of some old and some new players. The Runs were the sporting wood on this night beat S.W., 13-1 and 16-9. Likewise with Sportin' Wood, I think I will have to adjust their schedule a bit. With a new team you never know how they shape up until you see some scores come across. Both teams will do fine as the season moves on.

DAMAGE, INC. AND THE RENEGADES SWEEP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20
Damage, Inc. one of the few new teams in the Suffolk Twilight division took two from the Raiders at Brookwood Hall. Winning, 11-10 and 8-7. Two good games for Damage and the Raiders, even though the Raiders came up on the short end of both games. My thanks to the Gas House Gorillas for taking a bye this week at Venetian when they were schedule. They vacated so that the Weekend Warriors and the AC Generals could get their first games in against each other. The W. Warriors took the first game, 17-5 and the AC took the second game, 5-4. The Renegades, last years Brewers, have turned it up a notch. They added a few players and took two from a formidable Highway Homer team, 14-4 and 16-3.

PCI SERVICES TAKE TWO

TUESDAY, MAY 19
PCI Services met up with Gios Pizza and took a pair. Winning, 24-5 and 15-9. The Apaches got started after a couple of weeks of rain and the Town of Islip going back and forth with field allocations. They played Oscars and both teams went home with a win. The Apaches won the first game, 10-9 and Oscars came back for a, 15-9 victory.

ALL TEAMS ARE UP AND PLAYING

MONDAY, MAY 18
After what seemed like non stop rain for three weeks it looks like a good week for softball. The Silver Bullets, last years, Fed Ex team, has added some good softball players and are playing good softball. Any team that can go toe to toe with the Warriors, last years Bulldogs, shows that they are a solid team. The Warriors took the first game, 10-2 and then the Bullets came back for a. 15-4 victory. The Shamrocks split with GSI, with the Rocks winning 10-2 and GSI winning, 15-3. Both teams were without some of their good players, so it worked out fine. The Muck Dogs got two wins because their opponent showed up with 7 players.

WE GOT A FEW GAMES IN

SUNDAY, MAY 17
I was in Florida the whole winter and I think it rained five days in five months. I have been here about 35 days and I think it has rained about 20 of those days. Even with all the rain we have still had the opportunity to get a lot of softball in around the rain drops. Now, we have been able to do that, because I have been able to work the fields with the machine and get some of the fields just playable for some of the games.
     In Nassau we got 3 doubleheaders in during the morning and in Suffolk no games were played in the morning. The Bellmore Knights are smoking. They took two from Evolution last week and took two from Lock and Load this week. They beat Lock & Load, 11-5 and 14-3. Evolution got in the winning column by beating The Meat in two games, 9-7 and 7-6. The Raging Bulls played the Wizards of Ox again, just because they match up well and they could in Suffolk. What I did on Saturday was check out the small field at Kennedy Park, the one on the left when you get to the fields. There is that Little League fence in left at 210 feet, but 70% of that outfield is open. Here is a little side bar for you, the old Polo Grounds where the Giants use to play and the Mets played back in 1961 to 1963. Do you know what it was down the foul lines? 259FT and 262ft.That was a Major League stadium.So, that secondary field is short in left, but it is a nice field. The Raging Bulls took two from Oz.
     In Suffolk 3 doubleheaders were played in the evening, 4 doubleheades had to be cancelled due to field conditions. The Degenerates took two from M & V Limos, 10-9 and 6-4. The Bulldogs took it out on 12 Angry Men, winning, 15-0 and 12-0. The Top Guns got their first games in with The Go Hards. They took two, 15-3 and 17-5.
     Schedules are done and will go in the mail today and tomorrow and I will call all the Sunday teams to see who wants to play this week. A few teams will, must teams do not want to.
     Have a nice Memorial Day weekend and think of and thank our men and woman who defend us and who have defended us over the years of this great country. As George Orwell, who wrote, 1984,said, " We can sleep peacefully at night, because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us." Well put, George.

RERUNS AND SPORTIN' WOOD SWEEP

THURSDAY, MAY 14
We got the games in around the rain and darkness. The Reruns won, 14-13 and 9-7 in two games. The second game did not go a full 5 innings so I will work something out for the teams. Sportin' Wood, which in reality is the core from the old Techno Cats, that is Lew Cordina and his sons, took two from Organized Chaos,14-2 and 18-8.


GAS HOUSE GORILLAS AND HIGHWAY HOMERS WIN

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13
The Suffolk Twilight division is starting to get some games in. I hope I can get them in on Thursday as rain is in the forecast. Last night the Horsemen gave the Gorillas a fight in the first game, but lost a close one 8-7. Then the Gas House got going and took the night cap, 18-6. Thanks to Anthony and the Horsemen for making the trip to Venetian. Anthony Manco is one of many real gentlemen managers. My type of guy. Damage, Inc. a new team that is a pleasant addition to the league, split with GSI. GSI took the first game, 15-14 and Damage can back for a, 4-1 win. The Highway Homers met up with their rivals the Raiders, taking two, 9-7 and 19-5.

SCHEDULES

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13
First, I want to thank all of the teams for their patience in waiting for their final schedules. All schedules will be done by this Friday, May 15. I will be calling all Sunday teams for their games this week, Sunday, May 17. Then I will be sending out those schedules that I do not drop off on Sunday. For the Suffolk Twilight teams I will call them for their games next week and drop off or mail out their final schedules. It took a little longer to finish them due to waiting for my final field allocations.Once again, I want to thank all the managers and players for displaying their flexibility and patience.

All standings will be posted by Monday and updated two to three times a week.

WARRIORS TAKE THEIR FIRST TWO

TUESDAY, MAY 12
The Warriors, last years Bulldogs, got off to a good start on a cloudy night at Brookwood Hall. They took the first game, 9-1 and the second one, 8-3. Two old foes, PCI Services and Oscars, met for a pair. PCI took the first game, 9-8 and Oscars bounced back for a,12-10 win.

Twitter and Lance Armstrong: A Winning Strategy


Lance Armstrong and friend Kevin Lynch training in Kona, Hawaii

Also see: Mike's brother Kevin mentioned on Lance Armstrong's Twitter blog.

MAJOR SPORTS SOFTBALL 2009

THURSDAY, JANUARY 15
Well, gentleman, I hope you all had a nice holiday season as 2008 faded into the history books. It seems like it was only yesterday when I returned from a trip to Florida in 1992 and decided that I would start Major Sports Softball. That was 18 years ago and over that span of time 3367 teams have played in Major Sports.

The evolution of softball on Long Island since 1992 has been epic in more ways than one. First, back in 1992 there were so many more softball leagues it was hard to believe. It seemed that every year there were  leagues that came and went with the bigger and better ones getting most of the teams. At least 50 leagues have come and gone since, 1992. If my memory serves me correctly without doing any hard research, there must have been 30 to 40 softball leagues operating each year. The big guns in those days were Wesco Sports, Spartan Sports and Alliance, which did modified only. I know for a fact that Spartan Sports had over 300 teams in one of their summer leagues around 1986. Leagues came and went as fast as the pretenders who ran them realized it was a work intensive running a good softball league.

I started in 1992 and I believe ABA Sports started the following year, 1993. My first year I did not start advertising my league until the middle of February and I still got 90 teams for that first season. That is 90 teams with no night teams. All the teams played on Sunday or Twilight. Some of the fields I used were given to me as afterthoughts by some school districts. Commack,  Islip and Copiague gave me  fields that were like cow pastures and I went out there with a roto tiller and turned three fields over completely. Those fields were Long Acres in Commack, Copiague Junior High School and one more that I cannot even remember the name of it. It was an Islip elementary school on Commack Road.

New Alliance came around about the time I started and a league that flew out of the ashes like the mythical Phoenix was Island Sports. Island Sports was around for years going all the way back to the mid and late 1970's. I think the gentleman who ran it was Joe Matarazzo. I hope I got the name right. He ran it for a long time, but gong into the mid 90's  he did not have many teams at all. I think he may have been down to 12 to 16 teams and then the late John Balbi took it over from him and then Mike Alicea, who managed a team in my league for a year or two, joined Balbi and now Island is a power house softball league along with ABA Sports, Wesco and New Alliance. I am proud to say that Major Sports can be included in that august company.

When I started Major Sports I promised myself I do would go the extra yard for the teams to enhance the softball experience, because I played in some dubious leagues to say the least and was appalled at how they treated the teams and players. I put down the foul lines each week no matter what field it was. I roto tilled 20 infields over he years until I started getting better fields. I sent out a newsletter,The Rebel Yell, that got better every year and that went out every week to every team for years, until the next epic change... the internet.

As you all know now it seems like the 19th century as to what we were doing only 10 years ago as to what we can do now by clicking away.  The computer and the internet have streamlined the industry and now we all have so much information at our finger tips. Sign ups, daily updates, paying by credit card over the internet and so much more.

All the big softball leagues that operate now have to run good leagues to compete with the rest. That has made it better for the teams and the players. As I reflect, I remember writing down some things that winter back in 1992 just before I started Major Sports. What is the perfect softball experience day in and day out for a team? I wrote in my manifesto that it was team going to a nice playing field with the infield dragged and smooth with foul lines, knowing that there would be a competitive opponent on the other bench, with a good umpire. Also knowing that if something did happen that the manager could contact me at any time and I could resolve that problem if one did occur. Finally, at  the end of the game, shaking hands with the opponent, knowing that whether you won or lost that it was a joy to be playing a game you love to play.

I am looking forward to 2009 and the softball season and I am sure you are, too.