Archive 2008 - 2019

2019 Senior Softball PREVIEW

by Ken Sawyers
4/4/2019

2019 Senior Softball PREVIEW - By Ken Sawyers (’18 Fall Ball Champion)

  • 2018 Action courtesy of Ken Sawyers

Division A

Position

Team

Won

Lost

Tied

Pct

Runs
For

Runs
Against

Opp
Wins

1

Kampersal

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

2

South

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

3

Braggville

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

4

Dalton Road

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

5

DYR

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

6

Jasper Rock

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

7

Anthony's East

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

8

Downtown

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

As has been the case for the last 10+ years, the road to the ‘A’ Championship will go through Braggville.  Led by perennial MVP candidate OF Dan Kittredge, the ageless Paul Murphy, and veteran hitter Chris Connors, the 3x defending champs have everybody back and begin their quest for a 4th straight title when they open the season on April 7th with a key early test against Kampersal.  Manager Tom Kampersal will be looking to avoid a repeat of last year's dysfunctional clubhouse.  Despite going 8-3, the player-manager questioned a few of his starters commitment especially OF Derek Jordan who spends the bulk of his Spring weekends running, swimming, and biking long distances with strangers instead of playing OF and hitting lead off on Sunday nights with his buddies.  Cleanup hitter OF Chris Boggess looks to improve his attendance as well as he has moved his book-club meetings to Tuesday nights.  Speaking of dysfunctional clubhouses, Dalton Rd will look to regain its form this year after what Manager Steve Cotto called ‘the most trying year of my tenure’ in 2018.  Despite a regular season win over Braggville, Dalton Rd faltered a bit down the stretch due to a few key injuries like 1B slugger Dave Birmingham who hurt his heel chasing down an ice cream truck while at his Cape house and IF Jaime Ross who pulled his hamstring while abruptly exiting Orchids of Asia Day Spa.   DYR looks to return to the Championship Game as OF Jay Miller’s ailing left shoulder has healed completely.  He can now lift 12 fluid ounces to his lips with no pain.  P Justin Lessard spent part of the winter in the Dominican Republic with Red Sox legend, Luis Tiant tinkering with his delivery and the early results are promising.  In his 3 starts in the DR winter league, he is 3-0 with a no- hitter and 37 K’s.   Downtown will be lurking in the A division again as they return all key components.  OF Tim McCarron looks to continue his pursuit of the all-time HR title (9- away) while 3B Richie Contreras leads a stellar defensive infield.  Anthony’s East will have something to say in the ‘A’ division again this year as All-World SS D-Rob is back as is OF Mike DelPrete who had a busy off-season celebrating his 2018 Fall Ball championship.  Congrats, Mike (and me)!  Jasper Rock moves up to the big league and looks to get off to a strong start behind P Derek ‘the Commissioner’ Cordon and the hitting of 3B Doug Herman and OF Jeremy ‘the fastest CPA on Earth’ CordonSouth rounds out the division and P Bryan Sweeney will look to keep the drinking ban in-play for this season as that late season directive proved critical to their ascent to ‘A’.  No word if OF Steve Lawless will comply.  Stay tuned..

  • 2018 Action courtesy of Ken Sawyers

Division B Standings through 19 Mar

Position

Team

Won

Lost

Tied

Pct

Runs
For

Runs
Against

Opp
Wins

1

Mudville

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

2

Brentwood

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

3

The Hood

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

4

Long Distance

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

5

Queens

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

6

Lions

0

0

0

0.000

0

0

0

Expect Mudville to play with a chip on their shoulders this year as their drop into ‘B’ division was not determined until the final week last spring.  Player-manager Eric Kuharich has informed the team that should their stay in ‘B’ last more than the 2019 season, he will clean house.  He expects more production from 1B Errick Spada who spent the off-season watching the famous Tom Emanski batting videos.  The massive slugger is now such a disciple of the legendary coach, he will even wear his hat like Fred McGriff does in the videos.  Brentwood looks to improve on their 5-6 record with another solid year from veteran P Ken Engstrom.  Coming off a disastrous 3-8 season, Long Distance will turn to 1B Chris Landers for a big year.  Good luck with that… Lions was the other team to drop to ‘B’ and OF Ernie ‘the Hit-Man’ Tomacelli will take it upon himself to ‘will’ his team back to the ‘A’ division.  Queens looks to build off last year’s success and actually beat a team that has won a game.   Player-manager Shawn Peters promises no forfeits this year for The Hood who went winless last year (0-11).  Hood slugger OF Greg Andreola is being courted by several ‘A’ teams so look for Peters to ask for a ‘king’s ransom’ in return for his clean-up hitter. 

PREDICTIONS:

·         ‘A’ Championship:  Braggville vs Kampersal – B’vill wins 14-9

·         ‘B’ Championship: Mudville vs Long Distance- M’ville wins 17-13

·         ‘A’ Teams to DROP to ‘B’:  Downtown and South

·         ‘A’ League MVP: OF, Chris Boggess (Kampersal)

·         ‘B’ League MVP:  3B, Eric Kuharich (Mudville)