| Mens team places 4th in Phil Sweeney Tournament |
 The Just a Bit Outside Softball Club's mens team took part in the first annual Phil Sweeney Memorial Tournament this past weekend over at Knickerbacker Park in Troy, NY. Out of the 8 teams that competed in the 2-day tournament, the club compiled a 2 - 2 record and finished 4th.
The tournament had a slow but very fortunate start for the club on Saturday afternoon, as they found out that their first round opponents, the Troy Fire & Police Departments, were busy helping keep Troy safe, so unfortunately, they would have to forfeit their matches in the tournament and give the victory to JABO.
In their "second" game of the night on Saturday, the team faced a very good Graney's club that were the Mens B1 champions in Andy's Softball league last fall. The team got down early in the game, 5 - 1, but battled back with a 3-run 6th inning that pulled them to within one run. Unfortunately, they weren't able to get that final run and lost a heartbreaker 5 - 4, dropping them into the losers bracket.
On Sunday, the team came back to face Terminal Tavern, with each team knowing that their next loss would put them out of the tournament. Refreshed, Danny Benitez pitched perhaps his best game of the season, his second game within 24 hours, and the team's offense came to life, as they were able to defeat Terminal Tavern 9 - 3 and move on to the next game.
That next game, though, happened to be just 15 minutes after their game against Terminal Tavern ended. The foe for their next challenge, Frozen Ropes, was a familiar one, with many of the players currently playing at some level in the Andy's league. This game was a back and forth battle throughout, with each team holding the lead at some point in the game, with the club actually holding an 8 - 6 lead after 4 innings. But 3 in the 5th, and 2 more insurance runs in the 6th were all the Ropes needed as they held on to beat an exhausted but courageous JABO team 11 - 8, ending their tournament hopes.
Over the course of the tournament, there was one clear star of the team, and that was pitcher Danny Benitez. For the tournament, Danny through 3 complete games against three clubs that are typically playing in much higher caliber leagues than what the club is used to, and in 20 innings, he gave up only 19 runs. He also managed to bat .500 (5 for 10) with a triple, scoring one run and driving in 3.
Offensively, the team hit well against high quality pitching. Here are just a couple of the leaders from the tournament:
Total Hits: AJ Haynes (6)
Extra Base Hits: AJ Haynes, Chris Furman (tie, 2)
Walks: Chris Furman (3)
Runs Scored: Chris Furman (4)
RBI's: Chris Furman, Dan McKittrick (tie, 4)
Avg: Chris Furman (.714)
OBP: Chris Furman (.727)
OPS: Chris Furman (1.727)
The full statsheet can be found here: Phil Sweeney Memorial Tournament Stats (PDF Format)
Thanks to everyone that came out and played and supported us and supported the tournament. Everyone had a great time!
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 chrisfurman on June 28 2010 11:10:29 ·
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| Offense surges as Mens team regains winning ways |
Coming off their worst offensive performance for the season in their last game, putting up only 7 runs in their lost to WB Roofing, the Just a Bit Outside Softball Club's mens B3 team knew that it would be important to put some runs up early on the board, especially since they were playing another top-4 team in the division.
The offense delivered last night, putting up 17 runs against the Milfhunters and were able to withstand a couple of their rally's to win their 5th game of the season, a 17 - 10 decision.
The offensive display was throughout the lineup last night, with everyone doing their part to help put up runs. The starters at the beginning of the lineup were on base 5 times, scoring 4 runs. The heart of the lineup (3 - 6) went 12 - 14 in the game, scoring 9 runs. And the bottom of the lineup was littered with hit after hit, putting runners on base and pressure on the opposing pitcher.
The team jumped out to a quick 8 - 0 lead after 1 1/2 innings after batting around the lineup in the 2nd, buoyed by 6 consecutive hits during the inning. The team scored another run in the third, but by the end of 3, Milfhunters has closed the lead to 9 - 4. But another strong offensive inning in the 4th plated another 5 runs for JABO, this time with 5 consecutive hits in the inning, capped off with a 3-run homerun by catcher Ryan Kelly.
The Milfhunters put up 2 more in the bottom of the 4th and 4 more in the 5th to close the lead to 14 - 10, but a final 3 runs by JABO in the top of the 6th, then it was lights out as reliever Chris Furman came on to pitch 2 scoreless innings to close the game.
"This was an all-around complete game from our team" said manager Chris Furman after the game. "We played well on defense, the bats were lively tonight, and we played smart. We took the extra base when we could but didn't run ourselves out of innings."
The team's next game is a weekend matinee, taking place on Saturday, June 12 at Field of Dreams against Vicarious Visions (1 - 3). Game time is at 1:00pm |
chrisfurman on June 03 2010 10:05:13
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| Late rally not enough as Mens team loses first game of season |
As day turned to night, and as the game between the Just a Bit Outside Mens softball team and their opponent, WB Roofing, went into the late innings of the contest, it slowly became something the team was familiar to, but hadn't seen so far this season:
Down late with no offense in sight.
"We've been in this kind of situation many times before," said manager Chris Furman about how the game was playing out. "Our offense will sputter throughout most of the game, but for some reason, comes alive late."
It happened again last night, as the team went into the last inning of the game down 6 runs to their opponent.
The inning started off innocently, with a hard single to left by Danny Benitez. Frank Carr followed up with a single of his own, as did Justin Kelly. By the time the 6th batter of the inning, Ryan Phelps-Franco, made it to the plate, the team had cut the lead in half, and was only down 9 - 6, with 2 men on and nobody out.
Sadly, though, this story doesn't have a happy ending. 3 fly ball outs later, broken up only by a RBI double from Chris Furman, the game was over, and the team had dropped their first game of the 2010 summer season, a 9 - 7 defeat to WB Roofing (5 - 0).
Despite the loss, the team played well throughout the entire game and proved they will be a tough opponent for anyone within their division this year. It was a case of one inning where WB Roofing was able to do the exact same thing to the JABO club, plating 6 runs in the 4th inning with a bunch of bloop hits and line drive singles.
Benitez (3 - 1, 10.50 ERA) pitched an excellent game for the club, throwing 70% of his pitches for strikes, and even striking out 3 batters during the game (including 2 in a row).
The team faces another tough challenge next week, as they face Milfhunters on Wednesday, June 2 at Field of Dreams. Game time is scheduled for 9pm. |
chrisfurman on May 27 2010 12:19:35
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| JABO rallies late, holds on to 12-11 win |
The Just a Bit Outside Softball Club's mens team had to fight off a slow offensive start, battle through tough light conditions and overcome a quick mid-week turnaround, but the team put together a late offensive surge and was able to hold on to defeat 4 Corners Pharmacy on Thursday night by a score of 12 - 11, running their record to a historic best start of 4 - 0.
So far this season, the team has gotten out to fast starts against their opponents and relied on two quality pitchers to confuse their opponents. But after 4 innings of play, and while the quality pitching remained, the offense was asleep as the team found themselves with only 4 runs, and down 7 - 4.
Everything changed with the first four batters in the 5th inning. Chris Furman led off the inning on a sharp single to left-center, and scored on the very next batter, rookie Dan McKittrick's double to center. He then scored on an AJ Haynes triple, who then scored on Matt Relyea's double. 4 batters, 3 extra base hits, 3 runs to tie the game at 7.
In the 6th, Steve Kawzack singled, and Furman's double gave McKittrick two more runs to bat in with another solid single to center.
And just like that, JABO had a 9-7 lead.
And the offense didn't stop in the 7th, either. Singles by Art Wise (who was pinch-run for by Ryan Phelps-Franco), Danny Benitez and Jimmy Morocco gave the team one last hope for extra runs. And consecutive singles by Steve Kawczak (plating 2) and Jon Noonan (plating a 3rd), gave the team a 12 - 7 cushion.
The team needed all the cushion they could get, as 4 Corners started to drop singles in during the 7th inning. With 3 runners having already crossed the plate, Noonan was ejected from the game for obstruction by attempting a fake-tag on the runner advancing to third. The defense adjusted and made the final 2 outs before 4 Corners could get their final run across, and escaped with a 12 - 11 victory.
"This was a much-needed win for us," said Coach Furman after the game. "We needed a game where we struggled a little and had to fight back, and we did just that. These guys don't have any quit in them, and it was great to see the team pull together and get the win tonight."
Danny Benitez (3-0, 10.50 ERA) pitched well to earn a complete game win for the team.
The club's next game is Wednesday, May 26, pitting the top two teams in the B3 National divison, as they face WB Roofing & Sheet Metal. Game time is 7:30pm at Field of Dreams. |
chrisfurman on May 21 2010 10:41:44
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| Mens team bookends weekend with 2 convincing wins |
The Just a Bit Outside Softball Club's Mens B3 team continued their early season hot streak by bookending the past weekend with two wins. The first win came Friday night as they defeated the Best Damn Sports bar 20 - 9, then followed it up with a win last night against Albany Nanotech 20 - 12.
Friday night's game opened up when the JABO bats came to life in the top of the 6th inning. With the score tied at 8, JABO put up 7 runs in the 6th and followed that up with 5 more in the 7th to take a comfortable 12 run lead. Danny Benitez pitched brilliantly through the first four innings of the game, giving up only 2 runs, but started to tire in the 5th where Best Damn Sports Bar plated 6 runs to tie it. Chris Furman entered the game in relief of Benitez and is credited with the win, allowing only one run during the final two innings.
The offensive explosion from the game came from the 4 and 5 spots in the lineup, as rookie Matt Relyea hit 3 doubles with 4 RBI and scoring 3 runs, and AJ Haynes smacking 2 home runs with 5 RBI. Also helping out with the offense was Ryan Phelps-Franco who was on base all 5 times and "Spaghetti" Jimmy Morocco, each scoring 3 runs and the wily veteran Steve Kawczak, who went 3 for 4 in the game.
Monday's game featured a battle that ended up being much closer than the score might seem to indicate.
JABO had a full roster on hand for taking on the at-the-time 2 - 1 Albany Nanotech team and burst out to a quick 9 - 0 lead after 1 1/2 innings. But Nanotech slowly plugged away at the lead, and by the end of 4 innings, were back in the game at 13 - 8. But the JABO offense had too much firepower for Albany Nanotech, scoring 5 more in the 5th on the strength of triples by Jon Noonan and Chris Furman and a final 2 in the 7th, putting the game out of hand.
Once again, there were many players responsible for the surging offensive explosion the JABO team put on last night:
* rookie Dan McKittrick had 3 hits with 4 RBI
* Jon Noonan reached base and scored in all 5 plate appearances
* Ryan Phelps-Franco reached base and scored in 4 of his 5 plate appearances
* "Spaghetti" Jimmy Morocco went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI
Danny Benitez (2 - 0, 10.23 ERA) threw well in his 4 innings of work, allowing 8 runs in that time. Chris Furman (1 - 0, 2 SV, 5.83 ERA) came in for relief in the 5th and started out shaky, allowing 4 runs in his first inning of work, but then settled down and didn't allow any more runs in the final two innings of work.
The team's next game will be on Wednesday, May 26 vs WB Roofing & Sheet Metal (4 - 0) at Field of Dreams. Game time for this battle between the top two teams in the division is 7:30pm. |
chrisfurman on May 18 2010 13:43:42
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