2013 Record Breakers

Here are the Records that were broken in 2013, as well as those guys who made the board for the Individual Stats.  We broke or tied 3 Team records this season, not to mention our best Win-Loss record(and the leagues best since we joined in '08) at 21-1.  Since 2008, only 1 team has won 20 games in a season before (PT General Mortgage at 20-4 last year).  Also, no team has ever only had 1 loss during a season.  Only two teams came close (Dead Money at 17-2 in 2008, and Doublewide at 18-3 in 2010).  We also scored the most runs in a season during that time frame with 344....previously held by the last years PT General Mortgage squad with 332 (even though they had 2 more games to score those runs than we did this year!)  We might as well note that since '08, only 3 times has a team scored more than 300 runs in a season...of those 3, two of those belong to us (2011 and 2013).

New Team Records

15.6 Highest Runs Scored Avg. (Previous was 15.3 in 2010)

18 Longest Winning Streak  (Previous best was 8 in 2010)

5 Most 20-Run Games (Ties with previous record from 2011)
(We could of easily destroyed this record if it wasn't for the 4 times we scored 19 runs, and 3 times we scored 18!)

New Individual Records
Of the 8 stats we keep track of for individual all time stats(which now includes Slugging Percentage), members of the 2013 team made it into the records in Six of those categories.  One guy even set a new ALL TIME RECORD....

NEW MOST HITS IN A SEASON RECORD HOLDER IS:
Scott Hofmeister with 60 Hits  (His old record was 56 in '11)

Here are the other guys who made it into the top 5 this year...
Batting Average
Hof takes over #3 all-time with his .714 average

RBI's
Dan takes over #3 all-time with his 58 ribbies

Triples
Hof ties for #3 all-time with his 4 triples

Doubles
Adam ties for #2 all-time with his 12 doubles

Runs Scored
Brian takes over #2 all-time with his 43 runs scored
Wurd ties for #4 all-time with his 40 runs scored

Congrats to all you guys who made the record list, as well as everyone on the team for an awesome season.  There is no way we go 21-1 and score the most runs all time without EVERYONE on the team playing awesome and hitting consistently throughout the lineup!  See you in 2014!

Slugging Percentage Added

I recently added Slugging Percentage to the individual stats. I will also add it to the all-time individual records on the right. I went through the previous years stats (summer only) and calculated what looked like the highest throughout the years.... here are the top 10 all time.

1. 1.62 (Wunder, 08)
2. 1.42 (Hof, 10)
3. 1.40 (Fos, 09)
4. 1.37 (Wunder, 12)
5. 1.36 (Hof, 11)
6. 1.31 (Dan, 12)
7. 1.29 (Fos, 11)
8. 1.22 (Dan, 13)
9. 1.18 (Miller, 09)
10. 1.13 (Hof, 13)

Official 2013 Championship Poster

 
 

Championship Recap: No time for losers!

We are the champions my friend.  Sorry it has taken a few days to get this up, I am still trying to wrap my head around the two awesome games we played on Tuesday night. Its still a blur in my mind, but I will try to break it down for those of you who were not lucky enough to be there to witness one of the greatest nights in the history of Dirty Grizzlies Softball.

Round 3 vs #7 Gold Nugget
This game had a week of controversy surrounding it as the rampant speculation surrounding the Gold Nugget squad that averaged 24.0 runs per game in the first two rounds (up from 6.7 during the regular season) had brought in some ringers for the playoffs.  This tactic has been used against us in the past, most memorably in 2011 when the Wild Turkeys brought in the two Guido Brothers which none of us had ever seen before...who both just happened to crush every time leading to a upset loss on our part.  Gold Nugget eventually fessed up to having guys not on the roster, but did so due to the fact guys were at We Fest (which doesn't really start until Thursday anyway).  Regardless, we came to the agreement that we would play them anyway and lay it all on the table.

What ensued was our best game of the year.  Despite giving up a 3 run blast in the first, we responded with 5 in the bottom of the inning.  We then proceed to play some awesome defense, including multiple double plays by the infield, all the while tacking on 4, 3, and 6 more runs.  They scored 2 in the top of the 5th, but that wasn't nearly enough as the game ended early.  The stars of the game were all over the place, but Brian leading off going 4-4 and Coop with some awesome D at SS stand out for me.
Final Score: Dirty Grizzlies 18, Gold Nugget 6

Championship Game vs #4 JJ's Clubhouse
This game had instant classic written all over it before the first pitch was thrown.  JJ's came into the game having won 4 straight to advance all the way through the losers bracket.  This was there 4th game on the evening, and many of their "veteran" players were well past their normal bedtime.  JJ's was plenty fired up though, and started out hot, taking full advantage of a couple early walks with a huge blast in the first to take an early 3-0 lead.  We were hitting the ball well too, but early on we couldn't catch many breaks, leading to a couple of scoreless innings on our part...finally scoring in the 3rd on a amazing INSIDE THE PARK Home Run by Hof to the opposite field.  So now, heading into the top of the 4th the game as 3-1 with JJ's holding onto their early lead.

In the 4th things started to open up.  JJ's added a run in the top of the inning wth a solo shot to deep center, but in the bottom we got it back and more when the mid to bottom of the order got hot and strung together 5 straight hits, eventually leading to 4 runs.  It could have been a bigger inning though as Hof just missed a perfect pitch and flew out to right...which could of very easily been a 3 run bomb.  Instead it was a mile high out which ended the inning.  After 4 we finally had a lead at 5-4 and we were able to breath slightly easier.

Due to some nice defense neither of our teams scored in the 5th and we held our 1 run lead.  In the 6th we exchanged 3 run innings, leading us up to the top of the 7th with a 1 run lead and the heart of JJ's order coming up.  We somehow get their HR machine 4 hitter to line out, but then the very next guy hits a timely solo shot to left to tie the game.  We shut down the rest of the inning and headed into the bottom of the 7th with a chance to win.  7 innings couldn't contain this game though as an untimely double play lead to a 3 and out and extra innings.  In the 8th we quickly dispatched JJ's 1-2-3 I believe with some more good defense by Brian at 3rd and those of us in the outfield.  In the bottom of the eventual game winning inning, Cooper lead off with a single up the middle.  I followed him up with another single to put runners on first and second with no outs.  It doesn't take much imagination to visualize what happened next.  Brian lined a game winning hit into center and Cooper flew around third to score the winning run as the speed demon center fielder for JJ's slipped slightly as he tried to hurry the throw.  A amish donkey mob ensued at home plate as we celebrated our 21-1 season and second championship in franchise history in walk-off fashion! 
Final Score: Dirty Grizzlies 9, JJ's Clubhouse 8

I will get some photos up here when I can, but thought I would atleast get the story up again for those of you who weren't there or possibly had  a few too many drinks at the Spur afterwards.  Congrats guys!

Final Playoff Bracket

Championship Scorecard! 9-8 in 8 innings!

Round 3 Scorecard: 18-6

Updated Playoff Bracket

Rounds 1 and 2 Recap: Intense Innings

You wouldn't know it by the relaxed faces above...but last nights games were quite intense, for some, the intensity even started before the game as unreal traffic conditions made it extremely difficult to get to the 6:00 game on time.  Amazingly we had everyone arrive just before the first pitch...and we are lucky we did as we needed everyones contributions to get through two brutal games during the first night of playoffs.

Round 1 vs #8 Balco
Balco came into this game with only 2 wins on the year, averaging 7.6 runs per game.  By comparison, we had 17 wins and have done it with an average of 15.6 runs per game.  We had also played each other 3 times this year, with us out scoring them by a combined 50 to 15.  With that being said, Balco came to play last night.  They had alot of good hits and scored way more runs than we are accustomed to seeing out of them. We hit well too however, and a few defensive gafs on their part didn't help.  It was a long game, but after the first few innings we were able to keep them at arms length, fueled by Tom's 6 rbi's.  It was much tougher than we thought it would be, but we just wanted to advance, and that we did.
Final Score:  Dirty Grizzlies 18, Balco 13

Round 2 vs #5 Ballz Deep
Balls Deep advanced to the second round by knocking off 4th seeded JJ's.  In the process their pitcher apparently got tossed from the game by throwing his bat aggressively after being called out on strikes.  It was a sign of things to come...   During the regular season, Ballz Deep finished with 8 wins averaging 10.7 runs per game in the process.  One of those 8 wins was against us however, a 19-20 debacle way back in Week 3. 

Fast forward to the top of the 3rd where we had a small lead...  In a fit of rage the very loud and obnoxious Ballz Deep pitcher hit a ball directly at our pitcher in retaliation against a couple balls that were unintentionally hit up the middle earlier.  Our player, who doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body, apologized immediately for accidently hitting it close to him and it was clear to all reasonable people that it was unintentional.  Regardless, the Ballz Deep guy was pissed and hit the very first pitch directly at our pitcher with intention to harm him.  His intent of this was clear because immediatly before his at bat he very loudly threatend that he would hit a ball at our pitcher... a threat that was heard by everyone including the ump.  Luckily, our pitcher was able to protect himself and tagged the batter out.  The batter then had some very heated words for the ump which lead to the pitcher being tossed for trying to hurt someone and argruing with the ump.  (Never mind the fact that he got tossed from the game before as well and shoudln't have been allowed to play in this game)  At that point a ruckus ensued as another, even larger player from Ballz Deep ran out of the dugout and got right in the face of the ump. He was dumbfounded at why his guy should get tossed...even after such blatent disrespect for the ump, the other players and not to mention the multiple families there to watch the game.  Physical threats were yelled at the ump which obviously lead to this player being tossed from the game eventually as well. 

All in all, the entire episode between the two Ballz Deep players and the ump (who kept his cool really well for how aggressivly the other guys were acting towards him) lasted for what seemed like nearly 10 minutes.  Eventually the game resumed, with Ballz Deep being left with only 9 guys, although they were much calmer and more level headed than the two who were sent home.  The rest of the way we tightened up our defense and added some runs by a interesting single turned double turned 3 run bases clearing liner by Adam, and a long overdue blast over the fence by Dan to seal the win.  The ugliness from the middle of the game aside, it was a good game with alot of back and forth action.  In the end cooler heads prevailed as we advanced one step closer to the championship game.
Final Score: Dirty Grizzlies 16, Ballz Deep 11

Playoff Bracket

Our games are at 6 and 7 next week... Clear things up at work now so you can be sure you can make it.

Week 11 Scores

Here are the scores from last night. I am guessing the playoff bracket will be out later today...

Week 11 Recap: God Bless America

 

In a hot and muggy night similar to the evening of July 4, 1776, we accomplished something the founding fathers never could... we finished the season with a 14 game winning streak completing our franchise best regular season with 17 wins.  And just like the founding fathers, we are not going to stop kicking ass with the British.  They took on the French, bombed the Germans, embarassed the Candadians.  We say BRING ON ANYONE with a softball bat who hates this country and stands against FREEDOM.  Bring on any team who hates apple pie, hates bald eagles or even popsicle treats...   We will 4-6-3 you back to the bottom of the standings and honor our beloved AMERICA in the process.  Yes, you may say we didn't dominate tonight.  We only had 1 extra base hit on the evening, haven't hit a homerun in weeks, and yes, we occasionally get doubled off of first on fly balls to deep left...but hey, America isn't perfect either.  Sometimes bad things just happen.  But just like the USA, our number 1 priority is a STRONG DEFENSE.  Defense... Aircraft carriers and double plays.  Proven by the fact we've only given up more than 8 runs to an opponent TWICE during our 14 game winning streak.  Deer Run played a good game tonight, and the same with Park Tavern, but our focus is on the championship.  I can't even remember the games tonight much less write a recap because we are so focused on THE PLAYOFFS next week.  Heres to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of our first LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP since 2009. 

Week 10 Scores

Here are the scores from last night...Park Tavern knocks of JJ's and moves into 3rd place in the standings...

Week 10 Recap: Paging BMW...

The photo above is us packing our bags at 8:55. It was supposed to be a doubleheader, but apparently BMW lost the last ounce of motivation they had, forfiting not 1 but 2 games last night. This left us only a single game against Balco, a game that many of us thought would end early, but we were wrong. We started slow as we left the bases loaded early leaving the first tied at 1-1. We patched together another run in the 2nd putting us up by 1. After a scoreless 3rd, Balco put together a strong 4th to momentarily take a 3-2 lead. A 5 run bottom of the inning fueled by 5 straight 2 out hits which included a huge triple by Hof gave us the lead for good. It wasn't the most exciting night of softball, but we left the evening with 2 more wins giving us a lock on the #1 seed heading into the last night of the season. I am guessing we will play Balco in the first round, hopefully we will be alittle sharper against them come playoff time.

Game 1:
Dirty Grizzlies 10, Balco 4

Game 2:
Dirty Grizzlies 7, BMW 0 (forfeit)

Week 9 Scores

Here are the scores from last week...

Week 9 Recap: Deer Run Too Slow

Week 8 Scores

Deer Run wins 2, combining for an  impressive 24-3 score on the night.  JJ's wins 2 more making the middle of the standings even tighter as Ballz Deep and PT both split...

Week 8 Recap: Muggy Memories

It was one of those dreaded single 9:15 games... the type of game that can get away from you real quick, especially if the team you are playing is warmed up and coming off a win.  Especially if you are playing Park Tavern Blue, one toughest, meanest, most focused teams in softball.  Park Tavern even had a late night rowdy crowd in the stands adding to the already thick and humid atmosphere.  We were just hoping to get out of there alive (which Derek almost didn't as he somehow dislocated his shoulder on a swing and miss which left him in a heap on the ground) In Grizzly fashion we started slow, down 2-4 after one.  But we kept adding on runs until we finally put together a few big innings towards the end as we combined for 10 in the 6 and 7th to pull away.  We ended the game with a easy, yes easy, double play.

Amazingly on the night we combined for a total of 30 hits as a team, led by Tom who went 5-5.  Our D played well too, only really giving away that one big inning in the 1st.  The highlight of the night was when Derek (still obviously mad about the that painful swing in the previous at bat), hit a ball into the pitchers ankle which then was deflected into the air and caught by the shortstop.  It was a bright spot for PT, but the game belonged to us.  8 in a row, for Mike Yeo!  BMW and Deer Run next week!  3 weeks of doubleheaders then its playoff time...

Final Score:
Dirty Grizzlies 19,  Park Tavern 8

Week 7 Scores

A good night for us as the 3 teams closest to us in the standings combined to go 1-3. Deer Run loses to JJ's by 4.  Ballz Deep lost as well, and BMW came back to get a win after losing to us.  Park Tavern Blue who we play next week seems to be heating up as they win 2.   We won't want to sleep on those guys as they played us tough last time. 

Week 7 Recap

It was just an off night for us as a team as you can tell by the lack of a photo... and in previous years it was the type of night we would have found a way to lose a game or both.  However we grinded our way through two tough games to keep our winning streak intact and show that our team doesn't lay down as easily this year.  Game 1 against an improving Gold Nugget squad was much closer than our previous 20 run blowout, however we put together just enough offense to get the win.  Game two against BMW was alittle more intense, capped off by thier pitcher running his mouth after the game.  After getting down 6-0 after 2, things weren't looking too good... but a couple huge innings put us in the lead for good en route to our seventh straight win (1 off of tying our franchise record from 2010).

Game 1:
Dirty Grizzlies 8, Gold Nugget 5
Game 2:
Dirty Grizzlies 19, BMW of Minnetonka 12

Week 6 Scores

Nothing too surprising here... excecpt for maybe Gold Nugget ten running Balco.  BMW and Ballz Deep both spilt... And Deer Run, well, we all know how they did... ;)

Week 6 Recap: Wardrobe Malfunctions

It was bad enough that Dan shows up without any shoes, but then in a blunder of all blunders Brian forgets to put on his jersey for 6 innings during the biggest game of the season.  Not only did his mistake cause us to score only 1 run through 6 innings, but it nearly cost us the entire game.  Finally by the grace of God Almighty he realized the problem, and no less than 10 seconds after he put his jersey on in the bottom of the 7th Hof hit a HR.  Then Dan backed it up with a bomb of his own cutting the lead to 3.  Then single after single after single after sac fly and pretty soon jersey boy himself came up with 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd with us down 1.  He redeemed himself by deliverying a smash to second that got mishandeled and eventually turned into the game winning hit after a close play at the plate.

Final Score:
Dirty Grizzlies 7, Deer Run 6

Game 2 against JJ's was less dramatic but way more tiring.  The game seemed to drag on forever and the misquitos were in full force in the outfield but we stayed pretty focused through the whole game.  We were never behind during the game, but JJ's tied us a few times and were always within a couple runs fueled by a huge grand slam on thier part.  We did what we had to do though and kept our momentum from game 1 going by outlasting those guys in the end.  It was a hard fought game but nothing could stop us now that Brian had his jersey on.

Final Score:

Dirty Grizzlies 19, JJ's Clubhouse 16

Week 5 Scores

The two teams we haven't played yet are pretty hot... Hopefully we can take down Deer Run next week, and then BMW in the following week.  Ballz Deep won twice to get back on the right track but JJ's lost twice... which makes me wonder if maybe old age is finally catching up to those geezers.

Week 5 Recap: Wet and Wild

Like two caged animals Brian and Derek show us that we are sitting at 6-1...  We are now 1/3 of the way through the season, and as you can tell from thier intimidating grizzly like faces they are hungry for more winzies.  It was a cold and nasty evening, but we came away with one of our best wins of the season. Our bats kept us hot through the rain with a 8 run 1st and 7 run second as Dan and Hof combined for 3 dingers, Tom went 3-3 with a walk as well and Brian had another 3-4 night at the top of the order. 

Our defense is doing well too, giving up less than 10 runs for our 3rd game in a row... especially good considering we only had 9 guys for the second week in a row.  Our runs against average is now down to 10.1 which is pretty good when we are putting up 20.9 per game ourselves.  Balco wasn't really into it tonight but next week will be a much bigger test as we finally get to take on 1st place Deer Run GC followed up with the always entertaining fellers from JJ's Clubhouse. 
It may only be June, but start polishing up your rifles cause next week is the opening of deer hunting season.

Final Score: 
Dirty Grizzlies 18, Balco 3

Week 4 Scores

Looks like alot of runs where scored at the ol ballfields last night.  Our 25 spot wasn't even the highest total on the evening as Park Tavern put 29 on Ballz Deep... impressive considering they had just gotten ten runned in the previous game by still undefeated Deer Run.

Week 4 Recap: Late Night Love

It was 9:15 at night, the sky was dark, we only had 9 guys and Gold Nugget was coming off thier first win of the season.... but we had LOVE on our side.   Dans girlfriend may have been lonely in the bleachers, but she wasn't alone as the studly thirdbaseman winked at her before each at-bat en route to a 5-5 night with 3 doubles and 6 oh-la-la's.   All this helped us cruise to an comfortable 20 run victory over quite possibly the friendliest, but least talented team in the leauge.   We were up 7-3 after the first, 15-5 after two and 23-5 after the third...sparked by a 2 run blast by Hof and warning track drive by Sam.   Everyone who bothered to show up got plenty of at bats and Cary pitched great to keep us out of the field.  Gold Nugget has a good attitude, but they couldn't compete with us tonight, and nothing can compete with love...

Final Score: 
Dirty Grizzlies 25,  Gold Nugget 5

Week 3 Scores

Here are the scores from this week.  Deer Run is still undeafeated... hopefully that streak ends around 10:02 pm next week.

Week 3 Recap: Hot and Dusty

That dumbfounded look on Wurds face is his reaction to Fosmo laying into what would soon be his second HR on the evening.  It was 90 degrees out, the dust was flying everywhere, and we lost our first game of the year in game 1 against Ballz Deep... but all in all it was a decent night as we rebounded nicely against a shaky Balco squad.   Game one was weird though... a mushy softball, weird plays on defense and no homeruns on our part lead to a deficit we couldn't quite climb out of.  But in game two we had something like 14 runs after 2 innings and cruised to an easy win while most people got atleast 3 hits or more, and Fosmo blasted those two aforementioned bombs. 

Game 1
Ballz Deep 20, Dirty Grizzlies 19
Game 2
Dirty Grizzlies 22, Balco 8

Week 2 Scores

Looks like Deer Run may be for real as they improve to 4-0 on the season, JJ's bounces back with 2 wins on the night, only giving up 1 run all evening.  Balco loses two close ones and might be alittle hungry against us next week.  Here are the rest of the scores:

3-0 for Mike Yeo!

The Wild couldn't win but atleast we did.  We definitely earned it though with a hard fought game with Park Tavern. They only had 9 guys and provided lots of room in the outfield for us, but despite this we traded leads back and forth through most of the game.  Eventually Dan cleared the bases with a grand slam to put us ahead for good.  Park Tavern can definitely hit, but with only 9 guys the defense needs to play flawless, and they provided us a few gifts.   Our defense wasn't the greatest either, but we eventually tightened things up and ended the game with a very nice 1-2-3 inning.  Well done guys.

Final Score:
Dirty Grizzlies 17 - Park Tavern 11

Week 1 Scores

It looks like Deer Run could be decent starting out 2-0 as well.  We don't play them for 3 weeks though so we will see...  Here are the rest of the scores:

Week 1 Recap: 2-0 sixteen to go

It was a fun night of softball to start of the season. We played 2 familar oppenents (we found out that JJ's is the old Park Tavern team) and came away with 2 decisive victories. We put up some impressive numbers too... on the night we combined for 45 runs, 58 hits, (Dan and Hof both had 8 hits each), and 5 HR's (all by Dan and Hof), and even had 9 guys bat above .500 on the evening!  Cary pitched awesome too without giving up any walks and our defense played pretty well too as the night went on. Overall it was a very good night....the Wild even played great and beat the Blackha...

Game 1
Dirty Grizzlies 22, Ballz Deep 11
Game 2
Dirty Grizzlies 23, JJ's Clubhouse 13

Season Opener Delayed Too

Update:  Apparently they just moved the Week 1 games to the end of the season...  I have updated the schedule to reflect this.

Just got an email from the Rec Department... They are pushing back all of the games 1 week to allow for the snow to melt.  The schedule has been updated above.  Season opener is now April 30th.  By then it will be suns out guns out.  See you in 2 weeks.

Practice Game Cancelled

As you probably assumed, the practice game has been cancelled for next week.  If the weather improves they are hoping to start the regular season on April 23rd as scheduled.  We will see.

New Battttttttt.... WE COMIN!

Well, It was virtually a consensus,  and the Triad 3 is on its way to Grizzly territory.  Miken even painted it to match our jerseys perfectly.  Thanks Miken!