Rivalry Sunday Results

vs.

Game 1:

** 2 Innings **
Git r' Done       - 12

Westside Warriors - 1

WP: Dennis Pearson

LP: Maclin Malloy

Game 1:

** 2 Innings **
Westside Warriors - 4

Git r' Done       - 14

WP: Dennis Pearson

LP: Alex Shore

HR: Pearson (10), N. Braden (1)

Photos of Git r' Done and the Warriors
from the debut of the Westside Reservation

Utter letdown? That's a good description of the events. The games were slow, there were a lot of walks; that was expected. What wasn't expected was the way the Westside team just shut down on their captain. Alex Shore's quote on the matter: my team doesn't know what to do when they get behind. Not a lot to talk about in the games as little real wiffleball was played. Pearson popped his lead leading 10th HR, but that was on a lollipop eephus and so is hard to take seriously. In fact, those last four words summarize the whole problem with today's games.

Friday 5/27 Results

@
Game 1:
** 6 innings **
Ass Kickers - 0
Git r' Done - 1
WP: Dennis Pearson
LP: Mike Constanti

Game 2:
Ass Kickers - 0
Git r' Done - 2
WP: Dylan Braden
LP: Brian Constanti
HR: Dennis Pearson (9)


Photos from Frenchtown Field on 5/27

Pitching duels for the annals of history. Both games walk-off wins for Git r' Done. The first won as Tim first-name-only walked in walked with the bases loaded, scoring Josh Nagorski. The second game was a more exciting finish as Dennis Pearson hit a 2 run shot over the 8 foot left-field wall with three feet to spare in the bottom of the fifth. The 2 game sweep extends Git r' Done's win streak to 7 games, and has them at a shiny .900 winning percentage. The 2 losses mean the Ass Kickers are now even with the Commandos at .500, which is convenient as in the next two weeks (6/5 & 6/10) they play 4 against one another. That kind of set up, folks, is what you call mid-season drama!

The Ass Kickers' clubhouse is hoping that tonight's performance was just a result of Git r' Done's pitching, and that their offense isn't stuck in the mud like Brian's truck. There's a story there... ask an Ass Kicker or Git'r Done'er about it for a laugh!

Thurs. 5/26 Results

@

Game 1:

Squirrels - 2

Commandos - 5

WP: Seto

LP: Corbett

HR: Seto (5, 6), Corbett (5)

Game 2:

Squirrels - 5

Commandos - 0

WP: Merlo

LP: Seto

HR: Coffee (3)

Photos from Lafayette Park on 5/26

With the split of the two game weeknight series the Commandos remain at .500, while the Squirrels sputter to 4-9. The Squirrels do however end their eight game losing streak taking the second of Thursday night's games. Joe Seto knocked out two home runs in game one, his fifth and sixth on the year. The first a two-run shot in the first to open the scoring, and the second a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the fourth and retake the lead. Also for the Commandos, Adam Grant got his first hits of the season tonight; everyone break out the champagne and toast a celebratory drink to Adam tonight!

There are two bright spots for the Squirrels from Thursday night: the modest revival of their offense, and Mike Merlo's pitching. Mike threw a shut-out in his first WSEM appearance. He's no rookie, having logged time playing in tournaments, like the Fatty, in the western part of the state. The most impressive part of his performance was that he got better with each inning... and seemingly with the harder the rain came down. That last part earned him nicknames like "Rain Man," "Mr. Make it Rain," and "Slippery When Wet," but as those names suggest they probably won't stick.

Podcast #3 and New Column

The WSEM media department keeps it rolling today on the heels of the Ass Kickers vs. DeLoppes game video with Carl and John kicking out a great, wide-spanning final podcast together as the tag-teaming voice of WSEM. This week's recipe: 1 part the longest wiffleball game you've ever seen, 8 parts contender or pretender, depending on your preference, red hot DeLoppes, whatever they are putting in the water in Monroe, and a splash of a surprise performer.

Not limiting their efforts to just video and audio entertainment, the WSEM media department is also introducing the new column, In the Cards, which will focus on individual, lower profile players and what they bring to the game and league; whether that be their on-field play or off the field, peanut gallery antics. Jeff Biegas (Mattseals) gets the nod as the first face put onto a card and be given the (loving) treatment.

**Update 5/26** We have a new Your Junk my Happy Zone article with credit to the Kalamazoo Wiffle League for their recent article that brought to my attention identically struggling records of two light blue clad teams: coincidence or something else? It has me questioning whether there is something wrong with wearing the hue on a wiffleball field, whether it might be a cursed and powerless color for a wiffle team. Could it be that #ADD8E6 is a hexed hex triplet?

Week 4 Marquee Match-up Video: AK @ WD

The Week 4 Marquee Match-up between the Wiffling DeLoppes and Ass Kickers at Frenchtown Field on Sunday May 22nd. Highlights of the up close and personal action include the so rare double play, a grand slam, a thirsty third inning conversation in the crowd, aggressive base running, some nice hard slides and dives, and a shut down closer.

There were 2 quick outs in the 2nd inning, 1 for each team, that didn't get caught on camera. Mike Constanti (AK) grounded out after the fly out in the top half, and Nick Snow (WD) grounded out between the 2 Ks in the bottom. Just letting you know, so you don't scratch your head over why it looked like the 2nd inning was played with only 2 outs. Apologies also for missing the Ass Kickers runs in the 4th, the memory card had filled up.

Sunday 5/22 Results

-vs.- -vs.-

Sunday's tri-meet saw the DeLoppes red hot streak only slightly cooled off by the Ass Kickers, splitting their 2-game series and ending their win-streak at 8 games. Both the Ass Kickers and DeLoppes also handed the Mattseals 2 more losses to go 3-1 on the day. Jeff Biegas of the Mattseals did however expand his league leading hit-streak to 10 games, having hit safely in each game of the 2011 season. So, even at 0-10 there is something exciting to talk about in the Mattseals' clubhouse. In a sea of good pitching, hard hit gap shots, a few scattered home runs, and nice defensive play the thrilling play of the day was the DeLoppes' double play from left-field to second base to the mound started by the quick flip from Joey Delano.

Game 1:

Ass Kickers     - 5

Jason Mattseals - 0

WP: Brian Constanti

LP: Jason Hewlett

Game 2:

Ass Kickers     - 7

Jason Mattseals - 1

WP: Mike Constanti

LP: Jason Hewlett

Game 3:

Ass Kickers       - 2

Wiffling DeLoppes - 7

WP: Chad Hoppe

LP: Brian Constanti

Game 4:

Ass Kickers       - 2

Wiffling DeLoppes - 0

WP: Mike Constanti

LP: Cliff Comstock

Game 5:

Wiffling DeLoppes - 10

Jason Mattseals   - 0

WP: Chad Hoppe

LP: Jason Matt

Game 6:

Wiffling DeLoppes - 10

Jason Mattseals   - 0

WP: Cliff Comstock

LP: Jason Matt

The DeLoppes' 3-1 weekend keeps them on top of the league standings, while Git r' Done's sweep of the Squirrels gains them a share of the lead league. The Ass Kickers' 3-1 performance jumps them up to third place in the league, while Westside's two wins downtown and 3-2 record net them the fourth spot.

Sat. 5/21 Results: GD vs. FS

vs.

Git r' Done and the Squirrels knocked out their season series, and as you'll read... it went pretty one-sided. Dominant pitching and out of the park hitting from Dennis Pearson and Dylan Braden made quick work of the down and out Squirrels.

Game 1

Flying Squirrels - 0

Git r' Done      - 7

WP: Dennis Pearson

LP: Brandon Corbett

Game 2

Flying Squirrels - 5

Git r' Done      - 8

WP: Dennis Pearson

LP: Matt Murtha

Game 3

Git r' Done      - 9

Flying Squirrels - 0

WP: Dennis Pearson

LP: Brandon Corbett

Game 4

Git r' Done      - 11

Flying Squirrels - 1

WP: Dylan Braden

LP: Matt Murtha

This route evens Git r' Done with the DeLoppes at the top of the league, but that's to be a short-lived tie as the DeLoppes have 4 games lined up with the Ass Kickers and Mattseals in a tri-meet tomorrow afternoon. If you bought Squirrels merch earlier this year, sorry, there are no refunds. However, feel free to purge the items in ritual burnings in hopes of turning the team around.

Quick Bits

The new NWLA rankings are out, and WSEM has a new team joining the ranks. Cheers for the Westside Warriors! These guys put a beating on the previously 19th ranked Squirrels last week, and continued their winning ways this week against the Commandos with a lengthy extra innings battle followed by a quick mercy. It took them awhile, but as soon as they started playing games they got noticed. Their only 2 losses so far come to the red hot, first-place DeLoppes who have climbed to the highest rank yet of any WSEM team, #12. In further DeLoppes news, Chad and his guys are currently the Hot Team of the Week in the NWLA, unseating Superman's Wheelchair of the Potomac Wiffleball League. 7-1, riding a 7-game winning streak, and playing superb wiffleball all around the DeLoppes definitely deserve the title. For this honor they get their name done up in lights in the right-hand column of the NWLA frontpage. Cheers for the DeLoppes! Lastly on the national scene, Git r' Done, having not played in a couple weeks, has dropped from #22 to #31.

In more local news we are rolling through games this weekend with warm weather, finally! Check out the wildly disparate results from Friday nights #46 Warriors vs. Commandos games in the previous post. Squirrels vs. #31 Git r' Done this afternoon at Frenchtown, and then Frenchtown again hosts the Mattseals vs. Ass Kickers vs. #12 DeLoppes tri-meet on Sunday.

Finally, when John Hill and Carl tire of the nice weather they will be heading in to do WSEM Podcast #3, which should be up early next week.

Fri. 5/20 Results

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Game 1:
** 12 innings **
Westside Warriors - 6
Campus Commandos  - 5
WP: Alex Shore
LP: Joe Seto


Game 2:
** 2 innings, mercy/forfeit**
Westside Warriors - 13
Campus Commandos  - 0
WP: Alex Shore
LP: Alex Linebrink

Photos from the WW vs CC games in Detroit

A tale of two very different games. The two teams battled on and on in game one for over 2 hours to determine a winner. The Campus Commandos 4 runs in regulation came on a grand slam hit off over-hanging tree branches, and both teams scored in the 11th inning to keep the game going before the Warriors were finally able to put it away in the 12th.

The second game was ugly. Were the Commandos worn out from the long game 1? Disenfranchised by the tough loss? Or was the pitching match-up just totally lopsided? Maybe all three... but the Warriors easily and quickly dispatched the Commandos under the darkening Detroit city skyline. Yes, folks, Detroit has a skyline, too, and the Warriors are moving up in the standings to where everyone expected them to be.

Sat. Results: Roadkill, Rolling, and Absolutely Killing it!

Game 1:

Westside Warriors - 1

Wiffling DeLoppes - 4

WP: Chad Hoppe

LP: Alex Shore

S: Chucky McDonald

Game 2:

Flying Squirrels  - 0

Westside Warriors - 4

WP: Alex Shore

LP: Matt Murtha

Game 3:

Westside Warriors - 3

Wiffling DeLoppes - 6

WP: Cliff Comstock

LP: Alex Shore

S: Chucky McDonald

Game 4:

Flying Squirrels  - 1

Wiffling DeLoppes - 2

WP: Chad Hoppe

LP: Brandon Corbett

S: Chucky McDonald

Game 5:

Flying Squirrels  - 0

Wiffling DeLoppes - 2

WP: Cliff Comstock

LP: Brandon Corbett

S: Chucky McDonald

The Warriors played their first 3 games of the season with a few missing pieces, but #2 pitcher Alex Shore was dealing today and his team performed quite well despite how a 1-2 record looks (Hang those 2 losses solidly on the red-hot DeLoppes). Lots of Ks pitching, a little heavy on the BBs allowed and a bit shaky in their fielding maybe, but their bats and aggressive play kept them in the fight. They added a new player, Shane Myers, who only made his debut by slugging the crap out of the ball for his new team. When the Warriors have their full roster, they will be a force and their win column will spike up quickly.

The Squirrels got hit by a bus, skipped the twitching and writhing, and went straight to belly up, tail limp in the wind of passing traffic. Their offense completely fell off: from 32 hits in Week 1, to lead the league, down to just 4 in Week 3. No commentary to be made besides, "what the hell?" I guess you can find two bits of good news, though. 1) Brandon Corbett's gotten his stuff back on the mound, allowing only 2 runs per game. And 2) Even with their atrocious hitting, their pitching and defense kept them in close games with the on-fire DeLoppes lineup. So, when they get their bats back, they should be in good shape to start crawling back.

The DeLoppes are absolutely killing it. Up and down their lineup 5 out of 6 guys can do damage, easily and oh boy did they! There were rumors before the season started about the new spark in their lineup, but nobody saw it coming. Lots of hard drives to the wall, over it, and aggressive baserunning. Their starting pitching is dead-on steady. Cliff Comstock and Chad Hoppe don't let up more than 3 runs per game, so everything is kept in hand for them. On top of the starters, today they debuted closer Chucky McDonald, who went 4-4 in save opportunities and struck out 10. The DeLoppes have every facet of the game locked down and are riding a 7-game win streak! They just beat me twice, and I still can't help but love these guys. They are fun to play, and are exciting to watch play. Michael Constanti, Ass Kickers captain, dropped by and commented simply, seriously, and right-on-point, "these DeLoppes have me worried."

The Ants go Marching 2x2: Podcast #2 and Scheduling 2.0

The second WSEM Podcast is online now, just in time for you to call your mother over, sit in the breeze of an open window since the weather is finally nice in Michigan, and skip the talk of no-hitters and gush over the more spirited topic of wiffleball. John and Carl are back, clocking in at their regular time of under 20 minutes, to talk a Week 1 recap, their surprises and disappointments, NWLA rankings, and before John's many man-crushes can run wild in the preview of Week 3 games Ryan Bullard drops in the studio to call him out.

After Week 2 was used as a league-wide bye, you can start to see the games for week 3 and beyond showing up on the schedule above and on its page. If you've been to that page before, then you'll notice the right-hand column has a new look/feature. Chad's idea. To help scheduling run smoother than 5 conversations going on at once in a facebook thread, and since teams have been hesitant to schedule in advance, we have set up a calender for team captains to write in their available dates, times, and desired formats. Then other teams that need to play them can write themselves into those slots. Simple. Direct. Hopefully effective.

National Update / Week 2 Lead-in

After week-one play in WSEM four of our teams are ranked in the NWLA top 50! No surprise that they are the four teams tied for first with winning records, but check out the standings in the right-hand column and notice the amusing way in which the national rankings and league rankings correlate... Perfectly at odds with one another! To be honest, I think the national rankings are probably a little more accurate. Among those four it is only the +/- deciding the order in-league, but the national rankings can take into account strength of opponents, injuries and other off-field developments, as well as history and prevailing tendencies. One last thing before moving off the national scene: your fellow Michiganders, the Friars and Industrials of the KWL, are sitting at spots two and three, respectively! Give them a hand! ["Yea!" for bad puns, and good teams!]

This weekend we have only one match-up taking place, and it is the finale of the season series between Git r' Done and the Jason Mattseals. Can the Mattseals right the ship and get themselves in the win column? Are Dennis Pearson's arm and eye healed up to lead his team back onto the field? You can read up on the match-up on the Schedule page, This weekend we have no games and you'll be able to hear more about how dumb that is and other things going on around the rest of WSEM in our second podcast, which will be laid down Saturday and available online early next week. Here's to the first-stretch of our season and the continued fun and success!

5/1 Results

** Stats for Sunday's games will be up Monday night. **
-- @ ---

Game 1:

Flying Squirrels    3

Ass Kickers         2

WP: Brandon Corbett

LP: Brian Constanti

Game 2:

Flying Squirrels    4

Ass Kickers         1

WP: Matt Murtha

LP: Brian Constanti

-- @ ---

Game 3:

Belgian Wiffles      0

Ass Kickers         10

WP: Michael Constanti

LP: Chris Lewis

Game 5:

Belgian Wiffles      5

Ass Kickers          6

WP: Michael Constanti

LP: Chris Lewis

-- vs. ---

Game 4:

Belgian Wiffles      13

Flying Squirrels      4

WP: Chuck Weiler

LP: Brandon Corbett

Game 6:

Flying Squirrels      4

Belgian Wiffles       1

WP: Matt Murtha

LP: Chris Lewis