Buena Vista Softball: My Site News

After a two week break from the season, Buena Vista proved more than well rested and ready to play as they attacked the field and offense in today's game against First Baptist. Hearing only rumors of the level of skills possessed by the First Baptist team, the time had come to lay it all down and play to prove those rumors either wrong or right. With the decision to play on the Krusi-Mound field made in the half hour leading up to the game, spirits were high and confident for this is the favored field on which to play. Buena Vista would have to face their fear of being the away team (simply because out of the kind heartedness of our team, we would usually allow the opposing team to score an average of six runs in the last inning of the game) for the second time this season.  

 The first inning started off positively with three runs scored, but the bottom of the inning tested the defense when First Baptist put two runs up on the board as well. Maintaining our one run lead in the second inning, two more runs were scored in the top of the third while we held First Baptist to their two runs for the rest of that inning. Things got a little more exciting in the fourth as Andy scored the first of a total of five runs in that inning. Luke Sigmon hit an in-park home run and brought the score to 10-2, top of the fifth. We stayed consistent in holding First Baptist to their two runs and the inning rounded out to a score of 10-2. The fifth inning bore no runs for our team, but one for First Baptist. No matter, in the top of the sixth five more runs were added to Buena Vista's score, while First Baptist savored the one run they attained in the inning before. The seventh inning was forgettable in that neither teams scored, thus leading us to the very eventful eighth inning. We added three runs to our 15 scored so far, but the scare was the six runs we allowed First Baptist to score. For the first time during the game, our defenses dropped a little and we fumbled around with the ball until we finally put them down to one run shy of an execution of the Seven-Run Mercy Rule. No runs scored in the top of the ninth, but a fantastic job well done in a quick 1,2 (hiccup) then 3 outs by our solid defense. Great job team! The final score of the game was 18-9, bringing our record to 4-2 and securing our position in second place....for the moment.

As always, we would like to take this time now to highlight a couple players for outstanding performance during today's game. First up, we would like to spotlight David "Mr. No Handouts Here" Fong for fantastic defensive play. They might have joked about your age and tried to pick on you, but you proved them wrong by shutting them down every time they hit to you! Finally, we would like to commend Joy "Most Improved" Sigmon for her commitment and dedication to the team. She has shown much improvement since the beginning of the season and we are thankful for her continued progress. Thanks to the rest of the team for all of your hard work during practices and games. We hit a little road bump in the middle of the game with the arguments about the rules and we appreciate all of your efforts in re-grouping as a team and continuing to play our best regardless. We are truly blessed and thankful for such a supporting and loyal team. Thanks again!

The game against Saint Joseph on Sunday was a much anticipated game, mainly due to the reputation St. Jo has for being a competitively good team. In the past, Buena Vista has had to face off against St. Jo in many a championship game for the win. During the week, talks were had about how we would go about beating St. Jo and what we needed to work on to secure the win. Sunday came and the game began with the tension level too high for comfort and nerves too jumpy to contain.

  It could have been the injuries most of our players were nursing during the week leading up to the game, or it could have been that we were truly nervous about a possible loss, dent, to our perfect record. Whatever it was, it worked to Saint Joseph's benefit as they scored seven runs in the first inning, another three in the second and five more in the top of the third. Meanwhile, we had a disappointing score of zero for the first couple innings. However, things began to change in the bottom of the third when we batted around the lineup twice and scored eight runs. We held St. Jo in the top of the fourth and fifth, and scored another five runs, bringing the score to 15-13 at the bottom of the fifth. We took the lead in the sixth when we brought in six runs and held the score to a close game of 19-17. We had an amazing bottom of the seventh when we made our consistent trend of exercising the 7-Run Mercy rule, which brought the score to 26-17. This was now a different ball game and the nervousness from before faded away to thoughts of another win to add to our collection of wins so far. The score remained the same until the bottom of the ninth when we, again, allowed the opportunity for the opposing team to score as many runs as they could before we decided it was time to end the game, for real. In the end, St. Jo came back with 6 runs and the game ended with the final score of 26-23. This game continued our winning streak and we are now with a record of 3-0. St Jo was undefeated before this past Sunday and are now with a record of 2-1.

  As we have mentioned before, this will be the section in which we would like to highlight a couple players for outstanding performance during Sunday's game. This week, we would like to commend Fred Chiu, Mr. "Root 9", for his amazing offensive play in hitting three triples. We would also like to commend Luke Sigmon, Mr. "Adjustable" for making the adjustments to get the hits and RBIs later in the game and for defensive flexibility to help out the team and find a better defensive niche. Thank you to the rest of the team for a combined effort to beat Saint Joseph and maintain our undefeated record!  

The day started off cloudy and made no indication of clearing up. There was a stillness about the day and it was only 1:00. At about 1:30, the time designated for the game to begin, Twin Towers only had enough players to bat. And so Buena Vista approved the switch from Twin Towers being the home team to the away team to allow Twin Towers more time to complete their team. We went into the game against Twin Towers with a team that was missing 4 of the players that played in the first game against First Presbyterian, including Chris Tam, Chris Chin, Aaron Wong, and designated pitcher Tim Leong. Fortunately, with the help of those who recruited, we added outfielder Fred Chiu, pitcher and outfielder Jess Turney and shortstop Luke Sigmon to the roster just in time for the deadline and also for the game.

And so the game began. For the first four innings, we held Twin Towers to a score of 6 - 3 in a somewhat less than exciting beginning of the game. In the fifth inning, we batted all the way through the lineup and was forced to end the inning because of the 7-Run Mercy rule. This brought the score to 13-3. Twin Towers fought back in the sixth inning and attained four more runs. In the same inning, we scored another five runs; three of which were due to a home run hit by Fred Chiu. In the top of the seventh, the lead we held was brought down to ten runs with a score of 19 - 9. This lead was widened in the eighth when we scored another four runs. Sitting in a comfortable place with wide enough lead to indicate a win, we played as such in the top of the ninth. Unfortunately, this allowed Twin Towers the opportunity to score six runs. The streak was finally ended and the final score was 22 - 15. To date, our record is 2-0 and Twin Towers' 1-2. 

As mentioned last week, we will be highlighting two to three players that showed great sportsmanship and outstanding performance. This week, we commend Jess Turney, Mr. "Consistent", for batting a perfect 1.00 (6 for 6 with 6 singles), pitching for most of the game and playing solid defense in the outfield. We also want to highlight Andrew Wong, Mr. "Defense" for fantastic play at first base and for ending Twin Tower's scoring streak in the ninth inning with the first out. 

With the understanding that there were newer players on the team this past Sunday, the win against Twin Towers was a great display of flexibility by the team. There were mistakes made and we did have some funky innings, but overall, our team did a great job defensively and especially offensively. Thank you for your commitment! 

In the second round of the league, we were matched up against First Presbyterian, who is a "hybrid team" due to the fact that they are a combined team of church members from First Presbyterian and the Korean Church that share their sanctuary. Last week, First Presbyterian forfeited in the first round because of an insufficient amount of players, which secured the win for First Baptist. We had a bye in the first round and the effect of missing one game was noticeable in the first few innings. First Presbyterian led with a score of 14 to 9 in the first to fifth inning.

However, things took a turn for the better and our team began to play more solid defensively and offensively. With just a few minor mistakes in the later innings, the "jitteriness" of the first game wore off when we took the lead in the 6th inning, exercising the mercy rule with the seven runs scored in that inning alone. First Presbyterian tied the score 16-16 in the top of the ninth by scoring one run. Gavin Tachibana made an incredible 6-2 double play in the same inning that stopped First Presbyterian from advancing with more than a one run lead. With the last half of the inning open for us to score and attain our first win, spirits were high with the expectation of doing so. Up at bat was Mike Wong, who managed to hit a double and Chris Tam finished up the game with a smash to center left that dropped in time to bring the run home for the win and final score of 17-16. This win brings our record to 1-0 and First Presbyterian's to 0-2.

Every Sunday, in addition to a summarization of the game, there will be a couple of players we would like to mention for outstanding performance during the game. This week, we commend Ray Shojinaga, nicknamed "Mr. Team", for his solid roving and selfless performance (two sacrifice flies and defensive flexibility). Gavin Tachibana, "Mr. Clutch", for passionate play and making "the play". Finally, Chris Tam, "Mr. Smart Bat", for well-placed hits and for the walk-off hit that scored the winning run. This is not to say that those not mentioned did not do a great job, because you all did. Had it not been for everyone, our first official win would not have been possible. Thank you and congratulations!

Since the last email concerning the team website, there have been many changes and updates made. I hope you all get the chance to browse the site and check them all out. Just a heads up about the recent updates:

1. We've added more people to our Roster

2. We've added more pictures to the album. Don't worry, if you're picture isn't up yet it will be soon! You can count on that.

3. The Calendar and Schedules of games and practices are up. There is a glitch with the weekly Wednesday night practices on the Practice feature, but we'll get that sorted out soon.

As the season progresses, we'll continue to update to make sure we're all on the same page. 

Til the next update...