June 17, 2004

SPORTS

A muddy tee-ball mess

By Jimmy Chesire

After she released us, the sheriff came out to tee-ball herself.

“Y’all play in the mud?” she wondered somewhat incredulously.

“Oh course! We love the mud — well, many of us, anyway.”

And muddy it was. The diamond was a mishmash of muddiness. There were a couple bathtub-sized puddles and a few spots where the water had recently evaporated, but the ground was still a wonderful sticky and squishy. And then there was that whole stretch from first to second base. It looked dry, the ground shiny and as smooth as a mirror. And a nice butterscotch color. But the moment we set foot in it, we knew. It was like standing on flypaper.

“I’m stuck!” 7-year-old Olivia Greco exclaimed joyously.

“My feet! I can’t move my feet!” Keegan Chlanda laughed. That smooth butterscotch surface was like quicksand, a syrupy, half melted caramel-candy goo.

“Wanna make a mud mound?” Olivia asked, scooshing the mud into a trapezoidal shaped pile.

Jamie Johnson and his sister, Jayden, were 10 feet away, both of them spotless. Jayden couldn’t seem to understand why anyone would be so silly as to want to muck around in this stuff. Three-year-old Sara Zendlovitz was spotless, too. Her mom, Deb Zendlovitz, was perseverant, steadfastly following her daughter around, hoping to keep her eager child out of the mud. Which she mostly managed to do.

“Gimme a mud five,” Lawrence McCray said. He and Joe Thorpe were playing a form of wrestle-and-box-and-race-around-the-diamond.

Dakota Joy gave me a mud five (which is slapping a high five with your hand freshly coated in a thick, grainy layer of that cool, semiprecious mud).

“You’re funny,” she said. Oh? She’s all of 3 years of age, is as pretty as a young Katherine Hepburn. “Some kids are funny,” she said. She propped her wrists on her hips, turning her hands backwards so her fingers were pointing down and away. “And some grown-ups, too.”

“You’re funny,” I said and she went off like a firecracker. She did a little leap, lifting her whole body straight up an inch or so off the ground. Landing, she threw her head back and just howled with pleasure. She was so intense that for a moment she might explode.

Dakota told me she was fast and then showed me, suddenly taking off on a run around second base where I was happily kneeling in the muck. She ran like the wind.

McKenna Palmer, 5, came trotting into second. “I’m fast, too,” she said, and in a flash she was sailing around second base, up to third and back across the diamond to me and Dakota still at second base.

Michaela, McKenna’s 7-year-old sister, joined the competition. She was like a tornado in a bottle, a living whirlwind herself. Then Eli Seitz, carrying a mound of mud as big as your grandfather’s crash helmet, told us he’s even faster.

“Oh yeah? Let’s see.”

And boom! He was off, racing round the same oddly shaped oval Dakota first defined, the imaginary track we now have four, five kids racing round.

Amy and Dan, young parents and a pair of Antioch students, stopped by. They told Eliza Woodburn, our first base coach, they saw the kids in the mud and just had to check it out.

“Some of the parents are freaking out,” Eliza said about the muddy shenanigans.

“Lookit,” Ted Wasserman, Dakota’s dad, called out, pointing to 5-year-old Meranda Pelzl lying on her belly right in the middle of the biggest and most popular puddle. She was spread-eagled, her arms lifted, like a sky diver.

And as we admired Meranda’s verve, Isaiah Taylor hit a home run. And then right behind him Rachel Meyer hit one and then Weymar Osborne, too. Suddenly it was home run derby out here on the Mudball Flats.

That’s the Perry League, Yellow Springs’ tee-ball program for girls and boys ages 2 to 9. Everyone’s welcome regardless of race, color or creed. You can start at any time and there’s no requirement to play every week. So why don’t you come on out? We’ll be out there at Gaunt Park from 6:30 to 8 p.m. every Friday night from now till Aug. 6. And we’d love to have you. Why don’t you come out and see us sometime?

Major League report

By Bob Morrison

Our week in Major League Baseball began with three rain outs on Wednesday and Saturday, but the grounds crew of Buddy Adkins and his dad were tenacious, and by Sunday we had a field to play on.

In the first game on Sunday the Cubs beat the roster-depleted Yankees, 18–6, in a game that was marked by 14 walks by Yankee pitching. The Cubs, however, did some hitting: Chris Johnson was four for four, including a triple, and scored 4 runs. Sam Morrison reached base safely in his four at-bats. Brian Smith singled, and Robert Harden tripled and scored 2 runs. Lauren Miles pitched three innings, allowing 4 runs, for the win. Southpaw Carl Wiener wrapped things up with one inning of solid relief.

For the Yankees, Lucas Donnell doubled and scored 2 runs, Jeremy Paul was three for three with a home run. Conor Stratton showed some good stuff in three innings but took the loss.

In the second game the wind was blowing out and the weather held almost to the end in a game, which went 5 2/3 innings, as the Athletics beat the Indians, 13–6. A’s starting pitcher Jamie Kitzmiller showed he is really maturing as he struck out 8. Alex Nickels had a stellar night at the plate, going three for four and scoring once; Jeremiah Stubblefield hit a 2-run home run and Sara Adkins hit a towering grand slam that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Lucas Blanchard-Glueckert and Cody Evans each had two hits and played their usual solid defense.

The A’s defense was led by first baseman Brandon Semler and outfielders Josh Foster, Otis Rutley and John Malone. Starting pitcher Isaac Haller took the loss for the Tribe. His brother, Jonathan, pitched an inning of relief.

The Cubs beat the Indians 5–3 during Monday night’s makeup game, a pitcher’s duel that had it all — superb pitching, tight defense and timely hitting. Jonathan Haller pitched a complete game but lost. He came up against the dynamic duo of Carl Wiener and Lauren Miles, who combined to give up just 3 runs and 5 hits in six innings — truly a remarkable performance by all three pitchers.

Robbie Marion was three for five, including a double and gave yeoman’s service in right-center field; David Ingham was three for four, with a triple, and 2 RBI; Tyler Fox scored the tying run in the titanic struggle.

The game came down to the last inning, when Indians had the tying run at second base with two outs. Roy Barnett hit a screaming line drive that was caught by Chris Johnson for the final out. The Cubs are now 3–0.

Tony Parker continued his hot bat for the Tribe with two doubles; Patrick Morrissey went one for three, and shortstop Nerak Roth Patterson played excellent defense. Nathan Reed pitched an exhibition inning after the game for the Indians and showed promise.

We have games this week at Gaunt Park on Saturday, June 19, at 5 p.m., and a doubleheader Sunday, June 20, at 5 and 7 p.m. We have hot dogs, drinks and great baseball, so come hungry and be prepared for hours of free fun at the old ballpark.