Tongue and Groovers unravel Lobar roll

Playoffs start next week

The Lobar team continues its struggle to find the rhythm of years past. They racked up three consecutive competitive league titles over the course of the past three seasons yet have suffered a rollercoaster season so far in 2010.
Their struggles started early with several players from the roster missing or injured. Ronnie Hughes was studying the predatory habits of black widow spiders in Texas. Michael Villanueva was busy with his longshoreman duties in California, and team manager/player Roland Mason broke his wrist, leaving several holes in the team’s roster.
The team returned to full strength by midseason and was on a roll the past two weeks, rattling off four wins in a row to move up into fifth place with a record of 7-7.
That roll came to a screeching halt though on Monday night at Tommy V Field as the Tongue and Groovers overcame a shortage of women players to hand the Lobar a 17-14 loss and remain in second place.
The game was a classic example of the adage, “no lead is safe at Tommy V.” Every time the Tongue and Groovers looked to put the Lobar away, the Lobar came roaring back.
The Tongue and Groovers came out guns blazing in the top of the first inning as Mikey Weil and Tessa Sodini drove in the first three runs and Chris Eaton cleared the bases with a three-run inside-the-park home run (ITPHR) to build a 6-0 lead.
That reminds me: a little advice for those of you playing at Tommy V. First, outfielders, keep the ball in front of you. Second, shortstops, you’re playing too deep. Third, infielders, the ball doesn’t bounce off the crushed granite—it skips: get your glove down. Granted, I don’t play but I do watch a lot of games and that’s just what I’ve been seeing out there.
Anyway, Pete Basile drove a fading line drive down the right field line destined for an extra base hit but Lobar right fielder, the league’s best right fielder male or female, Ashley Chahine chased it down for the backhand grab. The Tongue’s inning then ended with an automatic out due to their missing player.
The Lobar cut the lead in half in the bottom of the first as Mason roped an RBI single, Ashley Chahine hustled for an infield RBI base hit (see advice above) and Bob Piccaro swatted an opposite field RBI hit.
The Lobar made its first run at the Tongue and Groovers in the bottom of the third inning. Chahine nubbed a single through the infield and scored when Katherine Long cracked a double to shallow left. Stephanie Clark drove in a second Lobar run and Hughes pulled the team to within one, stroking a RBI single to right.
The efforts of Weil both at the plate and on the base paths scored a couple of insurance runs for the Tongue and Groovers in the top of the fourth inning.
Weil roped a RBI double up the middle and then wheeled home to score from second on an error-assisted single by Dana Olson, rebuilding their three-run lead.
The Lobar pulled back to within one once again as Chahine and Ian Mason drove in a couple of runs, but the bottom of the Tongue and Groovers batting order sparked a four-run surge in the top of the fifth.
Basile started it off with a two-run ITPHR and Joe Erickson closed it with another two-run ITPHR to put the Tongue and Groovers on top 14-9 heading into the bottom of the fifth.
Mike Gehab opened the bottom of the fifth inning for the Lobar with a single, but was called for interference on a “potential” double play on a grounder by Clark.
Discussion ensued, albeit civil discussion, yet rather than continue the discussion, Hughes let his bat do the talking and stepped up to send a solo ITPHR to right field.
The Lobar defense pulled together to hold the Tongue and Groovers scoreless in the top of the sixth, and while the Tongue and Groovers played the entire game with just three outfielders, it took until the bottom of the sixth for the Lobar to exploit it.
The Lobar peppered the outfield for base hits to score four runs and tie the game 14-14.
Adam Ofsterdahl sparked the final rally by the Tongue and Groovers in the top of the seventh. Ofsterdahl was perfect all game at the plate, leading off several innings and scoring. This time he drove in a run, scoring Basile with a single up the middle. Sodini and Geordie vanMarter slapped two hits to add two more runs, and the Tongue defense did the rest in the bottom of the seventh inning to seal the 17-14 win.