Week 1 Continued

Thirteen days after that first, fateful email, John Veysey and Joe Schwerdt tossed the season’s first pitches. There was no need for the umpires to yell “play ball.” Everyone there had already done so – and won.

Oh yeah, the games. Guess we can’t ignore them, seeing we worked so hard to get them back.

We B Zellin’ 13, Jaded 12: Robert Smith picked up where he left off last season, but not until the final inning when his team scored eight times (plus a ninth run that was later determined to be unnecessary) for the improbable win. Phil Mullins and Pete Boyd were 3 for 3 for WBZ, but Smith was quick to point our Robert Weires, who hasn’t played much but had a key two-out hit in the winning rally. "We are overjoyed to see a guy who is an ultimate team player show what he can do when the opportunity presents itself," Smith said. For Jaded, coached by Giuliotti, rookie shortstop Joe Sachitano was 3 for 4 including a towering blast over the left-center field fence. Dave Cody also was 3 for 4.

Boss Players 13, AFDI 10: The O’Connell family, those Irish band of marauders, served notice in Week 1 that it’s ready to cause more havoc this season, even with Genie White’s departure to Chico’s Bail Bonds. Catcher Denise Schrieber was 4 for 4 in the first game, including a putout at home. ADFI, coached by George McIntyre, was powered by Gairy Williams, who sent one over the fence, and Mike Mejia, who was 3 for 4 with a triple.

Boss Players 15, In The Red 9: Again, Schrieber was the hitting star, going 4 for 4 with another hard putout at the plate. But the SportsCenter moment was an inside the park homer by 63-year-old former cricket player James Phoenix, who blew right by coach John O’Connell’s stop signal and almost ran over JoEllen Stoveall, who was running ahead of him. For In The Red, Jonathan Carr upstaged big brother and coach Nick Carr with two homers.

Real McCoys 23, Chico’s Bail Bonds 11: Coach Mike McCoy hit maybe the longest ball of his life. Still only got a triple. For Sean Piccoli’s Bail Bonds, Scott Winn homered in his first at-bat of the season, and Steve McGrath stamped himself as early favorite for comeback player of the year. Not only was his second-inning double a laser to right-center, a la the McGrath of the late 80s/early 90s, but he booked it into second with the fervor normally reserved for his hourly Dunkin Donuts trips with Ben Crandell.