Game 4 Win 19-8 or "The flood gates open up"

The Sons of Mayor Menino took the field on a cold, brisk, June day. The Ringers were riding high winning 3 games in a row to start the season. The cold air was no problem for the Boys in Blue...well, no problem for most of them....

The Two Hole was a bit bothered by the cold and instead of hanging with the home crew and talk some smack, he decided to head into TC's ride and peer out the window creepily, like a dog on a rainy day looking desperately looking for his owner.

The cold wouldnt stop the bats though and the Old (not Ole) Fireballer was on the mound looking to lower his ERA and pick up his second victory. Some shaky defense plagued the Ringers early but Ol Capshaw battled and battled. Tough finiding the strike zone on the umpire but with the usual muttering, Bags kept on firing. Stevie Paz had a key hit for the Grillers to put them up 8-2 early.

The Ringers bats came alive in the 4th for an inning that was the biggest I had ever seen. I honestly can't really remember what happened but everyone was hitting and running and more hitting. Typically I look back at the book at the end of the game to remember some key stats for the blog. I like to give credit where credit is due and to make sure everyone feels the love from the blog...

What I wasn't prepared for was the Pete Brown Book (PBB). The PBB is usually spot on and the kid has really come into his own and has delivered a solid book game after game. Unfortunately this was NOT one of those games. Like a computer that is running too many programs and just decides to freeze up, the PBB went through an epic FAIL. The system shut down, the stats froze up, and Pete was like a deer in headlights on the bench. I could see a little bit of smoke coming out from his ears and the undercarriage. The PBB needed to shut down and retool, with a little help from Raso's and god almighty, the PBB rebooted and came up with this...

It is a bit hard to see but if you look down you can see the aftermath of a 15 run inninga nd what it does to the PBB, I knew we should have switched over to Timmy's Excel Spreadheet (TES) but it was too late, the PBB just shut down....so many columns left to use Pete!

What an inning it was, 15 runs, McGrath sprains his foot, and the Ringers take the lead and never looked back. Raso's seemed to be defeated at that point and went pretty quiety the next 2 innings as we skunked them to finish it in the 6th. Game set match Ringers, 4-0...that's ah niiiiiiiiice!

Game 3 Win 8-2 or "Nothing goes through my hole!"

Sully's 10 took the field on a hot and humid day in June to face the bad boys of the league, Balls Deep. Balls Deep came in leading the league in sleeveless shirts and expletives but haven't really made their mark on the field yet. They finished last year a little below average put proved they definitely can hit. The Ringers have enjoyed a hot start to the year riding hot bats through the first 2 games.

The kid took the mound coming off a win vs the Brew Crew. With a neverending girls softball game running late we started abruptly with a half a warm up pitch. Struggling through the first batter trying to find the right distance (and a little help from Billy's strike zone) the Brew Crew put up 2 runs early, but were silenced the rest of the way. They were taking the first pitch so you throw a meatball to get the call, then work them up the ladder the rest of the count.

The Ringers didn't start as hot this time around, Dirty Knee (3 for 4) lead off but we couldn't get much going in the First. The second, however, proved to be the breakout inning. Singles by MBags (who was hot all night), PR, and Connors (2 for 3)opened the door for McGrath (3 for 3) and the top of the order to do some damage. Nice to have the Baltic Bandit back after his excursion through the Eastern Bloc.

Great defense fueled the team Tuesday night, great OF play by TC, Crupi, McGrath, and Wille Mays Hayes out in right field...



The infield was solid all night and Josh played a hell of a 1 Bag digging and stretching and stabbing an early line drive from that short skinny kid that you can tell you wouldn't like if you talked to him for more than 10 minutes.


One man imparticular stole the show and will get the first Golden Glove of the year. The man we know as Joey Dub, Wertman, and of course, Sully. Joey Glove came out basically telling the Brew Crew that they weren't getting anything passed his hole. Nothing was going in his hole that wasn't getting sent back to first or second. Whether it was catches out in shallow left, or snapping his glove around his hole, the kid came in with a chip on his shoulder and a will to prove who the best SS was. Quite simply, he was the vacuum, and you just don't hit it to the vacuum when he is on...

The Kid pitched 6 scoreless to close out the game with an 8-2 win. It wasn't without being called out on an "early leave" tagging from second to third, I should probably get a pinch runner for the near future until the heat from the league gets off me.

Game tonight vs Raso's Grille. Over/Under on how many times they say "Heyyyyyyy Paz-ayyyyyyy" 7

Ringers move to 3-0 with a looming date with the Boggs next Tuesday.

In the Crowd: once again, Mrs Mike Bagshaw

Game 2 Win 19-15 aka "The Ringers keep poundin that ball!"

The local 10 took the field last night against playoff foe the Hibernians, who are armed with a ton of beers and the most overrated SS/Clean-up hitter in the league, both teams looked to set the tone of the league early.

The Ringers threw the Ole Capshaw out on the mound. Coming off a game to forget at 2nd base, the kid looked to carve out a rotation spot for himself with Noyes possibly out for a while, possibly with Tommy John (or maybe tetanus).

The Ringers got on the board early with Cutrell getting on base, then stealing second? Hits up and down the order plated 6 early. Bags got in some trouble early throwing beach balls up there in the 1st, but like a true veteran he changed the height, and brought back his spin ball that helped keep their bats from doing a ton of damage.

TC woke his bat up with some big hits to plate 2 guys, Bags 4 for 4 and PRich 3 for 4 kept the bottom of the order hot, fueling all of these early season runs. Dirty Knee with a single and a double with 2RBI and 2Runs hitting his way out of the Ringers 2-Hole

We had 3 HR's last night....um 2 HR's...Trot Sullivan hit a bomb and decided to start his HR trot right out of the box, I yelled at him to get on his horse, apparently he thought that meant reaching in his pocket for some seeds and check his HP stock from his new Windows phone while rounding First. DSull stayed red hot at the bottom of the lineup driving in 4 runs and keeping his friendly smile when you meet him back at the dugout. The Big kid hit a towering bomb and with no outs and the ball in the infield blew the stop sign and barrled around third heading to the promised land. As I sang Chariots of Fire to myself I saw him get thrown out by a good 6-7 feet. Billy said it best "Paul, what the hell is Josh trying to score on that one for?" Don't worry though, that wasn't the only bonehead move, apparently I missed 2nd base going from first to third, I thought I hit it, I'm just playing last years 65 feet rules all year so expect a lot of that...

Things of note: Don't be surprised if you see the Hibernians with some Miken's next time, they were eyeing our bats, Pete has set up a stat page for us (http://www.freesoftballstats.com/teamstats.php?team=477), Cutrell lost most of his knee, Sweet K'd, TC and DSull playing a great OF, Sweet and Sully making good on a bunch of force plays, the kid with a nice scoop and tag at the plate.

Ringers move to 2-0 and have Balls Deep and the Diamond's next week!

Faces in the crowd: Mrs Mike Bagshaw and the future Mrs CapShaw all in attendance.

All hail Commissioner Bova

Game 1 win 11-6 aka "A Ringers Family Christmas"

The Sons of Sully FINALLY took the field on a balmy day in West Medford against the Brew Crew (never heard o ya). The Ringers come in as even money with Josh's favorite team, The Hibernions, to "win the whole f'n thing" (thanks Jake Taylor).

Missing from the early roster were Adam Crowley, Jeremy DiStefano, and Aaron Noyes. Crowley has become quite the exerciser and you should be on the lookout for the fitness DVD series "Body by Shot" very soon. Boonton attended a bring your dog to the ballpark day up in Portland...or was it bring your dog to work day? Anywho, he is studying his face off to jump on the next Dancing with the Stars. Noyes is a different story, rumor has it people saw him back in town for a "medical appointment" on Sunday attended by Ringers favorite Amy Noyes. One can only think he is going under the knife for the ol Tommy John on that left wing of his. Too many dirt balls will do that to you.

Back to the action. Lineup shake up for the first game with heralded rookie Matt Cutrell batting leadoff. Cutrell is best known for sleeping in some bushes down at Trinity spring weekend and his last softball game was played roughly 14 years ago. Sounds like a perfect leadoff guy for the Ringers. He also awings like Russell Branyan so he has that going for him...which is nice. Cutrell sets the table early and ends up going 2-3 with a few runs scored. DSull takes the end of the order to add some speed and break up the bottom a bit, kid did a great job and showed some opposite field power. Couldn't have happened to a better kid.

First hit of the game was a flyball out to TCDC and not quite sure what happened but after TC caught it Danny was still on the ground. I thought they may be playing a game from their youth called "snake in the grass" but Danny was down with what turned out to be way more than a shin boner, this was a full blown ankle blow up. Kid toughed it out until being replaced defensively by Matt. (Yes, that is his ankle)

We took advantage of the Brew Crew's errors in the beginning and went up 4-0 early. The kid (of 2009 Cy Young fame) was dealin't tonight and took a no hitter into the 4th but an error by Bags and an error by said Kid allowed them to get back in it 6-2.

Sully broke it open late with a big bases loaded double...wait, single. Sully was running head up. chest out, and might proud of what he just did...the kind of hit that gets the Sullivans another bambino if you know what I mean. He made the mistake of running through 1st base, forever known as the icy patch. I can count 5 times (including myself) that almost broke their neck on the icy base. Connors went beard over feet trying to leg out a grounder. A new 70ft distance combined with an icy base is a longgggg run to 1st. (this video may not work for those who have it blocked, but it is WELL worth the 1 minute video, a true gem)

Few points of interest, Playing with a warped ball for a few innings, I think Worth took the Brew Crew for a ride, Bags was peppered all night at the 2Bag, he looks to take the mound on Thursday, TC almost decapitated the pitcher, Sully, MBags, and Rudelyn's husband Josh showed very solid D all night, Crupi had a nice laser with the new Freak, Shaun solid as always behind the dish, Pete keeping the book all year will be huge...but he forgot it somewhere already..and last but CERTAINLY not least, the kid goes 3-3 with the old Freak and takes home the MVP awarded brought to you by PBR

First game tomorrow night!

Can you dig it?

First month schedule

2011 Ringers Season Starts next Thursday!

I ask you...why not us?