Game recaps

I know you all, or y’all, have been sitting on pins and needles waiting for the last report of the season.  Sorry it took so long but I have been busy with yard work at President Cliff Kaiser's house and answering the many requests from Lakers "4 star Dollar General“ Dave Nykalo.  You see, as assistant coach I have many jobs which I did not know when I volunteered for this position.  On the last day of the playoffs it was my job to bring the scorebook to the game.  When I arrived at the field Dave asked me for the scorebook, I had this sinking feeling as I remembered that the scorebook was on the counter at my home. Dave yelled “You had ONE JOB, ONE JOB AND YOU BLEW IT. Then he laughed out loud (LOL) and said “Lucky for me I have a spare”.  Since then I have been told that President Cliff will now keep the scorebook in the wall safe hidden behind the 100 square inch TV located in the “Garage Mahall” which I referred to in the week 1 report.

As the long season has finally come to an end, I’m reminded of the famous opening line from Charles Dickens’ novel “A Tale of Two Cities”, “It was the best of times and it the worst of times”. The records of our 2 teams couldn’t have been more different but the effort was there for both. One positive note is that the Lakers did repeat as champions and while the Eagles season didn’t quite go as planned they were able to walk away with their heads held high knowing that they gave it all they had. 

Eagles

The Eagles played 5 games in the playoffs, losing all 5 but there were moments to remember. One was seeing an actual eagle flying above the field in Franklin, pretty cool. As for the scores of the games it doesn’t really matter, but there were some great individual accomplishments such as Danny Stancil, Gary Kelley, Bob Foss and Claude Smith going 3 for 3 against their old nemesis Hendersonville.  Against Franklin Old Bones “silver haired” Bob Foss and “no haired” Mike Young were 3 for 3 with the Foss smacking a triple. Gary Kelley and Claude Smith were perfect again in game 3 against Rabun each going 3 for 3 and Ken Uhlig adding 2 hits.  Danny Stancil and Rich Hesemann were perfect against North Georgia in the first game of day 2, Mike Steffen homered and C’mon Steve Musliak had 3 hits while Professor Bob Fjeld and Bob Foss also hit well. In the season finale, Mike Young had 4 hits, Doug Rochester had 2 triples among his 3 hits.  C’mon Steve Musielak and Woody King each had 3 hits and Danny Stancil, in possibly his last game, had hits in his last 3 at bats while going 14 for 18 in the 5 games. Al Brightwell, who drove up in his cool  blue corvette, had 2 hits in the final game. Congrats to C’mon Steve Musielak and Mike Steffen on coaching and keeping the team together through a tough season. Also shoutout to Woody King and Ken Uhlig for pitching this year and to the many who played catcher because as Casey Stengel said after drafting a catcher with his first pick, “If you don’t have a catcher the ball just rolls to the backstop”.

Lake Keowee Lakers win the CSSL 58+ Playoff Championship

While the Lakers were good all season, they really picked it up a notch in the Playoffs. Beating Lake Lanier by 1 run was really sweet.  During the regular season the Lakers split with the Legends 3 wins and 3 losses with the only other loss coming at the hands of TriState which as you will see below the Lakers avenged. The Lakers were crowned champions for the 2nd year in a row. Great job guys.

Game 1

Lake Keowee Lakers 30   TriState  Wolves 11

This game featured a tremendous amount of hitting along with the usual tight defense. The Lakers scored 5 runs in each inning.  Hitting stars were many, Cliff Kaiser, Dave Nykalo, Bob Rothring, Dewey Post, and Dennis Giles each had 4 hits.  Bud Blide, John Waugaman, Pete Tibaldi, Dave Young and Matt Koeplin all contributed 3 hits. Tracy Hamilton, Dave Nykalo and Bob Rothring also homered. 

Game 2

Lake Keowee Lakers 20   Lake Lanier Legends 19

This was a tightly contested game as usual with Lake Lanier, the Lakers scored 2 runs in the top of the 7th inning to take a slim 1 run lead.  The Lakers stellar defense held the first place Legends to zero runs with a game saving defensive play by pitcher Tracy Hamilton to seal the win. Hitting stars in this game were again Bob Rothring leading the way with 4 hits , Pete Tibaldi and Dave Young also had 4 hits each. Dale Bradley, John Waugaman and Cliff Kaiser, had 3 hits each and Waugy smashed a homer.

Game 3

Lake Keowee Lakers 16   TriState  Wolves 8

Timely hitting by the Lakers to go along with tremendous defense was the name of this game. As usual there were many hitting stars, Cliff Kaiser, Dale Bradley, Bob Rothring, John Waugaman and Dewey Post all contributed 3 hits, Tracy Hamilton, Bud Blide, Dave Nykalo, Dave Young and Matt Koeplin each had 2.  Bud Blide also crushed a mammoth blast that the fans are still probably talking about. John Waugaman made 2 spectacular game saving catches in the outfield and came away bloodied for his effort.

Tracy Hamilton pitched 3 great games for the repeat champion Lakers, defending the middle like a mean dog when you try to take away his bone. Bob Rothring was 11 for 11 in the playoffs scoring 9 runs with 1 double, 3 triples , a homerun and 7 RBI’s. Having a great defense is really important, the Lakers are a perfect example of that, many times over the course of the season I overheard players on the other teams comment on how tough it is when the defense makes great play after great play and that Bud lets them know about it afterward. Coach Dave Nykalo always tries his best to put the players in a position where they can excel, good job coach.  In his exclusive interview with the Journal Coach Dave stated “this championship was a complete team effort, finishing with a record of 31 wins and only 4 losses is pretty darn good but we do have room for improvement”. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our Scorekeepers Carol Rochester (Eagles) and Don Foster (Lakers). Carol went so far as to write with her left hand while the other was in a sling from smacking Doug around, and with Don recovering from ankle surgery earlier this year and knee replacement surgery (TODAY), he still hung in there for us. Also thanks to Bucky Bradley for umpiring even though we do pay him and it might be nice to have a call or two go our way! Also I want to say thanks to Tony “Bag of Donuts” Witte for being there to pitch in a pinch and pitch the pregame warmups. Also to Tony and Woody Woodpepper King for braving the hot weather to pitch during hitting practice on Fridays.  Also worth mentioning are the practice players some of whom showed up almost every week, Dancing Debbie Ward, Wolf Davis, James Dominic and to Bill Kimpton who volunteered to help with practices.  Also want to thank Mike Proulx, our “eye on the sky” guy who we can call anytime to report on the field conditions at Nettles. And last but not least our man among the peaches, Greg Reighard, thank you Greg for the fantastic peaches.

Dennis Giles wanted to thank everyone who donated socks to his “New Socks for Dennis fund”, no really he was able to distribute many pairs of socks to homeless shelters throughout the area.  Good job Dennis.

Just a few quotes to keep you smiling during the offseason:

Did you know baseball is the first sport in the Bible, in Genesis it says, “In the big inning!”.

"Come see my amazin' Mets!" Casey Stengel once said about his 1962 Mets squad. "I've been in this game for a hundred years but I see new ways to lose that I never knew existed before."

When the Mets were awful, a reporter asked Casey Stengel what he thought of his team's execution, he said “I’m in favor of it.”  And for those math people Yogi said "90 percent of the game is half mental". Figure that one out! 

Until next year when it will be deja vu all over again. Hope to see y’all at the banquet.

The Eagles finished the regular season with a rainout, while the Lakers won 2 against the Upstate Joe’s. The Lakers played their only true home game of the year at Nettles otherwise known as Elly May Clampett’s  “CEEment Pond”, filled with water when it rains and hard as cement when it’s not.  While it’s nice to have a home field, sometimes we are all just glad to not take a bad hop to the face.

Lakers

The Lakers are known for their good defense but this week it was turned up to a new level. Dave Young played the hot corner like Brooks Robinson, making leaping catches while Bud Blide and Dale Bradley made their positions look easy with one good play after another.  Tracy Hamilton played the “middle like a fiddle in a Charlie Daniels song” and when they did get it by him Dennis “the menace” Giles was there to jump high as a kite and snag a line drive or 2.  There were many double plays made and I heard several of the Joe’s say “Expletive Deleted” as they slammed their bats to the ground returning to the dugout in disgust. The outfielders also made many good catches as Bob "Big Glove" Rothring, Cliff "Scooter"Kaiser, John Hollywood Waugaman and Super Dave Nykalo roamed the outfield like a bunch of hungry tigers at mealtime hoping to capture those tasty round yellow treats.

Game 1 - Lakers 24   Upstate Joe’s 5

Lots of good hitting was how to describe the "Lake boys" in this game.  Somebody from the Joe’s got under “the caped crusader” Super Dave’s skin, not a good idea as he went on to smack two gargantuan blasts into the dog park.  Bud Blide also walloped a homer which was one stick away from rolling into the river, never to be seen again. Dennis Giles showed off his speed by scurrying around the bases for an inside the park homerun. Cliff, Bud, Super Dave,  John Waugaman and Dave Young all had 4 hits each with Bud knocking in a team high 7 RBI’s and Super Dave knocking in 4.

Game 2 - Lakers 22   Upstate Joe’s 5

More good defense and hitting in game 2 as Bob Rothring and Cliff Kaiser had 4 hits each. Bud Blide, Dale Bradley, Dewey Post and Pete Tibaldi contributed 3 hits each with Blide hitting another homerun and knocking in a team high 5 RBI’s, Cliff and Dewey had 4 RBI’s each.

Thanks to Coach Bill Kimpton for filling in for Don Foster by keeping score for the Lakers this week. 

As the sun sets on another regular season now it’s playoff time. Unlike the Mets 😢 and Braves 😢, the Eagles and Lakers move on to the playoffs where everyone starts with the same record. I’m reminded of the saying “Hope springs eternal”.

Our 68+ Eagles will begin playoffs on October 6th in Franklin and our 58+ Lakers will begin playoffs in Clayton tomorrow.  Rest assured we will all give it our best. 

Best of luck to both teams and I will see ya when I see ya.

Say it ain’t so, just say it ain’t so.  Usually this time of the year is reserved for Clemson football wins and Atlanta Braves heading to the playoffs, neither could be further from the truth. So maybe we go to an apple festival or a trek through the local corn maze, or an outdoor concert instead.  Wahalla will be having an Octoberfest for those who may need to drown their sorrows in beer. Softball can also be a sort of therapy, you grab that bat real tight, imagine an ugly thought or a face on that ball and when it arrives you swing with all your might, and when you connect everything just seems right with the world, at least for a few seconds, yeah baby that feels real good.   

Eagles

The Eagles had the week off, they will be welcoming back one of their stalwarts in Rich Hesemann who has been recovering from a weak back for ..... wait for it......a few weeks back 😂. Sorry Ken since the Eagles didn’t play this week you aren’t getting any Ink.

Lakers

The Lakers traveled to Clayton for 2 games against “dem bums” from Rabun. The Lakers looked like they were having tryouts for the USA tumbling squad as a few players were awarded good scores from the Russian judges.  New guy Eric Dixon decided instead of pulling a muscle he would take a faceplant while running from first to third, he must have had experience with this since he jumped right back up and continued on to third base while saying I hope Dewey didn’t see this, too bad Eric I did and now you have been officially welcomed to our team. As for the other tumbler, it was first year guy Matt Koepler who “fell in a hole” and looked more like a European Soccer player rolling around on the ground, good one Matt.

Game 1 - Lakers 24    Rabun 7

This game featured the usual stellar defense and timely hitting by the Lakers.  Tracy Hamilton led off the game with a homerun and totaled 4 hits.  Dale Bradley, Super Dave Nykalo, Dennis “Sock King” Giles and Tumbling Matt Koepler also contributed 4 hits each. Dewey Post and Doug Rochester had 3 hits each. Dave Young was the “SAC King” with 2 and 2 hits and Cliff Kaiser also homered while almost passing Tracy on his way home, he must have really wanted that Homerun.

Game 2 - Lakers 26    Rabun 9

Game 2 featured 4 Homeruns, newbie Eric Dixon smacked 2 while “Sort of Sweet Tea” Tony Witte and “El Presidente” Cliff Kaiser slugged one. Eric Dixon, Dewey Post and Cliff Kaiser each had 4 hits.  Super Dave, Dale Bradley, Dennis Giles,  Matt Koepler and Dave Young contributed 3 hits each.

On the day the Lakers turned 4 double plays and threw out a runner at the plate, good stuff.  

A couple of things to note, Dennis is still looking for sock donations as he is running out of clean pairs to wear for games. We really miss our score dude, Don Foster, as keeping track of things has been difficult, right Matt? Last week I forgot to mention that Bud Blide homered 2 at bats in a row, after receiving a “nastygram” from Bud all the way from Boston, I will never ever let that happen again.😂

The Eagles have 2 more regular season dates 9-22 at Tyger River Park and 9-29 in Franklin with the Playoffs on 10-6 and 10-13 in Franklin.

The Lakers play their last regular season games this Weds at Nettles Park, the playoffs are the 1st and 8th in Clayton.

See y'all on the flip flop.

Well friends, it is getting closer to the first day of fall, thoughts of cooler temps and the beauty of the leaves changing colors are right around the corner. The humming birds are stocking up for their long flights for their winter vacation, the bears are also looking for anything they can get their paws on to fatten themselves up for their long winter snooze-a-thon. As we get ready to turn the calendar to fall we also realize that the softball season is sadly nearing the end. 😥.  Playoffs will be in another few weeks and then the season becomes just another memory.  Some folks will be dusting off the golf clubs, others getting their fall and winter fishing gear together, some getting ready to take their boats out of the water and the loud and sometimes annoying sounds of pickleball will be filling the air.  With year end holidays fastly approaching, family gatherings will be on everyone’s minds. 

Now onto the week 18 games.

Eagles

The Eagles traveled to Clayton to play 3 against the Rabun Relics, a very good team.  The Eagles gave it a great effort but unfortunately came up empty. Newbie Tim LaVictoire did what all new players are warned about, that’s right he pulled a muscle in his first at bat, better luck next time Tim. Al drove his blue corvette and parked illegally on an angle so Doug couldn’t park close and ding his blue beauty.

Game 1 - Eagles 11      Relics 26

The eagles scored a quick 5 in the first inning and ended with 5 in the last inning but were held to just 1 run in the middle innings which proved to not be enough to handle the Relics. Everyone on the Eagles had at least 2 hits except poor Tim who had to come out after his first at bat. Because I don’t want to leave anyone out, Gary “Hammer and Nails” Kelley, “Detroit Tiger” Bob Foss, Dizzy Doug Rochester, Mike and Mike Steffen and Young, Woody the Pepper King, Danny “Rusty Bike” Stancil, Ken “Give me Some Ink” Uhlig, Corvette Al Brightwell and Professor Bob Fjeld all contributed 2 hits. C’mon Steve Musielak broke the mold with 3 hits and Dewey the “Postmaster” delivered 4 hits.

Game 2 - Eagles 9       Relics 30

The Eagles scored 2 in the first, 5 in the 3rd and 2 in the 6th to round out the scoring. Gary Kelley, Bob Foss, Doug Rochester,  Mike Steffen, Danny Stancil, Ken Uhlig, and Al Brightwell all had 2 hits each.

Game 3 - Eagles 0     Relics 7

The Eagles chose not to play the 3rd game as there were a few players not able to take the field, this resulted in a score of 7-0. No hits to record.

Lakers

The Lakers also traveled to Clayton to take on the Dahlonega Gold for 2 games. As usual with Dahlonega, the Lakers were dominant both offensively and defensively, scoring at will and turning 4 double plays on the day. I give these guys from Dahlonega credit as they get beaten by us regularly but they still show up every time and seem to have a good time.

Game 1 - Lakers 25    Dahlonega 7

The Lakers had their hitting shoes on for this game as every Laker had at least 3 hits each with “President” Cliff Kaiser and Dennis “Papa Smurf” Giles smacking 4 hits each.

Game 2 - Lakers 19    Dahlonega 10

This game was a little closer but the Lakers still prevailed scoring runs in every inning and playing their usual great defense.  Bud Blide led the way with 4 hits while Cliff Kaiser, Bob Rothring, Matt Koeplin and Super Dave Nykalo contributed 3 hits each.

To those of you who again had to seek therapy after another disappointing Clemson loss on Saturday, just remember you are supporting a local business.

Doug Rochester’s better half Carol had successful shoulder surgery this week, most likely necessary from smacking Doug around while misbehaving.

The Eagles don’t play this week and the Lakers will be in Clayton for a matchup with the squad from Rabun.

Practice will be FRIDAY this week, same time as usual.  We are down to just 2 practices left so there isn’t much time for you to come out and smack around the little yellow pill. So all you players ..... c’mon down.

See you next time.

Hope y’all had a good Labor Day holiday, especially all those in our Lake Keowee Senior Softball family who get up early every morning to earn a living and still carry their Spiderman or Barbie lunchpale to work, you deserved the day off.  To those of you who had to seek therapy after the disappointing Clemson loss on Saturday, I hope you were able to find a way to enjoy the beautiful day.

As I sit here on my back porch on this beautiful cool morning, waiting for another possible bear sighting, I’m reminded of some things to be thankful for. First and foremost that I didn't see the bear, next how lucky/blessed we are to have such a great group of people to play this game we obviously love, and last but certainly not least to all our doctors who have put in countless hours to keep these antique bodies in motion.😎

Eagles

The Eagles didn’t have a matchup this week so hopefully they spent the week off recovering from some season long injuries, c’mon team let’s get it going.  

Lakers

The Lakers took on those “wiley wascal Wolves” from TriState for a double header in Clayton, a difficult task as they are a tournament tested squad and tend to add new players before each time we play them.  Coach Super Dave is always looking for ways to win so he spends many sleepless nights devising a lineup that will accomplish his desired outcome, and once again the general got it right.

Game 1 - Lakers 12    TriState 10

In a closely contested battle between these two warriors, it was 10 to 10 after 5 innings. In the 6th , the Wolves were held to zero runs while the Lakers scored 2 for a score of 12 to 10.  The top of the 7th proved to be a little too close for comfort as the TriStaters got the first 2 men on base with no outs.  After a timeout and a couple swigs of Pepto Bismol to calm my stomach, the Lakers were able to register 2 quick outs.  With runners on 1st and 3rd and a big home run hitter up, Tracy Hamilton and Bud Blide were seen discussing whether to walk Mighty Casey. With another big hitter on deck, Tracy decided to pitch to Mighty Casey.  I will give you a blow by blow account of what happened next.  Ball 1, Ball 2, Strike 1, then Tracy delivered the next pitch and ............ BLAMMO ....... Mighty Casey swung and clobbered a long bomb to left field.  Super Dave veered BACK BACK BACK to the fence, hearing Tracy, Bud and Cliff screaming “you have plenty of room”.  Then as Super Dave crashed into the fence he reached up and snagged that ball as it was going over for the 3rd out and GAME OVER. Super Dave let out a yell “PLENTY OF ROOM MY (reference to his backside deleted)”. While we didn’t necessarily have our best day scoring wise we had some timely hits.  Dale Bradley led the way with 3 doubles and a triple and Tony “Bag of Donuts” Witte and Super Dave had 3 hits each.

Game 2 - Lakers 14    TriState 13

As usual with these howling Wolves it is always a close game and this one was no different. This time the game came down to a contested play in the last inning which could have ended the game with the Lakers losing.  Surprise, Bud Blide was in the middle of it all, hustling his (reference to his backside deleted) off and beating the throw to 2ndbase which caused quite a kerfuffle. After about what seemed like an hour it was agreed that we would continue the game and TriState would play under protest.  The Lakers went on to score another 4 runs and held the Wolves to 3 in the last inning for the win. Hitting stars were Matt Koeplin and Tracy Hamilton with 4 hits each while Dale Bradley had 3.

Update: PROTEST DENIED and the victory was awarded to the good guys.

Practice will be WEDNESDAY this week @10am and we are hoping that the cool weather may bring out Tuesday Tom and some others that we haven’t seen in a while.😂

See you next time.

It's hard to keep track of what week it is since there have been so many cancellations, so here goes.   Been a while .... Yup or yep as some of you say, Mother Nature sure seemed to want us all to take a few weeks off, it was July when last we reported, now it’s almost September, it won’t be long before the cool nights replace the sweltering mess we have had for the last month or so, except for that one cool week where it seemed to rain every day, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day.  Nettles Park looked more like Nettles River as it was under water for quite a while and as tempting as it seemed even Cliff wouldn’t do sliding drills out there. I heard that good ol’ Tuesday Tom and Professor Bob were seen kayaking around the bases.

The Eagles played a doubleheader in Mauldin against the Upstate Joe’s, who knew there were so many guys named Joe in the upstate 😂! The Lakers went to Clayton for 2 against Lake Lanier in a battle of the top 2 teams in the 58+ league.

Eagles

While it didn’t rain on Monday, a familiar 2025 foe seemed to ground the Eagles.  Earning an A for effort on a day when it was very hot, the Eagles bats were not. The temperatures reached a steamy 90 something and very humid for sure.😓

Game 1 - Eagles 2       Joe’s 20
Not much to report as the Joe’s had the upper hand all the way through.  Doug Rochester, Mike Young, Greg Professor Peach Reighard and C’mon Steve Musielak contributed 2 hits each.

Game 2 - Eagles 4     Joe’s 25
Much the same as game 1 where the Joe’s scored early and often.  Doug Rochester clubbed 3 hits while Gary Kelley, Mike Young, C’mon Steve Musielak and Woody "Woodpepper" each contributed 2 hits.

Keep trying guys, maybe next week will start the beginning of a winning streak.

Lakers

In the battle of the Lakes, the Keowee’s came out on top and sank Lanier’s ship leaving their coach saying “ I think we need a bigger boat”. Stellar defense and timely hitting was what it took for the Lakers to complete the sweep.

Game 1 - Lakers 16    Legends 8
In a close game early, the Lakers put up 5 runs in both the 4th and 5th innings to take the lead for good.  We then saw something that doesn’t happen very often, Lake Lanier had to use the "flip flop option" in the last inning where they batted 2 times in a row so they could attempt to catch up.... but to no avail. Hitting stars were Cliff Kaiser and Bud Blide with 4 hits each. Tony “Bag of Donuts” Witte, Pete “Stitches” Tibaldi and Dewey Post contributed 3 hits each.  Dewey was the king of “better to be lucky than good” as his 3 hits barely made it out of the infield. Remarkably, Rbi’s were evenly distributed as just about everyone had 1 or 2.

Game 2 - Lakers 17   Legends 16  Extra innings.

This game was a real barn burner as the Lakers jumped out to an early lead only to see the Legends tie it up 10 to 10 after 4 innings.  After a shut out inning by both teams which featured a great over the shoulder catch by Bud Blide, running away from home plate, each team scored 5 to make it 15 to15 after 6.  Once again both teams put up a goose egg in the 7th and on we went to extra innings.  Bud Blide knocked in the tying and winning run with a bases loaded 2 outs scorcher to left field that brought the crowd of 1 to its feet, that crowd consisted of Don Foster who also keeps score for us. Cliff once again led the hit parade with 4 hits while Tracy Hamilton, Bud Blide, John Waugaman, Dennis Giles and Pete Tibaldi each contributed 3 hits.

Of note, Rockin Doug Rochester was a cool 5 for 6 on the day for the Eagles and Cliff Kaiser was a great 8 for 9 for the Lakers.  Tracy Hamilton was really good “on the bump” in both games for the Lakers providing stellar defense up the middle.

Congrats goes out to the Little league teams from South Carolina and Connecticut for advancing pretty far in the Little League World Series. SC reached the semi finals and CT reached the US championship game before both losing to the team from Nevada. We were discussing this over some good eats at the Rusty Bike, a tradition started by Danny Stancil, when Cliff was commenting on how some of these little leaguers are 5 ft 10 inches and over 150 pounds. He then sheepishly admitted that at that age he was 4 ft 6 inches and weighed in at a whopping 68 pounds. In fact he had to order his uniform from the Gap for Kids store and his mom had to shorten the pants. 😂 Bud mentioned that he played for his New Jersey team sponsored by Tony Soprano and that their uniforms 'fell off the back of a truck somewhere'. Doug mentioned that his team picture was brown and white it was so long ago. I had a rare G-man sighting the other day and he looks great, he also mentioned that George Washington threw out the first pitch for his Little league team. 😂

We had 15 people at practice last week, with only a few practices scheduled for the remainder of the season, hopefully we will start getting enough players to play some games. Remember it won’t be long before it’s over.

Until next time.

This week's schedule had both the Eagles and the Lakers traveling to Clayton for doubleheaders.  The Eagles played the North Georgia Patriots while the Lakers played the Lake Lanier Legends. For the first time in a few weeks the weather didn’t play a role in the outcome of these games.  Defense did however play an important role as both teams could have used a little extra glove glue. Ahhh Gorilla glove glue of course, meant for the toughest jobs on earth.

Eagles

Game 1 - Eagles 5      Patriots 19

Not much offense in this game for the Eagles as they scored all 5 of their runs in one inning. Mike Steffen, Doug Rochester, C’mon Steve Musielak and Danny Stancil had 2 hits each and Ken Uhlig was also 2 for 2.

Game 2 - Eagles 22   Patriots 23

This game was a real barn burner, much different than game 1. The Eagles bats got hotter than a pepper sprout, matching the Patriots with 5 runs in each of the first 2 innings. After the Pats scored another 4 the Eagles came back with another “fiver” of their own in the 4th to take back the lead. 6 runs later had the Eagles up by 2 in the 7thbut that “lack of glue thing” allowed the Patriots to walk off with the win. Doug  Rochester punched out 5 hits for the Eagles.  "Mr Smooth" Claude Smith, Woody “WoodPepper” King and  Danny Stancil aka “the Bus driver” had four hits each. Danny knocked in 5 runs and Claude had 7 rbi’s while of course looking sharp in his usual color coordinated uniform. Debbie Ward in her first appearance for the Eagles had a hit and 2 rbi’s.

Lakers

Game 1 - Lakers 25   Legends 17

This was a rematch of last year's champs (Lakers)  and this year's 1st place team (Legends).  The Legends started off by scoring 4 in the top of the first to get the attention of the Lakers. Answering with 5 of their own in the bottom of the 1st and another 5 in each of the next 2 innings the Lakers put the Legends on their heels for the rest of the way.  Besides pitching a great game, Tracy Hamilton led the way with 4 hits.  Bud Blide also had 4 hits with 6 rbi’s. Matt Koeplin had 3 hits and 6 rbi’s to go along with a homerun.  Dave Nykalo, Bob Rothring and Dewey Post contributed 3 hits each and Cliff Kaiser also smacked a homer.

Game 2 - Lakers 11    Legends 19

In game 2 the Lakers started hot by scoring 5 in the first but the bats cooled off like a frozen popsicle as they only scored 6 the rest of the way.  The Lakers defense was “leaking oil” and the pit crew wasn’t able to contain it as the Legends went on to win for a "doubleheader Savannah Banana split".  John Waugaman had 3 hits while Cliff Kaiser and Dale Bradley had 2 each.  Bud Blide added a homer and 3 rbi’s.  But the loudest hit of the day didn’t come off a bat but instead as Dennis Giles slowly tossed a ball to Bud "Blindside" Blide who wasn’t looking and it softly bonked Bud in the head.  I could just hear John Madden saying “Doink” as the ball bounced off his head and fell harmlessly to the ground.

Of note Professor Bob, who didn’t make it to practice this week due to the many autograph requests, made a “Willie Mays” catch in left field with his back to home plate running at full speed when he reached up and snatched it out of the sky. When asked at what point he knew he caught it he replied “after I looked around and didn’t see the ball on the ground I looked into my glove and there it was”.

For inquiring minds Al drove the blue corvette to practice this week.  Greg “Professor Peach” brought more peaches to practice and man were they good.  It looked like a feeding frenzy on shark week as everyone grabbed as many as they could carry.  Looks like Johnny and Lisa Kelley have finally moved in to their new house so toot your horn as you drive by, I’m sure his new neighbors will appreciate it.🤣😂

The weatherman said that it will be as hot as that “other place down below” this week so stay hydrated if you have to be outside.

 “Bless your hearts” and catch you on the flip flop. 

This week's schedule had the Eagles traveling to Hendersonville and the Lakers traveling to Clayton to play Dahlonega. 

This week we are giving a major shoutout to those players that show up to practice each week with the possibility of playing in a scrimmage game.  Starting with “Dancing” Debbie Ward who is always the first one there, James Dominic and Wolfie who get things set up so we can take hitting practice. We all look forward to seeing which corvette Al Brightwell will drive to practice while wondering if Kevin Heslin will bring his bat or his hockey stick.  I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Professor Bob showed up for the 2ndweek in a row. Tony “Sweet Tea” Witte and “Hot Pepper” Woody usually shoulder the pitching duties. This week we actually had a few Lakers grace us with their presence, Bud Blide, who had to “hit and split” so he could get to some “appointment” and “Shoeless” Bob Rothring who wanted to prove that he does own a pair of spikes instead of the Walmart special “blue suede shoes” he wore to the last game. Greg “Professor Peach” Reighard was also there to the delight of Tony who scored a few peaches. Bill Kimpton has been coming down to practice to hopefully have enough players to organize a scrimmage.  Sorry Bill but again there weren't enough players to scrimmage, reminds me of Charlie Brown hoping to kick that ball and Lucy pulling it away at the last second. I’m thinking if it ever cools down enough we may have a few scrimmages. I also want to thank Mike Proulx, our guy who we can call anytime to report on the field condition at Nettles.

Ask Doug about the restaurant in Hendersonville which advertises to have plenty of good food and giggle water.  From what I read, giggle water is a term used in the prohibition era for alcohol, Doug were you around during prohibition? Maybe not Doug, but maybe GMan, who was rumored to have hoisted a few with Babe Ruth, may have been 😂🤣.

Eagles

Game 1 - Eagles 3     Hendersonville 15
Hendersonville is always a tough opponent and this game was no different as the Eagles could only muster 3 runs.  Doug Rochester led the way with 3 hits while Rich Hessman, Mike Steffen, Al Brightwell and Danny Stancil contributed 2 hits each.

Game 2 - Eagles 7    Hendersonville 16
This game was much closer as the Eagles were right in it up to the end.  Bob Foss, Rich Hessman, C’mon Steve Musielak, and Danny Stancil led the way with 3 hits each.  Mike Young, Mike Steffen, Doug Rochester and Woody King each smacked 2 hits each.

Lakers

Game 1 - Lakers 24    Dahlonega 4
The Lakers dominated this game both offensively and defensively, with timely hitting,  turning double plays and throwing out runners at home.  Cliff Kaiser had 4 hits to pave the way for the Lakers. Dennis Giles, Dale Bradley, Dave Young and Matt Koeplin were each 3 for 3.  Tracy Hamilton and Tony Witte, our version of T & Tea each homered for the Lakers.

Game 2 - Lakers 24    Dahlonega 8
This game was much of the same as the lakers put up 15 runs in the first 3 innings and went on to knock the ball around the park for a total of 24 runs.  Dave Nykalo stroked 4 hits, 3 for homers with 7 rbi’s. Cliff Kaiser had another 4 hit game including a home run and 5 rbi’s. Dave Young and Tony Witte were each 3 for 3. Five other guys, not to be confused with "Five guys burgers and fries", had 3 hits. Dale Bradley also contributed a homerun.

This week Cliff Kaiser was seen taking bunting lessons from Dave Young and executed a perfect spinner landing between the pitcher and catcher, and like Dave last week, stood tall, well not really tall, at first base with fists in the air as he shouted to Dave “Just like you taught me”.  This week it was also determined that Dewey’s contract only calls for him to have a range of 2 feet to either side, not 1 inch further so don’t expect any more than that .

Monday the Eagles play North Georgia starting at 10 and on Wednesday the Lakers play Lake Lanier at 9:30, all games this week are in Clayton.

Just a reminder to Bob Rothring to bring his cleats next week.
Another reminder to bring socks 🧦 for Dennis as he is running out of clean socks to wear. 

Until next time. Stay hydrated.😅

This week's schedule had the Eagles not playing and the Lakers getting a chance to avenge one of their losses with a doubleheader against the Tri State Wolves at Clayton.  Before game 1, a worried Coach Dave Nykalo kept stating that the Wolves would be showing up with their “Tournament Team”.  Dave turned out to be “The boy who cried wolves” as the Lakers pounded those Wolves and put Dave’s fears to sleep. Of note, the Lakers welcomed back Dennis Giles who had missed several games due to receiving a "Jimmy Durante" nose job. What a great way to get back to playing, he was only 8 for 8 with 6 rbi’s and making many nice plays up the middle.  

Lakers

Game 1 -  Lakers 21    Tri State Wolves 3

The Lakers came out “hangry” and the Wolves were number 1 on the menu.  The Lakers scored 21 runs in only 6 at bats while a Tracy Hamilton and Bud Blide anchored defense held the Tri Staters to zero runs through the first 4 innings and only 3 in total.  Dale Bradley, Dave Nykalo, Dewey Post and Dennis Giles, otherwise known as the middle of the order, were 15 for 15 with 12 Rbi’s. Bud Blide and Cliff Kaiser added home runs to help the cause.

Game 2 -  Lakers 23   Tri State Wolves 14

This game was much of the same as the Lakers scored 23 runs in only 6 at bats.  Dave Nykalo continued his assault on the Yellow Pill by smacking  4 hits including 2 homeruns ( 8 for 8 on the day) and 6 Rbi’s.  Dennis Giles and Bud Blide also had 4 hits with Dennis knocking in 4 runs and Bud knocking in 3. Several guys had 3 hits with Pete Tibaldi going 3 for 3.

While the Lakers played pretty much flawless defense there were also a few funny plays that have to be mentioned:

First and foremost was the line drive to the usual sure handed Cliff Kaiser.  Cliff got a great jump coming in on the ball while at the same time the ball was going straight over his head, as he turned and ran we all heard him shout “Oh expletive deleted”.  

The second strange play was a very high fly to left field as Super Dave camped out underneath it waiting and waiting for it to come down when suddenly the sun came out from behind the cloud and “clouded his vision” the ball bounced off him landing on the ground.  Dave would later get his revenge on that ball by smacking it 5280 feet and landing it in the parking lot of the “Rusty Bike” where we later found the ball rolling around with a big dent in it. 

Thirdly, Dave Young executed a perfect bunt which would have made Bobby Cox proud. But there is no bunting in softball you say, well Dave, like Mighty Casey, reared back and took a mighty swing and the pitcher and 3rdbaseman each took a step back but the ball traveled only 5 feet, spinning and spinning in the powder and stopping in fair territory. As our whole bench burst out laughing, Dave stood on 1st base with a big grin and 2 fists in the air shouting “Exactly as I planned it”

We also heard that Jim Lamarand has taken his last official swings at the softball as his Doctor has strongly suggested that he not play anymore after having back surgery.  Hard to believe Jim won’t be running around or that Jim would actually listen to his Doctor but I’m sure Bonnie weighed in and Jim was outnumbered. We will miss his solid play and his “witty banter” at practice. Hopefully Jim will still come down to share his stories and opinions about the game we all love to play.

This week it was good to see Professor Bob back at practice. We had 14 people in total and are hoping for more next week.

This week the main opponent was the unbearable heat. With real feel temps soaring to triple digits we weren’t sure “weather” or not we should be playing. With the heat in mind maybe these will cool you off.

What did the pig say on the hottest day of the year.....I’m bacon!! 

It was so hot that Bud's granddaughter tried to watch Frozen but all that would play was Aquaman.

What is faster heat or cold, well obviously it’s heat because even Dewey can catch a cold.

Ok onto the games.

Eagles

The Eagles had three 5 inning games scheduled on Monday against the 68+ Upstate Joe’s in Mauldin.

Game 1 - Eagles 17   Joe’s 15

It was a “heated” battle as both teams smacked around the yellow ball with the Eagles coming out on top. Gary Kelley stayed “Hot” with the bat as he had 4 hits including a “scorcher” for a homerun. Bob Foss also had 4 hits and C’mon Steve Musielak, Claude Smith, Danny Stancil and Mike Steffen each had 3 hits and Steffen had 4 rbi’s. On the mound, Woody King recorded 2 strikeouts. 

Game 2 - Upstate 19   Eagles 1

Like last week, Mother Nature had a lot to do with the outcome in game number 2.  The heat took a big toll on the Eagles as many of the players were showing signs of dehydration.  Somehow, Danny Stancil and Woody King managed to get 2 hits each and Mike Young had the “only the lonely” rbi.  

Game 3

Due to the extreme heat the Eagles decided “No Mas” and didn’t take the field for game 3. That was a smart move as many of the guys were not feeling up to snuff.

Lakers

The Lakers learned from the Eagles and decided to cancel their games with Lake Lanier. To quote Pete Tibaldi "It's too damned hot".  A makeup is in process of being scheduled.  Of note, as much as we all love to play this game, paying attention to the possibility of heat stroke and heat related illness is much more important than playing sometimes. I’m sure Medical coach Carol Rochester would agree.

This week we had 14 at practice, none more important than Woody, he  brought the fan.  Good to see a few more of you at practice. 

This week I was honored to visit with the “Original Batman”, Johnny Kelley and his lovely wife Lisa at their new “Period Correct Victorian” home on East Main St in Walhalla.  What a beautiful place, so I guess you can make a good living selling bats to the guys from Lake Keowee🤭.  Lisa gives the best hugs, fortunately for me Johnny doesn’t.😎.  Now onto the games.

Eagles

Game 1 - Rabun County 27   Eagles 14

The Eagles put up a good fight in the first few innings but the offense slowed down in the later innings. Bob Foss, C’mon Steve Musielak and Rich Hesemann led the way with 4 hits, Hesemann also had a homerun.  Mike Steffan, Ken Uhlig, Doug Rochester and Greg Reighard each had 3 hits, Reighard also had 4 rbi’s while staying clear of any wayward balls.

Game 2 

Mother Nature had a lot to do with the outcome in game number 2 as it was rained out. Big storms can just appear over the mountains in Clayton.

Lakers

This week saw the Lakers visiting Mauldin for the “Mauling in Mauldin” with a sweep of the Upstate Joes. 

Game 1 - Lakers 21   Upstate Joes 8

The Lakers sped out to a big lead scoring early and often while playing good defense which quickly put the game out of reach. Tracy Hamiliton and Cliff Kaiser led the hit parade with 4 hits each.  Dave Young, Bob Rothring, Dewey Post and Dave Nykalo each contributed with 3 hits and Nykalo had 5 rbi’s and shot a high and long scud missile that once again caused the Airforce to send up an F-16 to make sure the skies were safe.

Game 2 - Lakers 15   Upstate Joes 8

This game saw the Lakers slow down a bit but still had enough to keep the Joes in their place.

Dale Bradley and Dave Nykalo smacked 4 hits each. Cliff Kaiser, Matt Koeplin and Bud Blide contributed with 3 hits each and Blidehad a homerun and 4 rbi’s.  Of note, the Lakers turned 3 double plays and Tracy Hamilton shut down the Joe's many attempts to hit up the middle.

Thanks again to Buckey Bradley for umpiring and handling a difficult situation during the 2nd game.

Dan Klett, a well known Cubs fan, rode up to the game with his "friend" Bud. During game number 2, Dan was umpiring at 1st base and called Bud out on a close play.  Funny thing, when we passed Bud on the way home there were no passengers in his truck, but 2 legs were visible dangling from the tailgate and a dirty Cubs jersey was seen waving like a victory flag from Bud's antenna.  By the way, Dan didn’t make it to practice on Friday, coincidence.....we think not.

This week we had 10 at practice, hopefully we will begin to see more of you.  Until next we meet. 

Week 9’s theme is the grilling party for Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, granddads, great granddads, great great granddads and if possible great great great granddads on our team.  The propane has been lit and the “Frankfurters” and Ray”buns” are on the grill, so let’s put on your master grilling apron, start spinning the spatula and stick a fork in those “roll”ing softballs and get cooking. 

Eagles

This week the Eagles were hoping to “relish” a few victories from those Frankfurters of Franklin but they just didn’t have the “mustard” to “get er done”.

Game 1 - Franklin 26    Eagles 16

The Eagles put up a good fight in the first few innings but seemed to run low on propane at the end. C’mon Steve Musielak led the way with a big scoop of potato salad to go along with his 4 hits.  Bob Foss, Mike Young, “Cash only” Luke and Doug Rochester each had 3 hits, Doug also had 4 rbi’s. Knowing those guys I bet they wore out a path to the cooler for liquid refreshment.

Game 2 - Franklin 14   Eagles 3

The Eagles were “grilled” in this game only scoring 3 runs. Danny Stancil, Mike Young, Rich Hessman and Doug Rochester each recorded 2 hits, just not enuff to keep their “goose” from being cooked.

Lakers

Let me start out by explaining the catch up rule or for this week we will call it the “Ketchup Rule”. 

Rule 55-to keep the games competitive, when either the Dahlonega Gold or the Raybun Relics are behind by more than 5 runs they are allowed to score more than the usual 5 run max per inning until they catch up to the leading team.

This week saw the Lakers hosting a Wednesday morning cookout hoping to toast the Ray”bun” Relics. 

Game 1 - Lakers 29    Relics 24

A strange game that didn’t seem close as the Lakers scored the maximum 5 runs allowed per inning to take a quick lead but the Relics were allowed to use the “Ketchup” rule to their advantage scoring 7 runs in 2 consecutive innings to make it close.  Since the Lakers scored 29 runs in only 6 at bats you can imagine there were many hitting stars. Cliff Kaiser, Bob Rothring, Dale Bradley, John Waugaman and Tracy Hamilton each had 4 hits, while Tracy also had 4 rbi’s and pitched his way to earning what appeared to be several burgers and hotdogs. Several others recorded 3 hits including Pete Tibaldi and Dave Nykalo each going 3 for 3.

Game 2  - Lakers 27   Relics 25

Again utilizing the Ketchup rule, the Relics were able to keep the Lakers from winning by a large margin.  Dave Nykalo continued his assault on the poor “yellow orb” with 4 hits and an Ice Screamer over the fence, almost hitting the grill and ruining the cookout. Pete Tibaldi, Dave Young , Dewey Post and Matt Koeplin smacked 4 hits while Matt also grilled a homerun. Tracy Hamilton, Bob Rothring , John Waugaman, Doug Rochester, Tony Witte and Cliff Kaiser each contributed 3 hits while Cliff added a homerun to go along with a team record of 5 burgers consumed while running the bases.

Of note, Pete Tibaldi was 7 for 7 on the day while also driving Dewey to the game, now that is a notable accomplishment. Thanks again to Bucky Bradley for keeping the burgers and dogs cooked to perfection while umpiring as well.

This week we had 9 at practice, let’s swing for the fences next week and try to get enuff to play a game. Enjoy the day.

This week we see C’mon Steve Musielak and Super Dave Nykalo, the 2 coaches of the Eagles and Lakers, standing in line at the well known Steak House Cafeteria on main street Walhalla. Rumor has it they were discussing having a couple of “well done” Rib Eye Steaks and hoping to recreate the winning formula of the “Clobber-A-tion” of the North Georgia Patriots by the Eagles and the Dahlonega Gold by the Lakers. Fast forward to an hour later when I personally witnessed the two coaches shaking their heads when finding out the long standing joke in Walhalla was on them.............The Steak House doesn’t serve steak at all, mostly chicken. Oh well.

What a remarkable week it was for the Lake Keowee Softball Club as both the Eagles and Lakers were victorious.

Eagles

Game 1 - Eagles 21   Patriots 10

The Eagles were flying high in this game right from the start. Scoring 9 runs in the first 2 innings  When the Patriots scored 4 runs in the top of the 5th inning to make the score 9-8, the Eagles countered with a 5 spot in the bottom half of the inning and then put up another 5 in the 6th  to glide into victory. Mike Steffen was 4 for 4 with a homerun and 4 rbi’s.  Welcome back Bob Foss who had 3 hits and 4 rbi’s and a homerun. Mike Young, Woody King, Rich Hesemann and C’mon Steve also contributed 3 hits to help seal the deal.

Game 2 -  Eagles 27    Patriots 23

This game was what Crazy Eddie would have called “Insane”. The Eagles vaulted out to a large lead mostly on the wings of Mike Young, Doug Rochester and Bob Foss. Scoring 27 runs in 6 innings the Patriots were allowed to have a flip/flop inning where they batted twice in a row because they were behind 27-6.  The Patriots went on to score 5 in the “flip inning” and 12 in the “flop inning” which is also an open inning where you can score as many as you can. The game ended on a dramatic play where Danny Stancil was pulled off first base by a somewhat questionable throw from Rocky Rochester, Danny then executed the tag and the game was over, a huge sigh of relief was heard all the way to the Last Chance Saloon in Walhalla. To go along with Bob, Mike and Doug’s 4 hits (1 HR) were Danny Stancil’s 3 hits and 4 rbi’s. Rich Hessman, Mike Steffen and C’mon Steve each contributed 3 hits.

Of note in this game was a strange rib injury to Mike Young that forced him to the sidelines in the 7th inning causing the Eagles to play a man short. About halfway through that 7th inning the “no man left behind” mentality of “Marine Mike” kicked in and soon he was back on the field to help in this victory. Scorekeeper Carol was heard to say about Mike's return “the Baseball gods were on our side today”.

Lakers

Game 1 - Lakers 28    Gold 10

This game was total Laker domination right from the start scoring 5 runs in each of the first 5 innings and another 3 to finish it off. As you might guess with 28 runs scored there were many hitting stars, but no star shined brighter than lead off man Tracy Hamilton. He was 5 for 5 with 2 homeruns and a mind boggling 8 rbi’s.  Dale Bradley, Matt Koeplin and Bud Blide continued their torrid hitting as Dale was 5 for 5, Matt was 4 for 4 and Bud was 4 for 4 with 1 homerun and 5 rbi’s.  Five other Lakers had 3 hits.

Game 2 - Lakers 24   Gold 9

To quote the great Yogi Berra this game was “Déjà vu all over again” as the Lakers scored 13 runs in the first 3 innings and continued the onslaught by finishing with a total of 24 runs in 6 innings of work. Dale Bradley, Bob Rothring, Bud Blide , Dewey Post, Pete Tibaldi and Tony Witte all had perfect games at the plate.  Dave Nykalo once again took it out on the poor little yellow ball by smashing 2 home runs one of which was seen rolling down rt 441 in Clayton. Bud Blide also contributed a homerun.  

2 things of note, Tracy’s 5 for 5 game included going for the cycle (single, double, triple and home run). Pretty cool. The other thing of note is that the youngest guy on the team, Matt Koeplin, was overheard complaining how tired he was because he had to run for Bud. Bud mentioned to Dewey that he now knows what it is like to be Dewey when Cliff runs for him.  Another note, Dewey ran for himself today since Cliff was on Wedding duty. 

Again thank you to Carol Rochester who kept score for both teams this week and to Bucky Bradley for a great job umpiring.

Lastly I would like to make a shout out to the “Great Eight” folks who showed up for practice on Friday.  Led by Dancing Debbie, Wolfman Steve, C’mon Steve, Tony bag of donuts, Dan Klett, Lucky Luke, Rocky Rochester and of course Sleeveless Dewey.  Bill Kimpton was also there riding the golf cart named the Blue Flash.  Hopefully we will have a better turnout next week.

Let this be a reminder that the last Monday of May is the day our nation mourns and honors its deceased service men and women. Remember if not for those brave soldiers who died for our freedom, we wouldn’t be able to do the things we enjoy doing.

Eagles

The Eagles games were rained out again this week, therefore nothing to report.

Lakers

Game 1 - Lake Keowee Lakers 20    Tri State Wolves 7

Both teams started off slow as the Lakers only managed 3 runs in the first 2 innings while Tony "Ohtani" Witte held the Wolves scoreless through the first 3 innings. The torch was lit in the 3rd inning as the Lakers began to catch fire on both offense, scoring 17 more runs and on defense throwing out 2 runners at the plate to knock the wind out of those big bad wolves. Bud Blide and Dave Young each hammered 4 hits while Cliff Kaiser, Dave Nykalo, Dewey Post, Matt Koeplin, Gary Kelley and Mike Steffen each bashed 3 hits.  Super Dave continued his merciless bashing of the little yellow softball using his fancy “Cookies and Crème” bat to blast a missile well over the centerfield fence. 

Game 2  - Lake Keowee Lakers 17    Tri State Wolves 18

This game was a real barn burner as the Lakers took an early lead and held it through 4 innings.  The Wolves then proceeded to make it a see-saw battle scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th to snatch the victory from the good guys. Pete Tibaldi, Cliff Kaiser, Dave Young, Dewey Post and Birthday boy Doug Rochester each contributed 3 hits while Super Dave Nykalo and Kaiser each homered. 

Just a quick shout out to 2 great plays on defense...

In the first game on a shot to the fence, Cliff Kaiser hit the cutoff man and Golden Arm Bud Blide made one of the most impressive throws in the history of Lakers softball to gun down a shocked Tri State runner at the plate, Doug Rochester also made a nice play to catch the speeding bullet one hopper.  In the 2nd game Cliff Kaiser made a diving play that seemed at the time to be a game saver. Also, as usual the Lakers turned a few double plays.

Thanks to Carol Rochester for keeping score and providing cheerful support for the Lakers.

Let this be a reminder that the last Monday of May is the day our nation mourns and honors its deceased service men and women. Remember if not for those brave soldiers who died for our freedom, we wouldn’t be able to do the things we enjoy doing.

Eagles

The Eagles games were rained out again this week, therefore nothing to report.

Lakers

Game 1 - Lake Keowee Lakers 20    Tri State Wolves 7

Both teams started off slow as the Lakers only managed 3 runs in the first 2 innings while Tony "Ohtani" Witte held the Wolves scoreless through the first 3 innings. The torch was lit in the 3rd inning as the Lakers began to catch fire on both offense, scoring 17 more runs and on defense throwing out 2 runners at the plate to knock the wind out of those big bad wolves. Bud Blide and Dave Young each hammered 4 hits while Cliff Kaiser, Dave Nykalo, Dewey Post, Matt Koeplin, Gary Kelley and Mike Steffen each bashed 3 hits.  Super Dave continued his merciless bashing of the little yellow softball using his fancy “Cookies and Crème” bat to blast a missile well over the centerfield fence. 

Game 2 -  Lake Keowee Lakers 17    Tri State Wolves 18

This game was a real barn burner as the Lakers took an early lead and held it through 4 innings.   The Wolves then proceeded to make it a see-saw battle scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th to snatch the victory from the good guys. Pete Tibaldi, Cliff Kaiser, Dave Young, Dewey Post and Birthday boy Doug Rochester each contributed 3 hits while Super Dave Nykalo and Kaiser each homered.

Just a quick shout out to 2 great plays on defense...

In the first game on a shot to the fence, Cliff Kaiser hit the cutoff man and Golden Arm Bud Blide made one of the most impressive throws in the history of Lakers softball to gun down a shocked Tri State runner at the plate, Doug Rochester also made a nice play to catch the speeding bullet one hopper.  In the 2nd game Cliff Kaiser made a diving play that seemed at the time to be a game saver. Also, as usual the Lakers turned a few double plays.

Thanks to Carol Rochester for keeping score and providing cheerful support for the Lakers. 

Coming to you this week from the cockpit of Al Brightwell’s Gulfstream G550 luxury Jet co-piloted by Al and Dave “rough landing” Young. It was a shaky flight as they had to dodge (not Doge) surface to air missiles launched from the bats of the Rabun Relics.

Eagles

The Eagles have hit (or not hit) a rough patch as of late. This week it was the Rabun Relics turn to trim the Eagles wings.

Game 1 - Rabun 23   Eagles 15

Rabun put up some big numbers early as the Eagles struggled to keep up.  The last few innings were better as the Eagles scored 11 runs in the last 3 innings but it wasn’t quite enough to catch the Relics. Woody King continued his hot pepper hitting with 4 hits while Gary Kelly, Rich Hesemann, Mike Young and “Ghost Runner” Doug Rochester each slashed 3 hits. 

Game 2 - Rabun 30   Eagles 6

This game was a rough one for the Baldies as the Relics put up 5 runs every inning. Bigfoot Jim Lamarand led the way with 3 hits while Gary Kelley, Mike Young, Danny Stancil, Claude Smith and Al Brightwell added 2 hits each.

Of note, Doug Rochester had a real heads up play as he was able to force out a “Ghost Runner” at 2nd base, unfortunately ghost runner outs don’t count. But he did keep the runner at 3rd from scoring because he was so confused he just stayed put, good job Doug.  Next up for the Eagles is the 68 +Upstate Joes at Sunset Park in Mauldin as they try to get their feathers straightened out to fly right.

Lakers

Unfortunately the Lakers games were cancelled due to a "chicken out" maneuver by the Upstate Joe’s.  From all reports the field was dry as a “chicken bone” and no rain fell during the hours when the games should have been played.  Next week the Lakers play Lake Lanier in Clayton.

Until next time, hope you all stay positive, except of course for any medical tests. 😂🤣

Coming to you this week from on top of the manure pile behind the horse barn at ol' Mc-Giles horse farm in Tamassee, where Dennis learned to swat and catch flies.

Eagles

The Eagles had a bye this week due to some injuries and wandering vagabonds. Hopefully they will put that all behind them and pull it all together and pound those boys from Rabun Monday in Clayton. The Eagles who showed up for practice today seemed ready to go.

Of note, Hematoma Ken Uhlig is playing in a national Tennis Tournament for seniors this weekend hoping to steal a few games from those top level tennis players. Good luck Ken.  Dirty Doug Rochester was at practice today and his uniform was clean, thanks to Carol for that.

Lakers

Game 1 - Lakers 25   Rabun Relics 10

This game started out as a close affair as the Relics jumped out to an early lead, but tremendous defense and timely hitting by our boys sent them old geezers scrambling for their false teeth.  In fact Marty from the Relics said to me “Man you guys sure play some hellacious defense” while their 3rd baseman stated “fiddle sticks (not really the word he used) it don’t matter where I mash it, those darn little rascals in the outfield are gonna catch it”.  Hitting stars for this game were Dennis Giles, Dave Young, Matt Koeplin, Dave Nykalo and Bob Rothring each slugging 4 hits. Dale Bradley and Cliff “Bruise on the belly” Kaiser added 3 hits each, Bud Blide also homered. 

Game 2 - Lakers 26   Relics 1

This one was a true game for the ages as Tony “Ohtani” Witte really had his spin-o-rama pitch working for him as we saw so many swings and misses that the national weather service issued a high wind alert for Rabun County. Then in true Ohtani fashion Tony bashed 2 Ruthian Ballantine Blasts after their third baseman (the fiddlesticks guy) taunted Tony saying “I’m not afraid of you”. After tossing 6 shutout innings he finally allowed 1 unearned run and was heard to mutter “Damn Bud if you only would have bent over”. There were several hitting stars who contributed to this old fashioned butt whoopin. Bud Blide, Dale Bradley and Dave Young each clobbered 4 hits while 8 others chipped in with 3.

Of note Matt had his streak of consecutive hits stopped at 11, kudos to him. Tim “Big Tree” Tompkins made his Lakers debut by doing what thousands before him have done .... tweaked his hamstring, rookie mistake. Cliff caught a liner with his belly and is now sporting the coveted "softball stitch marks" on his belly.

Next up for the Lakers are the Upstate Joes Wednesday at Nettles Park in Clemson. Should be a barn burner.

Coming to you from the round table at the Rusty Bike in Clayton where the Randy Burgers are the players favorite and Mr. Danny Stancil is the waitresses favorite.

Eagles

It was a tough day for the visiting Eagles as they traveled to Franklin to play the Old Bones. The IIV (injury, Illness and Vacation) list played a big part this week as the MVP (most valuable pharmaceutical) was a bottle of 200 mg Ibuprofen.

Game 1 - Old Bones 19  Eagles 7

What started out as a close game with good defense by 2nd baseman Ken “Egg on the Leg” Uhlig slowly faded as a lack of hitting in the middle innings sealed the Eagles fate. Woody King smashed 3 hits while Gary “The Hammer” Kelley, Danny Stancil, Claude Smith and Dirty Doug Rochester clobbered 2 hits each.

Game 2 - Old Bones 20  Eagles 14

Again what started out as a close game through the first 2 innings began to slip away as the Old Bones scored 5 runs 3 innings in a row.  The Eagles tried valiantly to come back but unfortunately had too big of a mountain to climb. The defense was anchored by Woody “the Hoover” King. One inning in particular he had a part in all 3 outs. Woody also led the way with another 3 hit game while Danny Stancil, Dirty Doug Rochester, C’mon Steve Musielak and Claude Smith also added 3. Ken Uhlig and Gary Kelly added 2 hits each.  Eagles management can expect a bill from the Franklin rec department for a new load of infield dirt as Dirty Doug Rochester was covered in it after attempting to dive into home from halfway down the baseline only to come up about 15 feet short. His ride home (Danny ) was overheard saying “you are so dirty you need to ride in the back”.

Lakers

The Lakers traveled to Clayton for 2 games with the Dahlonega Gold. By the time the games were over the Lakers had mined all the gold out of Dahlonega.

Game 1 - Lakers 18  Gold 2

Great offense and great defense by the Lakers was the name of this game.  Several Lakers had 3 hits. Cliff Kaiser and Super Dave Nykalo each belted homers included in their 3 hits, while Dewey Post and Tony Witte slashed 3 hits, newcomers Dan Klett and Matt Koeplin also chipped in with 3 hits each.  Tracy Hamilton pitched a gem while limiting the Gold to 2 runs. During that game each Lakers position player caught a pop fly.

Game 2 - Lakers 26  Gold 6

This game must have seemed like déjà vu for the Gold as more great offense and defense was shown by the Lakers. Bud Blide, Pete Tibaldi and Super Dave Nykalo each tallied 4 hits. Tracy Hamilton, Bob Rothring, Dennis Giles, Matt Koeplin and Sleeveless Dewey each added 3 hits. 

Of note Super Dave clubbed another homer (2nd of the day). The Gold seemed to taunt him by walking the previous 2 hitters to face Dave, he was angry and grunted loudly as he took it out on the poor little yellow ball, giving it quite a ride.  Also of note was rookie Matt Koeplin who had 6 straight hits without recording an out. Another rookie Dan Klett was warned about being careful while running so as to not pull a hamstring, he then went out and tweaked his hamstring....rookie mistake.  Cliff Kaiser actually played without getting dirty or getting scraped up, a first for him. He attributed it to Dewey running for himself, that’s right I said Dewey ran for himself.

The Eagles are off next week while the Lakers play Rabun at Clayton next Wednesday.

Happy trails to y'all, until we meet again.

Eagles

On a blustery day in Clayton the Eagles were grounded by the big bats of the North Georgia Patriots by scores of 22-19 and 24-10. In the first game the Eagles hit well but came up just short.  Mike Young-dog, Rockin Doug Rochester and C’mon Steve Musielak all had 4 hits. Gary Kelley, Danny Stancil and Rich Hesemann each had 3 hits and 1 of Rich’s was a Dinger (home run). Hesemann also had 5 rib-eye steaks (rbi’s).

In the afternoon session the Patriots came up big scoring 24 runs while the Eagles were only able to muster up 10. Big foot Jim Lamarand was the hitting star for the Eagles with four hits. A large group had two hits each including Gary Kelley, Doug Rochester, Ken Uhlig, Professor Bob Fjeld and Wolf Davis. Defensive shoutout goes to Mike Young for being part of 3 double plays.

Special thanks to Mrs Rockin Rochester (Carol) for keeping score.

Lakers

The Lakers rebounded from their first week losses by sweeping 2 from the Tri- State Wolves 26-9 and 28-27. The Lakers had their hitting shoes on for sure, scoring 26 runs in the first game and Tracy “ Preacher man” Hamilton shut down the usually potent Wolves bats. Hitting stars were as follows:  Dale "Bucky's Dad" Bradley led the way with five hits and six rib-eye steaks (Rbi's). Tracy, Bud “the glide” Blide, Super Dave Nykalo, Dave “Cubs Jacket” Young (no relation to Mike Young) each had 4 hits. John “Hollywood” Waugaman and Sleeveless Dewey each had 3 hits, the sleeveless one also added 4 rbi's. “Bag A Donuts” Tony  Whitte aka BAD Tony, clobbered an inside the park homer which surprised the right fielder, we heard that guy shout “uh oh” as the ball flew over his head. 

The second game was quite the thriller as both teams came out on fire with the bats. Tri-state threw many “haymakers” but the Lakers kept getting up off the mat to continue the fight. With the score tied at 19 going into the seventh-inning the Wolves scored what appeared to be an insurmountable eight runs in the top of the seventh but once again the Lakers shook it off and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by scoring 9 runs with just 1 out. Hitting stars were as follows:  Dewey, better to be lucky than good, had 5 hits and 5 Rbi’s including the 28th and winning run. Tracy,  Motor City Pete Tibaldi and Bud each ripped 4 hits. Super Dave, Cliff “Pay your dues please” Kaiser, Dennis “Papa Smurf” Giles and BAD Tony each contributed with 3 hits while the BAD one also collected “ 5 frosted crullers” (rbi’s). Super Dave pounded a towering homer which hasn't landed yet, in fact it was such a blast that later 4 F-16's flew over the field searching for a reported UFO. 

I also should mention that Bud 'the Glide" Blide made several questionable little league style base running maneuvers which caused many of us to shake our heads, fortunately he was not thrown out on any of them. 

Shout out to Bucky "Dales Kid" Bradley for umpiring and showing no favoritism even though we pay him quite handsomely to do so. Also thanks to Don “The Bookie” Foster for keeping score. Rumor has it that hopefully his walking boot will be a thing of the past as of today. 

Eagles

The 2 Lake Keowee Eagles games were canceled because of rain caused by South Carolina's version of mother nature's tears due to the defeat of the Lady Gamecocks at the hands of the Uconn Huskies. 

Lakers

In a rematch of last years final, won by the 2024 champion Lake Keowee Lakers, the Lake Lanier Legends swept the Lakers by scores of 23-18 and 23-17. As disappointing as this was for the Lakers, there were several players who deserved notice for their valiant effort.

Cliff Kaiser 8 hits, Pete Tibaldi, Tracy Hamilton, Bud Blide and Rich Hesemann each had 6 hits. Also of note Dave Nykalo had 3 triples in a row.

I should also mention that Bud had many good defensive plays at shortstop, the coach from Lanier mentioned Bud several times while telling his players to try not hitting to Bud. Cliff and Rich made several attempts to injure themselves by diving for balls that they didn’t catch. 

Also big thanks to the gimpy Don Foster for keeping score on one leg. 🩼

Last but surely not least, a big shoutout has to go to Super Dave for his last minute heroics to get enough players, hopefully this won't be an every game occurrence as it caused him to lose a few hairs while the remaining few turned gray.