by Pete

The Beat Sweeps SWC Tournament Beatniks cap undefeated summer exhibition run with tournament title

Okay, so it was only a 3-team, round robin tournament in which all we got was a t-shirt that didn’t even say we were the tournament champions. But it marked the first tournament win in the 15-year history of The Beat. Moreover, we swept 3 games, the final 2 in dramatic fashion over Magilla’s Guerrillas, a melding of talented players from 2 C-league teams, the Other Guys and Mud Hens. In fact most of the players came from the Hens, who were fresh off winning the lower (C-DD) division of the recent summer Metro Tournament. 

In addition to playing for a worthy cause—the Society for the World’s Children, a non-profit group dedicated to sports programs for underprivileged children—the tournament provided the Beat with an opportunity to regroup as a team after a difficult spring. The Beat organization had been searching for a summer tournament to keep the team sharp in the between-season void and had originally set its sights on Metro Tourney. But as a Saturday team, it was difficult to get the commitment from players to participate in a 2-week, weeknight affair. This hastened the decision to participate in a weekend tournament sponsored by the SWC. Unfortunately, not nearly as many City C-league caliber softball teams were willing to participate as in previous years, hence the 3-team format.

Now about that softball.

The Beat day started with an 11-1 blowout of a team called Torn ACL. Buoyed by the big win, the boys in gray followed up with a tense 5-4 walk-off triumph over Magilla’s. After a well-deserved 90-minute 1^st-place bye, The Beat dispatched the defense-minded Guerillas in a hard fought 7-5 thriller to take the title.

Pitcher Kevin (Special K) Austin deftly mixed pitches for 19 innings to the tune of a 2.95 ERA and rookie walk-on Jacq Wilson—Jacque’s identical twin brother—keyed the Beat offense in games 1 and 2 (.600 BA, 2 2Bs, 3b and 4 RBIs). As a result of the day’s performances, the two were named team MVPs. 

Additionally, the Beat featured a number of standout performances for the day including 3 players tied for the team batting lead at .667—Gunnar (the Purple-Haired Stump) Rosenquist (8 for 12, 4 runs), Greg (Luki) Lukoski and yours truly Pete Wenner (6 for 9 apiece). Slugger Donnell (Big Daddy) Moody paced the team with 6 RBIs and a .500 average. Always-reliable Mark (Marky D) St, Georges chipped in with a .600 mark.

The defense was rock solid for most of day as evidenced by the low scoring on the opposite side of the ledger with only a handful of errors and 2 unearned runs all day. Mike (Pizza Man) Weiss made several brilliant stops at shortstop and along with MSG at 2^nd base, almost completely closed down the middle of the diamond. Jim (The Thrill) Colletto made several game-saving stops at 1^st base in the decisive game 3 in place of me, after I made the decision to rest my sore hamstring after game 2. Since I couldn’t bend over very well, pretty much all of those hard smashes would have likely been by me. And once the opposition got a look at the rifle arms on Jacq and Jacque, the other side took few liberties on the basepaths. To put it simply, it’s been a long time since our overall defense looked that good.

Game 1. The Beat 11 – Torn ACL 1

We started the day with a 5-inning 11-1 mercy killing of Torn ACL, an athletic-looking Asian pick-up team that played Magilla’s tough in 2 tense low-scoring affairs separated by only a couple of runs.  

The Torn Ligaments had begun the day at 9.15am on foggy Rolph Playground with a taut affair against Magilla’s (great green shirts with ol’ Magilla in his bow tie). The Guerrillas won the opener 4-3 in 8 innings. 

The first Beat game began at 10.30am sharp with the Anterior Cruciate Ligaments winning the coin toss and designation as home team. With several regulars on summer holiday, the Beat infield had a back-to-the-future look that included me at 1^st base, MSG at 2^nd and Big Daddy at 3^rd.The erstwhile “Pizza Man”, Mike Weiss was the anchor at shortstop. Flanked by hard-hitting veterans Luki on the left and The Thrill on the right, the outfield featured the Wilsons (not to be confused with Heart or the Beach Boys) in the middle. To provide some perspective, Jacq had graciously agreed to help The Beat in the summer games on an out-call basis. After keying the breakout Beat offense in 3 prior scrimmage games against the Other Guys (14-7), Van Ness Monsters (34-14) and Misfit Toys (22-7), the Beatniks had quietly signed Jacq on July 19 to the city league players’ contract (otherwise known as the add/delete form).

Current Brass Beat holder Gunnar was behind the plate and Kevin was on the mound. Brian Heinz spelled Javier Urdiales in the EP role until game 3 as Jav took care of some business on the home front in Martinez.

The Beatniks jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the 1^st as MSG, Donnell (2-rbis) and JC singled home the runs. The Beat increased the lead to 8-0 by the 3^rd on a quick-strike attack led by Jacq Wilson’s triple. Batting 6^th in the lineup all day, Jacq also belted a 2-run double in the 4^th to put the game on ice. Austin, who braved the mercurial San Francisco summer elements as the only Beat pitcher of the day, used the high arc to shut down the ACL’s until they scored their only run in the 5th before the ump called time due to the 10-run mercy rule. 

Jacq was clearly the MVP of the first Beat game with a double, triple and 3 RBIs, but there were many stars in the 17-hit attack, including Gunnar (4 for 4, 2 runs), Big Daddy and MSG (2 RBIs apiece). Mark, Jim, Jacq, Greg and Pete all went 2 for 3.Though the hit parade continued in games 2 and 3, the runs got harder to come by.

Game 2. The Beat 5 – Magilla’s Guerillas 4

The second tilt against Magilla’s Guerrillas began at 11.40 with no time to make lineup adjustments. Why fix something that wasn’t broken?

Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 2^nd, courtesy of a double by Jacque and a triple by Big Daddy, the Beatniks took a 3-1 lead on Luki’s 2-run single with Jacq and Kevin aboard. The Beat stranded 2 runners in the 3^rd and the game remained that way until the 4^th when the Guerillas tied the score on singles by McCambridge, Flynn and Horace. Magilla’s went ahead 4-3 on a bases loaded walk to Dave Tilbor in the 5^th, but Pizza took the game into his own hands with a clutch stop at short, stepped on the bag at 2^nd, then threw to first for a double play that bailed out Kev and ended the inning.

Michael Weiss was lights out at short through much of the middle innings, including a diving, backhand grab in the 4^th to short-circuit a Magilla’s rally. MSG was equally as capable at 2^nd and made a nice stop to end the top of the 6^th on a fielder’s choice with runners on 1^st and 2^nd.Kevin, who used an assortment of pitches throughout the day, featured the straightaway pitch with the off-the-table drop to tie up the Guerilla’s throughout the game. 

The Beat tied the score with 2-out in the bottom of the 6^th on Jacq’s RBI double that plated Mark St. Georges, who had reached on a single. Kevin got the Guerilla’s in order in the top of the 7^th to set up the sudden death drama.

With one out in the bottom of the 7^th, Weiss and Wenner singled to put runners at 1^st and 2^nd.Luki ran for me, as I felt something give in my right hamstring as I “sprinted” down the line. As I announced the hammy, Big Daddy was heard to say “you don’t deserve to have a pulled hammy Pete, since ya can’t run in the first place.” Oh well. Better Greg than me. It was kismet.

Brian Hinze entered the batters box in perhaps the tightest spot of his softball life. At the sound of a line-drive single up the middle, the Beat bench rose in exultation as the swift Pizza Man steamed around 3^rd.But the throw was dead on the money as Mike slid into a cloud at the plate. As the dust cleared, Pizza was called out at home for the 2^nd out. Quietly, Luki motored into 3^rd to set up the big confrontation with the Beat leadoff hitter. Up strode Gunnar, who lofted a signature dunk up the middle beyond the outstretched reach of the Magilla’s shortstop for the winning tally. The Beat then got the lunch hour off as the sun finally burst through the clouds.

Clearly Gunnar won the MVP in game 2 courtesy of a 3 for 4 showing and a huge game-winning RBI in one of the most exciting games in Beat history. Jacq went 3 for 3 with a double, run, and an RBI.

Game 3. The Beat 7 – Magilla’s Guerillas 5

After Magilla’s dispatched Torn ACL 6-4 in the 4^th game of the round robin, The Beat returned to the field at 2.20pm tanned, refreshed and ready to go. I made a few changes, moving JC to 1st base in place of me and Javier to rover with the fleet brothers Wilson flanking him on either side. Jav took Brian’s spot in the lineup and I took over at EP. These turned out to be moves with consequences as the Guerillas got it in their heads to repeatedly drill the ball down the right field line. Rising to the occasion, Jim and Jacque shut the door on all chances.

The Beat lost the toss and batted first. Jacque led off with a single and advanced to 2^nd on Gunnar’s fly to right. Donnell singled in Jacque for the game’s first run. Kevin got the Guerillas to go down in order in the bottom of the 1^st before the Beatniks broke out with 4 runs in the 2^nd to make it 5-0. 

Luki singled and Pizza Man walked before I singled over the 3^rd baseman’s head for the first run of the 2^nd frame. Having just crossed the plate, Greg came on to run for me and scored his 2^nd run of the inning on Gunnar’s RBI fielder’s choice. MSG and Donnell singled in the 4^th and 5^th runs to put us comfortably in front. But Magilla’s scratched back for 3 runs in the bottom of the 3^rd to cut the deficit to 5-3.

Kevin shut down Magilla’s 1-2-3 in the 4^th on 2 questionable out calls at 1^st.Pizza Man’s throw appeared to just nip the #6 hitter for the 1^st out, but the 7-hitter appeared safe as MSG threw the ball from his ass leaning toward the middle after a great stop. Had there been the normal infield ump, we might not have gotten the call, but who were we to argue?

The Beat added a run in the 5^th to make it 6-3 on Luki’s triple to deep right center. Greg got a little too zealous and was thrown out at the plate trying to stretch out an inside-the-park homer. The boys in gray wasted another run threat in the 6^th when Javier was thrown out at 3^rd base trying to stretch a double in the gap.

It was too close for comfort despite the fact that Kevin’s knuckler was tying the Guerrillas in knots.

In the bottom of the 6^th, Magilla’s led off with back-to-back singles. A scorching ground ball back to Colletto advanced the runners to 2^nd and 3^rd. A subsequent sac fly and RBI single closed it to 6-5, but Kevin stiffened and got the #9 hitter to ground sharply to Big Daddy at 3^rd for the inning-ending fielders choice.

Gunnar scored an insurance run in the top of the 7^th on Donnell’s 3^rd RBI single of the game to make it 7-5.But would it be enough? This is softball after all.

In the home half of the 7^th, Special K induced an easy fly ball to Jacque in right and converted a sharp grounder up the middle himself for the 1^st 2 outs. But there was drama left in the Guerillas. The leadoff man doubled before Donnell charged a slowly hit ground ball and pulled Jim slightly off the bag with a hard throw. Runners on 1^st and 2^nd with the heart of the order coming up. Could Kevin put ‘em away? He did. MSG stepped in front of a hard grounder and threw out the #3 hitter as The Beat danced off the field.

MVP honors in the rubber match go to Special K for pitching a gutsy game in the wind and Big Daddy for 3 big RBIs, which ended up as the difference. Greg Lukoski gets an honorable mention for a 3 for 3 game with 2 runs scored in the 2^nd inning.

Coming off an undefeated summer break in which we went in determined to get more game experience and may have logged more work than any previous July in 10 years, The Beat chemistry feels right and the confidence high. In the SWC Tournament, the Beatniks stranded runners and ran themselves into some unnecessary outs, but a team wide determination and grit carried the day. Everybody made a contribution.

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