Memories in the making as summer baseball, softball begins

By Bob Balgemann

Reporter

MACHESNEY PARK – A summer filled with baseball and softball games for 710 boys and girls has begun under the direction of the Harlem Community Center.

Action started May 28, after Opening Day ceremonies, with 26 games being played at the Wentland Sports Complex.

A few of the teams played twice including Myers, named for head coach Troy Myers, in the Bantam Boys division. They defeated Team Peyton, 15-3, and Team Nery, 8-3. The three-team Bantam division returned to action earlier this week, on June 13.

There were four games in the Midget Boys division with Watkins defeating Solana, 23-13; Yeoman over Larsen, 17-0; Anderson over Jensen, 13-3; and Crowell on top of Hermansen, 13-4.

Since then Yeoman has won twice, 17-3 over Watkins and 11-5 over Anderson, to take sole possession of first place with a 3-0 record. The Anderson game pitted two undefeated teams against one another, in an early-season showdown.

In Pee-Wee Boys division play head coach Eric Nehmzow’s team is one of four that are undefeated. Team Nehmzow won a nail-biter on June 8 against Tanner, rallying from a 5-3 deficit to win, 6-5, on a bases-loaded walk. Mascyn Mausehund tied the game with a two-run single.

This should be a challenging year for his young team, the coach said, which follows three teams that only lost a total of eight games over that time.

Also in Pee-Wee Boys competition James and Yalden have broken out with 3-0 records, while McWilliams is in the mix at 2-0.

One-sided victories

Team James has been impressive with a 17-2 win on opening day and follow-up victories of 23-0 and 11-1. Team Yelden has won, 15-1, 10-3 and 11-6. And Team McWilliams’ two wins were 12-2 and 17-2.

One of the more entertaining Pee-Wee games June 6 was Team Duke’s 18-16 win over Hall. It was a see-saw outing that only lasted 3 1/2 innings because of the time limit.

Hall led, 6-0, after the top of the first inning but Duke came back to tie it in the bottom of that inning. Hall (0-2) went up, 10-6, in the top of the second, then Duke (1-2) came back with six more in the last of the second to regain the lead at 12-10. And so on.

Hunter Vassallo of Duke had a memorable day. He drove in the winning run, then pitched a scoreless fourth inning to preserve the victory.

“There were a lot of walks; a lot of young pitchers were feeling their way,” head coach Joe Duke said. And of his team, he noted that five of his 12 members had never played baseball before. “They have come together pretty well,” he said.

Teams Shields and Cross are atop the Coach Pitch Boys division, each with a 3-0 record. Shields has run away with its games, winning by scores of 21-7, 19-3 and 18-6. Cross was victorious, 15-10, 22-4 and 15-2.

Close behind are teams Bradley and Broughton, each with a 2-1 record.

Early softball action

There are five Galaxy Girls softball teams this year, for older players, and so far Team Lauer is in first place with a 3-0 record. Lauer played a doubleheader on opening day and was impressive in winning both games, 10-2 and 17-3. Brassfield took the other game that day, 17-10.

Since then Lauer toppled Byrne, 21-8, while Rodriguez won twice, over Byrne and defending tournament champion Brassfield.

Team Bri McKnight (3-0) has claimed sole possession of first place in the Midget Girls division, while Wilhelmi (1-0) has been successful in its only outing so far, 20-13.

McKnight has shown plenty of offense while winning its games, 22-6, 18-7 and 28-8.

Pee-Wee Girls competition so far has seen teams Myers and Hissong share the top spot with 2-0 records. Myers has been tough in its two games, winning 6-1 on opening day and 20-1 on June 6. Hissong won its opener in a thriller, 9-8 over Triplett, then claimed its second game, 17-11 against Brockett.

McKnight and Triplett are in the middle of the standings with 1-1 records.

In Coach Pitch Girls division play there only have been two games and they were close, with Hawkinson edging Heatherman, 8-7, and Jensen winning 8-5 over Smith.