Subscribe by RSS
Teams James, Wilhelmi make bold moves in summer ball
By Bob Balgemann
REPORTER
Team James had been close behind all season.
With just one loss, the Pee-Wee Boys baseball team named for head coach Jake James was just one game back of undefeated teams Nehmzow and McWilliams.
Then their perseverance paid off.
Meanwhile, in a key battle of front-runners in the Midget Girls Division, Team Wilhelmi (6-1) handed Team Bri McKnight (7-1) its first loss of the season, 21-13. They met before, on June 30, when they battled to a 10-10 tie. And way back, on June 14, McKnight won, 14-5.
Team James had battled Eric Nehmzow’s team to a 12-12 tie on June 21. Then, on July 12, the two met to play off the deadlock and James won, 13-12. Later that same day they played again, in a regularly scheduled game, and James won handily, 16-2.
Coach James said the bottom of his lineup came through in the extra inning win over Nehmzow, with solid pitching keeping their opponent off the scoreboard. The 14-run game, he said, was a well rounded team victory.
There will be more big games for James (11-1), as the regular season winds down, in rematches against McWilliams (10-0) and Nehmzow (7-3). Team Yalden is still a factor with a 9-3 record. They won a big game July 13 by defeating Nehmzow, 10-4.
Coach Bryan McWilliams’ team (10-0) remained unbeaten and in first place in Pee-Wee Boys with a 19-2 victory on July 13.
Mike Wilhelmi’s team led the entire way against McKnight, starting off 6-2 in the first inning and increasing it to 11-2 in the second. Emma Harring led the victory by going 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored and pitching four innings to record the win.
Courtney Estes also was perfect, 2-for-2, with a walk and scoring three runs. Maddie Wilhelmi was 2-for-2 as well, with a double and a walk, and she scored three times.
In addition to scoring 21 runs, coach Wilhelmi said, “We played well defensively; we made the plays.” This is a veteran team with everyone returning from the squad that finished second last year.
Earlier this week they played McKnight for the fourth and final time in the regular season. Those teams will meet again in the season-ending, round-robin tournament, to be played the weekend of July 29-31
In other Midget Girls action Miles (5-5) took a step toward claiming third place with a close 16-15 win over Weingartner (0-10). They came back after being shut out 7-0 by Helwig (4-5) the night before.
Lots to cheer about
The week of July 11 had plenty of excitement overall in Harlem Community Center’s baseball and softball summer program.
Among the unusual results saw both games in the Coach Pitch Girls Division winding up in ties. Unbeaten Hawkinson (9-0) and Smith (4-5) tied in a slugfest, 16-16, while the 4-4 deadlock between Heatherman (1-8) and Jensen (4-5) was a pitcher’s duel.
Team Brassfield (9-1) made it eight in a row on July 12-13 with a 19-5 victory over Byrne. Lauer (7-3) remains in the hunt but it’s two games back with only a handful left to play.
In baseball play Teams Myers (7-0) and Shields (12-0) remained adop the Bantam and Coach Pitch divisions and are among a few teams to be undefeated at this point in the season.
Larys (7-5) tightened things up a bit in Coach Pitch Boys play when it edged second-place Cross (9-3) by a 21-20 count.
Anderson (11-1) and Yeoman (10-1) remain in a battle for first in the Midget Boys Division. Anderson won again, 14-2, while Yeoman took a 7-0 shutout.
There’s a four-team skirmish for third place in the Midget division involving Larsen (6-6), Watkins (5-5), Jensen (5-6) and Solana (4-7). There only was one game among the four during the week of July 11 with Watkins reaching the break-even point by topping Jensen, 14-10.
