date, day and time:
diamond:
visiting team:
home team:
score (record):

Sat., Sept. 7, 12:00 PM
Central Park West
Glenview 2 Yankees
Skokie Indians 1 Bulldogs
14-14 tie (0-0-1)

GAME HIGHLIGHTS: A battle of the hits vs. the walks, this seven-inning contest was declared a tie when we ran out of time. The Bulldogs tallied 13 hits against the Glenview Yankees pitching staff while only giving up five. But three of the Yankees hits were home runs, and the Bulldogs' pitching staff issued ten free passes to the ever-so-patient Yankees batters. J.Berry and Morton each pitched a scoreless inning, as did Hellman, who mightily impressed the Bulldogs' pitching coach in his pony pitching debut. With the bats, Morton went 3-for-4 with a double, T.Berry went 2-for-3 with a triple, younger brother J.Berry went 2-for-4, Froberg went 2-for-3 with an authoritative triple and Zrust went 2-for-4.  

-- Coach Tom Kendall

GAME HIGHLIGHTS: Walks and cheap hits, 11 of each, proved to be the Bulldogs' undoing as they faced a potent Evanston 1 team. The first three innings of Bulldogs' pitching yielded 14 runs to the patient Evanston batters. Peak, in his Fall Ball debut, pitched a shutout inning, and Morton held Evanston to two runs in two innings by only giving up two walks. The Bulldogs only managed six runs off the ten hits and six walks the Evanston pitching staff dished up. Froberg continued to astonish with the Bulldogs' only triple, and Hobbs nailed a double. 

-- Coaches Tom Kendall and Alan Rudin

GAME HIGHLIGHTS: A one-run nail-biter won in the bottom of the seventh by the never-say-die Bulldogs. Despite the Bulldogs' six pitchers yielding 11 walks, they only gave up seven scattered singles to hold a strong Evanston team to only seven runs. In a big confidence booster, Baskin pitched a shutout inning as well as clobbering a double to deep left field in the first inning. Once again Froberg hit the ball into next Wednesday, tallying a deep triple. Morton (double-triple-homer) would have hit for the cycle in his four plate appearances, but he was hit by a pitch in one of them. Summers did an outstanding job, even hitting ninth: he went two-for-two with a double. 

-- Coach Tom Kendall

GAME HIGHLIGHTS: A rematch of our September 7th 14-14 tie against the Glenview Yankees, this game was much closer than the score suggests. Had the Bulldogs not pounced on the Yankees for six runs in the first, the outcome would have been reversed. The Bulldogs tallied 10 runs on 11 hits (including doubles by Peak and Summers and a triple by Baskin) and were the recipients of only four walks served up by an excellent Yankees pitching staff. Hobbs went a brilliant four-for-four at the plate with four RBI. Bulldogs' fielders came through well, only yielding three errors, two of which proved harmless. The pitching staff only walked one but struck four, a control issue the coaching staff will have to address. Hardly any Bulldog had a career game: the Yankees are much too good a team to let that happen. What won this game was a solid seven innings put in by each and every Bulldog.

-- Coach Tom Kendall

GAME HIGHLIGHTS: This was a game of strolls in the park, with the two pitching staffs issuing a total of 24 free passes, some of which could be attributed to hinky officiating. The Diamondbacks scored eight runs on a mere three singles, while the power-hitting Bulldogs tallied 17 runs on only 11 hits (two were doubles). One ever-so-patient Diamondbacks batter, Noorian, went zip-for-zip but was on base four times and scored a run! The Bulldogs' offense was led by Morton and Froberg (both two-for-three with a double each), and Summers and Hobbs (both two-for-three with singles). Fitzsimonds demonstrated her excellent sense of team play with two sacrifices, one resulting in an RBI. Defensively, the Bulldogs were brilliant in throwing out base runners: six Diamondbacks were thrown out trying to steal, one of which ended the game. In all, this was one well coached Diamondbacks team who demonstrated excellent baseball skills.

-- Coach Tom Kendall

GAME HIGHLIGHTS: The Bulldogs almost staged a come-from-behind rally against this excellent Glenview Athletics team, but fetched up two runs short in the top of the seventh. Only five regular Bulldogs were present -- the rest had conflicts -- but we managed to assemble a team of nine from here and there. The Athletics' pitching staff baffled Bulldogs' batters, allowing only six hits. But Peak lashed a deep drive to center left for a home run, Froberg crushed a long triple, and Vazquez got his first hit of the season. Inexperience on the base paths proved to be the Bulldogs' offensive undoing, with three would-be base stealers gunned down. Defensively, Peak (a leftie) caught for the first time in his life (he borrowed Coach Tom's leftie catcher's mitt). He skillfully barehanded a dropped third strike and fired it to first to put out the would-be base runner. Look for Peak behind the plate in future games!

-- Coach Tom Kendall

-- the webmaster

GAME HIGHLIGHTS: The Glenview 10 Dodgers arrived with only five players, but the Bulldogs had 11 present, so we lent them players. Because of lack of pitchers, the Dodgers asked that the game only go six innings. It was a legitimate baseball game, and not a practice, so we all want it to count in the Fall Ball standings (for what they're worth).

     This was a close and well played game, with the Dodgers committing only two errors and the Bulldogs none! Quality pitching by both sides was the order of the day: a grand total of eight walks were issued by both pitching staffs, and among the 11 hits surrendered, there were only three doubles.

     After a brilliant one-two-three first inning pitched by Morton, the Bulldogs hopped on the Dodgers by scoring two runs. Baskin led off by taking a walk, then stealing second and third and scoring on an error. Froberg drove in Morton with a long single. The Dodgers scored their first run in the top of the second, which the Bulldogs answered with another in the bottom of the inning, Baskin driving in Hobbs with a clean double. 

     The two pitching staffs shut their oppositions down in the third and inning. The Dodgers scratched out a run in the fourth, while the Bulldogs' bats were quiet. Again, both pitchers (Summers for the Bulldogs) were brilliant in the fifth, each pitching shutout frames.

     At the top of the sixth, the Dodgers manufactured a single run but one of their base runners got caught in a well executed rundown. With the score knotted 3-3, the Bulldogs scratched out a run in the bottom of the sixth with two walks and a single, to win the game 4-3.

-- Coach Tom Kendall

GAME HIGHLIGHTS: This game was originally scheduled for October 19th, but Laramie was a rice paddy. The webmaster pulled some strings to get a park permit and the diamond groomed and chalked. It was in perfect shape for a late autumn baseball game -- thanks, Skokie Park District! 

     Unfortunately, the temperature at game time was 48 degrees -- ten degrees under the average for November 2nd. But the wind died down and the temperature was acceptable until the fourth inning.

     Errant pitching (24 runs allowed) and fielding errors (17 total!), thanks to the cool temperature, were the order of the day, with neither team distinguishing itself in these areas. Berry, our leadoff hitter, was zip-for-three despite reaching base three times and scoring twice! And so it went, all the way down both lineups.

     But, all considered, these were two evenly matched and well coached teams. This game was the perfect capstone for the 2002 Fall Ball season.

     On behalf of the entire Bulldogs coaching staff, thank you to the players, all of whom got better (many by leaps and bounds!), and to the parents, who ferried players to distant diamonds and who were such loyal fans all season long.

     Fall Ball started in 1999, with only three Skokie Indians teams playing. Now it's grown: we had 22 teams from from five leagues participating this year. And 2003 Fall Ball promises to be even better.

-- Coach Tom Kendall

2002 Fall Ball home  

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