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With one week to go before the break we had a beautiful day out on the diamonds again last night and a lot of small movements up and down the Leaderboard. I was 1-2 in my picks for games of the week. With Perkins&Will at Power it ended up being Powers day as they dropped P&W 11-2 in a lopsided fashion… but theBuzz at Goettsch played to a 7-inning 7-7 tie in the early game on Diamond 3 further adding to the compression at the top of the Leaderboard… while the battle between the 2 and 4 seed saw a great back and forth game with the Dogz barely surviving to take a 5-4 victory over Cannon which caused these two teams to trade places in the standings.

In other action SCB scored 4 late… but Dobbins held on for the 6-4 win… and JC Anderson, very competitive this year, played in yet another 1-run game but this time came out on the short end in a 6-5 loss to Old Stylin’… VOA came off their companies daytime drinking cruise with a huge turnout and an 11-5 win over Kelso-Burnett… while Gettys Group dropped SOM 5-2 and Ruder Group ran away from Clune 13-2.

Next week is our makeup of the rain out in Week 6 and all games will be played on LOWER Hutchinson… probably a good idea to allow a little more time for getting your team out to the diamonds as the Judicata Race will be happening on Upper Hutchinson and there will most likely be some congestion in the Grant Park area. Too many marquee match ups to pick just one… theBuzz plays Cannon, two great teams… Perkins&Will plays Goettsch, two more great teams… and Power becomes the next team in line to get a shot at knocking Dobbins Group from the ranks of the undefeated… can’t wait to see how it all works out…

We’ve had a few dust ups between teams over the past couple weeks that I’d like to address briefly… this sometimes becomes the case in our umpire-less league… the best thing you can do as a team is to both know the rules… as well as have a copy of the rules with you that can be referred to quickly. There’s going to be a few rules that I address in a Forum post over the course of the break that I feel are being misinterpreted a little too often… but in the end, we have to police our own games, let’s do our best to handle things in a civil manner.

Please remember that Captains are responsible for confirming final scores on the diamonds after each game so that scores reported the following morning all match up… and we won’t be scheduling any pictures for next week… my camera is now in the shop so I can get it back for the stretch run.

Everyone have a great weekend.

Calling the marquee matchup is a new skill I’m developing… last week I predicted Ruder Group at Perkins&Will and what do you know… that game was won on a Perkins&Will walk off 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th. Ruder Group (4-3-1) now finds themselves separated from the upper half of the Leaderboard by 2 games with 6 to go… while Perkins&Will stays hot on the trail of the Dogz and the rest of the pack at 6-2-0.

Other action saw SCB dropping Gettys Group 8-5 to finally get off the schnide here in Week 9… theBuzz fell to the Dogz 10-6 precipitating the weeks largest Leaderboard plunge dropping 4 positions to the 6 seed… Dobbins Group and Goettsch both won as well and Cannon was victorious via forfeit to maintain position up at the top of the standings. VOA also ended a losing streak with a 4-2 win over JC Anderson.

My prediction for the game of the week next week would be Perkins&Will at Power Construction in the early game on Diamond 4… Perkins&Will is coming off two big victories in a row after an almost upset of Dobbins Group… while Power is the home team and capable of beating anyone on any given Thursday… theBuzz @ Goettsch is also attractive as theBuzz started the season undefeated and will now be looking to end their current 2-game losing streak, while Goettsch will be doing everything they can to maintain their higher seed.

Pictures Next Week > Goettsch before their 6pm game on Diamond 3.

Sorry for the late update this week. Those of us who lingered on the diamonds a little too long were caught in a biblical rain/wind storm that had us holding onto trees to keep from blowing away… My phone, like me, got soaked to the bone in the process which caused me to spend most of Friday afternoon getting it replaced and back online.

So a wild and crazy one out on the diamonds for our Taste of Chicago edition. We entered the game day with 4 undefeated teams and 2 winless teams… we left the day… with just one of each.

The Dobbins Group becomes the last undefeated standing as they took down the Dogz 13-8 in the late game on Diamond 2. They now occupy the top spot on the Leaderboard as Perkins&Will, who so nearly knocked them off last week, was able to get past theBuzz 7-5… and in perhaps the most unlikely occurrence of the week, formerly winless Old Stylin’ dropped Cannon 11-4 in the late game on Diamond 4… In short, there’s more than one team that wishes that rain would have come a little earlier… also of note in a game that was described in last weeks update as pivotal to both teams seasons, Power Construction was able to hold off VOA in walk-off style with a 9-inning 3-2 victory… and quietly, Goettsch notched another victory to move to 6-1 and take over sole possession of the 4-seed.

Looking ahead to next week the marquee matchup will most likely be Ruder Group at Perkins&Will… Last years champions Ruder Group, after a slow start to the season, find themselves on a 4-game winning streak… while Perkins&Will are having a resurgent season at 5-2 causing problems for every team that crosses their path.

Pictures Next Week > will be theBuzz before their 6pm game on Diamond 1.

So its been a tough couple of days over at the commissioners office… power went down Wednesday night and stayed down until early Friday afternoon completely throwing our whole digital routine out of whack… but all the scores came in and the updates have been posted and we’re on to bigger and better places.

The Leaderboard stands pat again for the top 4 seeds for yet another week… everybody won… but damn if Perkins&Will didn’t give the Dobbins Group a run for their money… a 9-inning, 6-5 win for Dobbins that ended with a walk-off…  so close to losing one of our undefeated teams, but in the end we move forward with the same 4 remaining lossless.

In other action, both Gettys Group and Goettsch pulled off 1-run wins over Clune and SCB respectively… while Ruder Group, Cannon and JC Anderson won by 2-run margins over Old Stylin’, VOA and Power… the other two games were routes and that’s a wrap for Week 8 as we now move to…

…a makeup of our Week 1 wash out this year, where at this point in the season, the slate of games holds a little more significance than it would have had back in Week 1… over the next 3 weeks, the 4th place Dogz (5-0-1) are about to play each of the 3 teams ahead of them in the standings in successive weeks… that gets started next week vs. Dobbins Group… you also get a 4-2 Perkins&Will squad, resurgent in 2011 and fresh off almost knocking off one of the leagues undefeated teams… with a shot at theBuzz, also undefeated and just as hard to beat… and in a third matchup we have VOA @ Power, which could definitely be looked at as a turning point game for both of their seasons… so with an extended forecast that’s looking pretty good, I’m looking forward to next week…

IMPORTANT ABOUT NEXT WEEK > Remember that games are on LOWER Hutchinson Diamonds 15, 16, 17 & 18 (check the diamond maps)… also remember that we’re at different starting times than usual with the early games going off at 6:30 and the late games following at 7:30… 1 HOUR PER GAME, horns will come at 6:25 and 7:25… and the early games should expect to see other (Park District) games finishing up on the diamonds as they arrive… we need to allow those games to conclude in peace before making our way onto the diamonds. They have the priority. IMPORTANT > Also remember that Taste of Chicago will be going on so access will be trickier than usual, allow more time for getting to LOWER Hutchinson and expect parking rates to be more expensive than usual as well…

Pictures Next Week >  will be Dobbins Group directly before their game… I’m also going to try and do Ruder Group and/or Kelso Burnett before their early game if possible, but that will depend on what their turnout looks like and weather they arrive a little early or not… with all the stuff going on these may not be possible… we’ll see.

All for now, enjoy your Sundays…

It was a game day that looked to be in doubt due to a dire forecast leading up to things… but as it often works out, the terrible rains that were predicted never materialized and we were able to go about our business… It was the day of the annual Spring Fling which I know affected many teams (including my own), so I’d like to thank all of you that made sure you had a team out there ready to play anyway. Other than a forfeit of the late game on Diamond 3, everything seemed to go off without a hitch.

Not a whole lot to report after yesterday’s games as the Leaderboard stays the same for the top 6 positions as well as the bottom 4… some movement in the middle as the result of some close games that saw theBuzz dropping VOA 7-6, Ruder Group scratching out the 14-12 win over Power and Goettsch outlasting Clune 6-4. Next week the marquee matchup would appear to be Perkins&Will (4-1-0) trying to knock off the undefeated Dobbins Group.

Next weeks pictures will most probably be SOM, Perkins&Will and the Dobbins Group… I’ll catch up on those a little and then send an email out to the affected teams next week.

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there… we’ll see you next week.

So now things begin to calm down a little as they always do after the Corporate Challenge BYE week… not as much fog, rain or cold and most notably… more daylight as the Summer begins to take hold and we move to our later start time for the late games… it appears that all of us got in our scheduled 7 innings and all is right once again for the Design League. Congratulations to all for fighting our way through another Chicago May.

Following yesterday’s game day we didn’t see either of the teams on the snide get off the snide… nor did we see any of our undefeated teams fall… although one will next week as theBuzz and Cannon square off in the late game on Diamond 2… upstart Dobbins Group continues to roll and they’ve already won by forfeit for next week as Power has an immovable company event next Thursday… but perhaps the most interesting occurrence to me is the path that JC Anderson has taken so far this season… they’re 2-2, have scored as many runs as they’ve allowed while every one of their games has been a 1-run affair… can’t remember such a streak ever happening before.

Just a reminder that the games that were rained out in Week 1 have been rescheduled for 06/30 on LOWER Hutchinson… there’s still a possibility that those games will move to UPPER, but as of right now we’re on LOWER. Please adjust your schedules.

Also a reminder that next Friday (06/10) and the Friday after that (06/17) Upper Hutchinson belongs to the Design League if any of you care to schedule a practice or a scrimmage.

Pictures Next Week > will be Perkins&Will and Goettsch just before their match up at 6pm on Diamond 4.

Another strange game day of Design League Softball out there yesterday as the fog rolled in… wouldn’t say it affected are ability to play, but it definitely added a surreal element to the proceedings… playing Power yesterday it struck me that one of the things that makes the Design League cooler than Players or CS&S softball is that when you play a team in our league, you end up knowing most of the players on the opposing team which makes it more fun. Not as much for our newer teams but the longer you stick around the more that feeling grows… just a lot better than the anonymous squads you run into week after week in those other leagues. Anyway…

Cannon eeked out another close one, 9-8 over Clune… Dobbins Group continued there rookie roll remaining undefeated with a 13-7 win over Gettys Group… Kelso-Burnett got off the snide with an extra inning 9-7 victory over Old Stylin’ and Perkins&Will saw the benefit of getting out for some early batting practice with an 11-5 win over VOA.

In the late games, the Dogz and Power Construction played an eventful hour and 20 minute 6-inning game that ended in a tie in pretty much complete darkness. JC Anderson continued their 2nd season resurgence with a 6-5 win over SOM. Goettsch dumped Ruder Group 17-9 and old salty veterans theBuzz put a 15-2 hurting on the SCB squad.

Pictures In Two Weeks > First of all a big thanks to the squads from Cannon, Clune and Power for making the first day of pictures go extremely smoothly. Much appreciated… coming up in two weeks I’ll be photographing Perkins&Will and SOM before their 6 o’clock game on Diamond 3… and then Getty Group before their 7:15 game on Diamond 2. Email reminders will go out a couple days in advance of that.

Of note and open for discussion over the next couple weeks is that Upper Hutchinson belongs to the Design League on 2 Fridays in June, the 10th and the 17th… these are in addition to our regular game days on the 9th and 16th respectively. We’ve already decided that not enough teams were willing to commit to “double-header weeks” to allow us to make them game days… but the fields are ours for practices, scrimmages or whatever you’d like to propose on those two Fridays. Feel free to post your thoughts to the comments on this Forum post or just shoot me an email… whatever you’d like to do, arrange it amongst yourselves and let me know what you need in terms of diamond time.

Please remember that if you have anything you’d like to say, ask, question, etcetera… please feel free to do so here by clicking on the “comments” link up near the top of this post under the heading.