2008 Youth League Baseball And Softball Season (1) In April 2008, the regular season of Youth League Baseball and Softball starts and two teams, the Subways for men’s baseball and Motorgirls of women’s softball, are from New York. Teams will play 150 games with each other (75 at home, 75 away) in the next six months and must either finish the season first in their division (east, west, or central) or as the league wild card (top 2nd place team) to be in the playoffs in October to determine the league champion in three rounds. Home field advantage goes to the team with the better regular season or head-to-head record. They host the quarterfinals’ (best-of-five set) Games 1, 2 and 5 and next two rounds’ (best-of-seven each) Games 1, 2, 6, and 7. For interleague games and playoffs’ last round between teams of opposite genders, they play whatever sport the home team is part of. Baseball games are nine innings long while softball games are seven except in postseason, where they are nine too. Subways left fielder 18-year-old Jamie Wang was the league’s youngest and smallest player since joining in 2007. While most female fans found him cute, diehard ones and other players doubted his skills and picked on him a lot, but he proved them wrong by sending the U.S.A. national team to the World Cup and was highly praised despite losing to Russia. Wang gets dethroned of his title in spring 2008 after New York welcomes 16-year-old catcher Peter Harris, who is only 5’0” and 110 pounds. He gets the cute/bully treatment from fans and teammates Wang used to get, making him jealous as girls no longer love him, but glad people are not bothering him. Harris does not let this stop him from having fun in preseason practice. The Motorgirls open the year against the Springfield Isotopes in their new stadium. Leadoff batter Jessica Moore homers on Lindsey Dean’s third pitch of this game and is the first player to homer in a new stadium’s first at-bat. After a two-out double and single in the second, Christina Bay hits a two-run double and scores on Leah English’s single. In the lower half, Kellie Jefferson’s double with a hitter on first gives Springfield its first run at their new field off of Erica Beach. Shelby Catalina’s shot off of Dean to lead off the fourth puts New York up 5-1. Springfield in the bottom half gets two walks with two outs off of Beach as Jessie Warden’s single scores a run. Shawn Ivan, who hit her team’s first hit at the field in the first with a double, homers to tie the game. In the fifth, Bonnie Kozminski goes to third on a fly ball error. Veronica Rivera relieves Haley Short and gets two outs, but commits a balk. It lets Kozminski score to put her team up 6-5, the final. They trail 2-1 next game before Dakota Russel singles off of reliever Kathie Petite in the sixth with two outs and is ruled safe on stealing second, but TV replays prove she was out. Jessica Dignon then hits an RBI single, as next inning, Bonnie Kozminski homers off of Veronica Rivera. Kellie Jefferson singles off of Melissa Lang to start the lower half, but gets tagged out trying to stretch it to a double. Lang retires the next two batters. New York wins the finale 7-2, but is outhit 7-6. Amanda Scarborough issues a one-out walk in the second, then three two-out ones. Haley Short in relief gives up a walk, three-run triple to Leah English, and Sammie Nate’s RBI single. Jessica Dignon homers off of Short next inning. Jennifer Finley gives up an RBI single to Shawn Ivan in the fourth and RBI double to Kellie Jefferson in the sixth. The Motorgirls start 2008 4-0, never falling under .500. They and the Subways end 2007 at 91-59, the league’s top record. The latter loses three of their last four games. The former takes those four and has a better record for most of that year before a 14-14 September, playing above .500 in all other months, but lose in postseason’s semifinals in seven games to the Canton Dragons, who beat the Chicago Storms, who defeat the Subways in the quarterfinals in four games before sweeping the semifinals, in the finals in five. Harris shows off his skills offensively and defensively on Opening Day by nabbing two attempted base stealers and going 3 for 4 with a two-run homer (part of back-to-back blasts with Wang in the fourth) and RBI triple (being a double short of a cycle) as New York beats the Chicago Storms 9-5 at home. After the match, Harris’ teammates give him a Gatorade shower as YES reporter Kimberly Jones speaks to him at the dugout to show that they finally accept him as one of them, but New York loses the next two games. They fight the Rip Tide in Vermont and their bats go silent versus Shannon Doe, who tosses 7 1/3 perfect innings. His team scores a run in third and five in the sixth off of Bernie Hales and one for each of the final two innings off of Bill Lee. They hit no homers, get 12 hits, five walks, and strand 10 men. In the eighth, James Cooper’s shot puts his team on the board. Sean Lorenzo singles, but Mario Ruiz hits into an inning-ending double play. Doe throws a 1-2-3 ninth. Vermont wins 8-1 and two of three games in the set. New York one week later sweeps the Colorado Racers at home, has a 7-5 record and is two games over .500 for the first time this season. They won the first two games in blowouts, but trailed at a point for each and have five comeback victories, the exception being two blowouts versus the Angels at St. George. Jason Lieu in one of the games permits RBI singles to Rick Hague and Jacky Martinez in the first and fourth, respectively. In the sixth, James Cooper’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly scores two, the second run coming from the throw to second. Jerry Quincy’s blast in the bottom half makes it 4-3 Subways off of Bill Lee. Joan Len in the eighth allows Ted Husain’s bases-loaded single and Sean Lorenzo’s grand slam. Jose Campos next inning allows Kenneth House’s two-run triple and Lorenzo’s sacrifice fly to cap the scoring. Against the Warlocks in Salem, the Subways in the last of three get two on in the first on a hit-by-pitch and walk off of Keri Alexandria. Damien Khaliq hits a two-run double and two-out RBI single after a leadoff single and hit-by-pitch in the third, but Bill Lee allows four straight two-out shots, becoming the second Youth League pitcher to allow this and first since 1963, in the lower half. New York ties it on Sean Lorenzo’s leadoff shot in the fifth and leads 5-4 next inning on Mario Ruiz’s double play with guys at first and third, both off of Alexandria, but Logan Ray’s three-run homer off of Bernie Hales in the seventh puts Salem up 7-5. Ray also homered in the third. New York in the eighth cuts it to 7-6 on Ruiz’s based-loaded groundout off of Tory Luisa, but gets nothing else as they are swept in Salem for the first time since 1992. Last time the teams played there in August 2007, they swept a five-match set for the first time since 1956. They then fight the Auburn Warriors in Alabama and are atop 7-6 as Mandy Ly hits the ball to left in the eighth. Wang backs to the outfield wall and is ready to catch it when a kid reaches out and knocks it into the seats. It is clearly spectator interference, but third base umpire Taylor Corbina rules it a home run. The game is tied. The Subways get mad at the call and Wang argues it with him. Head coach Marcy Lowe joins in and Corbina ejects them. Auburn wins 8-7 on a shot in the 10th. At the postgame press conference, Wang accepts apologies from the kid and Corbina. The latter admits his error, but says he felt Wang might not have caught that ball even if the boy did not reach out, so he would have to decide what to do with Ly. New York drops its next three games (including two of three to the Warlocks at home) and suffers many injuries in the stretch. Against the Tampa Whales, a line drive hits closer Joel Easter in the head and Ted Husain and Henry Williams collide in the next one versus the Seattle Marines trying to catch a pop up at shallow right. All three need extensive rehabilitation and must miss the rest of this year, but the injuries continue. Jamie Wang a week later against the Eureka Eagles at home runs and leaps to catch a fly ball by the outfield wall, but crashes onto it, injuring his right shoulder. Coach Lowe and a few Motorgirl players, including Wang’s girlfriend Allison Holiday, run to the field to check on him. An emergency vehicle takes him away with Allison by his side and the fans applause. The Motorgirls too suffered an injury earlier that day at home when center fielder Crystal Lewis fractured her nose in the third upon crashing face-first into the outfield wall trying to grab a fly ball. Two runs scored and a bloody Lewis like Wang had to be carried off the field on an emergency vehicle as everybody applauded. New York lost to the Auburn Warriors 5-2, scoring its two runs on Jessica Dignon’s double, then Shelby Catalina’s sacrifice fly after two walks in the sixth off of starter Sasha Ellis. They got two singles in the third and retired 1-2-3 for the rest of this game. Versus the Eureka Eagles at home, Jessica Dignon leads off the first with a homer off of Lynn Xu. Erin Evans’ blast a single and two outs later makes it 3-0 Motorgirls. Savanna Mathis’ blast off of Melissa Lang in the second puts Eureka on the board. In the third, Xu permits a leadoff walk. Joan Meadows’ shot puts her team atop 5-1. Eureka makes it 5-4 on Kameron Vincent’s three-run shot in the fourth off of Terri Bell, but gets no more as they lose despite outhitting the Motorgirls 8-4, stranding three hitters (two in the fifth). None got on base besides hits. New York strands two on an error in the fourth and walk in the sixth. Kourtney Davis in the next game allows two runs in the second and three in the fourth as Jennifer Finley allows a run in the fourth. The Eagles score six runs in the fifth off of Finley and Terri Bell, but the Motorgirls also score six in the bottom half with two outs off of Sidney Rich and Laura Lee and win 11-7. Hunter Carson’s sacrifice fly after three walks in the first of the finale puts New York atop 1-0 off of Tina Whitlock. Janine Tanner’s bases-loaded, no-out double off of Jennifer Finley puts the Eagles up 2-1 in the fourth, but the Motorgirls in the fifth get ladies at second and third with an out. Laura Lee relieves Whitlock and gives up Dakota Russel’s two-run single. Back-to-back shots by Jessica Dignon and Carson put New York up 6-2. They then load the bases off of Kourtney Davis with two outs, but Sidney Rich gets the final out. Eureka strands 15 girls. Both teams get eight hits. New York wins by that score and later that month, sweeps another three-game home set against them, but drops two of three in Eureka in September. New York in Tampa falls to the Whales 2-1, but outhits them 7-2. Melissa Lang in the first allows Logan Rome’s sacrifice fly after a double and fly out and Vivian Gold’s blast next inning. She has an RBI single in the fourth off of Hollie Jones, who hurls a complete game, after a hit, stolen base and groundout, her team’s one hit with a runner in scoring position and Tampa strands two on walks in the third and fifth. The Motorgirls in the last of three versus the Whales men’s team in Tampa face Bobby Eliot, who despite a 5-5 record and 4.63 ERA thus far in 2008, is 3-0 against them in his career. He retires the first 10 batters he faces. Motorgirls’ Erica Beach, after a scoreless first despite allowing a single and walk, lets the Whales load the bases next inning on two hits and a walk with two away. Devon Caruso’s RBI single puts them atop 1-0. They go up 2-0 in the third on Charlie Santana’s blast and strand two on a single and walk. Lara Basin, the only Motorgirl in the starting lineup to not strike out, singles with an out in the fourth. Top batter Jessica Dignon hits next and Eliot’s first pitch is wild, so Basin runs to second. The count goes to 3-0, the only time Eliot has that count. After a called strike, Dignon hits the ball to deep left that looks like a game-tying shot, but goes foul. She fouls off three more pitches, then becomes the seventh of Eliot’s eight strikeouts, all swinging. He allows just a single in the sixth as Beach allows singles in the fourth and fifth. Jennifer Finley in the sixth allows two one-out singles, then a wild pitch to Sammy Bass moves the men a base. His sacrifice fly puts his team up 3-0. Finley pitches in the rest of this game, allowing two hits in the seventh with a double play ending it and tossing a perfect eighth. Bonnie Kozminski’s two-out shot makes it 3-1 Tampa in the seventh off of Eliot. Dakota Russel goes to second via a throwing error, then Eliot gets the inning’s last out and Abie Feliciano tosses a 1-2-3 eighth. Basin hits a leadoff single in the ninth off of Blair Barbier and goes to second on a wild pitch, but Barbier retires the next three hitters to end the game. Youth League Baseball and Softball during the offseason became an official sponsor for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. To express their support of their goal of stopping breast cancer, on Mother’s Day, the softball players wear fully pink uniforms in their games and baseball players play with pink bats, helmets, and wristbands. Some umpires and coaches wear pink accessories also. The New York teams win that day. Against the Stanton Dolphins’ female team at home, Zane Serena tosses a complete game shutout, allowing three singles, two to lead off the eighth (a double play ends the inning), and a walk and Stanton’s Beverley To is nearly as effective, retiring New York in order in five of the seven innings she hurls. Mario Ruiz hits an RBI double after a leadoff single in the second. To retires the next three guys, allowing in the fifth Sean Lorenzo’s leadoff single. A double play negates him. After a hit-by-pitch and single, Lorenzo in the seventh homers off of To. In the eighth, Andi Jake retires New York 1-2-3, so Ruiz in the second is the only runner they strand in the game. Shane Madison next one allows Cynthia Daly’s three-run blast in the first and Laurie Rosenberg’s two-run blast in the third. He is taken out after allowing a leadoff double and single in the fourth and fans boo. Bernie Hales ends the inning without further damage. His team scores in the fourth four runs off of Jo Wei and two in the fifth off of Carmen Diego, but Hales in the sixth gives up two. Brian Jones allows two in the seventh and eighth each. Sean Lorenzo’s shot off of Fabien Baker caps the scoring in the eighth. New York takes the finale 6-5, but is outhit 16-8 and strands 10 runners. Stanton hits into three double plays, strands eight and one girl is caught stealing. MJ Esmeralda and Dorian Santos allow game-tying RBI singles to Macie Morrow and Cynthia Daly in the seventh and eighth, respectively, to get blown saves. Peter Harris in the eighth homers off of Cory Li. Hugh Anderson throws a 1-2-3 ninth.
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