“When you’re good at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.” (Walter Payton)

Records were broken in LED’s stunning upset victory over the Department of Children and Family Services last night at Perkins Road Park in the final game of the regular season.  DCFS won the league championship in 2012, was the league runner up in 2013, and had an 8-0 record last season, outscoring their opponents by 56 runs.  This was a tough opponent and the only thing to be said is that the Zeppelins played GREAT!

Rising to the challenge, the Zeppelins made it happen by getting 33 hits (record) and putting up a combined team batting average of .733 (record).  LED even batted around the order plus some in three separate innings (record), putting up 16 runs in the process (record). 

Jayson Newell led the offense, going 5 for 5 on the night (record).  After last night’s performance, Jayson ended regular season play with a team high .724 batting average on 21 hits in 29 at-bats.  Four other players hit 4 for 5 last night, and the remaining Zeppelins all went 3 for 5.  Not a single player batted less than .600 (record).  And to top that off, every Zeppelin had at least one RBI (record); both Corey Dorsa and Gary Beadle tallied three RBI’s each. 

The matchup was a rainout makeup game from earlier in the season that had left LED up 1-0 after the top of the first inning when the sky opened up and drenched everyone.   Last night’s game picked up in the bottom of the first with DCFS at bat, and they proceeded to score an early run to tie the game at 1-1.

At the top of the second the LED bats went wild, sending all nine players to the plate, three even getting to bat a second time in the inning.  The Zeppelins scored seven runs on twelve hits before ending the inning.  DCFS then tacked on one more run in the bottom of the second, leaving the score with LED up 8-2.

Neither team scored in the third, but the LED bats got hot again at the top of the fourth.  The Zeppelins again batted the entire lineup plus one, scoring five more runs on seven hits.  DCFS could not answer at the bottom of the inning.  The Zeppelins then tacked on another run in the fifth, and DCFS did the same, putting the score at 14-3.  LED had a few more hot bats in the top of the sixth, adding two more runs to put the score out of reach at 16-3, where it remained for the duration. 

As the Zeppelin batters continued to find the gaps and “hit it where they ain’t,” the defense put on a show of its own.  LED was at a disadvantage because the team had to play without a catcher and with only three outfielders due to the fact that only two lady Zeppelins were available for the night.  Despite the disadvantage, the defense shut down any offensive attack DCFS tried to put up.

From the mound, Eddie James was particularly elated at having kept the ball inside the park the entire game.  This is quite a feat with a team that usually hits a few over every game.  Several traveled to the fence, but the LED fielders caught them all.  There was not a single error in the outfield, manned in rotation by Jayson, Gary, Corey and Russell Richardson.  Corey and Russell both brought in short flies they had to scoop on the run, and all of the outfielders had to catch at least one long fly near the fence.  Gary brought in four flies from center field, and Jayson, Corey and Russell all snagged two flies a piece.

The infield looked sharp as well.  Paige Ovens put out three batters unassisted and assisted in another four from second base.  Chelsea Harris put out one unassisted and assisted in three from third base.  Eric Burton put out three unassisted, including a leaping line drive catch, and assisted in another two from shortstop.  Russell put one out unassisted and assisted in another at first base, and David Carter assisted in two outs in his rotation at first base.  Miraculously Eddie had no balls hit directly to him at pitcher, but he stopped more than one run from scoring by covering home on throws in from the field.

Ultimately, the game was the best performance of the Zeppelin team as a whole since the inception of the team in 2011. 

On a final note, Eddie had a tough time with the opponents taking out their frustrations on him at the shellacking they were getting.  One of the men threw a late elbow into Eddie’s chest as he crossed first base.  He was knocked to the ground twice with players obstructing the bases and baselines.  And the DCFS third basewoman had a serious issue with his three-code system to assist outfielders with positioning based on the batter.  Apparently she mistook the codename “light” to mean Eddie was personally calling her a weak player.  The entire game she kept repeating “I’m just a lightweight here.” It wasn’t the only misunderstanding during the game, but it was definitely the funniest.

With the win LED ended the season 3-4-1 and may be headed to the playoffs.  The final playoff list will be out as soon as the rest of the teams finish making up all of their rainout games.

 Many thanks to all who stepped up to the plate for LED.

Singles:  Jayson (5), Paige (3), Russell (4), Corey (4), Eddie (3), Gary (4), Eric (2), Chelsea (3), David (2)

Doubles:  Eric, David

RBIs:  Paige, Jayson, Russell, Corey (3), Eddie, Gary (3), Eric (2), Chelsea (2), David

NOTE:  At the top of the first LED had singles by Ashley Falcon, Devin Harrison, Jayson and Russell (who drove in the RBI).

PLAYERS:  Chelsea Harris (Louisiana Job Connection), Corey Dorsa (SEC), David Carter (BRAC Liaison), Eddie James (Business Development), Eric Burton (Business Incentives) Gary Beadle (IT), Jayson Newell (Business Development), Paige Ovens (Business Development), and Russell Richardson (Business Development).

FANS:  Rick Ward, Leigh Anne Burton and precious daughter Sophie (who kept waving to her dad), Katie Richardson (who drove straight to the field from the airport but not in time to take the field) and son Mills, Lori Melancon was there snapping more pictures, and Matthew Wattigny was snapping pictures as well as he was testing his new camera. 

Check out the LED Softball Blog at http://ledsoftball.blogspot.com/ for news of the Zeppelins’ past games.  Below are some amazing action shots taken by Matthew Wattigny at last night’s game.  Check out Eddie’s expression as he approaches his nemesis at third base!

 

“It's a round ball and a round bat, and you got to hit it square.” (Pete Rose)

The Zeppelins played tough against a strong Baton Rouge Police Department team last night at Perkins Road Park.  Coming into the game, LED knew that the BRPD team had outscored their opponents in five games this season by 30 runs, and had four players who were solid homerun hitters throughout the season.  But LED played strong defense and kept the game close, in the end losing by only one run at 9-8.

The Zeppelins put up 11 players who provided 23 hits and a combined team batting average of .590.  At the plate Russell Richardson went 4-4 with 2 RBIs, Matthew Wattigny went 3-3, and Jayson Newell and Ashley Falcon both went 3-4, both plating RBIs. 

LED struck first and struck hard at the top of the first inning.  Consecutive singles by Jayson, Corey Dorsa, Ashley, Eddie James, and Russell plated three runners.  Katie Richardson then put up a sacrifice grounder to plate another, and Chelsea Harris tacked on a sacrifice fly to left to plate a fifth run.  BRPD was held to no runs at the bottom of the first by the work of Eddie on the mound and Chelsea at 3^rd base.

The Zeppelins then added another two runs in the top of the second on a double by Korey Patty, followed by a single from Matthew, a single by Jayson which drove in Korey and a single by Ashley which drove in Matthew.  BRPD was able to score a run in the bottom of the inning, putting the score at 7-1.

At the top of the third with consecutive singles by Russell, Katie, and Chelsea, the stage was set for Gary Beadle to drive in Russell with a single to the outfield.  LED was now up 8-1 but would not score again the rest of the game.  That was when the BRPD homerun hitters’ bats got hot.  With two runners on base a BRPD batter sent one over the center field fence, bringing the score to 8-4.  Then again in the bottom of the fourth BRPD tacked on another five runs with a few hits followed by another homer.  Neither team scored after this.

On defense the LED outfield was challenged more than ever this season, and they rose to the task.  Gary, Jayson and Korey combined for six outs on deep fly balls, and Katie kept the runners honest by getting two line drives quickly in to the infield. 

The infield was busy as well as Eric Burton put out three unassisted, and assisted in another four at shortstop.  Russell put out three unassisted, and assisted in another three at first base.  Eddie snagged two flies from the mound, threw two out at first, and put a runner out at home on a fielder’s choice from Chelsea at third.  Ashley put out three at second base with the help of Eric.

On a final note, a few LED players were lamenting that there was no beer in the dugout, but others pointed out that it was undoubtedly a good thing since the parking lot was filled with police cars.

Many thanks to all who stepped up to the plate for LED.

Hits:  Jayson (3), Corey (2), Ashley (3), Eddie (2), Russell (4), Katie, Chelsea, Gary, Eric (2), Matthew (3)

Doubles:  Korey

RBIs:  Ashley, Chelsea, Eddie, Gary, Jayson, Katie, Russell (2).

PLAYERS:  Ashley Falcon (Civil Service), Chelsea Harris (Louisiana Job Connection), Corey Dorsa (SEC), Eddie James (Business Development), Eric Burton (Business Incentives) Gary Beadle (IT), Jayson Newell (Business Development), Katie Richardson (Russell’s wife), Korey Patty (Lead Development), Matthew Wattigny (FastStart), and Russell Richardson (Business Development).

FANS:  Mills Richardson - Mills was extremely helpful as the team batboy for the Zeppelins and warm-up catcher for both teams.