SLAC
Annual Softball Game 2012 SLAC
Annual Softball Game 2012| BOX SCORE: | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Runs |
| Accelerator |
0 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 17 |
| Research |
5 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | 18 |
2012 celebrates 50 years of SLAC's Annual Softball Game! It was held Sunday, October 7 at SLAC's new Arillaga Recreation Center, which includes a fabulous playing field for softball and other sporting events. A perfect fall day with brilliant sunshine greeted the ball players as they arrived at the field. Accelerator looked to defend last year’s title, their Associate Director Norbert Holtkamp offering encouragement of free beer at the Goose in the event of another win. Research however looked to garner a win and even their record against Accelerator, with one of the Research Directorate ALDs Chi-Chang Kao attending to support his team and learn some of the intricacies of the rules and physics of softball.
This year’s game was dedicated to Ron Cassell who played in the annual game for 36 years from 1976-2011. Ron loved sports and loved softball - he was passionate and competitive, and exuded enthusiasm both in his play and post-game analysis discussions. Ron always felt he could make a game-winning difference. He expected to hit home runs and often did. Ron could hit to any field, but his signature hit was a hard, line drive to deep right field – this worked especially well when the game was played on the SLAC Green where it could roll downhill to Sand Hill Rd.! Ron anchored his teams defensively at short stop and had many memorable moments, including MVP awards in 2004 and 2005. In 2000, he celebrated his 25th “Theory vs Experiment” game by batting for the cycle in another Experiment win. Sadly, Ron passed away earlier this year - he will be greatly missed, but long remembered and with much affection.
Game Highlights
Accelerator bats were largely silent through the first 4 innings and they
were held scoreless early in the game.
Research however scored early, beginning with leadoff hitter Kevin
Turner crushing a home run to ignite the Research offense in the first inning.
Six of the first seven Research batters scored before Accelerator
recovered defensively to limit the damage.
Research then built on its lead in the next 3 innings.
Mike Minitti hit a 3-run homer to right field as Research added 4 runs
in the 2nd inning. Another Research
run scored in the 3rd, and Research
continued to pour it on with 6 more runs in the bottom of the 4th as Hendrik
Ohldag, Minitti, Howie Haber, James Budarz, Graeme Card and Dan Harrington all
got hits. By the end of 4 innings
Research enjoyed a seemingly insurmountable lead of 16 to 0!
But Accelerator re-grouped, confident they were stymied by mere
fluctuations of Research hits squeaking past outstretched Accelerator gloves
while Research gloves barely snared well hit Accelerator balls.
Accelerator roared to life in the top of the 5th, bringing 14 batters
to the plate and scoring 10 runs; a barrage of singles plus doubles by Jeff
Corbett and Mike Woods narrowed the deficit to just 6 runs.
Research was held scoreless in the bottom of the 5th inning and then
added one run in the 6th. Accelerator
continued to hit with 5 singles in the 6th inning scoring 3 runs.
In the top of the 7th, the first 2 Accelerator batters flied out and
then Accelerator rallied. Tomas
Jackson and Ryan MacLellan reached base and scored on hits by Natalie Cramar
and Matt Cramar. There were 2 outs but
Accelerator had two runners in scoring position with Matt at 2nd and Natalie
at 3rd. Woods came to the plate and
blasted a deep fly ball to left field.
It looked like it might elude left fielder James Budarz, but James faded back
and made a spectacular backhand shoelace grab to snare the ball and preserve a
2-run lead for Research. Research then
added another run in the bottom of the 7th for a 3-run lead.
The top of the 8th brought the top of the batting order to the plate
for Accelerator. The first two batters
reached base on hits by Gene Anzalone and Tom Markiewicz – they went on to
score, narrowing Research’s lead to a single run.
Research was held scoreless in the
bottom of the 8th and the game moved to the 9th inning, Research holding a
slim 1-run lead. Accelerator batters
went down quietly in the top of the 9th, however, with Minitti recording the
final out on a fly ball to center field.
Bill Kirk MVP Award
Mike Minitti was named MVP. Mike homered in the
second inning, contributed two doubles and a single, and scored 4 runs for
Research.
Additional Game Notes
Herman Winick competed in this year’s game, closing out a memorable week for
him highlighted by a symposium in his honor to celebrate his 80th birthday!
In addition to Herman’s notable accomplishments in accelerator physics
and human rights, Herman is also an accomplished softball player (MVP award in
the 2008 Annual game!) - he plays regularly in the SLAC Annual Game as well as
on a SLAC summer intramural team.
On his 80th birthday at the end of June, Herman missed the IM team’s practice
that day – but for a highly commendable reason, to attend a Giants game with
his granddaughter!
Winnie Liang from PULSE showed no fear or inhibitions as she
played softball for the first time ever in this year’s game – Go Winnie!
She received lots of encouragement and we hope she’ll join us on the IM
team next year to continue learning the game
|
Research: |
Accelerator: |
Research Team
(Standing: Ryan Turner, Mike Minitti,
Howie Haber, Graeme Card, Dave Bernstein, Hendrik Ohldag, James Budarz
Kneeling: Kevin Turner, Winnie Liang, Dan
Harrington, Evelyn Harrington, Kari Horwath)
Accelerator Team
(Standing: Laurel Woods, Mike Woods, Matt Cramar,
Rick Jackson, Seveena Jackson, Petr Fuchs, Ryan MacLellan
Kneeling:
Mark Anzalone, Gene Anzalone, Jeff Corbett, Natalie Cramar, Tom Markiewicz,
Tomas Jackson)
MVP Award Winner, Mike Minitti, with Research Captain, Dan Harrington