In a game of inches, Buccos edge Yanks by a foot

Bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the last inning.^.Buccos clinging to an 8-6 lead over the Yankees in a back-and-forth LA County Senior Softball League battle on a cold night in the Valley.

The Buccos get two quick outs but then the meat of the Yanks' order makes things interesting after a single and double puts runners on second and third. Bucco pitcher Bill Tarrant intentionally throws four pitches off the plate to the next batter to load the bases and have a force out at any bag.

“If he wanted to swing at bad pitches, be my guest,” Tarrant said.

The trouble with that approach is sometimes you throw off your pitching rhythm, and Tarrant immediately found himself in a 3-1 count and having to throw a hittable strike to the next batter, Yankee left fielder Steve Cisneros. Who promptly ropes it into right-center for a single.

Norm Friedman corrals the ball on the grass and then fires a perfect strike to all-star shortstop Eric Badener, as the runner from third scores. With the Yankees all-star shortstop Billy Freeman steaming toward the plate, Eric turns around and hurls the ball at “Big Mark” Weber, bouncing it perfectly in front of the plate into his glove as Billy crosses the scoring line.

The umpire rules Freeman’s foot was still in the air as he crossed the scoring line and was therefore out. And they say baseball is a game of inches?

“That was just sick,” said Mike Pivarnick, observing the play from his perch in left center.

“The softball gods were kind, because with Billy Freeman running, we had to make perfect relays,” Eric Badener said.

Asked how he could make such an accurate throw after his back was to the plate, Badener said he scouted the landscape before taking the catch.

“I look over my shoulder at home plate, and I triangulate: is the runner heading home? Now it's in my memory when I get the throw.”

Yankee manager Joey Carbone said he felt good with “a good hitter up and the bases loaded.”

“It was a bang-bang play. A spectator behind the backstop said Billy crossed the plate but didn’t get his foot down,” Joey said. “I was kinda surprised you (Tarrant) didn’t cover the plate," Joey added, noting pitchers will often step in front of the plate to take that relay home to spare a low-rated catcher a difficult play.

Well. First of all, I was mesmerized by the MLB-level play that was unfolding in front of me. And more crucially, I was not going to big-foot Mark Weber, who at 6 feet 5 inches, weighing in at well over 300 pounds and built like an offensive tackle was a colossus in front of the plate.

I was so excited I jumped up to hug him as the umpire made the out call and Mark let out a mighty roar, but my outstretched hands barely reached his arms.

“You guys played a great game,” Joey said. “No weak spot on the roster and you were making plays all over the field.”

But so were the Yankees - the Buccos scored all their runs in two -4-run innings, including one in the top of the 7^th.

Highlight reels included Mike Pivarnick racing in from left-center to grab a shallow pop fly on the bounce and throw out a runner at third to stop one rally. And 90-year Sy Badener shuffling across the first-base foul line to snare a drive that killed another. (And then bemoaning his inability to track down a pop-up over his head, which almost no first baseman in this league could handle. Sy was not even supposed to play this game after suffering excruciating back pain from a pinched nerve earlier in the week.)

Bucco bats were as cold as the weather for much of the evening, as league play resumed in the Sepulveda flood basin after a series of rain postponements. The team’s OBP was a meager .428.

Eric Badener led the offense, going 2 for 3 with a home run. A rejuvenated Ernie Garcia went 3 for 3, while Pivarnick and Dave Aguilar racked up 2 for 3 nights.

This game was just one of several that were decided in the final frame in a season where team parity has been a defining feature of the senior league. That could create surprises when the playoffs begin after one more regular season game. The Killebrews are guaranteed the 1^st seed and a first-round bye with an 11-1 record, while the Buccos, Softball Junkies, and Mudhens are jostling for second place and the other first-round bye in the standings of the 14-team league.