Brothers lead Bucco family to win over Dodgers in playoffs

Dave and Raul Aguilar went 5 for 6 and the Buccos defense returned to its stout season standard to eke out a 9-8 victory over the Dodgers and advance to the quarterfinals of the playoffs in the Los Angeles County Senior Softball League.

The Buccos locked down the victory when outfield captain Mark Lambert slid over to right field from his rover position with two outs in the final frame, daring the Dodgers leadoff man Mike Barnes to hit it his way – as he had done with superb results his previous two at-bats. Instead, Barnes sent a lazy fly ball to Doug McIntyre for the final out.

Raul Aguilar was the latest sub to shine for Buccos, playing flawless shortstop for the vacationing Joe Blachman and contributing 2 hits and two runs scored from the number two spot in the lineup. Older brother Dave playing left field had three hits.

There’s no sibling rivalry in the Aguilar family. David and Raul also play for team Snoopy, which is in the semifinals this week in another senior softball league in the Valley.

“We’ve been playing all our lives together on the same teams since Little League,” said Dave, who’s two years older than Raul.

Both played catcher on their high school team. Dave went on to play outfield for Cal State Fullerton “because I could run” (at least then). That school has sent players such as Justin Turner, Khris Davis, Kurt Suzuki and Mark Kotsay to the Major Leagues in recent years.

Jack Stotler, arguably the best pitcher in the League, issued no walks and a lot of weak contact that eluded his Dodgers defense. Buccos pitcher Bill Tarrant kept pace with him. But walking their lowest-rated hitter prompted two visits to the Bucco mound in the 4^th inning

“I used to be a catcher,” Raul informed me, walking over from shortstop, the two of us looking at each other through our fielding masks. “I don’t know how to pitch. All I know is you’re supposed to throw strikes,” he said helpfully.

Then Patty Rebbe the catcher came out. “Remember what you’re always saying, Bill. ‘Let’s have some fun!’”, as Reg the umpire started approaching me, wondering if he needed to break up this mound-fest.

Patty, especially, needed this victory, disclosing to me before the game she’d had a really bad day. “Sounds to me like you need a visit to the Bunny Planet,” I said, referencing the children’s book by Rosemary Wells, which my daughters loved. The Bunny Planet is like an idyllic Twilight Zone, where children are transported to have a perfect day with Bunny Planet Queen Janet, who’s a real party mama.

Patty didn’t respond, perhaps not hearing me, or more likely trying to ignore this bit of nonsense. Instead, we took her to the Bucco planet.

I was almost wishing for a visit to the Bunny Planet myself, when with less than 10 minutes to game time first Mark called to tell me he was racing to get to the game after returning home to get his forgotten bat, and then moments later Doug called to say he was changing a flat tire. I began walking around in a panic to the other fields looking for a one-inning sub in case one or both came late, but they arrived with minutes to spare.

Raul and David are both retired educators. Raul ended his career as a principal in the LA Unified School District. Dave taught physical education and coached high school football, basketball, and baseball. “I got into education to coach school sports,” Dave said.

“You have to have a passion, and mine these days is softball. I’ve been a fan of baseball all my life.”

He recalls watching the MLB Dodgers play at the Coliseum as a 6-year-old after the team came to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in 1958. His Dad, Arturo, who worked for LADWP, coached the boys in Little League. He would then drive the brothers to Chavez Ravine to watch the new stadium being built. “We’d sit on top of the hill and watch them build it. They weren't building it on top of the ground; they were building it into the ground,” he recalled.

Dave has one son, Joshua, who has a martial arts black belt, but whose passion is in the theater. He’s an actor and production assistant at the Garry Marshall Theatre in Burbank.

Dave’s grandfather came to Los Angeles in the early 1920s, towards the end of the two-decade-long Mexico Revolution, a series of conflicts that killed 2 million people and displaced many more. My own grandparents all fled harsh British rule in Ireland around the same time. We share a classic American story.

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