Last weekend, the Illowa APBA League (10-team, basic game) got together to roll some bones. True to its moniker, they joined up in Iowa (Bettendorf, Iowa, to be specific). The Illowa League takes turns meeting up in Chicago and in the Quad Cities area.
There were nine of us there in a conference room at the Ramada Inn. Most of us had to play 24 games though I had to play a belated nine-game May series against Marcus Bunch’s Moline Upperdeckers. It was to be a heated match-up as the Upperdeckers and my Thunderchickens were 1-2 in the standings respectively.
As it turned out, Marcus had my number. He won. And I mean he won ALL nine games. It’s been a while since I’ve been swept nine games. Marcus knows pitching. He has pitching. His staff includes two AKZ pitchers in Verlander and Scherzer plus Kershaw (BYZ) who missed his first A in some nine years. Suffice to say, it was a long series.
We did manage to make the most of the rest of the weekend. We split three series 3-3 and went 5-1 against the Northside Hitmen. Add that to the 4-2 series against Missoula Rattlesnakes that we previously played for June, that gave us an 18-12 record for June.
When all was said and done, we slipped to a tie for the third spot in the IAL standings. I don’t know how Don Smith’s Molly Putts Marauders did but it must have been pretty good. He’s now in second place.
It took JD Martinez fifteen games before he hit his first homerun for the weekend but he chose the right moment. Scott Fennessy and I played 17 innings of goose-egg baseball before Martinez broke the shutout with a solo shot in the 18th. That was enough to end the offensive drought for both teams.
More photos from the IAL June weekend here.
As always, it was great to see everyone. John Brandeberry, who lives in Montana, kept in touch with us via text. Brando, we missed you!!
