Last Inning Heroics Lead to Another McWhaley Win!

Donn Quixote
6-25-09

It’s a day dream that runs in the minds of all young baseball players; the home team is down a couple of runs in the final inning of the championship game. With two outs in already recorded and he winning run on 1st base, the batter digs into the batter’s box and nervously awaits the first pitch. He sends a shot into the outfield and the runner on first sprints around the bases to score the winning run. Game over, the championship is theirs and the day dreamer is the hero of the game.

McWhaley was faced with a similar situation, but it wasn’t for the championship. It was more for pride for a few of the McWhailers than anything else. Last night, McWhaley faced off against Young Clement & Rivers (YCR) - former stomping grounds for one Randell “Slim Shady” Stoney, Jr. Slim Shady doesn’t play on the team, but a couple of the BWPH Lions work with him so they wanted to record this win for him. The rest of the team wanted to win because it sure beats losing.

McWhaley won the coin toss and elected to bat last in the game. Unfortunately, McWhaley was missing a couple of key players – Short Stop Jay Alexander and utility man, Dawes Cooke so Capitan Donn Ilagan and Capitan Jim Trabert had to switch up a few playing positions to fill in the gaps.

The McWhaley defense was a bit shaky throughout the whole game and YCR took full advantage of the soft defense and scored run after run with every error that was made. YCR had enough people to field two teams and they threw all they had at McWhaley. Inning after inning, McWhaley tried to work their way up the scoreboard, but the bats weren’t working the same as they did against The Fighting Fabers just a week prior. No matter how hard they tried, McWhaley could never take the lead in the game.

In the top of the 7th inning, McWhaley’s defense woke up and had a decent showing capped off by a 5-4-3 double play. [Jay Harper to Graham Ervin to Donn Ilagan] After the inning was over, McWhaley still found themselves trailing in the game, but this time they were down to their last at bat.

With the score YCR 10 – McWhaley 8, 3rd Baseman, Jay Harper, stepped into the batter’s box and led off the inning with a hot shot to Right Center field. He turned on the jets and tried to stretch out his 4th in the park home run of the season. As he rounded third, the throw from the outfield hit the glove of the awaiting YCR player who had positioned himself for an easy tag at home plate. As the YCR player swooped his arm around to apply the tag, Harper instinctively jumped over the glove and landed squarely on home plate making the score YCR 10 – McWhaley 9.

YCR recorded the first out from a lazy pop up to third from the next batter. Left Fielder, Bryant “Nails” Pearson, was up after that and hit a single to get on base. Left Center Fielder, Dain Reardon, managed to hit another single that sent the tying run to third base making Reardon the winning run.

Short Stop, Andre Ilagan, stepped up to the plate, dug in, and eyed the field trying to pinpoint where he wanted to hit the ball. The day dream so many young baseball players have in their minds was happening to him at that very moment. He shook off the first pitch and as the second pitch crossed the plate, he blasted it into deep Right Center field allowing Pearson and Reardon to score. Just like that, the game was over and McWhaley recorded their 3rd win of the season with a score of 10-11.

When asked about his winning hit, Andre Ilagan only had this comment to make, “I needed to do SOMETHING to make up for all of the errors I recorded at short stop.” Somehow, Donn Ilagan was actually available for comment on the game. “He’d [Andre] better be lucky I threw a good pitch for him to hit.” “I usually throw him junk in instances like that.” He added.

Even though their defense was a little shaky all game, both Donn and Jim were pleased with the way the team played and grabbed another “W.”

McWhaley’s next game is against the reigning champs of the Charleston Lawyer’s Softball League – Nelson Mullins. The game will be played in West Ashley and game time is at 6:30.


Last Night’s Line Up:

3rd Base – Jay Harper
2nd Base – Graham Ervin
Left Field – Bryant “Nails” Pearson
Left Center Field – Dain Reardon
Short Stop – Andre Ilagan
1st Base – Donn Ilagan
Right Center Field – Jim Trabert
Right Field - Blake McKie
Short Out Field – Melanie Mason
Catcher – Karen Clark

McWhailers Win In The Bottom of the 7th Final Score; 11 -10

Breaking News: Graham turned a double play and Harper hit an in the park home-run in the 7th for an exciting win. Our next game is Thursday, July 2nd!

Either Donn or I will do this game proper tomorrow.

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Reminder: Game Tonight @ the Navy Base vs. Young Clement

Our game is tonight at the Navy Base, 6:30 pm, against Young Clement. Let either Donn or myself know if you can make it.

Fighting Fabers no match for McWhaley bats!

It’s been awhile since McWhaley’s seen the winner’s circle. Their season started off really well with a convincing win over The Good, Bad & Ugly. Since then, struggles at the plate, roster changes and overall sucktitude (yes, that is a word) have played equal roles in McWhaley’s demise. When asked to get his thoughts on how the season was progressing and what he thought the team needed, co-captain Jim Trabert said, “The bottom line is everyone is trying too hard to be perfect and beating themselves up for mistakes which lead to nothing but frustration for everyone.” “Everything will come, we just need to be patient,” he added. The other co-captain, Donn Ilagan, could not be reached as he was throwing a football somewhere.

Last night, McWhaley took the field against The Fighting Fabers of Finkel and Altman. Unfortunately, The Fighting Fabers were not as interesting or funny as the Fighting Fabers of the Delta Tau Chi Fraternity from the movie Animal House. Actually, they should have been ashamed to associate themselves with such a great movie.*

The game was played at Johnson Hagood Stadium where just two day prior, McWhaley received its 3rd loss of the season to HGH-driven Turner Padgett. Manager Emily Pearson won the coin toss and secured McWhaley’s spot as the Home Team. Interestingly enough, the fact that McWhaley had the last bat in the game didn’t even matter.

In the first inning, The Fabers drew first blood with a solo HR to center field by a player who could only be described as a cross between Steve Buscemi and the Vulture baby from Bugs Bunny cartoons.
That was the only run The Fabers would score for a while. When McWhaley came up to bat, left fielder Jay Harper, matched Vulture Buscemi’s home run with a home run the hard way, legging one out for an in the parker. After 1, the score was tied 1 – 1. Harper’s in the park home run was just the spark McWhaley needed to get their bats going again. The Fabers managed to score two more runs in the next two innings, but the runs were no match for the 7 runs McWhaley racked up in the bottom half of the same two innings.

McWhaley’s defense also stepped up their intensity and held Faber to just one run after the third inning. Unfortunately for Faber, their defense wasn’t as lucky. McWhaley piled on 7 more runs in the game including a 3 run home run blast by new acquisition, Dain “Don’t call me Dane Cook or I will kill you” Reardon. Dain was supposed to play earlier in the week with McWhaley, but due to unforeseen circumstances (he didn’t know that the games were being played in Johnson Hagood) he didn’t make the game. When the last out was recorded, McWhaley came away with win #2. Final score Fabers 4 – McWhaley 15.

“This winning thing is fun,” Jim Trabert said when asked about the game. Co-Captain Donn Ilagan, could not be reached for comment as he was holding a football for place kicks.

McWhaley’s next game is against Young Clement Rivers and unfortunately, they will have to go back to the field they hate the most – the Navy Base.

McWhaley Roster for last night’s game
Jay Harper – Left Field
Maggie Mullen/Melanie Mason – Right Field
Jay Alexander – Short Stop
Andre Ilagan/Bryant Pearson – Left Center Field
Donn Ilagan – 1st Base
Jay Jones – 3rd Base
Jim Trabert – Right Center Field
Graham Irvin – 2nd Base
Matt Cavender/Dain Reardon – Short Out Field
Karen Clark – Catcher
Blake McKie – Designated Hitter

* The Fighting Fabers didn’t take their name from the college in the movie Animal House. The Corporate Complex where Finkel and Altman is located is called Faberplace.

The McWhailers Are Back On Track!

The McWhailers brought home a well deserved and needed victory-topping those Fighting Fabers 15-4!
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Special Report: Ilagan's Contract-Garage and the Current State of Your McWailers by Bobby Barnwell

There’s much hub-bub around the Charleston Law League Water-Coolers today about the current slide the McWailers are on (having dropped three games in a row) and the amount of money head-coach Donn (with 2 “N”s) Ilagan was getting paid for his contract. I spoke with McWailers GM/Co-Captain Jim Trabert about Ilagan’s contract and if perhaps the fans aren’t getting what they wanted. Here’s a portion of our conversation:

BB: A lot of the fans are complaining that your Skipper Donn Ilagan is paid too
much for the McWailers to have a losing season.

JET: Is there a
question here? Or are you just trying to lament about something you know nothing
about? Look, Donn makes a fair and modest income for his services with the team;
we worked out a deal with Borass (Scotty Borass-Donn’s agent, not to be confused
with the other Scott Boras-the big league agent) and Donn which we all thought
was fair. As for the fans, they need to understand something about law league
softball, it takes time for a team, especially one as unique as this one to come
together and besides the McWailers have lost to some tough opponents on the
front end of the season. Be patient, Donn will look like a genius by the end of
the season.

BB: So what about the reports that Donn was playing
with a football at the last game.

JET: (Deleted Expletive)
Bloggers, they are making this into much more than it is. It is only natural (to
want) to throw a football when you are playing on a converted football field.
Ask anyone that used to play at old Candlestick Park, they will tell you; the
desire to throw or catch a football is unmatched-look at Bo
Jackson.

BB: What does Bo Jackson have to do with
this?

JET: Exactly, you don’t know Bo. And since I know, that you
don’t know what I know, I know that you don’t know Bo. Now get out of my office
this interview is over.

BB: But I have more questions.

JET: I am sure you do. Why don’t you go talk to Donn, he has today
off.

Garage Mahal

So I took Trabert’s advice and just like Kenny Rogers (when he rocked, way before he did “Islands in the Stream”), I decided to “just check in to see what condition my condition was in” and to get to the bottom of this. With an undisclosed figure and contract we have no idea how much Donn Ilagan is making, but just how modestly is Ilagan living? Check out this picture I surreptitiously took with my Crackberry as I walked up the drive to his house. My editor made me block out the plates but I want all of the fans out there to know, Donn Ilagan has a 2 Ferrari garage. And Jim Trabert has the nerve to call this modesty. I am not sure what I call it but it is not modesty. And if Skipper Don Ilagan doesn’t turn the McWailers around soon, I doubt he will be able to maintain this “modest” lifestyle.

The McWailers have a chance to prove themselves tomorrow evening against the Fighting Fabers, so we'll see what Donn "Modest-Mouse" Ilagan has up his sleeve.

McWhailers Continue to Slide

The McWailers dropped their third straight losing by four runs to Turner-Padgett, with a final score of 10-14.

(More re-cap later)

Next Game
The McWailers return to Johnson-Hagood Stadium Wednesday Night, June 17th to face off against Finkle

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Games This Week

Just a reminder that we have two games this week one tonight and one Wednesday night. 6:30 are the game times and both games will be played at the Citadel's football field. Once again, because we have merged with McNair, there will be times that many of you will not play the whole game. We will try and be fair with playing time. I know we are all playing because we like playing softball, but we have to make sure that everyone who comes out gets to play.

For what it is worth, I have decided not to play today and just hang out with Manager Emily Pearson. I mean, coach you guys.

- Donn

Next Week's Games

Just a reminder that games resume Monday against Turner Padget (we should beat them) and Wednesday against Finkel. From what I remember about Finkel, they have a decent team. I want to say they are almost as good as Buist Moore as far as hitting goes. We'll be at Johnson Hagood (The Citadel's football field). Game time for both games is 6:30 .

Please let me know if you plan on being there.

Thanks!

Donn

This is a Textbook Swing...

I am not sure if the thought bubbles truly reflect what was going on while Jay-Bird was at bat but I couldn't resist. Notice the shoulders are even, great follow-through and belt-buckle is facing forward at the end of the swing. Textbook Swing.

This is Not a Text-Book Swing! But We've Broken It Down So You Can See What's Wrong With This Picture!

First, notice the right shoulder dropped during the swing; this will cause the batter to hit a ground ball more than likely straight to the short-stop. The batter should try to keep his shoulders level/even throughout the swing.

Secondly, notice the weight shift and the position of the batter's hands. You've probably heard it on the field and I know Trabert says it all the time, but you should let your hands guide you through your swing. The hands and extension of the bat should be the catalyst for what turns your hips and shoulders.

Jay-Harper Player of Last Week's Game Against the Solicitors and GAP T-Shirt Model Aspirant!

We were all very proud of Harper last week when he had the hottest bat on the team, going 4-4 against the Solicitors. Personally my favorite moment of the game was when Jay tested the arm of their left-center-fielder as he was coming into score from third-base: kind of trot, certainly I won't get thrown out at home, scored just as the throw was a bit late off the bounce.

For those of you keeping score-their LCF was a female but evidently Jay just wanted to test her.

Crouching Tiger...Hidden Harper

Just to make things interesting we have three guys named Jay on the team this year. In this photo is Jay-Squared.

Message From Donn: Last Night's Game & The Next Couple of Weeks Schedule

There's really not much to say about last night's game. A lot of us haven't been hitting like we did in the first game. I know personally, I haven't hit very well. Consistency is key, but I'm sure you all know that as well.

We're off next week (which may or may not be a good thing) Games resume Monday, 6/15 against Turner Padget (we should beat them) and Wednesday 6/17 against Finkel. From what I remember about Finkel, they have a decent team. I want to say they are almost as good as Buist Moore as far as hitting goes.

The good thing about these two games is the fact that we WON'T be playing at the Navy Base. We'll be at Johnson Hagood (The Citadel's football field). Game time for both games is 6:30

Good Bye Navy Base

The McWhaliers Dropped Another to Buist Moore Tonight. Final Score 22-13
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Reminder: Game Tonight @ the Navy Base Against Buist Moore

Our game against Buist Moore is tonight @ the Navy Base. Game starts @ 6:30 PM, so please try to get there as close to 6 as possible so you have plenty of time to warm-up. -JET

Photo courtesy of Burt Hill, visit the architect's site to check out all of the work his team did for the park @ the Navy Base.

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