Heavy Metal Softball

First, as always, I want to thank all of the players who represented Heavy Metal Softball this weekend for their effort, help, and cooperation in making our seventh tournament of the year a somewhat successful effort -- in the sense that we were very competitive against some roughly comparable teams.  Here are some final tournament statistics for those who actually visit our website and are truly interested in such things.  I would like to state here again that unlike previous seasons a couple of years ago -- when I published an extensive summary of each tournament regardless of the outcome -- I will only do so if we achieve playoff status or have a winning record, with just a bare-bones tournament rundown for those events of little distinction.  So, without further adieu, I present some facts from this particular contest:

Slugfest Super 7 Series, Tournament #7 Summary --

Tournament Record:  0-3 (We need to turn this around!)
                                1st game:  Lost 4-20 vs. Bad Boys
                                2nd game:  Lost 15-16 vs. Down & Dirty
                                3rd game:  Lost 1-9 vs. Back Again  

Team Statistics (alphabetically):

Vern Amaro -- 5 for 7; .714 BA; 9 points. 
Rich Avery -- 1 for 8; .125 BA; 3 points.
Wes Avery -- 2 for 8; .250 BA; 10 points.
Dan Beck -- 2 for 7; .286 BA; 7 points.
Nathan Berry -- 4 for 8; .500 BA; 21 points.
Bryan Ellis -- 3 for 8; .375 BA; 9 points.
Gene Hitt -- 2 for 6; .333 BA; 4 points.
Brian Hollingshead -- 3 for 6; .500 BA; 17 points.
Johnny Lopez -- 3 for 6; .500 BA; 3 points.
Mike Lujan -- 4 for 9; .444 BA; 12 points.
Robert Matthews -- 5 for 8; .625 BA; 11 points.
Steve Stafford -- 3 for 7; .429 BA; 23 points. 

Team Batting Average:  .420 (37 for 88; we averaged 6.7 runs/game for the whole tournament.  We need to definitely improve our team batting average, as this current one won't win games, much less tournaments....)

Tournament MVP:  Steve Stafford (23 points -- Sizzlin' Stick award!)

Manager's Award:  I would like to take this time now to recognize a few other players who shined just as brightly this weekend with their contributions to the team:  Vern Amaro, Nathan Berry, Brian Hollingshead, and Robert Matthews. Their stats above speak for themselves, but their consistency throughout the tournament is what I noticed most and appreciated greatly -- here's a "hats-off" to all four of you!  

2009 Season Statistics (alphabetically; all players):

Donny Aguiar -- 28 for 52; .538 BA; 103 points (5 tournaments)
Vern Amaro -- 31 for 68; .456 BA; 81 points (7 tournaments)
Rich Avery -- 19 for 73; .260 BA; 78 points (7 tournaments)
Wes Avery -- 36 for 81; .444 BA; 120 points (7 tournaments)
Dan Beck -- 2 for 7; .286 BA; 7 points (1 tournament)
Nathan Berry -- 4 for 8; .500 BA; 21 points (1 tournament)
Lucio Cobos -- 28 for 51; .549 BA; 97 points (5 tournaments)
Frank Fletcher -- 6 for 10; .600 BA; 20 points (1 tournament)
Lee Garcia -- 24 for 52; .462 BA; 64 points (5 tournaments)
Gene Hitt -- 11 for 31; .355 BA; 38 points (4 tournaments)
Brian Hollingshead -- 21 for 52; .404 BA; 67 points (6 tournaments)
Paul Lawrence -- 7 for 26; .269 BA; 36 points (3 tournaments)
Johnny Lopez -- 7 for 15; .467 BA; 8 points (2 tournaments)
Mike Lujan -- 36 for 83; .434 BA; 105 points (7 tournaments)
Lencho Martinez -- 3 for 8; .375 BA; 13 points (1 tournament)
Robert Matthews -- 8 for 15; .533 BA; 28 points (2 tournaments)
Steve McElmoyl -- 4 for 6; .667 BA; 10 points (1 tournament)
Joaquin Perez -- 6 for 16; .375 BA; 15 points (2 tournaments)
John Rodriguez -- 4 for 12; .333 BA; 12 points (1 tournament)
Devin Stafford -- 1 for 10; .100 BA; 10 points (1 tournament)
Steve Stafford -- 29 for 53; .547 BA; 145 points (5 tournaments)
Mike Vanaalst -- 16 for 33; .485 BA; 86 points (3 tournaments) 

Year-End Award Progress:  Congratulations, Lucio Cobos, for officially winning the race for the Batting Champions: Metal Men perpetual award bat, based on your final tournament batting average of .549 over 5 tournaments!  Your name will be the third to be engraved upon this annual award -- great job, buddy!  Other eligible players were, in the order of their final batting averages:  Steve Stafford, .547; Donny Aguiar, .538; Lee Garcia, .462; Vern Amaro, .456; Wes Avery, .444; Mike Lujan, .434; Brian Hollingshead, .404; and Rich Avery, .260 -- good job, guys!  Please remember -- just in case everyone has forgotten -- a player must have played in a minimum of 5 tournaments to earn this recognition, which is something to think about when I ask everyone next time if they want to play some more ball in an upcoming tournament...!

And, once again, that's all, folks!!!