Wednesday September 23, 2026 (Playoffs)

Arlington Grill 16 - Mountain View Ranch 10

Arlington Grill defeats Mountain View Ranch 16 to 10. Hitting stars: Ralph Bondi, Rod Whitby, John McGowan, Jim D’Aleo, Paul Lastowski, and Mark Joao, one of whose hits was a home run. John McGowan pitched a complete game victory.

Miller's 15 - Doyle's 13

On a brisk morning at Digilio Field, the 2 funeral homes battled it out, as Miller's buried Doyle’s 15-13 in a great game. Doyle's came out on fire with a 5 run and nobody out 1st inning. Miller's came back with their own 5 run inning highlighted by a 2 out 2 rbi double by the Veteran Spider DeRito. In the 2nd inning Doyle’s added 2 more runs. In the bottom of 2nd Miller's added a nickel inning making the score 10-7. In the 3rd inning both teams went DEAD by only scoring 1 run each. With the score going into the 7th, Millers was up 13-9. Doyle's added some arsenal attack with Rick Willigan hitting a bomb and Miller's almost made a great play as Spider DeRito made the Derek Jeter (the flip) play which almost got Willigan at home. Willigan's homer tied the game. But Miller's rose to the occasion as they scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh highlighted by a Rich (The Hitman) Sicardo  2 out RBI. In the 8th Doyle‘s had 1 out and men on 1st and 2nd but it was Angelo (the brick wall) who caught a rocket back to him spun around and got the man on second for the game winning double play, giving Miller's their first trip to the Championship Game. Again, this was a great team effort. Miller's gloves came up big as Chris (the Venus Fly ball Trap) Thomas, ran down and caught so many fly balls. Jeff Noe made one of the ESPN web gem catches in foul territory. Winning Pitcher Angelo Sblendorio pitched an excellent game and played the middle that nothing got by and turned the game winning DP. Rich Sicardo also made a great defensive play by catching a grounder, tagging the runner and throwing to first for an inning ending double play. Miller's also had some clutch hitting as Joe Yanerella went 2/2, Chris Thomas 2/3 with a big 2 rbi double. Dave Anduze 2/3 with a double. Angelo Sblendorio went 3/3 with a triple. Jeff Noe 2/3 and a double. Spider DeRito with a big 2 out double, Dan Sopchack 2/3. Carlos Vasquez 2/3, Dewey (Bodacious) Bogardus 1/3 with 2 RBI’s and Rich (The Hitman) Sicardo 3/3. Miller's will have to play a great game next week for the Championship as The Arlington Grill has turned the grill on in their last 10 games to make to the finals. 

Wednesday September 9, 2026 (Playoffs)

Mountain View Ranch 22 - A&R 4

Miller's 14 - McHoul's 3

At Digilio, Miller's defeated McHoul's 14-3 in the 1st round of the playoffs. Miller's took the lead in the 1st inning and never looked back by scoring 5 runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings. Joe Yanarella, Jeff Noe, and Dave Lowitz led the Miller's attack with 3 hits, as others chipped in: Dave Anduze, Chris Thomas, Phil Chontos, Rich Hill, Spider DeRito, Joe Kupiec, Dewey Bogardus with 2 hits each. With a few players playing with minor injuries, Angelo Sblendorio (Winning Pitcher) pitched a great game. With the help of great defense like Jeff (on the ground) Noe making a diving catch, Chris Thomas having great jumps on the ball 3X and 2nd basemen Rich Sicardo and Jeff Kupiec stopping the hot shots that turned hits into outs, Dave Anduze again playing a great middle by turning over 2 Double plays, and Spider DeRito at first making 2 long stretch for outs. Miller's will play their rival Doyle‘s Funeral Home for the battle of the funeral home and a chance for playing in the championship game.

Miller's soundly defeated McHoul's 14-3 to move on in the playoffs. McHoul's came out tentatively in both the offense and defense, while Miller's started strong.  After 4 innings Miller's led by 14-2 and the table was set. The second half had McHoul's leading 1-0. McHoul's had 5 players with 2 hits.  Rodney Deloatch lead off with a triple while going 2-3 while Steve Savod, Bob Diggelmann, Dave Napolillo and Mike Capra also had 2 hits apiece. The season has ended for McHoul's, but it was a good season, nevertheless. It was my pleasure to play with them all.

Doyle's 16 - TaxBrakes 9

Winning pitcher Joe Prisco was supported by excellent defense led by Tom Hotailing and 3 double plays, and Jim Willoughby, Bill Hild, Rick Willligan and Jim Guarnacccio. 

Hitting: Scott Babrowsky 3-3 2 doubles, Pat Towne 3-3, Bill Hild 3-4, Jim Guarnaccio 3-4, 

5 players with 2 hits: Jim Willoughby, Dick Michels, Rob MacIsaac, Doug McCracken, and Al Hicks.

TaxBrakes once again fought to the very end falling to a very good Doyle’s team 16-9.

Notable offensive players for TaxBrakes were steady Larry Stewart and red-hot Gary DiMaggio going 3-3, Roger Merritt and Emil Viola both 2-3 with 3 RBI, and Big Mike Spinelli 2-3.

Arlington Grill 18 - Pizza Time 4

Arlington Bar and Grill defeats Pizza Time 18-4. Great team defense and great team offense! The hitting was led by: Rod Whitby, John McGowan, Denny Curtis  and Mark Joao, one of Mark's was a home run. John McGowan pitched a complete game victory.

Friday August 28, 2026 (Playoffs)

A&R 31 - J&N 19

Today at Whitesell A&R bested J&N in a hit fest 31-19. Even with missing 4 very productive players, A&R grouped together and led by Eddie Smilkstein and Mike Cring, A&R pounded out 40 hits in the victory. Stats for A&R: Eddie Smilkstein 6-6 (4rs6rbiHR), Mike Cring 5-5 (4rs5rbi HR WP), Joe Paolini 5-5 (2rs5rbi3B), Mike Healey 4-5 (3rs2rbiHR), Stan Smilkstein 4-5 (3rs2rbi), Frank McHugh 3-5 (2rs5rbi), John Pucylowswki 3-5 (2rs1rbi), Ed Bergamini 3-5 (3rs1rbi), Frank Navarra 3-5 (3rs2rbi), Lou Post 3-6 (3rs1rbi), Steve McGee 2-5 (2rs).

A&R 31-J&N 19. How come none of you told me that the road from awful fielder to a mediocre fielder would have so many potholes? Those lessons don’t always stay learned, unfortunately. I’m not talking Paul Blair quality here; I’ll settle for a tad over Dave Kingman. And I’m sorry to all of my teammates who had to suffer the consequences of my inadequacies. Anyway, A&R beat J&N in the play in game at Whitesell, today, by the score of 31-19. Things were pretty close until the end of the fourth inning. Dan Diesing hit a 2-run homerun. We were down 16-13 despite a couple misses by the right center fielder. And then A&R started scoring 3 straight frames of 5 spots and we just couldn’t keep up. We could have gone further into the playoffs if we had played the way that we did on Wednesday, our previous game. But, alas, we did not. It was a pleasure playing on J&N this year, as it has been for the last several years. There was never any undue pressure. The guys on the team were always lots of fun to play with and be with. Cooperative with playing time and helpful with tips and advice. George Hammer was a good manager, despite what he thinks. He made sure that everyone got fair playing time, even if he unselfishly sat out his own innings. 

We have had the pleasure of having Jaime as a great sponsor. He helped out as a third manager. Only when necessary! As well as being a great player. And of course we were blessed to have Nancy at the games. She was always fun, kept score legibly and provided some stability to the chaos of our games. She let us know who was up and on deck and she knew the correct score. And she didn’t get upset when some enthusiastic teammate uttered an expletive or off-color remark. Thank you. And of course, the shirts are really snazzy. I’ll be wearing mine to my 6-month-old grandson’s future Bar Mitzvah one day. It’s been a fun season, and I thank everyone for the opportunity to play with them. Have a great offseason and I look forward to seeing you all again, soon.