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Of Ringo Starr, Walk-Off Homers and SOFTBALL
A Look at the Lake Erie Islands Softball League (JULY 2023) By Matt Amsden
Hello, again, everyone! You’re all looking fantastic, you really are. Since you’re dressed so formally, I might ask you to pull up a seat in the bleachers, grab a hot dog (it’s a fundraiser for the Class of 2024, so tell ‘em to keep the change), and check out the following LEISL game action summary for July 2023. What do you have to lose?
SUNDAY, JUNE 25TH
The weather on this crazy Sunday reminds me of my senior prom date: sunny and pleasant to start the evening, then stormy/scary the rest of the way. Joe’s Bar squared off against Boardwalk in bright sunshine, but four innings later a tornado watch blew through and sent players and fans alike running for the exits.
JOHN “MURPH” MURPHY took the hill for Boardwalk, looking for his fourth win of the season, and DREW HOLCEPEL started for Joe’s. Since Joe’s is a first-year team, you might expect them to start slowly, but Joe’s put three runs on the board in the first and two more in the second. Boardwalk checked-and-raised Joe’s, tying the game, 3-3, after the first inning, when PADDY MURPHY homered for Boardwalk.
In the second inning, Boardwalk’s offense really kicked in, posting 11 runs to take a 14-5 lead. BILL “TEETS” McGAHEE hit a line-drive home run to left, just clearing the top of the fence and into the net. The Lobsterheads batted around and took control of the game. In the top of the third, Joe’s retired quickly, requiring only 6 pitches from MURPHY. When Boardwalk plated four more runs in the bottom of the third, it enjoyed an 18-5 lead with one out, and when the wind swirled the infield in dust, both teams were pulled off the field and the game was postponed.
The second game of the evening between Crew’s Nest and Topsy Turvey’s was postponed.
MONDAY, JUNE 26TH (Rained Out)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28TH (AQI’d OUT)
Air Quality Index is bad, from Canadian wildfires. League commissioner David Hill postpones all games.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5TH
The playoffs are a month away, but Boardwalk and Mojito Bay staged a preview in the best game of the year.
In typical Lobsterhead fashion, Boardwalk jumped out to an early 9-1 lead after one inning. Trotting out their big-gun offense, Boardwalk sent baserunners scurrying hither and yon, scoring at-will.
But Mojito Bay refused to panic. BRAYDEN ALLEN led off the bottom of the first with a triple and scored to put the cats in the mint-green jerseys on the board.
Boardwalk built a 10-4 lead after three innings, but then did something un-Boardwalk-like: they stopped scoring. Mojito’s defense, led by wily pitcher CARL KRUEGER, held the Lobsterheads in check until the fifth inning, when Mojito scored four times to tie the game, 10-10.
That’s when the playoff feel turned the game up a notch.
Boardwalk plated four runs in the top of the sixth, to take a 14-10 lead. So what does Mojito Bay do? They penta-score, taking the lead, 15-14, after six innings.
Boardwalk was suddenly in unfamiliar territory, having to score at least one run in the top of the seventh to avoid its first loss of the season. Boardwalk’s GABRIAL QUINONES delivered, cranking a deep home run to left field to tie it, 15-15, and create the first extra-inning game of the season.
This is where it pays to have experienced pitching. Boardwalk’s JOHN “MURPH” MURPHY shut down Mojito in the ensuing two innings, posting two strikeouts overall. While neither team scored in the eighth, Boardwalk scored twice in the top of the ninth to win it, 17-15.
In the second game, Middle Bass beat Topsy Turvey’s, 13-2. You want heart-warming moments? We got ‘em.
Middle Bass pitcher ART WOLF is one of the league’s premier pitchers. So it’s not surprising that his family, carrying the ART WOLF gene, brings athletic talent to the field. ART’s grandson, PORTER HALBERT, age 9, pinch-hit for the Dockers in the sixth inning. With his teammates chanting “Por-ter, Por-ter,” young MR. HALBERT drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, sending Middle Bass’ fans into a frenzy. PORTER received the game ball to celebrate his first run-batted-in.
Despite wearing the coolest jerseys in the league (think tropical sunset colors with stitched names on the back…), Topsy managed only two runs against the ART WOLF/EDDIE SHELLER pitching tandem. It’s a tough league out there, Topsy, but keep your heads up, your day will come.
In the third game, played on Kelleys Island, Kelleys beat Crew’s Nest, 25-5.
SUNDAY, JULY 9TH
So you look at the league standings and at the schedule, and you notice the top two teams in the league meet on this night. Can’t think of a better place to be than at Mother of Sorrows Field for Blue Marlin vs. Boardwalk. Let’s go!
Boardwalk, which played in the 2022 championship series, and Blue Marlin, a stacked-to-the-gills newcomer, staged a midsummer classic. Blue Marlin’s DALTON “DEUCE” HAY and KYLE KRAMP wasted no time, each bombing a home run in the top of the first inning to stake the orange-shirt guys to a 3-0 lead.
Boardwalk, which survived an extra-inning brawl with Mojito Bay on July 5, was not intimidated. Despite missing two bangers (brothers MIKE and PADDY MURPHY were unable to attend), Boardwalk tightened the gap at 3-2 in the second, then tied it, 4-4, in the third. But powerball is a Blue Marlin staple, and shortstop JAC ALEXANDER homered in the top of the fourth to open a sizable lead, 9-4.
Don’t let Blue Marlin’s 14-8 victory lull you to sleep. Stay conscious: these two teams may meet again soon in what appears to be a terrific impending playoff season. TYLER KRAMP won his league-leading fifth game of the season for Blue Marlin; JOHN “MURPH” MURPHY (4-1) took the loss.
In the second game, Joe’s Bar took the field in its brand-new, red-and-black jerseys with stitched names on the back. Pitted against style icons Topsy Turvey, who started the cool-jersey revolution, it was like a softball-diamond version of TV’s Project Runway!
Joe’s Bar, behind DREW HOLCEPEL’s pitching, built a 9-1 lead after two innings, and cruised to a 20-3 victory. But let me say this: the spirit of LEISL lives in the petite body of Topsy Turvey catcher BRI VO, who skipped to first base after earning a walk in the fourth inning and leapt for joy upon scoring the final run of the game. Oh, BRI, your’s is the life we all wish to lead, the happy life!
At its end, this game was all about style: when Joe’s left fielder NICK PETTENSKI squeezed the final out, he did so with sliding, twisting aplomb. Well-played, amigos!
In the third game, this one played on Middle Bass, the Dockers beat Mojito Bay, 13-10.
MONDAY, JULY 10TH
Why, look, everyone! It’s the mysterious entity known as Kelleys Island, apparently taking a victory lap through the LEISL to celebrate its 2022 championship season. Frankly, this is the first anyone has seen of them in 2023, so in that way they’re a lot like Ringo Starr: famous but absent.
And much like that famous Beatle, Kelleys is all about rhythm: either they have it or they don’t (Ringo always had it, ALWAYS!). One of Kelleys’ quirks is that, as good as they are, they seem moody, sometimes disinterested. And it’s tough to play a team like Boardwalk if you’re not tuned in.
Following its first loss of the season the previous evening, Boardwalk arrived with a full roster, looking to avenge a bit of its lost trophy from 2022. Since Kelleys won the 2022 league championship in convincing fashion over Boardwalk (which begrudgingly surrendered the league trophy for the first time in four years), something was at stake.
Not surprisingly, Kelleys scored immediately, posting a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Boardwalk’s DEREK DOHANOS’ diving catch in left field prevented further damage.
Kelleys’ OWEN BURNETT, who recorded the final out of the 2022 championship with a tag-out at home plate, homered to right field, boosting Kelleys’ lead to 8-0 in the second. That’s when somebody let the lion out of the cage.
Boardwalk, which lost to Blue Marlin the evening before and had no intention of recording successive losses, delivered the knockout punch in the bottom of the second inning, posting 14 runs to take full control of the game.
DOHANOS, after his fielding heroics in the first, hit a grand-slam homer in the second for Boardwalk, sending the Boardwalk bench (and the fans) into hysterics. But the inning was far from over.
JOHN “MURPH” MURPHY, attorney by day/pitcher by night, raised the pulse of every guy over age 40 with a home run to left field. His son, PADDY, who watched from third base as the ball cleared the left-field fence, literally jumped for joy.
This game belonged to Boardwalk, 23-12. Mr. DOHANOS, who homered again in the fifth, clearly had a giant bowl of Wheaties for breakfast. The senior MURPHY won his fifth game of the year; KEVIN MORELAND suffered the loss for Kelleys.
In the second game, Kelleys faced Joe’s Bar, which was in no mood for shenanigans. A scrappy team with new kick-ass uniforms, Joe’s is not to be trifled with, not by Kelleys, not by anyone.
Despite Kelleys’ 2022 title, Joe’s gave the guys in the optic-green uniforms all they could handle. Kelleys took a 3-0 lead after one, but Joe’s rallied back in the third, posting three runs of its own to tie it, 3-3. With the game tied, 6-6, in the fifth, Kelleys’ BRANDON “PORTO” PORTALES, he of the big personality and even bigger swing, drove a long fly ball to the right-field corner. JOEY WHITE tracked it down for Joe’s, making a back-handed catch that pleased Joe’s fans no-end. The score after five was knotted, 6-6.
But the sixth was Joe’s downfall. Kelleys patiently waited out walks, and built a 15-6 lead, and won it, 17-6. But there was one big defensive highlight awaiting Joe’s.
In the sixth, Joe’s shortstop NOAH “THEO” THEODORE made a bare-handed catch of a fly ball in shallow left field. If you’d like to see a replica on video, type “KEVIN MITCHELL BARE-HANDED CATCH” into YouTube’s search box. Not even the pros can make a better play than that, Theo. Well done, amigo!
WEDNESDAY, JULY12TH
You dig walk-off homers, man? Everybody screamin’ their heads off? Stick around, we got a doozy for ya!
When Middle Bass and their charming, louder-than-hell fans journey to Put-In-Bay, an entertaining evening is always in store. Not even a passing shower can dampen the mood.
Such was the case this night when Middle Bass played Mojito Bay, as skies darkened and rain fell in the second inning, causing the soggy umpire to suspend the game five minutes. No matter: play quickly resumed, and fun was right around the corner.
Mojito Bay opened a 6-5 lead in the third inning on DANIEL EVANS’ home run to left. Looking to avenge its loss to Middle Bass on July 9, Mojito extended its lead, 14-10, after four innings. But Middle Bass, behind the crafty pitching of ART WOLF and EDDIE SHELLER, regained the lead, 16-14, after five.
The score unchanged, Mojito entered the bottom of the seventh needing 3 runs to win. TYLER WEBB doubled to start the rally and scored to bring the mint-green-clad Mojito to within one.
With one on and two out, EMANUEL “MANNY” CARMONA found his moment. The Dominican-born CARMONA hit EDDIE SHELLER’S second pitch deep into the left-field screen for a game-winning homer. Jubilation ensued.
“When I got to the game today,” Carmona said, “I started from the first inning trying to make good contact.” Mission accomplished, Manny!
Mojito pitcher CARL KRUEGER won his fourth game of the year; EDDIE SHELLER took the loss for Middle Bass.
In the second game, House topped Crew’s Nest, 21-10. House, a sneaky, under-the-radar candidate for 2023 playoff success, showed its muscle, bombing three homers, two by QUINTIN “Q” CANTELLI and one by DYLAN DOHANOS. Anyone who discounts House’s playoff hopes does so at his own risk.
House pitcher MASON HART won his fourth game of the year (and he pours a killer drink at Boathouse, too); Crew’s Nest’s TYLER KING pitched a strong game in defeat.
The third game, between Blue Marlin and host Kelleys Island, was rained out.
SUNDAY, JULY 16TH
Ever since Cain gave Abel an early exit, brothers have been at-odds. Beset by conflict. Prone to fisticuffs.
So when House, featuring two DOHANOS brothers (DYLAN and DEVON) played Boardwalk, which has DEREK DOHANOS batting clean-up, thunderheads were forming.
And a great game was brewing.
After a scoreless first inning, House jumped to a 6-0 lead, sparked by a DYLAN DOHANOS two-run homer to right. When House piled on five more runs in the third to take an 11-0 lead, somebody somewhere was singing Steely Dan’s “Change of the Guard.”
But wait a second. This is Boardwalk, owner of four league titles since 2018. Surely it can’t be over, can it?
No, it can’t. In the bottom of the third, Boardwalk posted five runs behind DEREK DOHANOS’ grand-slam homer. It brought Boardwalk’s bench to its feet and reshuffled the game’s deck.
In the fourth, House returned to its long-ball tactics when QUINTIN “Q” CANTELLI hit a two-run homer high into the trees in left. When DEVON DOHANOS followed suit with a homer to right-center, House led, 17-8, after four.
The stage was set for more DOHANOS BROTHERS heroics. When House went quietly in the top of the fifth, Boardwalk saw its chance and posted seven runs in the bottom of the fifth, powered by DEREK DOHANOS’ second grand slam of the game, a blistering shot to left. House’s lead shrank to 17-15.
In the sixth, CANTELLI and GUNNAR LILLY opened House’s attack with singles, setting the stage for DYLAN DOHANOS’ inside-the-park homer. Following an ALEC LYDON walk, DEVON DOHANOS tripled and scored on a KEVIN “BUBBA” BAUMAN double. House scored five, and led 22-17, entering the bottom of the sixth.
Cue the suspense. Can Boardwalk respond?
Yes, with patience. Three consecutive walks loaded the bases for a RON RIVERA run-scoring single. A fourth walk, this one to ASHTON POUPOS, pushed across another run, and JACK BOOKER’s single scored two. Following walks to DEREK DOHANOS and PADDY MURPHY to re-load the bases, catcher STEVE SPRADLIN doubled over CANTELLI’S head in deep left-center. Boardwalk had somehow taken the lead, 23-22.
House went down in order in the top of the seventh and lost to Boardwalk, 23-22, in a head-spinning, hard-to-keep-track-of doozy of a ballgame. JOHN “MURPH” MURPHY won his sixth game of the year for Boardwalk; MASON HART took his second loss for House.
In the second game, undefeated Blue Marlin found out why Joe’s Bar can be troublesome. And somebody at the Getaway Inn has a dented car.
Joe’s scored three in the first, but Blue Marlin matched it. JAC ALEXANDER homered to left to tie it, 3-3, after one.
Each team enjoyed scoring three runs so much, they did it again in the second. With the score knotted, 6-6, it was car-denting time in the third.
Following a JOEY WHITE walk to open the third inning, pitcher BRIAN WOODRUFF homered for Joe’s into the parking lot at the Getaway Inn beyond the left-field screen, punctuated by a loud metallic whump of car-denting impact. Somebody call State Farm.
With Joe’s leading 9-6 entering the bottom of the third, Blue Marlin took control, scoring nine times to lead, 15-9. In a second brothers act of the evening, TYLER and KYLE KRAMP pounded home runs for Blue Marlin, which eventually won it, 21-10.
Pitcher TYLER KRAMP won his sixth game for Blue Marlin; BRIAN WOODRUFF took the loss for Joe’s.
In the third game played on Kelleys Island, Kelleys beat Middle Bass, 21-3.
MONDAY, JULY 17TH
An actuary is a person who establishes the likelihood of an event happening. Insurance companies employ them heavily, as does NASA for all I know.
So if you’re an actuary, tell us the likelihood of these two things happening: 1) A softball team overcomes a 16-1 deficit to win, and 2) Same softball team wins second consecutive game on a walk-off homer. I’d bet your answer contains a whole mess of zeroes.
Such is life if you play for Mojito Bay, which has competed in four of the best games of the 2023 season, one of which happened this night.
Blue Marlin, a new team for 2023 which entered the game as the only undefeated team in the league, can now say it’s seen everything. So have I.
Like James Taylor, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain. And I’ve seen some FANTASTIC softball: this one tops ‘em all.
Blue Marlin made its case early that this game should be abbreviated by the “mercy rule.” After two and a half innings, Blue Marlin led 16-1, primarily on the shoulders of shortstop JAC ALEXANDER, who homered three times, all of them punishing shots to left.
Facing quick defeat, Mojito Bay rolled back into contention with 10 runs across the third and fourth innings. DANIEL EVANS’ three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth began to turn the tide, cutting Blue Marlin’s lead to 17-11.
BRYCETYN HEDDEN homered to right for Blue Marlin in the fifth, and after six innings, Blue Marlin led 20-14. Not done yet.
Like the league-leading team it is, Blue Marlin tacked on two runs in the top of the seventh to all but seal it, 22-14. Mojito was down to its last three outs; it would only need two.
KURT BETHARD and JIMMY OLSEN started the bottom of the seventh with walks, and JOE BEAGLE beat out an infield single to load the bases with nobody out.
KAYLA BECK drove in a run, and following NOAH KNEISLEY’s RBI walk, TYLER WEBB singled to drive in two more. After DANIEL EVANS was intentionally walked, EMANUEL “MANNY” CARMONA doubled to score two. With two out and the game on the line, DONNIE RADER stepped to the plate with the house rockin’.
RADER took one pitch and hit the next into the left-field net for a two-run, game-winning homer. It was a mint-green joy-fest for Mojito, winning it, 23-22.
CARL KRUEGER won his fifth game of the year for Mojito; SCOTT ALEXANDER took the loss for Blue Marlin.
In the second game, Crew’s Nest and Joe’s Bar cued it up and put on a stellar encore. Seeking its first 2023 win, the Crew pushed three runs across in the first, and led it, 3-0, through three innings.
Joe’s tied it 3-3 after four, when NOAH “THEO” THEODORE, DAVID “BUGS” BENMAYOR and LUKE LYDON all scored. And Joe’s kept it going in the fifth with three more runs, pushing NICK PETTENSKI, THEODORE, and SEAN MONDELLO across the plate to make it 6-4.
In the seventh, with Joe’s leading 7-4, Crew’s Nest centerfielder SOPHIA PRESSLER drove in two runs with a single to tie it, 7-7. PRESSLER was a three-time All-Ohio softball player from Bellevue High School’s class of 2018.
Needing to score once to win it in the bottom of the seventh, NICK PETTENSKI was all Joe’s needed. Batting first, PETTENSKI doubled down the left-field line and scored when PRESSLER’s throw to the infield went out of play, allowing the winning run to score. Joe’s won it, 8-7.
BRIAN WOODRUFF won his fourth game for Joe’s; TYLER KING suffered the loss for Crew’s Nest.
In a doubleheader on Kelleys Island, Kelleys won twice, beating both Boardwalk and Topsy. Does the road to the league title still run through Kelleys?
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19TH
Tick-tock goes the calendar clock. The playoffs approach, and both Middle Bass and House will be in the thick of it. Who won this preview?
House did, 9-5, but not so fast, Sparky. Enjoy life, will ya?
House, with its high-performance lineup, took a 2-0 lead in the first. LANCE SAUNDERS doubled and scored on ALEC LYDON’s triple, and QUINTIN “Q” CANTELLI sacrificed LYDON home.
House pitcher MASON HART kept Middle Bass scoreless through four, and House pushed another run across as DEVON DOHANOS homered deep-deep to right in the third.
In the fifth, Middle Bass came alive, scoring four times to take the lead, 4-3. EDDIE SHELLER, KEVIN HART and TYLER MCKENZIE all scored on ANDERSON MARTIN’s grand-slam, inside-the-park homer. Middle Bass’ fan reaction sounded like a nuclear bomb detonation.
But House, a 10-to-1 Vegas pick to win the 2023 league title, tied it, 4-4, when KEVIN “BUBBA” BAUMAN slid home on a ZACK HISS double.
Middle Bass stayed quiet in the sixth, and in the bottom half of the inning, House iced it. Pitcher MASON HART provided the wrecking ball with an inside-the-park homer. House scored five to put the game away.
In the second game, House squared up against Topsy Turvey, and won again, 12-11. JONAE SPATES collected four hits and scored twice, leading House’s comeback victory. CORMAC O’DONNELL also scored twice, with ABBIE VACCA and GRANT MADIGAN each adding a run.
Topsy was led by MATTY VORBROKER who had three hits and scored twice. LOGAN KUCZKOWSKI also bagged three hits and scored a pair, with JUAN GUTIERREZ also scoring twice. CANTELLI earned his first pitching victory of the season; JUSTICE ANDRES took the defeat for Topsy.
SUNDAY, JULY 23RD (Rained Out)
MONDAY, JULY 24TH
When reigning champ Kelleys Island squared off against league-leading Blue Marlin, you knew it would be good. But THIS good? C’mon.
So Kelleys opened the game with four immediate runs, as OWEN BURNETT drove home two with a single. Blue Marlin bounced back in the bottom half of the inning, with JALEN SANTORO scoring on a KYLE KRAMP RBI single.
With the score 4-1, Kelleys entered the second inning looking to explode. They got their wish.
Kelleys scored four more, taking three walks surrounded by NATHAN MOJOY’s double to lead 8-1.
But Blue Marlin doesn’t stay down for long. Isn’t there a song about one’s inability to keep a good man down?
Blue Marlin racked 10 runs in the bottom of the second, sending 15 batters to the plate in a ring-around-the-rosy of scoring. The big hit was CHRIS BLIMKA’s three-run homer to left.
Kelleys responded with one run in the third to cut Blue Marlin’s lead to 11-9. But DALTON “DEUCE” HAY’s long-gone solo homer to right made it 12-9 after three.
Kelleys smelled homer and responded in-kind. In the fourth, Kelleys’ pitcher KEITH MORELAND pounded a two-run homer to left, and Kelleys added another run to tie it, 12-12.
Blue Marlin pushed across two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, as T.J. ADKINS slid home to make it 14-12.
But Kelleys refused to fold, tallying one run in the fifth to keep it tense. But Blue Marlin added six in the bottom of the fifth, with KYLE KRAMP’s long-distance homer to right as the centerpiece. Blue Marlin could breathe easier with a 20-13 lead.
In the sixth, Kelleys kept a vise-like grip on the game, never letting go. With four more runs, Kelleys stayed close, and Blue Marlin led 20-17 after six.
Kelleys took the patience route in the seventh, and the first four batters drew walks, forcing a run across. BEN OHLEMACHER’s double cleared the bases, and Kelleys regained the lead, 22-20.
Needing two to tie and three to win it, Blue Marlin entered the bottom of the seventh with its back firmly against the wall. STEVE ALEXANDER walked and scored on “DEUCE” HAY’s ultra-clutch two-run homer to right. The game was tied and rolling to extra innings, 22-22.
In the eighth, Kelleys retired quietly, going down one-two-three. And Blue Marlin, looking like the league standard-bearer, needed only two batters to win it in the bottom of the eighth.
COLIN ISH walked for Blue Marlin to kick off the eighth and scored the game-winner on BRYCETYN HEDDEN’s RBI double. Blue Marlin walked it off a winner, 23-22.
In the second game, Boardwalk and House, two established winners with playoff aspirations aplenty, staged another corker.
House, led by DEVON DOHANOS’ three-run homer, took a 6-3 lead after one.
But Boardwalk, being Boardwalk, pounded out 10 runs in the second to lead, 13-9.
BLAKE BOOKER tripled for Boardwalk in the third and scored on PADDY MURPHY’s RBI single, boosting Boardwalk’s lead to 14-9.
ZACK HISS scored for House in the bottom of the third, keeping the pressure cooker boiling at 14-10.
Boardwalk went silent in the fourth, retiring quietly. And House pounced, posting four runs to tie it, 14-14, on DEVON DOHANOS’ grand-slam homer to right.
With the evening light failing, Boardwalk entered the top of the fifth under an umpire-imposed 9 p.m. deadline for game completion. Boardwalk went scoreless in the fifth, and with House batting in the bottom of the fifth, nature came calling.
After MASON HART’S routine fly-ball to left fell in for a single as Boardwalk left-fielder DEREK DOHANOS lost the ball in the twilight, the home-plate umpire stopped play and declared the game a tie. It would appear that the umpire will receive no Christmas cards from House players, whose protests to the game-stoppage echoed loudly in the right-field woods.
No matter. The playoffs, due to begin the first week of August, will make all things right in LEISL world. God bless you all, players, you’re FANTASTIC!
STANDINGS
(Through completion of play on JULY 24)
TEAM W/L/T
BLUE MARLIN 7-1
BOARDWALK 6-2-1
HOUSE 6-2-1
KELLEYS ISLAND 5-2
MOJITO BAY 5-4
JOE’S BAR 4-4
MIDDLE BASS 3-5
CREW’S NEST 0-6
TOPSY TURVEY’S 0-7
LEISL is in-action every Sunday, Monday and Wednesday evening throughout the summer at Mother of Sorrows Field. For a full schedule of LEISL play, visit Lake Erie Islands Softball League’s Facebook page.
Author bio: Matt Amsden is home-plate umpire for all LEISL games played on Put-in-Bay, an avocation which he provides as a community service. Think of all the years he wasted bumbling around in automotive marketing, when he could have been destitute but happy umpiring on the Bay, covered in field dirt and praying for a (free) leftover hot dog at evening’s end.
The previous piece is published in this month’s Put-in-Bay Gazette. The Gazette has been producing incredible independent Put-in-Bay island news for over 40 years. If you have any interest at all in what is happening on South Bass Island, we urge you strongly to subscribe to the Put-in-Bay Gazette. One-year online subscriptions are only $15, and print subscriptions are available as well. To subscribe please click here.
