Softball Action Continues At North Shore Park During Holidays

With seven weeks of the 21-week interclub season in the record book as of December 16, a 77-year old rookie is leading The Three Quarter Century Club (aka Kids and Kubs) hitters in all but two categories triples and walks.

Cuban-born Chao Blanco has a .868 batting average with a .875 on-base percentage and carries a 2.113 slugging mark. When OBP, SLG is calculated as one sabermetric, Blanco stands at a 2.988percent while collecting 15 home runs.

According to Club statistician Leo Heiderscheit, Blanco leads the Club in 8 of the ten offensive categories. Larry McCurdy’s six triples lead in three base hits. “Kats” captain Walt Ewald has garnered the most free passes to first base with twelve. Fifty-four players making a plate appearance during the first seven weeks hit at a.525 percentage.

Club pitchers were led by “Pitcher Pete” Calabrese posting eight victories for the “Kats” while allowing 10.0 runs per trip to the pitcher’s box. “Kubs” pitcher J.D. Horn faced 473 batters over 75.3 innings, surrendering 13.4 runs per game for a 7-5 won-loss record

The pennant chase in the four-team competition started quickly for the “Kubs” of captain Frank Sirios as they sped to a quick 8-1 win-loss record on December 7, led the race by three games,

A four-game losing streak by the “Kubs” resulted in deadlocking the standings with the “Kats” matching the “Kubs” eight and five record.

However, the “Kids” downed the “Kats 14-13 (12/23) on a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh. A “Kubs” 14-6 win over the “Kits” moved their record to 9-5, a one-game lead over the “Kats” at the end of the day’s games.