Saturday, August 7th – Lost Appeal Ends Legends’ Year
Tuesday, August 3rd - Legends Lose Controversial Championship
Friday, July 16th – Legends featured at San Francisco Giants game!
Thursday, July 15th – The Menlo Park Legends are 25-7 overall and 16-4 in league. Next game is 6:30pm this Friday evening at Baylands in Palo Alto versus the SF Seals! Dont miss it! Click here for directions:
The Menlo Park Legends got outstanding pitching again in downing the San Francisco Seagulls 5 to 1. Four Legends pitchers scattered twelve base-runners over nine innings, (7 hits and 5 walks) and only allowing the Seagulls a single tally. Kyle Tachibana, Darren Iseri, Corey Zirbes and Harold Zosel also combined to fan 8 hitters. The Legends offense was keyed throughout the game by the top three in the order. Johnny Donati opened the Legends first with a walk, Steve Cook walked and Sean Yoshikawa continued his hot hitting with an rbi single. Ryan Sakowski singled, Donati and Cook singled and Yoshikawa double to produce two more runs in the second. Donati and Cook singled and Yoshikawa walked in the fourth but the Legends could not produce a run. Yoshikawa singled in the 6th and scored on a Christian Weeber rbi double. The Legends plated their final run in the 8th on a single by Cook and double by Kellen McColl. The Legends battle the San Francisco Seals at Baylands on Friday July 16th at 7 pm.
Wednesday, July 7th - Legends improve to 10-3 in PWBL with 7-4 win over the San Francisco Seagulls!
Click here to visit Pacific West Baseball League website
August 14-15, 2009 at Sacramento Smokies: (Season Review) After all the tough losses the Menlo Park Legends endured at the beginning of their inaugural season, the excitement and heroics of the final weekend made for very satisfying finish. In their final series, a three-game set in Sacramento against the Smokies, the Legends notched two wins to finish just a game below .500. Menlo Park won 5-4 on Saturday night, lost 8-1 in game one on Sunday and won 6-5 in the last game of their season.Sunday’s game two proved to be one of the Legends’ most dramatic and rewarding wins. Menlo Park jumped out to a four-run lead in the first inning. With the bases loaded on a single and two walks, right fielder Skylar Brewer drove in Menlo Park’s first run with a fielder’s choice. Two runs scored on an error and a wild pitch, and big Kyle McCabe, playing first, drove in the fourth run with an RBI groundout.
After the productive first, however, the Smokies began to chip away at Menlo Park’s lead. Starting pitcher Derek Austin, who later played right field and got his first at-bat of the season, went three innings and gave up two runs. Later, in the fifth, Sacramento vaulted into the lead.
Reliever Jay Villafana had pitched a perfect fourth, but the momentum didn’t carry into his second inning of work. After hitting one batter and walking the next, he was lifted for Brewer. Brewer, though he struck out the side, allowed both of Villafana’s runners to score in addition to one of his own. The Smokies only got one hit — a two-run double — but managed to manufacture three runs.
But the Legends weren’t about to let their last victory get away. Too many times this summer, the Legends watched a seemingly sure victory evaporate in the last few innings. But they also showed a flair for comebacks.
And Menlo Park had one more comeback left to complete.
In the bottom of the seventh and final inning, third baseman Jeff Clegg led off with a walk. Donati reached second on an error by the third baseman, and center-fielder Jack Mosbacher tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Catcher David Klein singled, pushing Donati to third. After Brewer popped out to the shortstop, it was up to Ortiz to prevent the game from going to extras.
The sound of Ortiz’s bat connecting squarely with the pitch was one of the sweetest sounds of the summer. The second baseman laced a single up the middle, scoring Donati and ending Menlo Park’s season on a tremendous high note.
The Legends’ Saturday game also provided a few highlights. Then, it was the Smokies who built an early lead and the Legends who scratched their way to victory. With the Legends behind 4-3 to start the sixth inning, leftfielder Ryan Hamilton came to bat. The slender Hamilton proved himself to be Menlo Park’s most consistent source of power this summer — he led the team with five home runs, including two grand slams. On Saturday, he hit his final homer of the season, tying the game at four runs apiece.
In the seventh, Menlo Park pushed into the lead. Donati led off with a double, scoring on Mosbacher’s single. But the Legends still had to hang on for two more innings. They were lucky it wasn’t three — the game ended after eight innings because the lights unexpectedly shut off. With two out in the eighth, the Smokies had runners on first and second. Sacramento’s designated hitter hit a tough shot toward third baseman Matt Connor. Connor was able to corral the ball, but his throw to first bounced in the dirt. Playing first was Andrew Klein, who saw more action this summer as the first base coach. To the glee of all his teammates, the younger Klein scooped Connor’s throw brilliantly to finish the Smokies’ threat.
The Legends may not have reached their goal of finishing at .500 for the season, but they came close. In their inaugural summer, they laid a strong foundation for future Legends, establishing a gritty yet quirky and fun-loving tradition. No matter what was happening on the field, the Legends kept the atmosphere in the dugout light, once constructing a tarp for shade, another time challenging outfielder Brad Marasco to escape from various wrestling holds executed by infielder Shane Arslan. There were weekends of offensive explosions, such as the doubleheader featuring two mercy-rule victories against the Salinas Vikings, and the inevitable disappointments of blowouts and late losses. In just their first year of existence, the Legends were able to compete with some of the oldest and most established Bay Area semipro teams.
And from the looks of things, next summer should prove even more exciting and successful.
— Colt Rosensweig
