I’ll start off this week by apologizing for the lack of a horn at the proper time to end the early games. I had it in my hand at 7:07 but then got caught up making out my own line up (which was changing rapidly at game time) and I just forgot it. From the emails this morning it appears this caused some problems for the Kelso/VOA game on Diamond 2 for which I’m wholeheartedly sorry… That said, we’re into that point in the season where available light affects the late games. For those of you who are new to the league I offer the following as a primer;

Late game Captains need to keep their eye on the clock as well. In the absence of a horn (it happens) don’t be shy to let early game Captains know the time and that they should be in their last inning. Once the late game has begun and reaches the later innings with darkness falling, Captains should agree before every inning whether to play another. Once an inning begins, it must be played in its entirety, regardless of how long the top of the inning takes (unless of course the HOME team is in the lead). Keep in mind that this can be a touchy subject, especially to the team that’s losing, so be fair if you’re the team that’s winning. On the same token, realize that the team that’s winning has the right to not risk that win (and the associated runs allowed) by playing into darkness… all hell can break loose once the lights go out. These are waters we navigate every season, at the start and at the finish, usually without many problems… but it occasionally happens where one team wants to quit while the other wants to keep playing. All I can say is be fair. There’s also the option of calling the game officially over and then continuing to play just for the hell of it… knock yourselves out on that one.

IMPORTANT > Late games have been moved back 15 minutes to 7:00 pm starting next week (one week earlier than originally planned). So horns next week will sound at 5:55 and 6:55. Also be aware that for the last two game weeks of the season on September 9th and 16th, early games will begin at 5:30, late games at 6:30. This might require some planning for some of you in terms of leaving work earlier.

Now back to the business at hand… Week 11 saw an unusually high amount of Leaderboard movement from top to bottom, teams shifting around all over the place… which is good, it keeps things interesting. REX Electric won again, remained undefeated and essentially has a 2 game lead over both the #2 and #3 seeds by virtue of their tie with just the 5 games to go. The Reservoir Dogz and theBuzz are separated by only 3 runs allowed in those 2 and 3 seeds, so that’s a barn-burner… and by virtue of their own tie, Clune Construction can leap frog upward with any win coupled with a Dogz or Buzz loss… And then Ruder Group and VOA lie in wait just outside that pack… so the whole top half of the Leaderboard is still very much in flux.

Down low on the Leaderboard we saw Getty’s Group and Old Stylin’ continue to build upon winning streaks while Power Construction got back on track with a 17-10 victory.

The one last thing to mention this week is to ask that you start planning for Tournament Day with your teams right away… this has been a pretty great season in my opinion and I really want to see it end with all 16 teams out strong for the Tournament… and for those of you that are languishing near the bottom of the Leaderboard… always remember that all bets are off come the Tournament… anyone can win it… the Regular Season simply determines how steep the climb is.