URS5 Dermatomes forced to swallow bitter pill by Addicts -- causes Torticollis and Akethesia
Pharmacy Addicts 15, URS5 Dermatomes 2
By HAL BOCK, AP Sports writer
October 20, 2005
IVORY TOWER, Utah (AP) -- Not their best season. Not their smoothest.
And certainly not the biggest title for a graduate school that has 26
Softball championships in its illustrious past.
Yet somewhere in the spray of champagne in the visitors' clubhouse at
Pons and Fleischmann Park on Thursday was the satisfaction that these
Addicts came farther to win this Mountain division pennant than any
Pharmacy team since a young, activist Lester Partlow popped one
over the treetops here in 1962.
"I can't take my glasses off. I'm crying like a baby," Addict manager
William K. Nichols
said on the field after Pharmacy beat URS5 15-2 to clinch the division for the
eighth consecutive year.
"I'm proud of them, and delighted for our fans who stuck with us through
this tough, exciting season," Pharmacy Dean John W. Mauger, Ph.D
said through spokesman Phillip Kevin Stott. "But this is only the first step toward our goal, a
championship."
The Addicts took advantage of URS5's season-high eleven errors in a
dominating victory over the fading Dermatomes Thursday.
Asked about the run of errors, Dermatomes manager Joe "Buck" Mortensen
said, "I wasn't trying to make errors. No one was. That's just the way
the cookie crumbles sometimes when you're picking up spilled beans."
The addicts pulled away in the 2nd inning when the score went from 2-2
to 10-2. The Addicts eight runs came on seven of the Dermatomes'
errors.
The Dermatomes finished second in the division for the fifth straight
year, but it's not all bad news for them.
If the Lawdogs win on Sunday and the Sorority girls lose, then the
Dermatomes will be seeded second in the Softball Playoffs sponsored by
Sears. If the Lawdogs lose on Sunday, the Dermatomes get the second
seed no matter what they do.
"It's the most unique situation you will see," URS5 manager/pitcher Mori
Speakman (2-1) said. "What are the odds of us watching the Addicts
celebrate and we're coming into the clubhouse as excited as you can be
about the playoffs next week?"
Despite Speakman's lemons-to-lemonade attitude, the Dermatomes were
obviously distracted by the holdout of all-star shortstop Troy Badger.
The contract impasse for Badger concluded its first week Thursday with
no communication between the franchise and agent Kevin Poston. It is
just the 12th holdout to go this long in the last 50 softball seasons,
but it is not even halfway to the 98 days Dermatome catcher David J.
Bjorkman, M.D., M.S.P.H., S.M.(Epid) missed in 1972.
Team President Farrant Hiroshi Sakaguchi, armed with his wooden sword,
said the two-year contract offer the club has made is its ''best and
final'' and vowed to begin reducing it when Badger's value to the club
this season was diminished. Now, one week from the playoffs, it will be
difficult for Badger to arrive and be ready to contribute. Agent Poston
has said he takes the Dermatomes seriously, but their camp has not
budged, with Badger putting his home in the Avenues and his home in Park
City up for sale this week.
Badger fired his original agent the day after his big game against the
Lawdogs and hired Kevin Poston. Poston promptly informed the Dermatomes
that his client would not participate in practice workouts because of
concerns about language in the Dermatomes protection agreement. Poston
said he was worried the Dermatomes would not fairly compensate Badger
should the player injure himself.
Said first-baseman Nephi Walton: "There's a lot of high expectations and
guys are really going to have their eyes on him to see how well he moves
around, seeing how fast he picks up the system and adjusts to things.
He's behind, but that's all part of the job. . . . This is a family
here, so nobody's going to hold any hard feelings against the guy other
than the hazing routine of shaving his head and a dermatome or two.
It's going to be tough for him, but I think he knows that."
President Sakaguchi summed it up, "If Troy Badger isn't there on October
27th, I'll spell it out to you guys and tell you exactly what's going
on. And for now, I'll tell coaches Speakman and Mortensen the same
thing: 'Talk about the players who are here.' "
Game notes:
Bettis reached the 10-hit milestone for the first time in his career.
To put that in perspective, Manager Speakman, who had 40 hits last year,
holds the Dermatome record .... When Nathaniel Kofford heard that the
Addicts had brought in a knuckleballer to pitch batting practice
Saturday to prepare for Speakman, he quipped, "Why does the pharmacist
have to be two feet above everyone else in the store? And what's with
the people who put carpeting on the lid of their toilet seat?" ....
Mortensen moved Franz Medina Monroy down to fourth in the batting order
in order to adjust for the loss of cleanup hitter Badger.
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